Thread: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal

Originally Posted by Ryoga Kamishiro

Wasn't there something like, when Yuma saw that door thingy that he would lose his most important thing? What if that was his mother? Unless it was already specified it was something else. I just find it a little hard to believe that nothing would ever come up with her.

I really doubt that since aside from that brief flashback of a younger Yuma with his mother after his duel against Fuya, there has been much more focus on his relationship with his father. Plus, they never clarified what Yuma was sacrificing the two times he's gone through the door, which does kind of ruin whatever impact they were trying to go for. The Door didn't even say that it would be later in his life, just that in order to pas through the door, Yuma had to sacrifice his most precious thing. That really does kind of annoy me since even if it does come up later on in the series, I don't think it would have nearly as much of an emotional impact on the audience if we had see Yuma actually deal with the consequences of sacrificing what is precious to him and how it affects him. Instead, he's still the same annoying and happy kid.

Anyway, I don't think that it would be his mother. I could it being both of his parents, but not only his mother, especially when his father is arguably more precious to Yuma due to his whole annoying catchphrase. Yuma mentioned earlier in the series that he believed both of his parents were alive. His mother, despite being ignored for a long time, hasn't been referred to as dead or even hinted at it before. She's just ignored for the time being because that's usually what happens with mothers in this franchise. She may appear again, but I have my doubts about it.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal Opening/Sigla (Italian Audio) - YouTube

The Italian Dub has finally come out! Now to see if it's on one of the Italian channels I have on TV...

EDIT: IT HAS BEEN OUT SINCE JUNE?

FFFFFFFUUUU---

EDIT 2: It's on K2... DAMN IT! What happened to the times when Italia Uno would take them? I don't have K2, and I'm definitely not going to get a channel boost soon. K2 took Best Wishes! as well but it came on Disney XD where I watched all the first 50 episodes again <333. It doesn't look like Disney XD will take Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal in the near future, so I'm going to b Zexalless here ;_; Damn! Now I'm not going to see all of my favourite characters and Tokunosuke on TV....

EDIT 3: Pfft, even if I have a channel boost I still won't have K2:

http://www.melita.com/personal/tv/channels/

Oh well... I'll still have my projector that gives me a screen as big as my room's wall to watch Zexal in its 1080p HD glory~~~

Hey , Does Yuma live in the same Universe as Yugi's Universe ?
Well you see,
If Yuma come from the future of other Yugioh Protagonist's Universe Then what happen to Dual Academy ?
Does Dual Academy get shut down in future ?
Also ,
Does Anyone want to see a Movie where Yuma travel back in time and meet Yugi Moto ?

Originally Posted by Hurricane Kishore

Hey , Does Yuma live in the same Universe as Yugi's Universe ?
Well you see,
If Yuma come from the future of other Yugioh Protagonist's Universe Then what happen to Dual Academy ?
Does Dual Academy get shut down in future ?
Also ,
Does Anyone want to see a Movie where Yuma travel back in time and meet Yugi Moto ?

I honestly don't think that Zexal takes place in the same universe as the other three series. With GX and 5D's, there were clear signs in the first few episodes that they took place in the same universe. Not to mention their basic summary when the series first started mentioned how they took place years after Yugi's adventures. With Zexal, there hasn't been any clear sign that it took place in the same universe. There was that episode with the Duel Logger where they showed cards from DM and GX that were considered legendary, but they never made a connection to the duelists we normally associate with those monsters and for all we know, there were famous duelists in the Zexal universe who used them instead. Plus, it was probably a bone for long-time fans more than anything else. Even the basic summary for the series was vague about where it takes place in the future. Considering that it already deals with other dimensions, I think it would make sense that Zexal takes place in its own universe. They could just be downplaying any connection to the previous three series in order to attract a new audience for Zexal, but I still think it's more likely that it takes place in a different universe. Considering how much they value dueling in Zexal, I wouldn't be surprised if they had their own Duel Academy somewhere.

