Dartshipping

Dartshipping is the slash ship between Shingo Sawatari and Yuya Sakaki from the Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom.

Canon
Shingo (Sylvio in the English dub version) makes his first appearance in episode 3 of Arc-V, when he shoots Yuya with three darts which stuck to his face. Shingo exclaims that he achieved a triple bullseye and introduces himself to Yuya as a big fan of his. He compliments his new Pendulum Summoning mechanic he discovered and how only a "chosen one" could use such rare and amazing cards, to which Yuya becomes flustered. He asks Yuya if he would show him his Pendulum Summoning later in the day at an important venue at a top-ranking rival school, to the surprise of Yuya and his friends.

Initially shown as a kind and amiable young man, it's quickly revealed that he is quite self-centered and invited Yuya to show off his Pendulum cards for the purpose of stealing them from him. Believing he's the one that deserves the strong Pendulum cards, Shingo tricks Yuya into giving him them under the guise of wanting to look at them. He teases Yuya by snapping his goggles in his face to provoke him into Dueling him to prove he's the stronger Duelist. Shingo dumps weak cards on the floor, claiming them to be "trash cards" fitting of Yuya, which saddens Yuya seeing cards being insulted. He adds them to his deck and is able to win the Duel against to him thanks to them, much to Shingo's annoyance and is able to regain his Pendulum cards.

After his defeat by Yuya, he obtains some of Yuya's mannerisms, such as using his "ladies and gentlemen" catchphrase, as shown in episode 7. Though, when this is pointed out to him, he gets annoyed, not wanting to even hear Yuya's name. He pretends he only lost because Yuya had better cards to them, and vows to defeat him.

He meets Yuya again in episode 15, telling him about a look-alike that has been assaulting people. Though, he says he knows it wasn't Yuya, as he says that even with his "unfair Pendulum Summoning," he couldn't defeat such strong opponents. He tells Yuya that Leo Corporation has been manufacturing their own Pendulum cards, so Shingo will be able to obtain them to defeat Yuya in the upcoming tournament.

They have their rematch in episode 31, which ends up in a loss to Shingo. Though, Shingo is surprised when Yuya offers to help him stand up. He becomes happier when the crowd cheered for the both of them, with Yuya stating "they made them excited." He is able to take his defeat gracefully, and awaits the day that he and Yuya can Duel again. Yuya states that this was the kind of fun Duel he had been yearning for.

Fanon
Dartshipping had become a popular pairing when Shingo's debut episode aired, from Shingo's many compliments to Yuya and Yuya becoming flustered by them. Dartshipping was one of the first pairings to receive a ship name by the English speaking fandom, alongside another popular pairing Fruitshipping (Yuya/Yuzu). It was given the name "Dartshipping" as "they met by Shingo throwing darts at Yuuya’s face."

However, the pairing's popularity declined soon after, due to the lack of interactions between the two after their first Duel, partially due to the large number of characters within Arc-V. Reiji Akaba would be Yuya's primary rival rather than Shingo. As well, characters such as Yuzu and Yuto would have many more interactions with Yuya than Shingo would. Because of this, while many early Dartshipping fanworks exist, they would decline as the series progressed, with people often opting for other Yuya pairings, such as Fruitshipping, Pendulumshipping (Reiji/Yuya) and Counterpartshipping (Yuto/Yuya).

Fandom
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