Declan Akaba

Reiji Akaba is one of the main characters and the second CEO of the huge Leo Corporation in the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime. He is also a Super Elite Duelist with a genius brain.

Reiji is the youngest Duelist in history to be certified to Duel in the professional circuit, having done so at age 15. Despite his early introduction into the series, Reiji's name was not mentioned on-screen until episode 8.

Appearance
Reiji is a thin young man with pale skin and grey hair, the front layer being a lighter grey then the back. His hair is arranged in a simple style, flicking upwards at the ends. Reiji's eyes are purple, and he wears red-framed spectacles. His ears are both pierced with black stud earrings. Despite his status as the CEO of the Leo Corporation, Reiji dresses rather casually, wearing a dark-blue sweater, white pants that end just above his ankles, and white shoes (apparently without any socks beneath them), along with a long red scarf wrapped around his shoulders with the ends trailing to the small of his back. When he was monitoring the You Show Duel School in person, he concealed his identity beneath a large-hooded sweatshirt.

Personality
In general, Reiji has a serious demeanor, but he takes an interest in Yuya Sakaki and his pendant. Despite his advanced skills, he doesn't seem to be overly arrogant, and is actually quite respectful to Yuya's father Yusho Sakaki, fiercely defending him when he was insulted in a rare moment of emotion. While he does not consider empathy as beneficial on the battlefield, he does seem to enjoy himself while Dueling, and even requested Yuya to demonstrate Yusho's Entertainment Dueling.

Anime biography
After Yuya Sakaki defeated Strong Ishijima using the Pendulum Summon mechanic, Reiji was briefed on the Summon and on Yuya himself by Nakajima. Intrigued by the Pendulum Summon, Reiji asked Shingo Sawatari to learn what he could about Pendulum Summoning, no matter how small the detail and to acquire them, if possible. Shingo successfully acquired the cards, but wanted to use them to Duel Yuya. As Nakajima protested from where he was watching the Duel, Reiji arrived and assured him that it was all right. He advised Shingo on the use of Yuya's Pendulum Monsters from behind the scenes throughout the Duel. After Shingo's loss, Nakajima stated that they would need to use other means to seize the cards immediately, but Reiji again reassured him that it was all right for now. He looked at a video feed of Yuya, thanking him for putting on a show and murmured Yuya's name.

A week after the first Pendulum Summon, his mother Himika Akaba arrived back from a business trip. Reiji wasted little time in informing her about Pendulum Summoning and Yuya Sakaki, and stated that they'd almost achieved a complete understanding of the Summon. He also informed her of Shingo Sawatari's supposed attack at Yuya's hands. Reiji admitted to being worried that, despite the feat he had perform, Yuya only had a 50% win-loss-ratio, and he was the son of Yusho Sakaki, who had disappeared three years previously and possibly allied with enemies of LDS. Later, he observed the Duels between the You Show Duel School and LDS, remaining hidden and concealing his identity beneath a hooded sweatshirt. After Yuya had defeated Hokuto Shijima, Yuzu Hiragi had been defeated by Masumi Kotsu and Noboru Gongenzaka had tied with Yaiba Todo, Himika angrily proposed a tiebreaker between the students that had won; Yuya and Masumi. Before the situation could progress any further, Reiji revealed himself and he stated he would put an end to this.

