Around the tail end of 2020, two friends and I started to watch Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal since two of us had just watched GX and enjoyed it. Problem was we’re from all over the world and because of timezones and conflicting schedules the times we were all available to watch were infrequent and Zexal itself being over 100 episodes long it ended up being over a year from the date we watched the first episode (October 7th, 2020) to the final one (January 2nd, 2022). I’m not going to go in all the other issues we ran in to such as the lack of availability of the subbed version of the show, technological limitations, and questionable translations since the people who would read this column in the first place likely already know. This piece is going to be about my thoughts and feelings on the anime more than an objective review, there’s no shortage of video essays you can watch if you want an analysis done on a show made to sell cardboard.
The Cast
Every shonen anime has a cast of characters that are mostly there to be cheerleaders or punching bags for the main character (and in many cases both). However what separates the good and great ones are if the side cast also has their own character arcs, development, and their own arc or episode where they get to shine. Zexal is somewhere in between, Yuma’s immediate friend circle fail at that immensely where they’re either forgettable like Tetsuo who’s defining characteristic is that he has no neck, Tokonosuke the gremlin, and the class president who even people who watched the show won’t remember his name to a love interest that you wish was irrelevant: Kotori.
She’s easily the worst character in the show she does absolutely nothing except act as Yuma’s bitchy cheerleader who sometimes gets in danger for a filler episode, no duels, no character development, nothing. The worst part is that she’s stuck to Yuma like a magnet, even though Astral is with Yuma almost all the time Kotori is still brought along with them almost all the time even during dangerous scenarios where if he were to fail she would certainly be doomed. It’s even more insulting when you take in to account the show had stronger female characters that could’ve taken her place such as Anna, Cat, or Yuma’s older sister Kari. It’s extremely puzzling as to why the creators of the show decided to give her the spotlight to this day when there were characters with far more potential to be great than she was.
Where Zexal does shine however is in its rivals and antagonists, Shark and Kaito for example are easily some of the best characters in the show both as Yuma’s opponents and later allies. Pretty much every non-filler opponent Yuma has to face off against gets their own mini-arc for their characters to develop, especially in the second half of the series when the Seven Emperors of the Barian world are introduced, my last paragraph about Yuma’s friends being boring is almost negated since most of them become allies at some point where then the side cast improves drastically.
Filler Episodes
As you would expect from a weekly children’s show, Zexal has no shortage of filler episodes unfortunately the majority aren’t good. I enjoyed many of GX’s filler episodes despite them having little to no relevance in the bigger picture of the plot the same can’t be said for Zexal. The difference between filler episodes in Yu-Gi-Oh! as opposed to other shows is that they have real world consequences, whatever terrible archetype the writers cook up that’ll never be seen again after the respective episode ends still manages to get added in to the trading card game where they only sometimes try to make it an actually playable archetype.
It’s just really cool
One of my favorite character dynamics is a main character who as part of his ability through someone else that’s always with them, like Yuma and Astral. In this case it’s more like Astral mentors and teaches Yuma on how to duel effectively instead of being the reason for his skill entirely. This relationship is even better when the two banter with each other which Yuma and Astral have no shortage of especially in the beginning. Even though it starts off a bit silly, when they come together as Zexal are among my favorite scenes in the show.
Yuma’s Legacy
The thing that hit me hardest about Yuma and Zexal’s story in general is just how much his journey affected his community, most shonen stories have grand plots about how the main character and his friends saved the world (GX does this) but Yuma’s actions hit much closer to home. In Zexal 1 alone Yuma helped two whole families reconcile and come to terms with their past trauma, ended a longtime conflict between two dimensions, helped Shark out of being a bully and a thug, and even removed Heartlands corrupt and evil leader from power!
You might think the power of friendship is gay and overdone, but the way Yuma believes that his friends are good people no matter how far they’ve fallen past redemption really tugged at my heartstrings. I can only hope to have that much trust in my friends and be as impactful to my community as Yuma Tsukumo was to Heartland and it’s denizens, the epilogue where everyone is back to having a normal life honestly almost made me tear up. On top of all this Yuma began as an absolute scrub of a duelist who didn’t even know what the extra deck was, but he learned and kept constantly improving so he could defend his community and uplift those who been knocked down over and over. When the show began I didn’t care for Yuma and in some cases disliked him but by the end I had massive respect for the dimwitted duelist.
Maybe it was all just because I watched this show with two very close friends who I have a great deal of respect for that I feel this way, but regardless I hope I can be like Yuma for them and my home when it matters most.
My verdict
I ended up loving Zexal, it has its ups and downs like any show but I enjoyed almost every minute of it, if you haven’t seen it yet I recommend watching it with some friends. If you’re interested in the chronicles and headaches I went through to make this watchable for my friends on the other side of the planet and my some of my thoughts on the show as I was watching it, click here.