Dimensional counterparts

The world is divided into four dimensions. In them there are four boys with the same face. The dragons they have call for each other. As if seeking out each other...

— The phrase recited before the Japanese opening themes for the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime, during the Heartland City arc.

All 8 dimensional counterparts of the series. (Clockwise: Yugo, Yuri, Yuya, Yuto, Lulu, Zuzu, Celina, and Rin.)

A dimensional counterpart is a phenomenon featured in the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime where a person from one of the Four Dimensions resembles another person from another dimension. In addition to sharing the same face, the counterparts seem to be drawn to each other.

History

Yuya and his counterparts are the reincarnations of Zarc while Zuzu and her counterparts are the reincarnations of Ray Akaba, who came to be when Ray used the four cards created by her father, Leo Akaba, to split the Supreme King Dragon Zarc with herself and the United World, which resulted in the creation of their reincarnations and the Four Dimensions.

Leo eventually regained his memories of the events, and he attempted to recreate Ray by capturing Celina and her counterparts. He had Yuri capture Lulu Obsidian and Rin for him, and later sent him after Zuzu Boyle. Originally, Ray's incarnations were intended to keep Zarc's incarnations in check, but Leo's actions caused Yuri and his counterparts to come in contact with one another, and Yuya Sakaki accidentally absorbed Yuto after Yugo defeated the latter in a Duel, resulting in Zarc's influence driving his fragmented incarnations to absorb each other to restore himself without Ray's incarnations capable of stopping them.

During the Lancers' time in the Synchro Dimension, Celina was captured by Barrett and brought back to Duel Academy. By placing a Parasite Monster into her mind, the Doktor used her to capture Zuzu.

Sometime later, Yuri was able to absorb Yugo after defeating him in a Duel and went after Yuya in order to become one with him. After watching Yuri seal his father into a card, enraged, Yuya and Yuri faced off against each other in a duel. After Yuri lost, Zarc was able to take control of Yuya and used Astrograph Magician to fuse his alter egos and the Four Dimension Dragons back into the Supreme King Dragon Zarc.

At the same time, having captured all four girls, Leo processed to fuse them back into Ray with ARC-V by transferring each girls' life force into the machine's reactor core one at a time starting from Zuzu, Lulu, Rin, and finally Celina. However, due to not having enough energy, Ray's resurrection was incomplete and become a semi corporeal spirit trapped in the core.

During the battle against Zarc, Riley Akaba came to Ray and offered her body to her so she can defeat Zarc. But the moment Ray defeated Zarc with Yuya's help, Riley purged Ray's spirit from her body and used the Natural Energy Cards to extract Zarc's spirit and seal him inside of herself. Since Riley disrupted the process that would have separated them, Yuya still had his counterparts merged in his body as they manage to eventually put Zarc's spirit at peace. At that moment, as she and her incarnations were in a inactive state until sensing Zarc's passing, Ray reincarnates as Zuzu with Celina, Rin, and Lulu's spirits living on within her.

Mistaken Identities

A common recurrence is for a character to confuse one counterpart with another counterpart due to their identical facial structures. Instances of confusion include:

Character	Mistaken Identity	Identifier(s)
Yuya	Yugo	Sector Security, Frank, Tarren, and Damon
	Yuto	Kite
Zuzu	Lulu	Yuto and Shay
	Celina	Obelisk Force and Claude
	Rin	Yugo
Yuto	Yuya	Zuzu, Sylvio, Ootomo, Yamabe, Kakimoto, and Claude
	Yuri	Yugo
Yugo	Yuya	Nagi and Taka
	Yuri	Yuto
Yuri	Yuya	Zuzu and Yusho
	Yugo	Zuzu
Celina	Zuzu	Allie, Yuya, Gong, Sylvio, Aura, Sora, Claude, Sector Security, Frank, and Tarren
	Lulu	Zuzu
	Rin	Yugo
Lulu	Zuzu	Yuya
Zarc	Yugo	Chojiro

Counterparts

Zarc

File:Zarc.png

Zarc, the original incarnation.

When Zarc was defeated by Ray with the power of the Natural Energy Cards, his essence was divided in four and manifested as four infants who grew into youths who each possesses a Dimension Dragon. Yuya serves as the primary protagonist of the series, with Yuto and Yugo as secondary protagonists and Yuri as a major antagonist.

Zarc manifests within his incarnations whenever they enter rampant state of mind and begin to sync with each other. This process is magnified when the four dragons have all been summoned in the same area, enabling Zarc to speak through all four incarnations and voicing his desire to become whole by merging his incarnations back into single being.

