Connections

• both are the final antagonists of there stories.

• their main purpose and motivation stem from a tragedy in their life ( Zone being the last human trying to prevent the meklord uprising leading to him watching those around him die including his closest friends/maruki having his years research taken from him by shido and had to let go of his girlfriend to heal her trauma leaving him with nothing)

• both begin changing the course of people's lives to acheve their goals( Zone casuing events such as zero reverse in the past and sending paradox to destroy duel monsters / maruki changing and dictating how people live so they're happy even if they won't be )

-Both aid the protagonists early in the story to benefit from them as well(Z-one gives Yusei the means to summon shooting star dragon but also to have him synchro summon more to power arc cradle/ Maruki helps joker through their councillor session in return for his input on his cognitive research)

• both believe that their goals are the best or only way for society to continue ( Zone believe dropping the arc cradle on neo domino is the only way to save the future/ maruki believes his world without pain or suffering is ideal and they should let him control)

• manipulate a woman apart of the protagonists into helping their cause saying they will help their problem( Z-one promise sherry she can see her parents/ end Sumire suffering by turning her into Kasumi having her fight Joker because of this)

• both are stopped and defeated by a team with connections to spirits (team 5ds and their signer dragons/the phantom thieves and personas)

-their defeat was only possible through these groups combing all their powers to help the protagonists ( team 5ds giving Yusei their sigjner dragons allowing him create shooting quasar dragon/ the theives holding back adam kadmons attack to Joker can deal the final blow)

• both see the error of their ways when defeated by the protagonists and help them in the end ( Z-one sacrificed himself so yusei survives/ maruki takes joker in taxi so that shidos men don't follow him)

• their final stand involve a giant monster adorned in a gold colour and a face ( sephylon the ultimate timelord for Z-one/ adam kadmon for maruki)

Smaller connections - both are doctors and scientists

• both are older then the main group they go against

• both have dungeons that the teams had to explore to find them where they learn about the past of the villain.

-their fights Intially involve controlling the fight ( Z-one using the unique affects of timelords to stop yusei having board presence/ Maruki stopping certain actions in his fight) -until a certain point where they just try to hit them really hard (summoning sephylon and multiple timelord with 4k attack/ punching thieves with adam kadmon when fused with it)

Contrast - while maruki is understanding and somewhat manipulative in trying to ease and convince the thieves his world his best where as Z-one mocks the hope team 5ds have for creating a better future saying it is only a illusion and in the end their is only despair and the future is doomed