Personally, I wouldn't want Yuma to meet with Yugi or any of the other protagonists. I don't think he's on their level, aside from maybe their power of plot armor, and I like the other three protagonists much more than I like Yuma. Besides that, I can't really see them going for another team-up anytime soon. They'd probably want to wait for another special occasion and be able to promote new cards too.

I just have to say, I'm listening to previews of the Sound Duel 2 OST, and it is AMAZING. Song 3 on the second disc, Challenger, is awesome.

Just, uh... throwing that out there.

Originally Posted by Hidden Mew

Originally Posted by Hurricane Kishore

Hey , Does Yuma live in the same Universe as Yugi's Universe ?
Well you see,
If Yuma come from the future of other Yugioh Protagonist's Universe Then what happen to Dual Academy ?
Does Dual Academy get shut down in future ?
Also ,
Does Anyone want to see a Movie where Yuma travel back in time and meet Yugi Moto ?

I honestly don't think that Zexal takes place in the same universe as the other three series. With GX and 5D's, there were clear signs in the first few episodes that they took place in the same universe. Not to mention their basic summary when the series first started mentioned how they took place years after Yugi's adventures. With Zexal, there hasn't been any clear sign that it took place in the same universe. There was that episode with the Duel Logger where they showed cards from DM and GX that were considered legendary, but they never made a connection to the duelists we normally associate with those monsters and for all we know, there were famous duelists in the Zexal universe who used them instead. Plus, it was probably a bone for long-time fans more than anything else. Even the basic summary for the series was vague about where it takes place in the future. Considering that it already deals with other dimensions, I think it would make sense that Zexal takes place in its own universe. They could just be downplaying any connection to the previous three series in order to attract a new audience for Zexal, but I still think it's more likely that it takes place in a different universe. Considering how much they value dueling in Zexal, I wouldn't be surprised if they had their own Duel Academy somewhere.

Personally, I wouldn't want Yuma to meet with Yugi or any of the other protagonists. I don't think he's on their level, aside from maybe their power of plot armor, and I like the other three protagonists much more than I like Yuma. Besides that, I can't really see them going for another team-up anytime soon. They'd probably want to wait for another special occasion and be able to promote new cards too.

You know , People often say that a Anime become less challenging if the protagonist is Genius from the very start!
However, The Protagonist of first 3 series were genius's and those series were quite Popular.
While We finally have a Yugioh protagonist who's far bellow average duelist in Zexal and Its the less-Popular series of Yugioh !
I guess it prove that a anime can be popular with a genius Protagonist from the start.

Originally Posted by Hurricane Kishore

You know , People often say that a Anime become less challenging if the protagonist is Genius from the very start!
However, The Protagonist of first 3 series were genius's and those series were quite Popular.
While We finally have a Yugioh protagonist who's far bellow average duelist in Zexal and Its the less-Popular series of Yugioh !
I guess it prove that a anime can be popular with a genius Protagonist from the start.

I'm not sure if I'd call the other three protagonists geniuses. They were all good duelists right from the start, which I'm guessing is what you're referring to, but they weren't perfect and had conflicts to deal with. Personally, I don't think that Yuma being far below average in terms of his skills is why Zexal is the least popular Yu-Gi-Oh! series. The idea of a main character not being good at the game right from the start honestly sounded pretty good to me when Zexal first came up and I still think that the idea behind Yuma's character can work. The problem is that, like a lot of of the good ideas in this series, it suffers from terrible execution. Yuma's personality is so annoying, he behaves far too stupid for me to take him seriously and he really comes off as selfish considering he didn't get interested in Numbers until he learned how he could benefit from it with finding out what happened to his father. If Yuma had a more likable personality and wasn't treated as a joke that the audience is also suppose to take seriously, then he would probably have more fans than I think he does.

I think that Yuma is one of the major problems for this show, but not the only one. The fact that the main cast is full of dull and uninteresting characters really doesn't help either, a good portion of the duels aren't that engaging and the pacing has been kind of off from the beginning, although that has slightly improved once they started to actually focus on the plot during the WDC arc.

