Declan Akaba's History
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YU-GI-OH! WIKI
Declan Akaba
Declan Akaba.png
NAMES
ENGLISH
Declan Akaba
JAPANESE TRANSLATED
Reiji Akaba
NICKNAMES
Dec lame (by Roget, dub only)
JAPANESE
赤あか馬ば 零れい児じ
赤馬 零児
あかば れいじ
Rōmaji: (Akaba Reiji)
KOREAN
레이
KRR:Rei
Translated:
Rei
FRENCH
Declan Akaba[1]
GERMAN
Declan Akaba
PERSONAL
AGE
16 [2]
GENDER
Male
RELATIVES
Leo Akaba (father)[3]
Henrietta Akaba (mother)[4]
Riley Akaba (adopted younger sister)[5][6]
Ray Akaba (older half sister)
CAREER
OCCUPATION
CEO of Leo Corporation
ORGANIZATION
Leo Corporation
Lancers
DUELIST
ANIME DECK
D/D
APPEARANCES
ANIME DEBUT
Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V episode 2: "Swing into Action: Part 2"
ANIME
Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
VOICE ACTORS
ENGLISH
Billy Bob Thompson
JAPANESE
Yoshimasa Hosoya[2]
GERMAN
Tim Knauer[7]
ITALIAN
Alessandro Capra
TAGALOG
Pipooh Villavicencio
LESS
For other versions of this character, see Declan Akaba (disambiguation).
Declan Akaba, known as Reiji Akaba (赤あか馬ば 零れい児じ Akaba Reiji) in the Japanese version, is one of the main characters and the tritagonist in the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime. He is the second CEO of the huge Leo Corporation. In promotional materials for ARC-V, it was stated that Declan is the youngest Duelist in history to be certified to Duel in the professional circuit, having done so at age 15.[2]
Declan functions as Yuya Sakaki's primary rival, despite their alliance, at first due to his capability to Pendulum Summon, and later due to his questionable methods for resolving the Interdimensional Domination campaign. While Declan notes that Yuya has surpassed LID's top team, he still does not consider Yuya to be on equal standings with him. Despite his early introduction into the series, Declan's name was not mentioned on-screen until episode 8. He is the founder of the Lancers, an organization dedicated to fighting against invaders from other dimensions.
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Design
Appearance
FullDeclanAkaba.png
Declan's usual outfit.
YoungReiji.jpg
A young Declan.
Declan is a thin young man with pale skin and grey hair, the front layer being a lighter grey than the back. His hair is arranged in a simple style, flicking upwards at the ends. Declan'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, Declan 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. This also breaks the tradition of primary rivals wearing trench coats or jackets. When he was monitoring the You Show Duel School in person, he concealed his identity beneath a large hooded red/gray sweatshirt.
He dressed much the same as a youth three years previously, but did not wear a scarf nor have his ears pierced, and he wore a darker blue sweater with a zig-zag pattern on the chest. All of the members of the Akaba family have a slight card suit motif; Declan's is the diamond and the most clearly displayed; his Deck is the "D/D" archetype, his layered bangs are notably in the distinct shape of diamonds, his earrings are diamond-shaped, the symbol of the Lancers has a diamond shape in the background, his sweater as a child was patterned with diamonds, and by pure coincidence, his first name in the dub begins with the letter "D".
Personality
In general, Declan has a grim and serious demeanor, but he takes an interest in Yuya Sakaki. He is utterly polite without fail, save rare moments of a loss in composure. Unlike other primary rivals from the previous series Declan is calm and collected, and is shown to be extremely level-headed and strong-willed. Despite his advanced skills, he is not overly arrogant, merely truthful; he takes winning for granted and does not care for other Duelists, though this changes after meeting Yuya.[8] He is quite respectful to Yuya's father Yusho Sakaki due to his history with Leo Akaba, 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 Dueltaining. He was shown to smile when Yuya exerted his full strength. He later admits that while Yuya's feelings gave birth to a great power, this is not always the case and emotions can still cost one on the battlefield.
Despite his declared rivalry with Yuya Sakaki, Declan does not show any open dislike for him, and in fact defended him from false accusations of attacking Leo Corporation employees and later remained confident that Yuya wouldn't be foolish enough to cooperate with Jean-Michel Roget; this demonstrates that he may hold a degree of respect for Yuya. Declan has also mentioned that he does not care very much for his father, Leo Akaba, and he demonstrates an intense dislike of his father's ambitions, given the suffering that they have caused. Declan is also pragmatic without regard for the actions of potential allies, offering an alliance to Shay and Celina despite their attacks on his students, and to Sora Perse after Sora renounced Duel Academy, but doesn't extend similar offers to people with ulterior motives like Jean-Michel Roget.
