Yusaku Fujiki

''Absolutes do not exist. That is what life is. That is why people become stronger. That occasionally leads to conflicts. Even if that happens, we have to keep fighting.''

— Yusaku Fujiki, to Ai

Yusaku Fujiki is the 6th main protagonist of the Tag Force Chronicle He is an alternate universe version of the Yusaku Fujiki that appeared in the [https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Yu-Gi-Oh!_VRAINS Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS] anime and a former victim of the Hanoi Project, which resulted in him being the originator of the Dark Ignis Ai. After his rescue, he began hunting the Knights of Hanoi in LINK VRAINS under the name Unknown. After meeting Cal Kolter, he began operating under the name Playmaker. He is also the Teammate (Friends) of Yugi, Jaden, Yusei, Yuma, Yuya, and Clarice who's good friends with whom Yusaku has with.

Appearance
Yusaku is a teenage boy with fair skin, green eyes, and dark blue hair that spikes outward in the back and contains light blue bangs with pink accents. His standard attire is the Den City High School uniform, consisting of a slate-colored jacket with light blue trim over a white dress shirt with a blue tie, a pair of black pants, and black-and-white shoes. The only times Yusaku is seen without his uniform is when he runs the hot dog truck in Kolter's absence, which consists of a black t-shirt, blue jeans and the Café Nom apron, and when he met Kolter in the past. In the past, Yusaku wears a black hoodie with a gray-blue hem and strings over a white shirt; he also wore a pair of pale teal pants and brown and grey shoes with orange on the straps. He sometimes wears this same outfit in the present.

While Dueling in LINK VRAINS, Yusaku wears a black and green bodysuit with golden stripes going across his body and a grey belt at the waistline. His hair color also changes to yellow and red with pink strips and accents. Occasionally, the golden stripes in his "Playmaker" bodysuit glow when he uses his Skill; when Playmaker Ritual Summons, the stripes glow blue; when he Fusion Summons, the stripes glow purple; when he Synchro Summons, the stripes glow white with a green tinge; and when he Xyz Summons, the stripes glow dark blue.

When he was a child, Yusaku wore a brown jacket with a green shirt. He wore blue pants, brown boots, and didn't have pink accents on his light blue bangs yet.

Personality
Yusaku was a kind and cheerful child who loved and enjoyed dueling. However, his innocence was shattered after being kidnapped and subjected to months of intense torture during the Hanoi Project ten years ago. The incident caused Yusaku to develop severe post-traumatic stress disorder, and he continued to suffer nightmares from the torture he went through, even after receiving years of therapy. As a result, Yusaku holds hatred against the Knights of Hanoi and swears vengeance against them for ruining his life and others who were victimized by the incident.

As a teenager, Yusaku is shown to be calm, collected and intelligent, but also colder, more serious and aloof, believing his life to be cut short and devoid of friends or a future. This causes him to distance himself from people even when they try to befriend him, such as Naoki Shima, whose name Yusaku couldn't remember after a month in school. He comes off as rather awkward in public and has trouble answering questions at times, leading others to make assumptions about him, such as when Naoki thought he wanted to join the Duel Club and Skye thought he wanted new equipment from SOL. The only person he seems to trust and is on good terms with is his partner Cal Kolter, and even still, Yusaku didn't consider him a friend. He also didn't hesitate to capture Ai and even threaten to delete him in order to challenge the Hanoi. Yusaku can be quite sullen when dealing with Ai's antics, usually telling him to be quiet.

Despite his traumas and somewhat cynical views towards himself, Yusaku's kind nature remained, showing sympathy and care towards others' situations such as Gore's dedication to his orphanage. He also makes it clear that he doesn't accept anyone's friendship because he doesn't want anyone to look after him and get involved in his missions. He doesn't want anyone's life in harm's way because of his actions. This proves he is still heroic and selfless, despite being more of an anti-hero than previous protagonists. He gives out short smiles on occasion which are mocked by Ai in the dub.

As Playmaker, Yusaku's demeanor is relatively the same with a degree of nobility, such as rescuing Blue Angel from "Cracking Dragon". He also has a strong sense of justice, helping those hurt by the Hanoi and refusing to harm or sacrifice others to achieve his goal. Specter noted this to be a strength, but also his biggest weakness. He doesn't allow others get close to him and join his fight against Hanoi out of concern for their safety. Yusaku also has a habit of listing out three reasons for his observations, something he learned from Varis during the Hanoi Project. He does this to organize his thoughts better and clear his mind when confused or feeling discouraged.

