Yu-Gi-Oh! R

'''Yu-Gi-Oh! R' (遊☆戯☆王R Yūgiō Āru'') is a spin-off of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! manga conceived by Kazuki Takahashi and written and drawn by Akira Ito. It was published in Shueisha's monthly magazine V-Jump with a total of 44 chapters and one special.

Yu-Gi-Oh! R is drawn in a style very similar to Takahashi’s, owing to the fact that the author himself worked as Takahashi’s assistant on the original manga. However, due to the monthly schedule, R could not afford to dedicate as many pages to character development as its weekly predecessor, and is instead action packed from start to finish. Typically, one chapter is dedicated to each duel, although there are exceptions.

Yu-Gi-Oh! R was released in English by Viz, starting from Autumn 2009. The volumes are based on later editions of the Japanese tankōbon, which featured the censorship of hexagram symbols appearing the series.

Plot Summary
Within the manga version of events, Yu-Gi-Oh! R is an interjection between the Battle City tournament and Memory World, and practically all events of this arc happen within the Kaiba Corp headquarters in Domino.

The story is centered around Yakou Tenma’s quest to revive his adopted father Pegasus J. Crawford through what he calls the ‘R.A. Project’. To this end, he kidnaps Anzu Mazaki and attempts to take over Kaiba Corp, forcing both Yugi Mutou and Seto Kaiba to duel his Card Professors for the right to challenge Yakou himself. Along the way, they are joined by Yakou’s twin brother Gekkou who also seeks to put an end to the R.A. Project.

Cast
Yu-Gi-Oh! R is notable for the return of several secondary characters from the Duelist Kingdom arc, along with the introduction of a considerable amount of new ones.

Characters from the original manga:


 * Yugi Mutou
 * Seto Kaiba
 * Katsuya Jonouchi
 * Anzu Mazaki
 * Hiroto Honda
 * Mokuba Kaiba
 * Pegasus J. Crawford
 * "Bandit" Keith Howard
 * Crocketts
 * Saruwatari

R-specific characters:


 * Yakou Tenma
 * Deschutes Lew (デシェーツ・ルー Deshētsu Rū).
 * Tilla Mook (ティラ・ムーク Tira Mūku).
 * Klamath Osler (クラマス・オースラー Kuramasu Ōsurā)
 * Kirk Dixon (カーク・ディクソン Kāku Dikuson)
 * Pete Coppermine (ピート・コパーマイン Pīto Kopāmain)
 * Maico Katou (マイコ･カトウ Maiko Katō)
 * Gekkou Tenma
 * Mendo Cino (メンド・シーノ Mendo Shīno)
 * Willa Mette
 * Tedd Banias
 * Reiko Kitamori (北森玲子 Kitamori Reiko)
 * Depre Scott
 * Richie Merced
 * Cedar Mill (シｰダｰ・ミｰル Shīdā Mīru)
 * Masumi Momono (百野真澄 Momono Masumi)