None of the students present recognized Reiji, his mother commenting that they didn't know how strong Reiji was. Reiji requested that she and their students stay quiet and watch, calling it "enough cheering." Reiji allowed Yuya to choose whichever Action Field he wanted, so Shuzo Hiragi (the only You Show member aware of Reiji's identity) picked Yuya's favorite Field, "Athletic Circus." In exchange, Yuya let Reiji go first. Reiji proceeded to use three "Covenant" Continuous Spell Cards to Fusion Summon "DDD Temujin the Blaze Overlord" on his turn (this is his first use of a Fusion Monster to be known, and there were no record of him using them during any of his past Duels), then set the rest of his hand, but leaving him apparently guaranteed to take 3000 damage on his next turn. When Yuya attempted to retaliate, Reiji activated another "Covenant" card that would cause him to take another 1000 damage during the next turn. Yuya was able to counter that attack as well, but Reiji was well-prepared, using an Action Card to protect "Temujin." Yuya was given the option to end his turn and theoretically win, but hesitated. Reiji observed that Yuya's kindness was causing him to hesitate, though he called it useless in battle. Yuya Set a card, then Reiji negated and destroyed his "Covenant" cards with "Lease Laundering," replenishing his hand in addition. Yuya admitted that he wouldn't have been happy if he'd won from that, as he wouldn't have gotten a chance to show off his father's Entertainment Dueling. Reiji asked if he was referring to Yusho Sakaki, and Yuya was surprised that Reiji seemed to know his father. Yaiba mocked Yusho from the sidelines, prompting Reiji to roar at him to be silent. He apologized for his outburst, explaining that he respected Yusho from the bottom of his heart. Reiji then proceeded to Synchro Summon "DDD Alexander the Gale Overlord" and Xyz Summon "DDD Caesar the Wave Overlord" on his next turn, much to the shock of the onlookers. He destroyed all of Yuya's monsters, despite Yuya's use of "Hippo Carnival." Yuya proceeded to Pendulum Summon on his next turn, using his "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon" in combination with "Performapal Fire Mufflio" and an Action Card to destroy all three of Reiji's monsters. Reiji used the effect of "Caesar" to revive them, though at the cost of taking damage again on his next turn, and then he Tributed them with "DDD Resource Management" to add his "DD Magical Astronomer Galilei" and "DD Magical Astronomer Kepler" to his hand - Pendulum Monster prototypes that he proceeded to activate on his next turn. He congratulated Yuya after Yuya claimed that he looked forward to seeing whatever surprises Reiji had in store, Reiji asking Yuya to confirm whether Pendulum Summoning was unique with his own eyes. Reiji then Pendulum Summoned three "DDD Hell Armageddon the Cruel End Overlord", destroying all of Yuya's monsters again and reducing him to 350 Life Points, also discovering, to his surprise, that destroyed Pendulum Monsters were instead sent to the Extra Deck instead of the Graveyard. Yuya demanded to know where Reiji had acquired Pendulum Summoning, but Reiji refused to answer. Yuya Pendulum Summoned his destroyed monsters back, along with a new one, "Performapal Partnaga," and attempted to destroy all three "Hell Armageddons", but the destruction of one simply activated the effects of the others, which gained the ATK of the destroyed "Hell Armageddon." Before Reiji could counterattack, his Pendulum Monsters' effects appeared and reduced their Scale, destroying his remaining "Hell Armageddons." He burst out laughing in surprise, realizing that Pendulum Summoning was not complete and that he had seen the possibility for further evolution in Pendulum Summoning. His mother then called out his name after hearing about the disappearance of Marco and Nakajima briefed Reiji on what had happened. Reiji gave Yuya the win, and when asked, told Yuya his name before departing. Arriving back at LDS, he learned that Marco had been involved in a Duel with an Xyz user. As they'd been with Yuya at the time, and Yuya had not demonstrated the capability, this ruled him out as the culprit. Reiji ordered his men to search for Marco after being shown Marco's cards and Duel Disk.

