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Yuichirou Kanzaki is a character in the Cardfight!! Vanguard G series. He is the main antagonist of Season 1 of Cardfight!! Vanguard G and a supporting character in later seasons. He is the director of the United Sanctuary branch during the first season of Cardfight!! Vangaurd G, but retires, and is succeeded by Ren Suzugamori. He was also an Apostle candidate.
Etymology[]
His family name, Kanzaki is written with the kanji "神" (Kami), means god and "崎" (Saki), which means promontory. This probably reflects his behavior of despising the weak, and his overwhelming power.
His name, Yuichirou can mean many things depending on how it is written, but "Ichirou" usually means "first son", though the name is written in katakana, so it doesn't really have any meaning.
Appearance[]
He has light-purple toned long hair which is very messy and has a light blue shading in his eyes. He usually wears dark colored clothes (usually black and dark red). During is training during the NEXT season, his attire changed to white japanese shirt.
Personality[]
Kanzaki despises the weak, even telling the ex-national champion Toyoyama that he "doesn't deserve to be called champion" after he shows a weak play on his standards. He puts victory above anything else. His ideals come from his obsessive desire to defeat a Gear Chronicle user who wielded a "God like unit" which he considered a miracle.
He has shown interest in Chrono Shindou after learning he was the only person from Team TRY3 to defeat someone from Team Demise, stating that if he has power, they would eventually meet.
He can also be easily bribed with food, as demonstrated when Chrono bribes him to train Kazuma Shouji.
His willpower is strong enough to break the Diffride process.
History[]
Pre-G Season 1[]
Seven years before the events of G Season 1, Kanzaki was testing the GIRS prototype system as a monitor, and engaged Ryuzu Myoujin in a cardfight. During the fight, he saw his opponent summon a physical unit to the field through his own imagination, and was promptly defeated. Believing that to be the absolute apex of a vanguard fighter's strength, he vowed to become just as strong and see the miracle again for himself.
To that end, Kanzaki was eventually promoted to director of the United Sanctuary Branch. During that time, he received, through a mysterious letter, five Depend Cards. Seeking to awaken them and recreate Ryuzu's miracle, he began, with Ibuki's help, a special program designed to strengthen other cardfighters and their imagination.
G Season 1[]
In the anime, Kanzaki first appeared in G Episode 27: Yuichirou Kanzaki. He participated in the exhibition match with the ex-national champion of the Vanguard tournament; Toyoyama from Team Grace Gaia. Toyoyama at first appears to corner Kanzaki, putting him on 5 damage, even appearing to drive him to tears, until Kanzaki angrily declares that Toyoyama is too weak to call himself champion. He then performs Stride and manages to swiftly catch up with the cards he saved in his hand, even managing to increase it further to a point where Toyoyama cannot break through. He eventually defeats the champion with Supremacy Black Dragon, Aurageyser Dragon.
After his victory, he is asked to address the crowd, declaring that 'weakness is a sin' and that the weak should just leave, but not before saying he looks forward to seeing who manages to win.
He is not seen again until Kouji Ibuki delivers a report to him regarding Team Demise's performance. There he learns about Chrono Shindou's victory over one of its members. He calls him 'the legend who will change the world' and says that if he has power, he looks forward to meeting him in the future.
When the United Sanctuary Branch sponsors a Vanguard tournament, he is there to give a speech to the participants. His words, however, seem to be directed more towards the followers of the United Sanctuary in attendance, reiterating that weakness is a sin and promising a new future for the victorious. He then declares the start of the tournament with the opening words, 'Stand up, Vanguard!'.
After hearing the members of Team TRY3, specifically Chrono, challenge the United Sanctuary's customs and beliefs, he accepts their challenge and uses a special version of the GIRS System to fight the members of Team TRY3 all at once. He rebuts their claims, claiming that strength lies in abandoning unnecessary emotions and feelings, such as the heart: a fact he learned after losing to Ryuzu. He then claims creating the "miracle card" he saw back then is his true goal.
Before the day of Team Demise's Special Match with Team TRY3, Ibuki tells him that Kanzaki has been called to a meeting of the Branch Leaders. He allows Ibuki to deal with it, but then warns Ibuki that he knows that his right-hand man has an ulterior motive for staying by his side, but allows him to stay since he is strong. Ibuki then replies that he has also found the meaning of Kanzaki's existence, which is why he has stayed.
He is also present on the day of the match, watching as Rin Hashima and Shouma Shinonome lose in succession. However, before the third match begins, Ibuki steals the miracle card, or Depend Card, and the matches are temporarily postponed. When Team TRY3 and Kamui Katsuragi break into the lab, he finds them along with a note Ibuki left behind, taunting him. He quickly laughs off the wrench in his plans, explaining the existence of the Depend Card and how his use of the United Sanctuary Fighter's imagination to create it, since it is but a blank card when in the hands of someone without power. He then decides to let events happen naturally; since he knows who stole the Depend Card, he knows exactly where to find it.
When the matches resume, as Chrono battles Taiyou, he remembers the opponent he lost to on that day used Gear Chronicle, just like Chrono. He then challenges the boy to a fight, which he accepts. During the clash, Kanzaki silently urges Chrono to show him a miracle, but as the fight progresses, nothing particularly extraordinary happens, save for fighting reasonably evenly with Kanzaki. Expressing his disgust, he Strides into the G-Unit he never needed to use in their previous fight, Supremacy Black Dragon, Aurageyser Doomed, aiming to seal the game then and there. Chrono however defends against his attack, but leaves himself with no hand. Even so, Chrono manages to stage a comeback, first drawing a Grade 3 to Stride into Chronodragon Nextage and finally revealing enough triggers to break through Kanzaki's defense, as well as dealing the final 2 damage needed to win. During that turn, Chrono's power of imagination manifests Chronojet Dragon into the real world, finally creating the miracle Kanzaki had been seeking. He remembers his fight with Ryuzu and finally, accepting that his ideals were beaten by Team TRY3's, announces that he intends to resign as Branch Chief. He then leaves, aiming to become strong enough to be worthy of claiming the miracle for himself.