Oddly enough, I find Yuma to be perhaps the most endearing of all the YGO main protagonists, aside from possibly Judai. He's not perfect, which was my main problem with Yusei (who I found to be a bit of a Gary Stu), and his development as a duelist is clear over time. I think it's especially notable in his duel with Dr. Faker, where he is able to make good moves now on his own, without Astral's supervision.

Though he may be a bit silly and dumb at times, it's nice to see some expressiveness, especially after Yusei. And though it may have just been to find his father initially, he now wants the Number cards to aid Astral. That he wants to help Astral, yet was still on the fence about the whole situation because of how it would affect Haruto was a nice moment showing that Yuma really does think, and that there are some more layers to his personality than there may initially seem.

Overall, in fact, I find the cast of Zexal to be the most entertaining and likable out of any YGO yet. Kotori is my favorite female protagonist, the Arclights are just fantastic (now there, I will admit I am highly biased XD), Tron was a wonderful, entertaining villain (and his redemption was well-handled as well), Shark is interesting, Kaito has even grown on me... Sure, there are some misses, like Dr. Faker and the sad attempt at making him tragic, as well as the fact that Tetsuo, Tokonosuke, Cathy, and Takashi could easily be written off, but still, I think there are some great strengths in the cast for Zexal.

As for the duels, I've found them to also be the most interesting and exciting out of all the series. 5D's also excelled at duels, but Zexal is even better in my opinion, better incorporating story and exposition during the duels to break them up a bit.

Originally Posted by FinalArcadia

Oddly enough, I find Yuma to be perhaps the most endearing of all the YGO main protagonists, aside from possibly Judai. He's not perfect, which was my main problem with Yusei (who I found to be a bit of a Gary Stu), and his development as a duelist is clear over time. I think it's especially notable in his duel with Dr. Faker, where he is able to make good moves now on his own, without Astral's supervision.

It feels like they went to the opposite ends of the extremes with Yuma, in regards to being more flawed than the other protagonists and I don't think that's necessarily a good thing, especially when he didn't show any real effort in improving his skills and just said that he wanted to get stronger. Personally, I have a hard time taking his development as a duelist believable since it can be inconsistent depending on if the writers want to make him a joke or not. Besides that, he still depends on Astral's powers and/or on other people when he doesn't take Astral's advice. That's was the case in the duel with Dr. Faker where Shark and Kaito had to explain a couple of moves to him, he relied on his power and the only way he was able to win was using the deus ex machnia Zexal powers anyway.

Originally Posted by FinalArcadia

Though he may be a bit silly and dumb at times, it's nice to see some expressiveness, especially after Yusei. And though it may have just been to find his father initially, he now wants the Number cards to aid Astral. That he wants to help Astral, yet was still on the fence about the whole situation because of how it would affect Haruto was a nice moment showing that Yuma really does think, and that there are some more layers to his personality than there may initially seem.

A character showing more emotional expressions isn't necessarily better than a calmer character like Yusei, especially when Yuma being so silly and stupid has ruined whatever chances there were of taking him seriously. I liked Yusei, although I can understand why people wouldn't like how nearly perfect he became as the series progressed, but I'd honestly take a character like him over Yuma if only for being able to take him seriously. The fact that he didn't care about Number cards and didn't want to get involved with those situations, even during the WDC, until he found out that Astral's memories could help him find his father was still problematic since it didn't put Yuma in the best light. The whole conflict about how getting the Numbers would affect Haruto could have been an interesting moment and show Yuma struggling with a conflict, but then he automatically disregarded that conflict by just choosing to go find his father and then it was solved by Yuma just continuing on dueling the way he wants to. I think it would have meant more if Yuma really did have more of a connection to Haruto than he did, especially when he was pretty annoying when he was trying to deal with Haruto and acted like it was fine that he was taken away, although that was also fairly inconsistent if I recall correctly.

