Reviews for Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal II

I'll get straight to the point, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal II (subbed) is one of the best anime I have seen to date. With a top tier engaging story, detailed art that is stylistic yet still a homage to its predecessors former styles, and a truly lovable main cast that viewers will progressively get more attached towards, this second season reinforces the already good first season, and with it, genuinely breathes new life into this ever-changing franchise. Story - 9 Revolving around the Barian's, Zexal II has arguably one of the eeriest and intriguing plots of the franchise to date. However, this does not come without flaws.Most find issues in the pacing and execution of this story, and complaints about it can be heard throughout fans of anime and Yu-Gi-Oh! alike. As the story progresses and the plot unravels you realize the series is a lot less predictable than anticipated, and instead, is actually presented quite well.

To put it into laymen's terms for readers of this review, think of Zexal I as Clannad, and Zexal II as the after-story. Simply put, it is essentially the pay off to the big build up that is Zexal's first season, and what a pay off it is.

Art - 9

The art is indeed "candy for the eyes" and furthermore is quite a "treat" to look at. Everything from the "Shonen-esk" characters to the background are well detailed and it results in an incredibly visually appealing animation style. The openings and endings are gorgeously pieced together and executed in such a remarkable fashion that they still remain some of my favorites. As mentioned before, the stylized dramatization, which is readily apparent to returning fans of the franchise, can seem off-putting at first, but rest assured as it serves to intensify suspenseful moments, create remember-able duels, and evidently be a stylistic take that is for the better.

Sound - 10

Zexal II added a completely new soundtrack that widens the large range they had originally, to an unfathomable degree. This, coupled with the appropriate use of Zexal I's OST, effectively puts a perspective on the growth of individual characters and to a larger degree, the change of Zexal II's overall tone. The soundtrack completely compliments every spectrum of mood in the series and is one of, if not the best, in the franchise to date.

Character - 10

This show is packed full of them. From the cameo occurrences of certain disliked characters, to disliked reoccurring ones, it's odd to see so much hate geared towards main and side characters alike. Here's why I think the characters are not just good, but great:

The show relies on a typical trope for Shōnen in that the protagonist starts off as a beginner and slowly but surely get's stronger. No problems there, it only adds to the experience as one notices Yuma not only developing as a character, but also getting better at playing the game. Additionally, they wrote in some of the greatest antagonists ever, which is more than enough reason to deal with certain characters that you inevitably detest, like the ever loved Tokunosuke. Jokes aside, this is no understatement, the characters are all well developed throughout the 73 episode, this makes even Tokunosuke tolerable to a certain degree.

Enjoyment - 10, Overall - 10

Admittedly, the first couple of episodes are quite formulaic and tedious, but as the show passes through its exposition, I began to find myself eagerly waiting on a weekly basis for the next episode as it was that enveloping as a show. If you're a fan of the franchise, I suggest you give it a hearty try, even If you dropped it before. If you're not a fan, I still suggest you give Zexal II a chance as its story is fantastic.

So now you're lean, what's next? You need to make sure you're refueling your muscles and supporting your body by consuming carbs and protean. You start the feel the bulk, those rock solid abs and delicious muscles. Guys and gals both look good with muscles, except when they start to look like they're Graveler, then it's just disgusting. But the good muscle look is what we're going after here, the wonder of Zexal 2. I can't stress enough how good this is, as it's easily one of the best parts of Yugioh. We shall begin the road of the opposite of Zexal 1, the cesspoolof disappointment.

Even though the story's objective is still the same, the presentation is significantly better. We get to see the objective and troubles of both the Astral world and the Barian world. While both worlds want to kill the other one, it becomes surprisingly complex with different groups with different affinities have their own objectives and methods. There are a few plot twists, but they honestly make sense. The events that conspire throughout the characters' journey only makes the emotional attachment to them that much stronger. The one issue I have is the numeron code and its existence. To continue any more would spoil some key moments.

The art and sound are pretty much the same as Zexal 1. A new thing though is the design of the Astral and Barian worlds as well as their denizens, and I must say, they did a fine job in their designs.