G Season 3 (Stride Gate)[]
Kanzaki is not seen again until the Stride Gate arc, where it is revealed he has moved to the mountains to train. Chrono and Taiyou seek him out, looking for more clues regarding the Depend Cards. Following a series of stone statues of Aurageyser Dragon and Aurageyser Doomed, they find Kanzaki carving a large outline into a rock face. At first, he believes he has nothing of value to tell them and tells them to leave, since Chrono succeeded in fully awakening one of the Depend Cards, but Chrono informs him that Ryuzu had awakened at least seven more, and had died, but was revived. Shocked by the news, he allows the two to train with him, carving stone statues of their own. Their attempts at a first carving are crude, which he attributes to self-doubt.
That evening while preparing dinner, he explains to Chrono that imagination powerful enough to whittle away at a fighter's life, as well as a large amount of Stride Force, is needed to summon and control a unit from a Depend Card, expressing his lack of surprise Ryuzu died from summoning so many, but also by bypassing natural laws from their power by being reborn again.
Later, as Chrono ponders Kanzaki's words and Taiyou begins rebuilding his deck, he notices the boy is having trouble on card selection, and advises him to listen to the card's voice to create the most optimal and natural deck. He also advises Chrono that Ryuzu and Company would most likely target the various branches, to bring judgment to his enemies and to those monitoring him. With those words, he sends the pair off, telling them not to return and interrupt his training again.
He is last seen watching Chrono's friends and allies give him power, to create Chronodragon Gear Groovy before assisting himself.
G Season 4 (NEXT)[]
Before the finals of the U20 Team Striders return to his training grounds with the intent to practice, especially Kazuma. Though he originally tells them to leave, displeased that they returned against his wishes, he allows them to stay when Chrono offers to cook for him and the Striders prepared food for him. He agrees to train Kazuma Shouji when the meal prepared that night meets his satisfaction. He first challenges Kazuma to a cardfight to get a feel of his current strength and defeats him with ease with his new cards, Supremacy Dragon, Claret Sword Dragon Revolt and Supremacy True Dragon, Claret Sword Helheim. Taiyou comments that Kanzaki made a vow not to touch his cards until all self-doubt had been cleared from his mind, with the fight signalling that he had cast aside his burdens.
However, he then decides to have Chrono and Taiyou put through the ropes as well, and makes them join Kazuma in his gruelling exercises. His last exercise for the day sets Team Striders with rocks to carve statues, like the last training session with him, when he hears a voice calling him. He is led to his sculpture of Supremacy Dragon, Claret Sword Dragon Revolt, where he is confronted by Noa Hoshizaki, currently Diffrided with Star-vader, Chaos Breaker Dragon. Noa proceed to attempt to Diffride Yuichirou with "his other self", however, through sheer force of will he rejects the possession and prevents the Diffride from happening. With his sheer willpower impressing Noa, he proceeds to order several men to capture him, however, Kouji Ibuki appears and saves the ex-United Sanctuary Branch Manager. Back at his old hut, he asks Ibuki who Noa truly is, but is met with the reply that it's a secret under investigation, leading him to comment on his secretive attitude not changing at all from his days as Kanzaki's right-hand man.
The next morning he observes the sculptures that Team Striders made and notices that Kazuma hadn't even started on his rock. Kazuma said it was due to him still being a blank canvas, but vowed that he would grasp the form he would be best suited for. Kanzaki then gives them his horses so they can leave, and once again tells them to not to return again. After they leave, he expresses that he expects great things from their futures.
G Season 5 (Z)[]
Yuichirou appears at the Dragon Empire Branch, during Gyze's attempt to destroy Earth and Cray to attack to Gyze's Void creatures. During this time he calls the creatures out for attacking the weak and proceeds to attack with his horse, however he also ends up attacking Team Trinity Dragon in the process. This causes Ryutarou Oyama to remark that he still does not like Yuichirou.
In EXTRA TURN episode, Yuichirou appears on horseback with an unconscious Kensuke Handa after Handa was shot into the sky by a malfunctioning machine created by Wakamizu and Christopher. He demanded Ibuki and the others to leave since they are having a party at his training ground. Ibuki tried to invite him to join them with food but apparently Yuichirou refused with a louder yell.
Trivia[]
- In the Japanese anime, he is the first character to say "Chōetsu", as opposed of "Stride Generation" during Stride. This is also kept for the English Dub
- Ryuzu Myojin, the man Kanzaki was obsesed with defeating, also used "Chōetsu" so it is likely that Kanzaki picked up using the word from Ryuzu.
- Similar to Chrono, he tends to use Japanese words for his attack name instead of English.
- At the end of Chrono and Ryuzu's final fight in Stride Gate, his stride force takes the form of Aurageyser Doomed, a G unit while other character's stride forces take the form of their respectively grade 3 avatars, a fact that set him apart from other characters.
- He is the first person to reject a Different World Ride through sheer willpower, a fact that shocked even Chaos Breaker Dragon.