They say that every good hero needs a good villain. But I think it's even more important to have a good rival to help them along the way. After all, any rival worth their salt knows full well that they must not only support the hero who gets in their way but also challenge them. And through these often fateful challenges, we get some of the most compelling characters in fiction. Anime, in general, has often given many examples of rivals that far eclipse our mc in some shape, way, or form. Because as much as we like to admit we sometimes are the rivals of our own lives. So naturally, I have to ask this simple question. Some of my favorite rivals in anime are Paul from Pokemon Dp, Bakugou from Mha, and Vegeta from Dbz. But we are not here to talk about other anime. Today we are going to be talking about the many rivals of Yugioh and discuss which one of them reigns supreme!
Rules and Notes
Let's get obvious rules out of the way since we've been here before. Obvious spoilers ahead for every Yugioh series from DM to Arc V and any pictures I use aren't mine. Like before, this will be a combination of my thoughts and feelings of each rival while also trying to judge how well they do in 10 duels against each other. In this scenario, they will duel in character with decks that they consider to be their strongest while at the same time having all magical powers restricted (Blazing Soul, Chaos Draw, etc.). For this list, I will have no ties, and I will also be using the MR3 format for duels. Finally, all of the duelists involved will be their anime counterparts and take all opinions I have on these people with a grain of salt. Now onto the list of combatants and decks, I will be using.
Kaiba-DSOD deck
Jack-EOS deck with no speed spells.
Kite-EOS deck
Shark- EOS deck with Nasch
Declan- EOS deck
The good news is that since their rivals, their decks are a lot more consistent then I bargained for, so there shouldn't be any real debate on cards they have. And now to the two big controversies on this list. First up while I do know that Kaiba DSOD is more or less the manga counterpart of Kaiba he still is animated and I can just say a lot more on this Kaiba then I can say on the anime version of him plus we could fill in some of the blanks with his prior decks(Obelisk and Critias notwithstanding). Finally, there are reasons why I excluded Zane and Chazz on this list. The main one being that I don't personally believe that they count as rivals, or at the very least, their now strong indicators of one. While Chazz has had many duels against Jaden, he kind of is treated as comedic relief after season 1. Plus, his deck is too inconsistent with scaling up to the others properly. Finally, Zane, to me, is not a rival, so much as he is a superior to Jaden. His first duel with him was to show how far he had to go, and their last duel was to show how Jaden would be like when he becomes a senior like him, so they will both be counted as honorable mentions. I think Aster is a better rival than both of them, but he's out of the running too. And before you guys ask why I then included Kite and Shark on the list is mainly because you can make great arguments for why both people of them are considered Yuma's rival that I will explain later (oh and side note Kite won't be having his Numeron Dragon since he never technically used it). Finally, for you, ARC-V fans Silvio Sawatari isn't on the list for the same reasons as Chazz is, and I don't even want to consider him up for analysis. Also, don't think this needs to be said, but the Arc-V counterparts of Jack and Kite are not the same characters and don't have any rivalry with Yuya, so they're out too. With all that out of the way, let's begin the list properly.
Honorable Mentions
Chazz Princeton
Okay, so might as well rip the band-aid off here. All memes aside, Chazz is easily one of the best characters in GX. Mainly one of the things that I do like about Chazz is that he makes the most of his limited screen time. Chazz starts as an arrogant piece of work who gets beaten by Jaden on the regular. You immediately think he is just going to be another nameless joke after being sent to North Academy. Except the absolute mad lad comes back to Duel Academy with a whole ass army chanting his name. And with this development, Chazz pretty much becomes a more versatile and overall stronger duelist that managed to move past the stigma of wealth that persisted in his brothers.