The characters are significantly better in Zexal 2. Out of Yuma's crew Yuma, Astral, and Shark all get a lot better with Shark being the biggest improvement. Shark's sister Rio also becomes part of the group and is more fleshed out than the other girls in the group. The Barians are all unique and great characters, and in all honesty are the best characters in Zexal 2. Unfortunately they are all surrounded in spoilers, but just trust my word. Kaito is still a great character while Haruto becomes more open and Orbital 7 remains just as witty as ever. To really know how these characters are, watch it. There's only so much one man can say before spoiling everything.

Zexal 2 was a much more enjoyable experience than Zexal 1 due to its improved plot handling and characters. Zexal 2 is one of the most memorable parts of Yugioh that will leave you at your seat getting exciting, feeling the character's emotions, and wanting more. At the end of the journey through a disgusting swamp is a hidden village of wonder and excitement known as Zexal 2, so what are you waiting for?

(I'm going to talk about the episodes as starting from 74 [as Zexal has 73] to 113 [episode 40 of Zexal II], the last one that came out now) because that's how I'm used to them, okay?) Please, watch Zexal before Zexal II. If you haven't watched Zexal yet and you're trying to find out if you need to watch it to understand Zexal II: Yes, you do. Okay, now for Zexal II: (1st arc) Zexal II may seem disappointing on the first few episodes, but starting episode 85, it gets to the most interesting part. Once you get there, you start to understand that Zexal II has adeeper, darker plot than the one it seems to have at first. Of course that, when I say episode 85, I'm talking about four episodes in a row (from 85 to 89) that are amazing and important for the plot. Still, not the episodes before 85 can be considered fillers though. As they are important to know the new characters, mainly Rio (Shark's sister), Rei (the new student on Yuma's class), Gilag, Alit and Misael (3 of the villains). After this, there are filler episodes again and then comes the most overwhelming part that nobody should ever miss (you'll understand what I mean once you see it), which are from episodes 94 to 98. And on episode 94 we find a connection between Zexal and Zexal II, because oops, not everything was told about Zexal yet.

Arc 2:

The arc 2 starts on episode 99 and it is the currently airing arc, it starts by the background of each Barian Emperor known until then:

- Durbe (episodes 99 and 100);

- Vector (episodes 101 and 102);

- Alit (episodes 103 and 104);

- Misael (episodes 105 and 106);

- Gilag (episode 107);

- Nasch and Merag (episodes 108 and 109).

After the background story part, comes the Barian World vs. Astral World fight and Yuma and his friends are caught in between it, now what happens there... Well, you'll know once you watch it.

All I can say is: it really is worth it.

In my personal opinion, it is a series you should give a chance to. Even because all the mysteries left unviled aren't solved yet.

i loved this yugioh spin-off so much to the point where i decided to rewatch it in the same month, i already loved 5d's (the more well-praised spin-off) so so so much so this is saying a lot. i genuinely did not think i'd enjoy zexal this much but the story is (mostly) very well thought out and every action each character took made sense and they fit like a glove. at first, i didnt like how they reused duel monster's concept, with astral being a dueling spirit and all, but slowly progressing, zexal actually became 10x better than the og duel monsters. the constantly recurringtheme of losing what's most important to you made my skin crawl, and yuma slowly maturing but continuing to stay optimistic is something that i love so much. the first few episodes (regarding zexal i) had me cringing at some parts, but it stayed interesting and i refused to take a break before seeing the next. the appearance of kaito made things extremely exciting, episode 13 (yuma vs. kaito) had one of my favorite duels in the series ever because of how every part was executed. the barians in zexal ii did not feel out of the blue and were a very pleasant surprise. honestly i might rewatch zexal a second time just to notice even MORE things i didnt notice before.

i LOVED the characters. during my rewatch ive been nicer to kotori although it fills me with rage seeing her treated so badly, being in the background as some cheerleader that gets taken hostage all the time (including yuma's other useless friends), also that one shower scene (she is literally 13 years old). shark has easily become one of my favorite characters of all time, he appeared as some hilarious edgy punk that i laughed at everytime he appeared, but the further you get into the series, the more you understand his actions and start to empathize with him. i loved the arclights. kaito is the best yugioh rival ever. the barians were all great, alito being my favorite, but they definitely deserved more screentime because i personally didnt care to remember them that much, and rio shouldnt have to be placed in danger all the time for the sake of sharks development. yuma is a great main character, the bonds that he's made with astral and shark turned my eyes into raisins. astral being the most important thing to yuma because he was often made fun of by others and that his dad was gone makes me so insanely sad. i did not like don thousand that much (nor did i find his duel against yuma interesting, he was a basic power-hungry villain) and vector was only tolerable because he was a freaky sadist, and those guys are always fun to watch in yugioh.

