Bakura, Ryou

獏良了

A transfer student (portrayed as British in the 4Kids version) who befriends the story's main group. Like Yugi, he is interested in games, especially tabletop role-playing games such as Monster World. Bakura, the owner of the Millennium Ring, harbors a dark spirit within himself, similar to Dark Yugi. Before joining the story, he frequently changed schools and isolated himself because his friends would fall into comas whenever he played games with them. This turns out to be Dark Bakura imposing Penalty Games on them, trapping their souls inside RPG miniatures. Alongside Yugi and his friends, they team up to defeat Dark Bakura in a Shadow Game of Monster World. Afterward, the normal Bakura joins the main group in many of their conflicts. Despite the risks, Bakura keeps the Millennium Ring, remaining deeply curious about its history. This curiosity, combined with his trusting and innocent nature, sometimes causes friction with the others and allows Dark Bakura to repeatedly possess him without his awareness. Before meeting Yugi and his friends, Bakura's sister, Amane, died in a car accident. (This detail is omitted from the second series.) Bakura misses her deeply and often writes letters to her in heaven. The first animated series also featured the character Miho Nosaka, who had a crush on Bakura. In the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime, his role in the group is significantly reduced compared to the manga; he is mostly controlled by Dark Bakura, accompanies Yugi and his friends less often than in the manga, and is excluded from filler arcs. Additionally, he is introduced midway through the Duelist Kingdom arc as someone they merely knew from school, rather than a close friend, and his passion for tabletop role-playing games is largely downplayed.