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snowblindmods) wrote2015-04-06 10:43 pm
snowblindmods) wrote2015-04-06 10:43 pm
Application
| Application | |||
Applications are closed permanently. Thank you to everyone who has applied over the years! Before applying for a character, make sure you've read the rules and FAQ. You should also refer to the application guide to see what we're looking for in our applications. You may apply for one character per application cycle and three characters total. Please put your character's name and canon in the subject line of your application comment. Applications must be posted directly to this post and cannot be links. We will screen your application if you request it of us after we review it. Application challenges are allowed, but someone who did not place a reserve challenge cannot challenge a reserved application. Once reservations expire, an application challenge can only be placed before we process the character application of the applicant you would like to challenge. In the event of us nearing our application cap and having more applications than slots, we will attempt to choose the most well-written applications. First-time applicants will be processed first, then applications for second characters, and finally applications for third characters. We may allow more applications to be submitted than we have slots for in the name of greater selection. We will clarify in our response if an application is not being allowed into the game because of the cap or because of issues with the application not meeting the standards of the game. Original Character Application | |||
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With his opening appearance, Yuya is easily labeled a goofball. He plays around during duels, doesn't seem to take things seriously at first, and he's quick to perpetuate his clown-like image by making silly faces when he messes up. Everyone, even his friends, thinks that he treats everything as a joke. While he genuinely likes to make his audience smile, he purposely acts incompetent because of his father's disappearance when he was younger. Three years ago, Yusho Sakaki seemingly ran away from an important final championship duel, leaving his audience to call him a coward. Yuya was left in tears but continued to defend his father, stating he would never run away from a duel. However, over the years, Yuya ended up acting like a clown so that people would laugh at him for acting stupid rather than being laughed at because of his father's disappearance. When the chance to duel his father's opponent appears later, he takes on the champion despite seeming anxious to begin with. The duel is both to clear Yusho's name and to get closer to becoming a professional duelist like his father.
Yuya has always been a bit of a crybaby and easy to emotionally shake up. When things get tough, he tends to lose confidence now and then. He also has a habit of putting on his goggles when he becomes upset or angry, especially when he's trying to hide his tears. When he was very young, his dad would cheer him up stating, "When you feel like crying, just laugh." His father's advice is something he takes to heart. Yuya relies on those words to get through tough duels or when he's about it give up hope. Both Yuya's pendulum pendant and his deck are mementos of his father, which he feels strongly towards. He looks to his pendant for mental support and guidance, and his sees his deck as precious friends he can rely on, especially his Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Obviously, Yuya holds his father in high regard and aims to be a professional Entertainment duelist like him. However, the young duelist has a lot to work on in terms of naivety and insecurity. With the development of Pendulum Summoning, Yuya automatically assumes that the summoning method belongs to him only. He becomes disillusioned and takes it personally when Reiji shows that he is also able to perform Pendulum Summoning during their duel. It's another kick in the teeth when Reiji announces that he sees future possibilities in the summoning method, whereas Yuya does not. It takes a duel with the You Show Duel School's principal, an old friend of Yuya's father, to set Yuya straight that he can't give up and that he should remember his love for entertaining the audience rather than being focused on purely winning with Pendulum summoning. Yuya returns to his idealized dream with gusto and sets a goal of entering a championship as one step closer to becoming like his dad.
As an entertainer, Yuya is all about having fun and bringing smiles to his audience. It's something he learned from his dad and is a very strong belief that he's held onto throughout his dueling experience. At the same time, he has also become a pacifist and also believes that dueling should not be used to harm others. When he watches Shun & Sora's duel, he is appalled by the holographic setting turning into a battlefield with buildings falling and everything setting on fire. He's very vocal about it too, such as when he convinces Yuto not to use dueling as an instrument of hatred. Yuto also believes in Yuya's ideals, seeing it as a power to bring smiles to others and a way to protect the future.
Yuya is generally a good, fun-loving kid who cares deeply about his friends. Although, oddly enough, he becomes somewhat timid when faced with bullying, such as when Sawatari steals his Pendulum cards. But when his friends are held hostage for the duel, Yuya does his best to rescue them and yells at Sawatari to leave them alone. While he may have failed to stand up for himself, he's quick to protect his friends. No matter the situation, he will always try to help them, such as when he does his best to rescue Yuzu and the kids from falling off one of the Action Duel's towers. The same extends to protecting the You Show Duel school. His father's school is a precious place for him and his friends, so when the school is threatened to be taken over the LDS company, Yuya immediately steps up to the challenge of dueling top LDS students to save the school. When Yuya is determined to get something done, he's very straightforward and no nonsense.