the soundtrack and sound effects are absolutely amazing, scenes never felt awkward or out of place, and the openings/endings were also amazing. i never skipped the openings unless i was dying to know what happened next, 'unbreakable heart' is my favorite opening with 'go way go way' being my favorite ending.

the art is just stunning, as expected, and zexal actually has the best art and style in all of yugioh in my opinion. the extra gradient added adds so much flavor. at certain episodes (generally the less exciting ones) the art plummets a bit due to lesser animators handling the keyframes, but its not too bad or anything important. the designs are absolutely amazing and i would not even dare call them "bad" because a /drawn cartoon/ should use all they have to their advantage to make everything look captivating and eye-catching. at certain times i just want to chew on yumas and sharks hair.

if you've skipped zexal, you are missing out on the best goddamn yugioh spin-off out there. rewatch it even if already have seen it. pay close attention to everything every character says. PLEASE!

ZeXal has really blown me away, it took everything I love about the original DM and made it better. (The reason I love ZeXal so much is probably because I love DM so much) also SPOILERS AHEAD: The rogue gallery (Barians, Arclights, Dr Faker) were a lot more rounded and interesting than villains that came before. Like Vector for example, compared to Bakura who is pretty black and white in the fact that he's a good guy being possessed by an irredeemable bad guy, Vector had a lot more understandable backstory (even though there were parts that were cheesy and rushed), it felt like they sincerelytried to create villains who were much more morally grey (which is kinda the whole theme of ZeXal, with Yuma and Astral contrasting personalities but being able to fuse and become one).

If Kaito is Kaiba, then Ryoga/Shark takes the role of Joey/Jonouchi, and his sister, Serenity/Shizuka is Rio. Ryoga and Rio are the much better bully-that-turns-into-friend-with-an-ill-sister. For the first time in yugioh history, they actually gave us a based as fuck female character and friend. Both have a very moving and tragic past with the rest of the Barians, especially in the final arc.

Yuma being able to talk to and banter with Astral are some of the most endearing moments of the show, seeing them interact, Astral teach Yuma how to duel, to watch Yuma's dueling skills and friendship with Astral grow and was something sorely missed from DM, as Atem possessed Yugi and won every battle, while Yugi had almost no development (I still love DM don't get me wrong!)

ZeXal made me care about almost every character on screen, it's fun charming and is worth watching until the end.

The good:

+Astral/Yuma interactions

+Protagonist that doesn't always win

+Best rivals Kaito/Shark

+Great villains Arclight/Dr Faker/ENTIRETY OF THE BARIANS

The bad:

-Some of the filler episodes are boring/unnecessary

-Can't say I care much for the rest of Yuma's peanut gallery

-Kotori

(SPOILER-FREE; sub version of anime) I would divide the Yu-Gi-Oh fandom into two groups, based on their answer to one simple question: “What do you think about Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL?” The first group will tell you how ZEXAL is the worst series of them all, with stupid characters, stupid plot lines and terrible hair. How there are dueling tomato farmers and dueling dogs and dueling aliens and that it doesn’t make any sense. And the other, a bit smaller group… will just start crying. If it wasn’t apparent given the score ZEXAL got from me… I belong to that second group. I literally needed some time to calm down before sittingdown to write this review, because it’s been more than 25 days since I finished watching ZEXAL Second and I’m still not over it.

But let’s start from the beginning.

Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL is children card game anime about children playing card game, which is not called Yu-Gi-Oh but still Duel Monsters. It’s got cheerful art full of pretty colors that will melt your heart and make you feel at ease, while allowing you to just switch of your brain and enjoy watching little anime kids fighting for friendship… until shit goes down and the feels come.