Originally Posted by FinalArcadia

Overall, in fact, I find the cast of Zexal to be the most entertaining and likable out of any YGO yet. Kotori is my favorite female protagonist, the Arclights are just fantastic (now there, I will admit I am highly biased XD), Tron was a wonderful, entertaining villain (and his redemption was well-handled as well), Shark is interesting, Kaito has even grown on me... Sure, there are some misses, like Dr. Faker and the sad attempt at making him tragic, as well as the fact that Tetsuo, Tokonosuke, Cathy, and Takashi could easily be written off, but still, I think there are some great strengths in the cast for Zexal.

I still find the main cast pretty dull, especially Kotori, but that's just a matter of different tastes. I actually think that Tetsuo has had more impact on the series than Tokonosuke, Cathy and Takashi, if only for dueling Black Mist when it first appeared. By comparison, the other three haven't done anything as significant and could easily be written off. Nothing would really drastically change and that's a huge problem. The casts in previous series had problems, but they didn't have three characters that could have been easily written out without any consequences. The Arclights are pretty cool, at least III and IV are since Chris always came off as kind of dull to me, and Tron is at least an entertaining villain. Shark is really the only one in the main cast I honestly do care about at this point. I'm still more indifferent towards Kaito, but I can kind of understand why others like him. I just think that the other rivals in previous series were more interesting and/or had something more unique than Kaito does. Dr. Faker and Mr. Heartland are pretty weak villains. When I think about the main cast, I think about mainly the protagonists, which are rather dull for me and I still don't feel motivated in any of them, except for Shark, even though he still feels like an anti-hero to me.

Originally Posted by FinalArcadia

As for the duels, I've found them to also be the most interesting and exciting out of all the series. 5D's also excelled at duels, but Zexal is even better in my opinion, better incorporating story and exposition during the duels to break them up a bit.

Some of the duels are pretty decent/good, although I think most of the better duels involve Shark, but they don't feel that exciting or interesting to me. 5D's had better duels and I think that both 5D's and especially DM did a better job incorporating story and exposition during the duels. Though, it might help that I really don't care for a lot of the characters in the series, so if I don't feel invested in the characters, I won't find a lot of the duels that engaging. Some are better than others, but I don't think that Zexal has the best examples of interesting and exciting duels in the franchise. Honestly, I don't think that Zexal has done anything that the other three series haven't done better.

Originally Posted by Hidden Mew

It feels like they went to the opposite ends of the extremes with Yuma, in regards to being more flawed than the other protagonists and I don't think that's necessarily a good thing, especially when he didn't show any real effort in improving his skills and just said that he wanted to get stronger. Personally, I have a hard time taking his development as a duelist believable since it can be inconsistent depending on if the writers want to make him a joke or not. Besides that, he still depends on Astral's powers and/or on other people when he doesn't take Astral's advice. That's was the case in the duel with Dr. Faker where Shark and Kaito had to explain a couple of moves to him, he relied on his power and the only way he was able to win was using the deus ex machnia Zexal powers anyway.

There may not have been any "training" type episodes for Yuma trying to get better at dueling, but at the same time, going back to the very early episodes, there is a definite improvement in his skills. And not even just that, but the way he purposely tried to go against anything Astral said initially, yet now will listen to his advice... To me, that shows a bit of character development and maturation, that he realizes he's not the best, but it's okay to get help from others and to listen to their advice.

As far as deus ex machina with ZEXAL, Yusei also suffered from that problem as 5D's continued. The Crimson Dragon seemed to always perfectly give him an edge when the chips were down, and Accel Synchro (to me, anyway) came across as such as well. Personally, I'd rather see a less-skilled protagonist who sometimes DID actually lose over Yusei, who (if I recall) never officially lost any duels. Even when Yuma pulls out the ZEXAL power, it is only at critical times, and even then, it's just as much about getting a victory as helping his opponent see the error of their ways (III, Tron, etc.), making it less of a cop-out power in my eyes.