When Dueling, Yusaku stays calm, determined and confident in his skills, but never displays signs of arrogance. Unlike most of the previous Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonists, who enjoy Dueling and see it as fun, Yusaku sees it as a necessity to eliminate those who are in his way. He is unique in that his motivations for his actions are for revenge, instead of uniting people via Dueling and having fun. As such, he usually rejects challenges from other Duelists that aren't related to the Knights of Hanoi. However, when he is either forced to accept a Duel or willingly does so, he will not abandon it, as in the case of his first Duel with George Gore. Furthermore, Yusaku is not above complimenting his opponents, as when he praised Gore's Duel style, which was meant to excite both the crowd and even his opponent, as first-rate.

Personality
Yusaku was a kind and cheerful child who loved and enjoyed dueling. However, his innocence was shattered after being kidnapped and subjected to months of intense torture during the Hanoi Project ten years ago. The incident caused Yusaku to develop severe post-traumatic stress disorder, and he continued to suffer nightmares from the torture he went through, even after receiving years of therapy. As a result, Yusaku holds hatred against the Knights of Hanoi and swears vengeance against them for ruining his life and others who were victimized by the incident.

As a teenager, Yusaku is shown to be calm, collected and intelligent, but also colder, more serious and aloof, believing his life to be cut short and devoid of friends or a future. This causes him to distance himself from people even when they try to befriend him, such as Naoki Shima, whose name Yusaku couldn't remember after a month in school. He comes off as rather awkward in public and has trouble answering questions at times, leading others to make assumptions about him, such as when Naoki thought he wanted to join the Duel Club and Skye thought he wanted new equipment from SOL. The only person he seems to trust and is on good terms with is his partner Cal Kolter, and even still, Yusaku didn't consider him a friend. He also didn't hesitate to capture Ai and even threaten to delete him in order to challenge the Hanoi. Yusaku can be quite sullen when dealing with Ai's antics, usually telling him to be quiet.

Despite his traumas and somewhat cynical views towards himself, Yusaku's kind nature remained, showing sympathy and care towards others' situations such as Gore's dedication to his orphanage. He also makes it clear that he doesn't accept anyone's friendship because he doesn't want anyone to look after him and get involved in his missions. He doesn't want anyone's life in harm's way because of his actions. This proves he is still heroic and selfless, despite being more of an anti-hero than previous protagonists. He gives out short smiles on occasion which are mocked by Ai in the dub.

As Playmaker, Yusaku's demeanor is relatively the same with a degree of nobility, such as rescuing Blue Angel from "Cracking Dragon". He also has a strong sense of justice, helping those hurt by the Hanoi and refusing to harm or sacrifice others to achieve his goal. Specter noted this to be a strength, but also his biggest weakness. He doesn't allow others get close to him and join his fight against Hanoi out of concern for their safety. Yusaku also has a habit of listing out three reasons for his observations, something he learned from Varis during the Hanoi Project. He does this to organize his thoughts better and clear his mind when confused or feeling discouraged.

When Dueling, Yusaku stays calm, determined and confident in his skills, but never displays signs of arrogance. Unlike most of the previous Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonists, who enjoy Dueling and see it as fun, Yusaku sees it as a necessity to eliminate those who are in his way. He is unique in that his motivations for his actions are for revenge, instead of uniting people via Dueling and having fun. As such, he usually rejects challenges from other Duelists that aren't related to the Knights of Hanoi. However, when he is either forced to accept a Duel or willingly does so, he will not abandon it, as in the case of his first Duel with George Gore. Furthermore, Yusaku is not above complimenting his opponents, as when he praised Gore's Duel style, which was meant to excite both the crowd and even his opponent, as first-rate.

By season 2, Yusaku retains much of his original personality but is less cold-hearted than in the previous season. Having finally achieved his revenge against the Knights of Hanoi, Yusaku has gained some closure from the Hanoi Project and softens up a bit, as seen when he no longer views Ai as a hostage and more so as a partner. This is also seen in his conversation with Varis, where he expresses how he is no longer obsessed with hatred and revenge and is finally starting to move forward. Likewise, Yusaku is now more open minded to working with others, best seen by how he openly welcomed Soulburner and Blue Maiden as allies in the fight against the rebel Ignis.

Yusaku finally opens up to show emotions during the battle in Mirror LINK VRAINS. Yusaku shows tears for the first time after Cal was erased. During his fourth Duel with Bohman, Yusaku acknowledges those he has fought alongside as his friends and finally admits that his friends helped him open up. His emotion continues to grow in the third season due to his conflict of fighting against his longtime Ignis partner, Ai.