MAL divides ZEXAL as two seasons - ZEXAL and ZEXAL Second. The first season was most of the time pretty mediocre, with awesome finale and pretty awful conclusion (don’t wanna give any spoilers here, right?). It the first season there are your dueling tomato farmers and dueling dogs and meh card designs. I myself wasn’t most of the time sure what exactly am I watching and I remember getting all triggered over construction machine cards and tomato cards and such.

And then with the start of the second season came realization, that the first season made me quite attached to most of the main cast. And let me tell you - the second season was an emotional roller coaster almost for its entire duration. I laughed, I (mostly) cried, I wanted to just go watch something else - but I couldn’t. Because those characters, those characters that you just grew to love while watching the first season, they got into so much shit and drama that you just can’t stop watching, even though they (altogether with you) suffer so, so much.

Story - 10/10

The story of the second season actually makes sense. It’s nerve wracking, action packed and sometimes mind blowing. And the point, when the gears just come together and you finally see the whole big picture, is so, so good… There was only one point when the story made me really angry… but afterwards it just made sense, so no hard feelings.

The story of the second season revolve around aliens. Yeah, dueling aliens, I know… but seriously, it. makes. sense. It takes time until the point in the plot, but it really makes sense. And it’s amazing.

Characters - 8/10

All of the important characters have believable personalities, good and bad traits, own goals and such a good, good, character development. There are no only good and only bad characters in the important part of the cast. Furthemore, ZEXAL’s got one of the best villain characters I’ve seen in anything up to date. And I hated the guts of that guy.

Other characters…. are lacking. Kotori is your typical not-dueling protagonist’s cheerleader (seriously, she duels only in zexal-related video games) and the rest of Yuuma’s classmate group is… kinda stupid tbh? But nobody cares about them so…

Some of the characters resemble our old Duel Monsters pals, but hey, every Yu-Gi-Oh needs its own Kaiba with long-ass coat and dragon deck, right?

Soundtrack – 10/10

I’m not a music expert, but damn, it was so. good.

Art – 9/10

Okay, okay, fine. Yuuma’s hair ARE terrible. But it’s Yu-Gi-Oh, what did you expect?

And as I said, ZEXAL is pretty and colorful. So yeah, even the drama and feels are pretty and colorful. What’s better than a colorful despair, right? (I’m not crying)

Some people say Zexal was the worst of the Yugioh series. They were right. Way too kid-friendly, way too stereotyped, way too badly written characters, unbelievably stupid character design. None of the above are present in the final 20-25 episodes, but having to endure them for around 130 episodes was truly painful. Noone ever died, every villain repented in the end, Yuma, the retarded protagonist and his gay (for lack of a better word) friend astral went super Sayan and saved everyone with the power of Kattobingu (don't ask, noone ever understood) and everyone always lived happily ever after (again: in the final arc forget allabout that). The character designs were completely lame for the most part (especially Yuma's), with the exception of Astral, the protagonist's friend-spirit, in which case it was more "gay" than "lame" (again, for lack of a better way to describe it).

The anime also tended to have way-too-forced morals, character traits etc. For example Nna... Shark and Kaito always miraculously knew when Yuma was being tricked by his opponents through highly impropable and undetectable means, so they could appear as the "serious" characters. The cat girl never had a serious moment to show her... Goofiness (it didn't work out...). In fact all of Yuma's cheer squad soon makes you want to choke them, with the exception of Kotori, who is bearable (but no more than that). Yuma himself, worse than everyone else, is constantly clueless, confused by everything and constantly overreacts to everything. As a result, even the most retarded of villain schemes are effective.

For the good parts Zexal truly writes the book on what villains should be like. First off, to make up for the retarded good-guys crew, there are always 2-3 different villain factions going around hellbent on killing each other as well as the good guys. This especially shines in the last arc, where almost every battle is literally evil vs evil (after most of the good guys have been wiped out). In fact from the original 50+ cast of Zexal, in the final arc less than 5 remain alive, and that's including Astral seperately from Yuma. For that we have none other to thank that the master of all evil, Hiraga Saito!... I mean Vector. The guy is the absolute definition of psychotic, sadistic, and most of all, evil for the yolo. He is a master of taunting and emotionally torturing his opponents, has no moral qualms whatsoever and up until the very end remains treacherous and completely insane. He loves what he's doing and you will love him for it. (seriously , that guy alone is the reason I gave the show 9 in enjoyment instead of 4, he is THAT evil).