Originally Posted by Hidden Mew

A character showing more emotional expressions isn't necessarily better than a calmer character like Yusei, especially when Yuma being so silly and stupid has ruined whatever chances there were of taking him seriously. I liked Yusei, although I can understand why people wouldn't like how nearly perfect he became as the series progressed, but I'd honestly take a character like him over Yuma if only for being able to take him seriously. The fact that he didn't care about Number cards and didn't want to get involved with those situations, even during the WDC, until he found out that Astral's memories could help him find his father was still problematic since it didn't put Yuma in the best light. The whole conflict about how getting the Numbers would affect Haruto could have been an interesting moment and show Yuma struggling with a conflict, but then he automatically disregarded that conflict by just choosing to go find his father and then it was solved by Yuma just continuing on dueling the way he wants to. I think it would have meant more if Yuma really did have more of a connection to Haruto than he did, especially when he was pretty annoying when he was trying to deal with Haruto and acted like it was fine that he was taken away, although that was also fairly inconsistent if I recall correctly.

I really don't struggle to take Yuma seriously. His emotions make it clear to me that he feels deeply in his duels, making all his duels feel more personal than those of any of the previous protagonists (even more than Judai, who I really liked). It's nice that Yuma isn't always dead-serious, and that he's able to be a bit light-hearted even in tough times, showing his resilience. Of course, even that is somewhat plot-related, as his optimism is closely connected to his father's "Kattobingu," which I find a nice way of tying together many of the familial themes of the series.

I do agree that it would be nice to have seen more of the Haruto/Yuma situation, but even as it stands, it was a nice little moment when Yuma didn't want to decide between saving Astral or Haruto, much like his turmoil over saving Shark or Astral during his duel against him in the WDC Finals. Him continuing to duel the way he always has really didn't bother me, but that could be because I do like Yuma.

Originally Posted by Hidden Mew

I still find the main cast pretty dull, especially Kotori, but that's just a matter of different tastes. I actually think that Tetsuo has had more impact on the series than Tokonosuke, Cathy and Takashi, if only for dueling Black Mist when it first appeared. By comparison, the other three haven't done anything as significant and could easily be written off. Nothing would really drastically change and that's a huge problem. The casts in previous series had problems, but they didn't have three characters that could have been easily written out without any consequences. The Arclights are pretty cool, at least III and IV are since Chris always came off as kind of dull to me, and Tron is at least an entertaining villain. Shark is really the only one in the main cast I honestly do care about at this point. I'm still more indifferent towards Kaito, but I can kind of understand why others like him. I just think that the other rivals in previous series were more interesting and/or had something more unique than Kaito does. Dr. Faker and Mr. Heartland are pretty weak villains. When I think about the main cast, I think about mainly the protagonists, which are rather dull for me and I still don't feel motivated in any of them, except for Shark, even though he still feels like an anti-hero to me.

Tetsuo is actually the one I think would be easiest to write-off, since I honestly can't discern any personality or distinctiveness from him, whereas I can to varying degrees with the others. However, I don't really find that to be a "huge problem," as they were never really intended to be major characters. They are there for support, and I think that's fine. Having too many active characters could lead to less coherence.

Originally Posted by Hidden Mew

Some of the duels are pretty decent/good, although I think most of the better duels involve Shark, but they don't feel that exciting or interesting to me. 5D's had better duels and I think that both 5D's and especially DM did a better job incorporating story and exposition during the duels. Though, it might help that I really don't care for a lot of the characters in the series, so if I don't feel invested in the characters, I won't find a lot of the duels that engaging. Some are better than others, but I don't think that Zexal has the best examples of interesting and exciting duels in the franchise. Honestly, I don't think that Zexal has done anything that the other three series haven't done better.

Ah, here might be a reason we differ so much. I really, really don't care for DM at all. Like, I respect that people like it, but I found it very dull, especially in hindsight. I had no real attachment to ANY character in DM, and the duels felt excruciatingly dull most of the time to me (with some exceptions, such as Yugi's duel against Pegasus).