And even in the second season, Chazz keeps this trend up. Sure he spent a large amount of time in the society of light (effectively being another random croney), but when he gets saved by Jaden's darkness holy crap, is it amazing. Because then he proceeds to demolish the entire society single-handedly and wins the entire Genex tournament with his society of weirdos! All these proved that if Chazz gets taken down a peg, he comes back ten times harder with an army of followers. Too bad that after season 2, he pretty much reverts to nothing more than a joke, constantly getting sidelined like most of the cast. It also gets worse when, during one of his last important duels in the series, Chazz decided to give up his pride to throw a duel for laughs. While his relationship with Aster is cool and his Darkness vision very impressive, I kind of wish this was handled more properly. Comedic relief is fine, but Chazz in the first season did have a depth that should have been answered to more. Other than that, I've got nothing to say on his deck since I don't think it's consistent enough to represent him.
Zane Truesdale
Zane is a very interesting character. After winning duels left and right, I like how Zane is the one to give Jaden his first loss. While he didn't play the most important role in the series, I do like the presence and extremely "tough love" approach to both Jaden and Syrus as he you can tell he respects their strength as duelists a lot but needs to have a stern hand in their development for them to grow. His last duel with Jaden is one of my favorites in the franchise, as I liked the ending of him passing the torch to Jaden.
His further development to me is hit or miss depending on your point of view. I love how even though he is one of the best duelists in the academy at that point, Zane still gets defeated by Aster, proving that he is a little fish in a big pond despite all of his skill. I also really like his downward spiral as he begins to shed his former philosophy of seeing every opponent as an equal that could one day challenge him. From the crushing of this philosophy, he becomes the edgiest character in all of GX, which is saying something when you somehow out edge the literal embodiment of darkness and the psychotic gender-confused sadomasochistic demon. A part of me both likes and hates that he doesn't get out of this funk of his in season 2, but I think it works a lot better in season 3.
In that season, I like how not only does Zane pay for the mistakes he's made previously, but I also like how he sort of becomes like his old self again. With this new attitude, it makes the battle between him and Jesse all the more emotional as he ends his life with his original ace card. Or so I thought until the show brought him back for some reason. I mean, I like him an all, but I wish he stayed dead to make his final moments so much better while at the same time giving Syrus more substantial growth. Other than that, Zane was a cold calculated duelist that perfectly embodied his Cyber dragons. But with that out of the way on to the real list.
Seto Kaiba
Unfortunately, even with all of the buffs from DSOD, I think that Kaiba isn't cutting it here. That being said, I do think that Kaiba is hands down the best and most entertaining rival in all of the series. While I don't think he's the best character, I do believe that if I ever find a girl that looks at me the way that Kaiba looks at Yugi, I will be set for life. But in all seriousness, Kaiba is a worthy character for analysis. I think the main reason why Kaiba has his famous smug is mainly due to his background. From his perspective, to make sure that he and Makouba were properly cared for, he had to give up on his childhood. For years on end, he had to prove himself in a corporate jungle that never backed down. Growing up with this mindset can't have been easy, and it shows as he pretty much considered himself invincible after overcoming so much while staving off any potential betrayers.
After his fight with Yugi, however, Kaiba's shattered pride forces him to become a far more respectable and honorable duelist with the Duelist Kingdom tournament, making him even more pragmatic and ambitious. This ambition perfectly leads up to his little filler arc, where Kaiba learns how to become both accepting of his past life while looking into a brighter future. It's probably through this prideful mindset that he truly respected Yami Yugi to the point he couldn't even let go of the past until it takes Yugi beating him down in DSOD to acknowledge him finally. Honestly, DSOD Kaiba, in general, is the best Kaiba as the movie does understand why we love this magnificent bastard. This dude literally makes a virtual copy of Atem, uses his tech to survive instant disintegration, and even go into the freaking afterlife without killing himself first. I fully believe that Kaiba could solve all of the world's problems in like a week if it weren't for his rivalry with Yugi.