Talking about Vector let me remind the readers again that every complaint I had about Zexal is NOT present in the final arc. The retards you wanted to see dead actually do die, Yuma cries in rage so much that it actually brings a smile to your face, Vector is being himself (aka the most badass twisted scum to ever appear in Yugioh) and the character design of the villains is actually pretty epic. And again, if there is one thing that Zexal did right and can make up for all the horrible lameness at the start of the series, it's that every bad guy has his own agenda that rarely goes along with everyone else's.

I suggest watching Zexal second only, since watching the first season on its own (aka without the motherf$%king Vector) can be considered mental torture.

Alright, here goes my first review. I never really felt the urge to do anything like this, but somehow, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal seemed like a good show to give an opinion on. First off, I have watched all the other Yu-Gi-Oh! series and right from the get go, I can safely say that Zexal is the worst of them all up to this point. The reason for this mostly lies within the other three series having been really, really great (in my opinion anyway), and Zexal simply hasn't been convincing enough to keep the high quality of the franchise going. It is not a completely terrible show,but it has some major flaws that take away from the enjoyment, which will be explained in a moment.

One should always start with the good traits. Since we're talking the second half of the series here, let's get right into the part that has improved the most from before: the story. Unlike before, Zexal now has an actual story beyond a happy-go-lucky Yuma randomly helping people after proclaiming they're his friends (although this particular trait of his hasn't exactly changed). It revolves around a group of people from the Barian World who serve as the new antagonists, as they take turns trying to duel Yuma and his friends into submission. While at first this only serves as an introduction to each seperate Barian, every one of them eventually gets their own back story. Explaining why this is so important would start spoiling things, so I'll keep it at that. The story is not not exactly the most interesting thing on the planet, but it's the kind of story you can expect from an anime like Yu-Gi-Oh!, which is fine.

Next up, the art is very decent. However, big parts of it are being so over-the-top that it drifts off into being plain ridiculous. Someone called Zexal the show of people with two-colored hairdo and they're completely right. Now, of course strange to ridiculous hairdo is not at all unheard of in the world of anime - especially not Yu-Gi-Oh! - but I feel like this show has taken things a step too far, art-wise. From the aforementioned hairdo to the general character design (Zexal in particular) to, yes, sometimes even the duel monsters. I'm not saying that things look bad or gross or anything like that, it's just, well, over the top. Just watch Yumas ace monster, Hope, attack with increasingly ridiculous sword slashes as it grows in power, along with increasingly ridiculous names for said attacks, and perhaps you'll realize how amazingly overdone everything is. Every new monster summon is accompanied by massive amounts of bling and fairy dust, and rarely does all of this actually match the greatness of the respective summoned monster. It's meant to be cool, and perhaps it is to the target audience (it is a shonen after all), but slightly older people might cringe at all the forced coolness. Still, once again, stuff looks very good in general, I might be taking things too seriously here, since everything written in this paragraph can pretty much be applied to all the other Yu-Gi-Oh! series as well.

On to the not-so-good stuff then. The music. Ergh.... I don't know man. Rarely have I listened to a soundtrack as unmemorable as Zexal's. Of course, musical taste is one of the most individual things in the world, and it's not like the tracks are completely terrible. Surely the people involved must have put a lot of effort into creating them, but for some reason, none of the opening or ending songs really clicked. I found myself constantly skipping them while watching this series, there was literally no joy involved in listening to them. The music playing during the episodes is also so unmemorable that I can honestly not even remember a single one of them at this point, whereas I could play half of the tracks from 5D's on a bag pipe. Backwards. Underwater. It is just such a huge letdown after the huge explosion of awesomeness that was the 5D's soundtrack.