Personally, I think that Zexal does have numerous better done aspects over the other series, but again, that is all personal taste. I think the art direction is immensely better and more imaginative, the characters are much more connected to one another, I find the duels to be exciting, and the emphasis on family relationships felt very well done to me.

But as is clear from many of our points, I think a lot of the difference in opinion is just that we have vastly different tastes. Which is totally fine, and I enjoy debating anyway.

You know ,
Although I don't like Yuma dueling with Astral's guidance , I don't disprove of this.
Because If Yuma was as Smart as Atem , Jaden & Yusei then there will be no need for him to partner up with Astral.
As for Yuma's Classmate , I don't believe they were written off.
Writer just didn't need them for his story plot , That all.
They focus more on the Story and the character they need for story.
For example , Writer needed Kaito, Hart and Shark for his Story plot so he focus on them!
That the proper way to write the anime.
Writer should only focus on what the Story needs !
There no need to forcefully use Yuma's Classmate even if they doesn't them.
Writer should only use them when they are needed .
That goes for all character of the Show!

Originally Posted by FinalArcadia

There may not have been any "training" type episodes for Yuma trying to get better at dueling, but at the same time, going back to the very early episodes, there is a definite improvement in his skills. And not even just that, but the way he purposely tried to go against anything Astral said initially, yet now will listen to his advice... To me, that shows a bit of character development and maturation, that he realizes he's not the best, but it's okay to get help from others and to listen to their advice.

Yuma listening to Astral now can be considered development considering he wasn't willing to listen to anyone before, but even that can be inconsistent depending on if they want to make him a joke, like what happened during some of the early WDC matches. I wasn't expecting any training kind of episodes for Yuma necessarily, but I was expecting him to actually put more effort on getting better by himself, rather than depending on Astral's powers/advice and/or other duelists' skills.

Originally Posted by FinalArcadia

As far as deus ex machina with ZEXAL, Yusei also suffered from that problem as 5D's continued. The Crimson Dragon seemed to always perfectly give him an edge when the chips were down, and Accel Synchro (to me, anyway) came across as such as well. Personally, I'd rather see a less-skilled protagonist who sometimes DID actually lose over Yusei, who (if I recall) never officially lost any duels. Even when Yuma pulls out the ZEXAL power, it is only at critical times, and even then, it's just as much about getting a victory as helping his opponent see the error of their ways (III, Tron, etc.), making it less of a cop-out power in my eyes.

The only times where the Crimson Dragon gave Yusei an edge was with drawing Majestic Dragon and then Accel Synchro. I'm not saying that there weren't deus ex machina in the other series. Pretty much all of the main characters suffer from that. It seems like they're glorifying it with the ZEXAL Power. The fact that the first time it happened, it came out of nowhere with no buildup to the episode prior and he can create any card he wants, while Yusei's draws were helped by the power of a God makes it much more cheap. They're both still a cop-out, but I'd take the powers of a God, extremely lucky draws and controlling the draws with ones' will over a ridiculous looking power-up form.

Originally Posted by FinalArcadia

I really don't struggle to take Yuma seriously. His emotions make it clear to me that he feels deeply in his duels, making all his duels feel more personal than those of any of the previous protagonists (even more than Judai, who I really liked). It's nice that Yuma isn't always dead-serious, and that he's able to be a bit light-hearted even in tough times, showing his resilience. Of course, even that is somewhat plot-related, as his optimism is closely connected to his father's "Kattobingu," which I find a nice way of tying together many of the familial themes of the series.