Trivia

 * Yusaku is the first main protagonist since Yugi:
 * To have three different colors in his hairstyle's design.
 * To use a non-Dragon/Warrior monster as his ace monster.
 * To successfully perform a Ritual Summon.
 * Yusaku is the first main protagonist since Jaden:
 * To use Field Spell Cards in his Deck.
 * To not have his father be central to the plot of his series.
 * Yusaku is the first main protagonist since Yusei to use Normal Monsters in his Deck.
 * Yusaku has the following distinctions from the other main protagonists:
 * He is the only one who has never had a Duel end with no result.
 * He is the only one who has never lost a Duel to another human.
 * This also means that Yusaku has the best Duel record among all the main protagonists, as his only losses took place prior to the beginning of the series when he was a young child.
 * He is the only one to have neither of his parents, or any family, seen or mentioned at any point.
 * He is the only one who never participated in a tournament or Tag-Team Duel (unless Yusaku fighting Bit and Boot, 2 Duelists in 1 body, counts in the case of the latter).
 * He is the only one whose ace monster's Type is not Spellcaster (like Yugi and Yuga), Warrior (like Jaden and Yuma) or Dragon (like Yusei and Yuya), as "Firewall Dragon" is a Cyberse monster instead.
 * He is the only one who is not a close friend of his series' female lead, although he does occasionally work with her.
 * In the English dub, he is the only one to not voice the "previously" banner at the start of some episodes, as that role is given to Ai instead.
 * Yusaku has several similarities to Yusei, despite having a much harsher demeanor than the latter.
 * Both have "Fu" as the first part of their surnames.
 * Both are incredible hackers.
 * Both have suffered great hardship in their youth.
 * Both are noble and look out for others, but at the same time keep some distance from others so they don't get involved in their conflicts.
 * Both commonly have Duels while riding on fast vehicles.
 * Both are highly intelligent and have great strategic skills in Dueling that often make use of recycle tactics.
 * Both have not worn anything around their necks.
 * Both were once considered criminals in their series.
 * Both have only lost Duels in flashbacks that take place prior to the beginning of their series.
 * Both have never been turned evil at any point in their series like the other main protagonists, though Yuma never actually turned evil as Astral embraced evil power and merged with him into Dark ZEXAL.
 * Both are the only main protagonists to not use the Spell Card "Monster Reborn".
 * Both have similar monsters in their Decks.
 * Dragon-themed primary ace monsters with 2500 ATK and defensive effects that focus on protecting other cards ("Firewall Dragon" and "Stardust Dragon").
 * Warrior-themed secondary ace monsters with a DARK Attribute, 2300 ATK, and offensive effects that focus on gaining strength from other monsters ("Decode Talker" and "Junk Warrior").
 * Effect Monsters that can Special Summon a Level 2 or lower monster from its controller's Graveyard in Defense Position, but with its effects negated, upon being Normal Summoned ("Cyberse Gadget" and "Junk Synchron").
 * Level 1 EARTH Normal Monsters with 100 ATK and DEF ("Protron" and "Unicycular").
 * Much like Sherry LeBlanc, Yusaku has 1 or 2 people they can actually trust (in Yusaku's case, he only had Kolter). Also, both of them had a desire for vengeance against the organization that took the lives of someone important to them, despite having different backgrounds (Yusaku against The Knights of Hanoi and Sherry against Iliaster).
 * Similar to Jaden, three of Yusaku's Duels ended in a DRAW.
 * Yusaku is the first character to use five different Summoning methods (Link, Ritual, Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz).
 * He is also the fifth character (after Declan Akaba, Riley Akaba, Yuya Sakaki, and Z-ARC) in the franchise to use Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz Summoning.
 * Yusaku's ace monsters with a draconic appearance have the same color scheme as the card type of that monster: "Firewall Dragon" is blue (Link), "Cyberse Clock Dragon" is violet (Fusion), "Cyberse Quantum Dragon" is white (Synchro) and "Firewall eXceed Dragon" is indigo, which is close to black (Xyz).
 * Yusaku is the only character in the VRAINS series to use more than one Fusion Monster (albeit the second monster didn't originally belong to him).
 * Like Yugi and Yuma, Yusaku Dueled against his partner in the final episodes of his series. All three also used a new monster at the Duel's climax (in Yusaku's case, it was "Accesscode Talker").
 * Unlike Yugi and Yuma's monsters, which represented their own individual strength, Yusaku's seems to represent his bond with Ai (hinted in the summoning chant).
 * All three have used cards that can be seen with deep meaning behind them and were key in their victory. For Yusaku, it was "Recoded Alive" which was also used to defeat Varis in both of their Master Duels. Of the three, Yusaku's is the only one to be a Trap instead of a Spell.
 * Also unlike Yugi and Yuma, Yusaku used a card that was not his for his final Duel. Although his was given to him, rather than offered.