Moving right along, we have the characters. And to be fair, things have really improved here compared to the first half of Zexal. We get a new cast of antagonists who get developed in time for them to actually matter to the plot in general. We also get to see some of the more superfluous characters eventually removed, while other, memorable characters, like the Tron Bros., make a (really small) comeback. What has not changed however, is our main character, Tsukumo "Let's be friends" Yuma. He is slightly less of a happy-go-lucky doofus here, as the situations he constantly finds himself in don't leave room for it. However, he still has this stunningly annoying habit of forcibly befriending people who never, ever asked for it. Even people he should rationally hate or at least dislike, he simply cannot leave behind. Also, he still uses his tired, lame-ass "Kattobingu" shtick to the point where you actually want to know what the heck that's even supposed to mean.

Yu-Gi-Oh! has always been a show revolving around the characters forging bonds of friendship between each other through dueling, and eventually using those bonds in order to overcome the odds and beat whatever evil person dares threaten their world. Zexal on the other hand has Yuma and his cast of pre-existing friends (who were quickly discarded as being the most annoying bunch of people to ever cheer on a duelist), which he is constantly trying to expand by boldly proclaiming that, no matter who he is dueling, they're his friends. Even the bad guys. ESPECIALLY the bad guys. He couldn't possibly let Tron die, even after all the crap he's put Yuma and his friends through. He couldn't help but try to save Dr. Faker. Heck, even before that, he befriended Shark and Kaito basically against their will, just by repeating over and over that they're his friends until they finally gave in. That is not how friendships come into being at all. That is not what forging bonds between people is like. All this does is make the interaction between Yuma and his "friends" seem completely unnatural and it ultimately takes away from the enjoyment of the anime.

Right from the start, Zexal has always had this big problem known as an acute lack of likeable characters. Some of them, who were initially pretty cool (Shark, Kaito most prominently) have been watered down after forcibly becoming Yumas "friends". Most of the others were absolutely annoying from the beginning, without any signs of change ahead. The second half of Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal of course adds new characters, like the aforementioned Barians. Whether you're going to like them or not is entirely up to you. Personally, I have found a liking to one specific character appearing in this second half of the series, who I'm obviously not going to write about, since, you know, no spoilers and stuff. Suffice it to say, he takes the series into a different direction all on his own and, by doing that, makes watching it so much more enjoyable.

Speaking of enjoyment, here's our next category to cover. Yu-Gi-Oh! has always and will always revolve around the card game, which of course is no different for Zexal. While the duels themselves are generally enjoyable, there are certain things that bother me here. Once again, these things aren't going to be anything new, as they've all happened in previous Yu-Gi-Oh!s, it's just the degree to which Zexal applies them that makes it stupid. Yeah, I feel like the degree is where Zexal went wrong on so many ends.

What I am talking about here is the general course of the duels. Remember the old times, when people would start summoning weak monsters at the start of a duel, to eventually tribute summon for something stronger or do whatever the heck else they could think of? You do? Well, good, because all of that is gone now. In what could possibly be an attempt to shorten the anime as a whole, the duelists _always_ summon their ace monster in their first, or at most their second turn. No matter how ridiculous the summoning conditions are, they just keep pulling stunningly overpowered cards out of their arses, to the point where it makes the actual card game look balanced. People who don't actually play the card game may not question any of this, but real-life players will wish that some of these cards never, ever see the light of day.

The point about all of this is, that there's virtually no build-up during the duels. People get dueling and instantly whip out their strongest monsters, after which it's just a matter of who has the more broken effects or spells/traps. It doesn't result in a character winning because of their willpower or their endurance or skill, but rather because they're using cheap card effects. It's almost as bad as in the original series, where people would just make up rules on the spot to the point where you could reasonably accuse them of cheating. Only change here is that this time, the players are actually sticking to the rules while using their ridiculous effects. Winning a duel here has virtually nothing to do with determination or willpower, it's just cheap effects stacked on top of each other, and it's mind-boggling to watch.

With all that being said, I am probably being too harsh on the show as a whole. It is honestly not as horrible as it might sound during parts of this review, and if you've accepted some of the more strange parts of previous Yu-Gi-Oh!s (like the style of certain characters and the way the duels go), Zexal might ultimately not be that bad of a watch. Fans of the franchise will most likely have their share of fun with this, and even though you're not exactly going to be glued to the edge of your seat, Zexal is sure to keep you checking in every once in a while.