I can't take Yuma seriously not because of how he's invested in the duels. He's been treated as such a joke that I cannot take him seriously, despite how much the show wants me to. Judai is a much better example of a goofy light-hearted hero. He was a goof at times, but not to an extreme amount and he knew when it was time to be serious. With Yuma, they've done their best to make him look so incredibly stupid and annoying, especially at the beginning of the series, that I can't take him seriously, even when he tries to act like it. I'm not saying that I want Yuma to be serious all the time and that I don't like light-hearted heroes. Like I mentioned before, Judai was a better example of a light-hearted hero and I liked him. He could be annoying at times, but he acted more like a teenager than Yuma and I have no problems taking him seriously. Personally, I find Yuma's catchphrase annoying. The connection to his father is nice and all, but hearing it so often gets really old.

Originally Posted by FinalArcadia

I do agree that it would be nice to have seen more of the Haruto/Yuma situation, but even as it stands, it was a nice little moment when Yuma didn't want to decide between saving Astral or Haruto, much like his turmoil over saving Shark or Astral during his duel against him in the WDC Finals. Him continuing to duel the way he always has really didn't bother me, but that could be because I do like Yuma.

I don't think it was a nice little moment. It could have been if Yuma didn't instantly decide to opt out of making a tough decision by chasing after his father and then deciding to just continue dueling his own way. Plus, Yuma barely spent any time with Haruto to make this conflict more meaningful on a personal level. As for the whole conflict between saving Shark or Astral during the WDC, I thought that whole situation was just weird. It didn't really make sense how Shark Drake Weiss would control Shark if it returned to the field, especially when Tron just put his hand through Shark's head to alter his memory, we had no knowledge that Tron affected the card itself and he had absolutely no problem using it against IV or against Dr. Faker. It just seemed like a forced way to make Yuma to make that choice and for Shark to take himself out of the match. I didn't mind that Shark did that since it was a lot better than Yuma beating him and at least they actually do come off as friends to make the conflict more personal, unlike with Haruto.

Originally Posted by FinalArcadia

Tetsuo is actually the one I think would be easiest to write-off, since I honestly can't discern any personality or distinctiveness from him, whereas I can to varying degrees with the others. However, I don't really find that to be a "huge problem," as they were never really intended to be major characters. They are there for support, and I think that's fine. Having too many active characters could lead to less coherence.

Since when did having more distinctive personality traits matter more than having an impact on the storyline? Tetsuo is bland, though I'd consider him the least bland out of Yuma's circle of friends, but he's actually affected the storyline. Shark defeating him in the first episode led to Shark crushing Yuma's Emperor's Key and their first match, which led to Astral appearing and the start of Yuma's rivalry with Shark. Not to mention Tetsuo did duel against Black Mist to free Yuma from his control, although that match was pretty weak unfortunately. That's more than what those other three characters have done to affected the story combined. That doesn't say much for any of them, but I'll take characters that actually did affect the story in some way over ones that have done virtually nothing. I know that they weren't meant to be major characters and just being supporting characters is fine. The problem is that if all they do is support Yuma, have no impact on the storyline and don't really do anything to make them stand out of their roles and be individual characters, rather than just Yuma's friends, then I feel absolutely no reason to become invested in their characters. Aside from arguably Cathy, none of the three have gone through development and their personalities are as flat as ironing boards. Personally, I don't think having more active characters can be a problem. Having a large cast can be a problem, as it was for GX, but having more characters active could help to make them more interesting characters and give the audience a breather from Yuma dueling nearly every episode, especially when we barely get a break from him with the other active characters like Shark and Kaito.

Originally Posted by FinalArcadia

Ah, here might be a reason we differ so much. I really, really don't care for DM at all. Like, I respect that people like it, but I found it very dull, especially in hindsight. I had no real attachment to ANY character in DM, and the duels felt excruciatingly dull most of the time to me (with some exceptions, such as Yugi's duel against Pegasus).

Personally, I think that Zexal does have numerous better done aspects over the other series, but again, that is all personal taste. I think the art direction is immensely better and more imaginative, the characters are much more connected to one another, I find the duels to be exciting, and the emphasis on family relationships felt very well done to me.

But as is clear from many of our points, I think a lot of the difference in opinion is just that we have vastly different tastes. Which is totally fine, and I enjoy debating anyway.