Yuya also relies on his friends for support, and in turn he is very loyal and considerate towards them. When Yuzu loses to Masumi and is thrown to the ground, Yuya rushes into the arena to help her up, even holding her when she gets dizzy. In order to qualify for the championship, Yuya must battle Gongenzaka, one of his best friends. Gongenzaka had always supported him when he was younger and kept bullies at bay, so Yuya was initially uneasy about dueling him. He thought that, by winning, he would screw up Gongenzaka's chance of getting into the championship, which would be like an act of betrayal for everything that his friend had done for him. It is only until later in the duel that Yuya begins to get serious because Gongenzaka wanted a serious match between them without any feelings of pity. Before Gongenzaka's championship match, his opponent uses Yuya's loyalty to his friends to set a trap. Yuya is fooled to think that someone has stolen Gongenzaka's sash, so he chases after the thief. (And by the end of dueling with the punks who lured him, he gets their applause after making it an entertaining duel.) Even when Sora shows his true colors as someone who hunts down XYZ users, Yuya still cares about his safety. Later, he stands up against Yuto to protect Sora by joining their duel. However, Yuya isn't blinded by his loyalty and begins to demand answers about Sora's objectives.
As far as small quirks, Yuya's horrible at science and math topics, as shown by a trivia-based duel field when he kept losing life points for answering things wrong. Yet, he is a great strategist in terms of planning out moves and can think on the fly for getting out of tough situations. He's also good with animals, which helps since his mom keeps adopting stray cats and dogs all the time. He's most at ease in Action Duels, where he can be found zip-lining, climbing, and doing all sorts of acrobatic activities with style and energy. Yuya's ultimate goal is to be a pro entertainment duelist, but he’s not always on the spot when it comes to acting. Like with his demonstration duel with Yuzu, it takes him a moment to realize she's acting for dramatic effect. Also, when he's suddenly called on stage to recite the dueling oath, he's briefly overwhelmed with a small case of stage fright.
As the plot darkens during the championship, Yuya begins to change little by little as he learns about the nature of his multi-dimensional world. Essentially the YGO universe is currently split 4 dimensions based on dueling style: Fusion, Synchro, XYZ, and Standard (which all summoning styles are available). A counterpart of Yuya and Yuzu exist within each dimensions. Yuto to XYZ, Yugo to Synchro, and Yuri to Fusion.
Yuto's disappearance in episode 37 (Yuya's current point) marks the moment that Yuto's soul is absorbed into Yuya's body. Yuya begins to become more anger-prone in the tournament duels afterwards, triggered by Fusion summoning, summoning Yuto's Dark Rebellion XYZ dragon, flashbacks of Yuto's memories when Fusion duelists from Academia invaded the XYZ dimension, and when other duelists are defeated and turned into cards. During the moments that he's seemingly triggered or incredibly angered, Yuya becomes possessed both by Yuto's soul and a darker force deep within, entering a state commonly referred to by the fandom as 'berserk mode'. During Yuya's more intense berserk moments during a duel against invaders from Academia, he covered in dark flames and is able to summon a new dragon called Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon, which is a mix of both Yuya and Yuto's main dragons. Yuya defeats his opponents mercilessly, and by that point is so out of touch with reality that he does not recognize his best friend and becomes violent when he's restrained. Yuya is certainly not his usual self while in berserk mode. We find out through Mieru about Yuto's soul and a third darker soul that has been trying to overwhelm the two boys' souls. When Yuya wakes up and learns of the souls within him, he's extremely troubled but understands that he was driven into darkness because of Yuto's anger and sadness towards Academia and the destruction of his home. However, because Yuto trusted Yuya to bring smiles to people through dueling, Yuya believes that Yuto is not a force to fear but instead should trust that he really doesn't want to hurt others. He believes his possessed state isn't because of Yuto. Again, Yuya chooses to take his dad's advice about courage in fighting against the dark unknown force within him: "No matter what king of demon may be residing in my soul, I'll believe in myself and Yuto who's inside of me! If we combine our strength, we'll never lose to that thing!"
Essentially, as Yuya finds out about the horrible things happening, he responds in kind by taking every situation very seriously while struggling with handling both Yuto’s influence and his ideals of dueling being discarded by need of protecting himself and others. He is ultimately enraged when he learns that Yuzu is supposedly kidnapped and Reiji, the CEO of LDS and the person running the championship, used the Academia invasion during the championship to find duelists strong enough to create the Lancers team that will fight against Academia in the future. Reiji knew of the invasion beforehand, and rather than cancel the tournament, he had left the unaware competitors to their fate without warning them. Yuya challenges Reiji to a duel in revenge for the duelists that were hurt/carded. He yells at Reiji that everyone isn't his puppets, that the people who were turned into cards are their people with their own hearts. Despite his dedication to his idealistic Entertainment dueling style, Yuya’s rage overtakes him as he tries to mercilessly defeat Reiji for everything he’s done. Yuya ends up losing the duel, however, and he vows to become stronger in order to save Yuzu.