Total Score: 6/10

I feel sorry for everyone who refused to watch Zexal period when they found out the MC would be shonen esc/dropped it watching the first 25 episodes dubbed not only was the first 25 episodes of Zexal (Season 1) the worst part of the show period but also the dub is nigh unwatchable. I would still VERY MUCH Recommend watching Zexal before watching ZEXAL II (for some reason this website has them listed as separate shows) WARNING DO NOT WATCH THIS DUBBED I hate to be a dub vs sub guy but trust me not only is a lot of the plot changed for being toodark, the actors sound bored, or like they don't care, and Yuma legit sounds like spongebob in the dub and it doesn't have the same cheese factor or meme factor that DM and GX's respective dubs have.

So you soldiered through Zexal (I don't think season 1 of Zexal was as bad as everyone acts like as it is) congratulations you now get to see THE BEST ARC IN YUGIOH HISTORY THAT DIDN'T HAVE 2 GODAWFUL SEASONS RIGHT AFTER IT (Shows a picture of Arc-V) everything about this works perfectly characters are amazing(Yuma's a lot more tolerable here than in season 1 in fact I'd argue he's needed because of all the dark stuff that happens in this arc to keep it from being too dark) the story is actually really good if I had to complain about one thing it's that the final villain was generic as heck and the ending sucked that being said Vector MORE THAN MAKES UP The main villain being a letdown from a villain standpoint hell THIS GUY SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE MAIN VILLAIN point is more people need to watch this it is easily in my opinion the most underrated anime of all time because it wasn't 5DS or the dub sucked or Yuma was a shonen esc MC

''Not every sequel in life is come off as a success just because it's improved the problem the former (Zexal 1) had or tries to be original.'' - Myself Before the review: Here something i want to explaine and be honest. Zexal or it's sequel are not by any means perfect or good. Both come off as a terrible incarnation of the Phase 2 Yu-Gi-Oh series. Like i mention in my reviews, this is solely Yoshida's fault because he comes off as a jerk or a joker. And that reason for that is simple. He doesn't know to improve since Zexal was his first time working afull YGO Series in the early 2010s and this is the resualt of bad writing. He didin't improve or tried to be honest. What we got was. Plot holes galore. nonsensical diversions. a plot that either goes to fast and doesn't end well in the end this was made to be sugarcoat the fandom's taste than appeal to them in a new way. What am i talking about. Zexal 2 focues on a narrative problem that allows too much plot to happen left and right and the characters in it don't developt any personality or try to be good people and be called out for their mistakes. This is solely Yoshida's fault when he tried to show resolve after 5D's, but in the end he becomes of a mess. But wait, this feels original, what's wrong? The plot is a reshah of the Doma arc from YGO DM and people don't see the bigger picture here. Doma was a parody of DM where it called out the shows flaws, here it's the exact reverse. It's more focuses on blannte comedy/satire/bullshit and let's get on to the review before we get more pissed off at off topics.

The Writers are all bad:

Shin Yoshida comes off as a joker to me... and his mentor was the Digimon Tamers guy, Konaka Chiaki, who had some drama because he came out as alt right conspiracy theorist 2 years ago.Yes, Yoshida was not a YGO writer but worked on other projects such as Naruto and The Big-O, but in those shows he doesn't suck, while here it's mostly his ego getting the better of him and thinking outside the plot then thinking straight like a manm but more like a child. Zexal's fault lies solely in this writer and not it's bad production quality. Which speaking off why does Zexal get so much hate despite it often said of save YGO. No. Zexal never saved YGO it did change YGO, more like made it worst. See, after 5D's there was a transsison if konami should make Zexal for children or for adults, but it make so stupid and annoying that older fans whouldn't like it. It felt too different and not on the level of what we expect. Like a weeaboo show for otakus. Hence why it failed and Konami even knew it sucked. Why did it fail you ask? I got mini topics for that coming right up:

Why did it fail:

- Too much narrative plot holes that don't make sense or even make any meaning. Like this show takes too much narrative mistake and not allowing it self to developt any good outcome than releaving plot holes left and right with out resolve.

- The new villians are terrible. The new enemy called ''Barian'' are just remorless and don't care about anything other collecting Numbers to save their damanged world, but their motives make them come offs as assholes and underming the narrative alot. They don't explaine why Barian World is dying, but only want Numbers to collect them because of the some power struggle shit. Like the concenpt of Order and Chaos in this anime is so badly writen that it makes your IQ feel shallowed by stupidity.

