Gong Strong

Noboru Gongenzaka ( Gongenzaka Noboru) is one of the main characters Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime. He is an old friend of Yuya Sakaki. He believes in "Non-Action" or "Steadfast" Duels. This means that even if competes in an Action Duel, he won't search for Action Cards.

History
Gongenzaka and his friend Yuya Sakaki were in a park one day, discussing Gongenzaka's tendency to not use Action Cards. Gongenzaka replied that there was always a chance that the card couldn't help him out, though Yuya protested that it was more exciting. Gongenzaka replied that he would believe in his Deck rather than in Action Cards.

Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Gongenzaka and Yuya Sakaki were engaged in a Duel in You Show Duel School to recruit future students. As Gongenzaka called out to Yuya to Duel in a one-on-one match, he boldly made a stage performance. Gongenzaka irritably yelled at Yuya to play seriously, but before their Duel could progress any further, the Solid Vision system was damaged, ending the Duel with no conclusion. He scolded Yuya after the Duel, pointing out that those watching the Duel didn't laugh with Yuya, but at him, reminding Yuya about how his father made audiences smile with his Dueling. When Nico Smiley arrived, offering to replace the school's Solid Vision system if Yuya Dueled Strong Ishijima, Gongenzaka stated that what was important about the situation were Yuya's feelings, noticing then that Yuya had disappeared. They later arrived at the Duel, witnessing Yuya's entrance and his immediate running off on his "Performapal Hip Hippo," something that Gongenzaka disapproved of, along with his dodging of Ishijima's attacks. Yuya's mother, Yoko Sakaki assured Gongenzaka that this was Yuya's way of fighting. He was quite surprised when Yuya performed a Pendulum Summon. and even more when the monsters he'd Summoned were enough to defeat Ishijima.

Afterwards, when Yuya and Yuzu Hiragi Dueled in an exhibition match of Pendulum Summoning, Gongenzaka, much to his annoyance, was regulated to operating the new Solid Vision System. Despite Yuya failing to Pendulum Summon at all, Gongenzaka, after Tatsuya stated his belief in Yuya and his Pendulum Summoning, encouraged Yuya to master it. He assisted Yuya in doing so, going through 291 Duels before Yuya was finally able to Pendulum Summon successfully again, and tearfully congratulated Yuya for succeeding.

Around a week later, Gongenzaka was in the middle of his morning run when he noticed three suspicious individuals lurking around the You Show Duel School. He confronted them, and was shocked to learn that Yuya had apparently attacked and hospitalized Shingo Sawatari. Gongenzaka vehemently denied that Yuya would do such a thing during the entire confrontation, encouraging the You Show Duel students to believe in Yuya as well. When Leo Corporation Chairwoman Himika Akaba proposed three Duels between students of both Schools, Gongenzaka eagerly volunteered, only to be replaced by Sora Shiun'in, who pointed out that Gongenzaka technically isn't a student of You Show Duel School.

Gongenzaka watched Yuya and Yuzu's Duels with the LDS students. When Yuzu lost, he tried to motivate Sora to win the third round. However, Sora had Gongenzaka take his place in the last Duel. Gongenzaka squared off against Yaiba Todo, the LDS' Synchro Course representative, who immediately performed two Synchro Summons on his first turn, Summoning "X-Saber Souza" and "XX-Saber Gottoms". He destroyed Gongenzaka's "Superheavy Samurai Kabuto" and reduced him to 1500 Life Points. Gongenzaka brought out his ace monster, "Superheavy Samurai Big Benkei," on his next turn and destroyed "Gottoms." Yaiba brought out another "Gottoms" on his next turn and powered it up with an Action Card, forcing Gongenzaka to use "Superheavy Samurai Soulfire Suit" to protect his monster at the cost of lowering its DEF and taking piercing damage that reduced him to 100 Life Points. When Yaiba went for his second Action Card, Gongenzaka allowed him to grab it, refusing to go against his Dueling philosophy. Yaiba then used the effect of "Gottoms" to send the rest of the cards in Gongenzaka's hand to the Graveyard. Despite this, Gongenzaka was able to draw a monster that powered up the DEF of "Big Benkei" and allowed it to destroy "Souza," only for Yaiba to revive it and call out a third "Gottoms." He proceeded to attack, attempting to destroy "Benkei" via an effect, allowing Gongenzaka to reduce his monster's DEF to 0 and activate the effect of "Superheavy Samurai Soul Break Armor" to wipe Yaiba out. Yaiba was able to block the damage, forcing Gongenzaka to use "Superheavy Samurai Soul Big Bang" to end the Duel in a draw. He expressed regret to Yuya that he was unable to win the Duel, but Yuya reassured him that it was thanks to Gongenzaka that they had a draw. After the events involving LDS, Gongenzaka began training himself physically at his families' dojo by pulling up a boulder over the edge of a cliff and standing under a waterfall. However, he didn't think that this training was enough. He later went to Leo Duel School to seek out Yaiba for assistance. The two later had a practice Duel on a shore platform.

Deck
Gongenzaka plays a "Superheavy Samurai" Deck, which focuses on monsters with high DEF. Gongenzaka's Deck is composed only of Monster Cards. As he uses no Spell or Trap Cards, Gongenzaka utilizes several monsters which activate their effects from his hand or Graveyard such as "Superheavy Samurai Soulfire Suit" and "Superheavy Samurai Soul Break Armor" respectively, and require that he have no Spell or Trap Cards in his Graveyard and thus he cannot use Action Cards in Action Duels. His Deck is spearheaded by his ace, "Superheavy Samurai Big Benkei"