I can respect that. I liked plenty of the characters in DM and the duels were quite engaging. Even the matches that dragged on a bit too long were usually pretty good or had something going on to keep me invested in the situation. I don't think that Zexal does anything remarkably better than the other series. The artwork is nice, but I've seen better. I definitely don't think that the characters are more connected to each other. I feel a much stronger connection and friendship among the main cast in every other series, especially DM and 5D's. Yuma barely interacts with most of his so-called friends that aren't Kotori, Shark and I guess Kaito now. The emphasis on family is nice too, but the focus on family among the siblings in other series was better and certainly isn't enough to make Zexal better to me. Though, like you said, this does come down to personal tastes and if you think Zexal is the best, then that's totally fine. I just think it suffers from horrible execution, bland/annoying characters and pacing issues. There are good qualities about it, mainly Shark, Tron and his sons and the basic concept of the story, but it's still my least favorite series. I'm just hoping it can resolve its story decently and the inevitable fifth series is better or at least has characters I can actually care about.

Originally Posted by Hurricane Kishore

You know ,
Although I don't like Yuma dueling with Astral's guidance , I don't disprove of this.
Because If Yuma was as Smart as Atem , Jaden & Yusei then there will be no need for him to partner up with Astral.

I don't mind the idea of Yuma dueling with Astral's guidance, but I just find it hard to believe that he's really grown as a duelist when he still depends on Astral's power and other duelists when he's in a tight spot. He hasn't really taken down a strong opponent on his own either. I think that the concept could have worked a lot better though.

Originally Posted by Hurricane Kishore

As for Yuma's Classmate , I don't believe they were written off.
Writer just didn't need them for his story plot , That all.
They focus more on the Story and the character they need for story.
For example , Writer needed Kaito, Hart and Shark for his Story plot so he focus on them!
That the proper way to write the anime.
Writer should only focus on what the Story needs !
There no need to forcefully use Yuma's Classmate even if they doesn't them.
Writer should only use them when they are needed .
That goes for all character of the Show!

I know that they haven't been written off and that they aren't important to the story. Since they're not important to the story, why bother including them at all? Kotori and Tetsuo actually have impact on the story, although Kotori's impact is mainly being Yuma's personal cheerleading shadow, but it isn't like they needed to make Yuma's circle of friends larger, especially when it could just be with Kotori, Tetsuo, Shark and maybe Kaito at this point. A show with decent writing wouldn't and honestly shouldn't include characters that are useless and only serve as the cheerleaders for the main characters. Plus, they could make them important to the plot if they tried. Maybe not something like Shark's subplot, but they could do something more with them to make their inclusion feel less forced/unnecessary in the grand scheme of things.

I find Yuma to be a good character even with needing help. He has definitely changed since the beginning as he has learned more and is still learning and developing, the same with the other main characters. Yuma's goofball personality reminds me of another anime character who was the same. Weak at first and had to work hard to become strong. True the goofy protagonist is overused but with Kattobingu and the storyline they made Yuma his own. I also like Kotori. She's not entirely useless like other characters. She also reminds me of an anime character, two actually, characters that I enjoy and like.

Originally Posted by Midorikawa

I find Yuma to be a good character even with needing help. He has definitely changed since the beginning as he has learned more and is still learning and developing, the same with the other main characters. Yuma's goofball personality reminds me of another anime character who was the same. Weak at first and had to work hard to become strong. True the goofy protagonist is overused but with Kattobingu and the storyline they made Yuma his own. I also like Kotori. She's not entirely useless like other characters. She also reminds me of an anime character, two actually, characters that I enjoy and like.

The day when Yuma won't need Astral guidance to be a Powerful duelist will also be the day when Zexal ends !

To me, I've never found Yuma annoying at all. He makes a good main character to me, starting out bad but making his way up to being a good duelist. And besides, he had to be different in some way from the other protagonists. It would be incredibly boring if all protagonists had the same dueling skills and personality.