Kaiba's pride, arrogance, and ambition are perfectly exemplified through his deck. His dragons all have ridiculous offensive power with surgical deck destruction to match. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon is a great symbol for not only Kaiba's past but his current philosophy in power. All of this combined creates a very aggressive deck that unfortunately can't measure up. While the crush card virus and blue eyes are all-powerful cards, other rivals focus far more on special summoning, so it's not that good of a card as it could just give others the chance to unleash more powerful monsters a lot easier. Deep Eyes and Pandemic Dragon are very powerful cards, but I think they can't be accessed fast enough. Other than that, Kaiba is an amazing rival that I will always appreciate.
Kite Tenjo
Next up, we have the former number hunter Kite Tenjo! Like a lot of Zexal's characters, Kite is considered a Kaiba rip off(which isn't the best distinction given all of the rivals have aspects of Kaiba), but I do think he has unique and cool features that make him his own. Because from my point of view, I think that Kite is a noble man that constantly battled against light and darkness. Because of Hart's condition and Dr. Fakers' extremist ambition, all of Kite's inner light and strong morals were twisted into something unrecognizable.
It got so bad to the point where this new harsh light was directed towards anything that was put in his way. Fooling himself into thinking that he was doing right and completely sacrificing his own body as penance. But because Yuma was able to guide Kite into another future, he quickly turned his light to shine a proactive path of repentance for all he's done, taking care of the Barains with the same harshness as the numbers. It was through this Kite became a certifiable badass that made every duelist sweat while also showing honor unlike any other.
This inner light was shown really well in the photon deck. From what I understand, the Photon deck is one of the more versatile archetypes on the list. They are a very fast group that has great on-field control over a person's cards. The Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon also has amazing support to not only quickly summon it but also give Kite enough cards for almost any scenario. The deck has high attack, effect negation, and enough defenses to make it balanced. The biggest weakness of the archetype that holds it back is just the fact that it's only at it's best when against Xyz centric decks, which can only do so much against the other rivals, which is why he's going to regulate to #4.
Jack Atlas
Next up, we have the master of faster taking bronze, which is unfortunate since he's one of my favorites. If Kite is a Kaiba rip off, then I always saw Jack as a combination of both Kaiba and Chazz or a Kaiba did right. Growing up a child with nothing but wanting everything, Jack eventually rose above the slums of the satellite to become the King of the Turbo Dueling Circuit. Through this, Jack's dreams were easily fulfilled, but he still felt empty. It was only until his dethronement from Yusei where he truly started to come to terms with all he threw away while at the same time turning into the same underdog he always was.
All these factors combined created a man with one pressing question that needed to be answered by both his friends and himself. "Was he truly worthy of King?" And through subsequent arcs, Jack managed to become king once again as a new man who had now cherished the friendships he's made along his journey of redemption, eventually throwing away his arrogance.
Jack's need for dominance and devilish machinations for getting such power is perfectly shown in his Archfiend deck. After all, the Red Dragon Archfiend is a king of hell that destroys anything in its immediate area. Not only does Red Dragon have amazing support, but Jack's resonators give him easy access to all of his Synchro summons, which is very powerful and aggressive cards. Plus, keep in mind that Red Nova Dragon is a tough son of a gun to put down in a late-game given its self banishing and it gaining attack from every single tuner in the GY. Finally, there is Majestic Red Dragon, which shouldn't be ignored given that it can decimate a lot of special summoned aces. While Jack does have the most confirmed wins out of everyone, hear I don't, which were legitimate. This gives Jack a little spot on an overall very high record plus no speed spells put him at a bit of disadvantage.
Shark/Nasch/Reginald Kastle
Now on to my favorite rival in the entire series: Shark, who may be the most underrated rival in the entire franchise. He almost feels like the main character half the time. Throughout the series, we are introduced to 3 main facades. First up is the venomous Shark, the bully that lashed out against the unfair world by preying about the weak. A facade he so rightfully gained after having his sister Rio be put in the hospital by his former idol Quattro. But through Yuma's constant interference, Shark eventually gave up this bullying persona, revealing one of his best traits.