Following this, Reiji anonymously requested that Yuya be allowed into the Junior Youth Championship. Yuya, however, declined, and won his first Duel of the required four to gain entry normally. Nakajima later informed Reiji of this, and Reiji smiled, commenting that it seemed he'd done something unnecessary, as expected of the originator of Pendulum Summoning, and he asked if Yuya had Pendulum Summoned and if there was any change. Nakajima replied that there wasn't and admitted that he was bothered by elevated levels of Fusion Summoning that were occurring. The readings were stronger than normal, and Reiji compared it to the abnormally strong Xyz Summonings that had occurred recently. He ordered it to be monitored. His mother later approached him with two cards that had been sent anonymously to LDS that morning depicting Marco and Tio, one of LDS's aces. Reiji mused that the previous day, another strong Xyz Summon had been detected, and deduced that the two had been sealed inside the cards, though this was the first time he'd witnessed such a phenomenon. Though Marco and Tio were alive, they couldn't be saved with LDS's current power. He commented that this did raise one question - there had been there Xyz-related attacks, yet the first victim - Shingo Sawatari - hadn't been sealed in a card, suggesting two perpetrators. Before they could continue their talk, Mr. Sawatari barged into the office furiously, asking why they were loafing around. Despite Mr. Sawatari not having an appointment, Reiji acknowledged that the rumors of the third attack were true. Mr. Sawatari angrily asked why they weren't taking action to catch the perpetrator, pointing out that his son had testified that Yuya Sakaki had attacked him. Reiji asked if Shingo was still saying that, and Mr. Sawatari admitted that he hadn't seen Shingo since he'd left the hospital, but hadn't heard Shingo say differently. He asked why they were letting Yuya run free, despite Himika wanting to handle it herself, and wanted to inform the police. Rising from his chair, Reiji warned him that it was under investigation. Mr. Sawatari insisted that Yuya was the perpetrator, but Reiji forcefully told Mr. Sawatari that Yuya was no criminal. He vowed to catch the real criminal, until then, he'd like Mr. Sawatari to watch quietly. After Mr. Sawatari had left the office in a huff, Reiji ordered Nakajima to raise the level of alert in the inner city and analyze the cards of Marco and Tio to save all of the city's Duelists. He later learned that the strong Fusion Summoning readings were continuing, and mused that the person using them must be winning as well.

Later, Reiji practiced Pendulum Summoning again, this time with the effects of "Galilei" and "Kelper" updated and he sucessfully Summoned all three "Hell Armageddons." Imagining himself facing Yuya and "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon," Reiji reached for his next card, but before he could continue his move, he was advised to stop, as they had cleared the day's benchmarks and the experiment was a success. Nakajima congratulated him, stating that now they were one step closer to creating Leo Corporation's own Pendulum Cards. Despite this, Reiji considered his own inferior in terms of activation energy output to Yuya's Pendulum Monsters, believing them to be incomplete and unusuable in the tournament. He gave Nakajima until the tournament to fix the problem, as they could not underestimate their competition, no matter where it came from.

When Nakajima was complaining about using students to draw out the Duelist that had been attacking their students, Reiji arrived and ordered them to continue monitoring them, confident that whoever it was would show themselves. He witnessed Shun Kurosaki admit to attacking the LDS students and the start of his Battle Royale against Masumi, Yaiba and Hokuto. When Shun defeated all three of the students and he ordered the other LDS students that had arrived to bring them their boss, Reiji replied that he was right there if Shun wanted him, and his employees parted as Reiji walked towards the Xyz-user.

Manga biography
Reiji faced Yuya in an Action Duel in the special manga chapter. He used relentless tactics to quickly Summon high-Level monsters and was skilled with the use of Action Cards. In this chapter, Reiji is portrayed as a rather serious Duelist, and he claims that he never loses Duels.

Anime
Reiji uses a "DD" Deck, which utilizes the "Covenant" archetype of Spell and Trap Cards to easily gather the necessary cards to perform the Fusion, Synchro and Xyz Summons of the "DDD" monsters, using cards such as "Lease Laundering" and "DDD Resource Management" to avoid the negative effects of his cards. Reiji also owns prototypes of Pendulum Monsters.

Manga
In the special manga chapter, Reiji runs a Fiend Deck, featuring the "DD" and "Archfiend" archetypes. He uses Pendulum Summon and cards like "Rule of Antiquity" to easily bring high-Level monsters on the field.