Zarc was only able to reform by influencing his incarnations into wanting to Duel each other. When one incarnation lost, the winner would absorb him (or in Yuto's case, even though he lost to Yugo, Yuya absorbed him since he was closer) until all were merged together. With his incarnations now one in Yuya's body, considering them his "alter egos" rather than actual people, Zarc took complete control over Yuya, turning his body into a demonic form. While in control, Zarc defeated everyone who faced off against him using demonic versions of his dragons and his own dragon form. However, while fighting Ray as she used Riley Akaba's body to duel him, his incarnations rallied under Yuya and resisted him long enough to cause his defeat while exposed to the Natural Energy Cards. However, instead of being separated from each other, Yuya and his counterparts remain in one body after Riley extracted Zarc's essence from them.

Each of their Decks seems to be based on that of a past protagonist of a series which their dimension is based on. Yuya uses Spellcasters similar to Yugi Muto and his "Dark Magician". Yuto uses Warriors similar to Yuma Tsukumo and his "Utopia". Yugo uses Machines like Yusei Fudo and both of them use WIND Dragon-Type ace monsters. Yuri is the only one to not follow this pattern; his Deck instead takes inspiration from Yubel, Jaden Yuki's spirit partner, as they both use Plant-themed Decks, though his use of the card "Super Polymerization" mirrors both characters.

Character	Dimension	Dragon	Deck
	Standard / Pendulum		Performapal/Magician/Odd-Eyes The Phantom Knights (124-125)
	Xyz		The Phantom Knights
	Synchro		Speedroid
	Fusion	File:StarveVenomFusionDragon-JP-Anime-AV-NC-3.png	Predaplant Honor Student (123-125)

Ray Akaba

Ray Akaba, the original incarnation.

Having used the Natural Energy Cards to stop Zarc, Ray's body was splintered in four as consequence of their use. She became four infants who grew into young girls who each possesses a bracelet, an embodiment of one of the Natural Energy Cards. For this very reason, they are collectively called Bracelet Girls (ブレスレットの子 (こ) , Buresuretto no Ko). Zuzu serves as a secondary protagonist of the series, with her counterparts Celina, Rin and Lulu each playing a major supporting role.

Unlike Zarc, Ray choose not to subjugate her incarnations and allowed them to live as they pleased. However, acting through the bracelets to make sure Zarc incarnations are not in the same place at the same time, Ray subconsciously influenced the girls to be close to her respective Zarc counterpart to keep them from being influenced by Zarc's will. Whenever Zarc's incarnations approached each other, the bracelets Ray created would warp all but one of them away and snap them out of Zarc's control. While Zuzu, Lulu, and Rin were able to do that, Celina could not due to the actions of Leo Akaba who sought to restore his daughter at any cost. Her father used Duel Academy to invade the other dimensions to abduct Lulu and Rin before recapturing Celina and then capturing Zuzu, leading to Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri meeting up and Dueling as they sought one another out, with Ray's counterparts unable to stop them. This caused the the events that would lead to Zarc's resurrection.

All four girls were briefly placed under the control the Doktor's Parasite Monsters, making them temporary antagonists, but were freed when Leo carded the Doktor for his dangerous thinking. However, they were already placed in capsules to be inserted into the reactor core of ARC-V. Leo, not regretting their feelings as separate beings or taking Ray's wishes into account, inserted them into the reactor to be forcefully merged back into Ray. However, Ray lacked a physical form and was forced to use Riley's body to deal with Zarc once he was reconstituted. However, once Zarc was defeated, Ray was forced out of Riley's body as the child used the Natural Energy Cards to extract Zarc from his incarnations and absorbed it. When Ray returned to ARC-V, Leo deduced that his daughter and her incarnations are an inactive state following the second dimensional split. But upon sensing Yuya's win against Declan enabling Zarc's spirit to finally rest, Ray awakens and reincarnates as Zuzu with her counterparts' spirits residing within her.

The girls' Decks are shown to each have a feminine themed to them as nearly all of their monsters are female. Their Decks also possess a synergy to Fusion Summon and each one is based around a Natural Energy Card with a musical theme to them: Zuzu being flowers and melody, Celina's moon and dancing, Rin's wind and instruments (bells), and Lulu's being birds and singing (songbirds). As for Ray, other than the cards she used to defeat Zarc, her Deck is unknown.

Character	Dimension	Bracelet	Deck
	Standard / Pendulum		Melodious
	Fusion		Lunalight
	Synchro		Windwitch
	Xyz		Lyrilusc