He might be a bit of a dick on the outside, but for those who get close to him, he is a fierce protector, no matter how much it hurts him. Throughout Zexal, we see more of Reginald's persona as he risks his life to save Yuma on numerous occasions while dealing with his past against Quattro. Unfortunately, this all fades away once again as Nasch's past as an emperor, and a Barain comes full force. At first, you think that everything will be okay, and this won't matter in the long run, but you also know that Shark can't turn his back on anyone under his protection. This conflict eats away at him again and again until by the end of his arc, with most friends dead on both sides dead, Shark completely loses what little sanity he had left. When Yuma did finally win the duel, Shark, upon his death, was probably happy because not only could he finally find peace from his burden but also know that the future of his people is in good hands. It's a shame another season 4 since I would've loved to see what this new Shark/Reginald/Nasch would be like.
Shark's constantly changing identity crisis is reflected heavily in his deck. The Shark deck is a very aggressive archetype that is pretty much as versatile as Kite, but with a couple more swarming effects to Xyz summon his numerous aces ( because he couldn't decide on a single one). With these numerous ace monsters, Shark has a lot of versatility, as all of them are pretty powerful on their own. If that isn't enough, Shark has all the perks of a final villain and rival, so as a last resort, he can also have Chaos Xyz Barain Hope, the living symbol of the seven Barain Emperors. It is also the most broken monster on the list given it's 7000Atk, numerous negation effects, life point recovery, attack manipulation and effect damage it's damn near impossible to take the King of the Barains out. Well, except for my next pick.
Declan Akaba
Taking the top spot on both this list and the corporate ladder lies the leader of the Lancers: Reiji Akaba. Similar to Yusei, I knew Declan would make it to the top spot of this list. Mainly I don't think there is a rival quite like Declan. If Yuya is the kid every old player feared when Pendulums first came out, then Reiji is that pro player that wondered how he could abuse it. After Yuya discovered Pendulum Summoning, Declan used many elaborate polys to manipulate the strongest duelists he could muster to assemble the lancers and finally stand up to the evil actions of his father. While said plans put Yuya and friends in danger, it still led to the overall benefit of everyone. And that is the beauty of Declan's character. He's willing to do villainous, intelligent things and be hated to get what he wants but does have limits as he is an honorable person that leads by example.
This all together makes Declan the protagonist of Arc-V in a sense as he is the one that technically moves the plot forward more than Yuya. It's also just really refreshing having such a smart and genuinely intelligent character who never underestimated his opponents and learned from them. He also has an incredible presence that forces Yuya to grow up and catch up with him. While I do wish there was a subtle hint of internal conflict or more human lack of composure to him, I still really like Declan a lot anyway.
Declan's deck fits him like a glove (and I'm not saying that just because the D/D archetype is my favorite). In a literal army full of devils named after historical conquerors, Declan lays at the top using villainous contracts to use the full power of this impressive arsenal while at the same time getting out of these deals at the right time in order not to swing too far into despair. The strategy itself is amazingly effective as Reiji can perform numerous special summons with the least amount of resources at his disposal on the first turn. Not only does it allow for incredible beat down strategies and speed so savage that they had to make a master rule to nerf him and a manga card that describes him as a god. The D/D monsters also know how to shave off a lot of effect damage, which can be effective against other rivals on the list like Shark and Jack. While Shark does have the overall better ace monster, Reiji is the better strategist with a better arsenal. Plus, Declan can use cards like Dark Contract of Monopoly Seal to banish all Xyz summoning for Shark or use his King Armageddons together to make them immune to card effects. A combination of Gust King High Alexander might also prove beneficial given that if it's ability is set up right with Dark contract of the war deity to increase his overall attack to the 7000 needed to match Barain Hope. All these combos together mean that Declan will reign supreme as king when the dust settles.
Epilogue
I hope you once again enjoyed my opinions on Yugioh. Unfortunately, this might be the last of my Yugioh anime rankings since stuff like villains, best friends, and females would feel too repetitive to me. Again these are all my own opinions, so I hope you enjoyed it all, and I hope you see me again next post.