He is shown to be highly analytical and a skilled strategist, and claims he only plays games that he knows that he can win. He used the Arc League Championship as a test to recruit Lancers, and came up with a plan to fend off the Fusion Dimension invasion within only a day. He can show a less moral side when executing his plans, as he had no problem allowing many Duelists to be sealed in cards during the Battle Royal and only cared about the ones that did survive. During his second Duel with Yuya he showed a cruel indifference and revealed that he considers feelings to be a weakness and a tool to manipulate others, as seen when he used Yuya's feelings towards Zuzu Boyle to push him to Duel more efficiently by lying about Zuzu's fate after her disappearance.
Despite his cold nature, he cares closely about his adopted younger sister Riley and gets along with his mother. According to Moon Shadow, Declan does care about others' lives and won't abandon his allies, even if his actions seem to suggest otherwise; he sent Moon underground precisely for this purpose. In the second season, Declan tends to act more reserved and quiet and takes action only when it is necessary. However he later criticized the High Council for their incompetence in keeping New Domino City under control and Roget for his selfish ambitions.
In his youth, Declan was more reckless, crossing dimensions (though unaware that he had done so at the time) to find his father after he had disappeared and exposing his hiding place to save Celina. He also spoke far more brashly (in Japanese, he referred to himself as "boku" in contrast with his current self who refers to himself as "watashi", which is the polite form), demanding answers from his father. Declan made the switch in pronouns after making the decision to take over as President of the Leo Corporation.
Etymology
His character's last name, Akaba, means "Red Horse". Declan's surname is similar to that of Seto Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh!, whose name also has also contains the character 馬 (Uma, Horse), serving as another similarity between the two characters. His given Japanese name of Reiji means "Zero Child"; he shares the character of "Zero" with his father, adoptive sister and Ray Akaba. With a different kanji(怜侍), it can also mean "cleverness".
His dub first name, Declan, likely comes from René Descartes, a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. A theorem named after Descartes (Descartes' theorem) also involves a connection with circles, connecting him with his Japanese name's meaning.
Abilities
During his first Duel with Yuya, Declan demonstrated swift athleticism when necessary. He also possesses good reflexes and strength as he managed to intercept a punch from the athletic Yuya with ease.
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Biography
History
Young Declan.png
Young Declan in Fusion Dimension.
Three years before the Arc League Championship, Declan's father, Leo Akaba, disappeared, causing Declan's mother, Henrietta Akaba to begin throwing violent fits. Concerned by his mother's change in mood, Declan decided to find Leo and confront him over Henrietta's sudden change.[9] He used a strange device in Leo's lab, unbeknownst to Declan, this transported him across dimensions to the Fusion Dimension's Duel Academy. He wandered the halls until he noticed Celina being chased by faculty members. When they cornered her, he watched from atop a wall behind her as she Dueled them, and he was surprised to see that their holograms had mass without an Action Field. He Summoned "D/D Cerberus" to defend her and offered her his hand, which she took, and pulled her up over the wall. Declan and Celina fled to the harbor, where they were caught by Leo and several Obelisk Force members, to Declan's surprise.[10]
DeclanatAcademia.png
Declan at Duel Academy.
Celina mentioned that Leo wanted to destroy the Xyz and Synchro Dimensions, mentioning that the attack on the Xyz Dimension was about to start, prompting a confused Declan to protest that Leo had not mentioned anything about this to him or his mother. The Obelisk Force squad took Celina away, and one of them placed a miniature teleportation device on Declan's wrist, which sent him back to the Standard Dimension and then self-destructed.[10]
These events motivated Declan to stop his father's ambitions.[10] He called Yusho Sakaki, who had created the ARC System alongside Leo, to his father's office and announced his intent to take over as the President of the Leo Corporation. Declan asked Yusho to lead the Lancers and help him stop Leo's ambition after investigating the research his father left behind. Yusho suggested that he talk with Leo and resolve the matter peacefully, using the device in Leo's lab to make the journey, but he never returned.[11] Declan subsequently managed to achieve entry into the Professional Circuit by the age of fifteen. At some point, an orphaned child from a war-torn country was brought in and his mother explained that the child had lost their sense of self from what they had experienced. This made the child an ideal candidate to become a Duel Soldier to fight against Duel Academy. Declan, however, was quite disturbed by this. The child, Riley, was adopted into their family, and Declan developed a caring relationship with his adopted sibling.[6] Knowing what Riley's life had been like, Declan gave her "C/C Critical Eye", telling Riley that her life had no light in it, so she must capture the light of her opponents. He taught Riley to Duel himself, and Riley quickly became a strong Duelist.[12