-It used too much power-ups. Too much Chaos Numbers or Rank-Up Magic cards that so felt like they whent too fat with the problems. Not making it feel original but more of a troupe of Dragon Ball.

- The Zexal forms are stolen from Dragon Ball, even the Dragon Balls who call Shenron are stolen aswell. I think Yoshida had a Dragon Ball fetish than creative.

-Sexism. Nuff said.

-It used too much fake suspense and false tension to make you think this show is half decent, but it undermined it's lore and messeage and became more a bottom of a barrel shounen.

-It tried too be original, but failed badly making it feel more of a bad fanfic.

- The Duels are so souless and unpolished. Take the last 10 episodes and you will see why it failed so much.

- It tries to be a good anime. but it doesnt succesed.

- Lastly it's the stupid problem with the whole ''Angst'' shit that get's me upsate. One character in the show is used to motivated them for resolve and comes off as a tragedy since it undermins the good story and feels like a mess.

Copium Juice is not allowed here.

It's arcs are also a mess:

Barian Invasion is like the opening arc to the show:

This onw is mostly made to be the start of this so called masterpiece, but it felt like a copy and paste of Doma.

The Mytherian Number arc is a just shamless cash grab arc of Dinosaur's King Spectra arc from 2008.

The Last arc is more of a mix bag since it rushed thru everything that Konami tried to avoid with bad ideas.

Final Verdict: It doesn't improve or tries to be good. It was mostly made to be a cash cow for children and failes as everything Konami new whould happen. Say whatever you want to the Post 5d'S Dark Singer arc, but that arc had more better writing than this dumptire fire. I am so sick of Yu-Gi-Oh show being made like this and being used to overfocused on sheer stupidity just to tell their target demongrahphics that ''forgiveness'' is good. You know what? Fuck this shit show.

Yay! Zexal second is finally here! And I have to say it's A LOT better that the first season so let's get right to it! SPOILER WARNING! I REPEAT, SPOILER WARNING! Story: 7/10 Hurrah! I actually liked the story plotline for this season. Basically (trying reeeeeally hard not to spoil to much) it's about how these enemies of Astral world, where Astral comes from, the Barians, are invading earth (not telling you why). I liked it because it's action-packed, and the characters have some development this time..... Art: 9/10 As expected the art is AWESOME.Sound: 6/10

Again, the sound is a step down from previous series.

Character: 6/10

Not bad, at least it's not the junk from last season.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD

Yuma: Okay, he's better now. He has character development and can actually win duels on his own without Astral (even if it's only haphazardly.) But there are some concepts I still don't get, like how is he connected to Astral? And I'm not exactly a fan of the shining draw, it's just cheating. Still, at least he's a little more serious now and is only a stupid head 50% of the time.

Tori and Bronk: They do pretty much nothing. GIVE THEM A PART!

Astral: YES! He is much much much better now. Astral is well fleshed out and even has that dark moment with Yuma, although it's extremely stereotypical. He's gone through a lot and when he leaves at the end of the series it made me kinda sad.

Kite: Kite, in my opinion, is everywhere in this series. I can't exactly figure out what he wants and what he does, so yeah.

Shark/Nash: After watching this season, I can say that Shark is the best character ever in this series. In this series, we find out that the Shark today isn't the Shark that was born. Shark's real name is Nash, the ruler of atlantis who battled Vector around 10,000 years ago. When he died, Don Thousand resurrected him as the ruler of the Barians. When he dove in to save Rio, aka Marin, Abyss, a number saved both of them by implanting their souls into the bodies of 2 newly dead children, the actual Rio and Nash, who had died in a car crash. This backstory is epic, and I like how the series gives him kinda a bad time figuring out if his loyalty lies with his friends or with the people of his past. He chooses his past, and I CRIED when he died after battling Yuma (of course 4kids dub ruined it). The only part I don't like is when he was "resurrected" after the entire thing was over because nobody really explained why.

Ray Shadows/Vector: Yay! We have a new villain. I have to say that Vector isn't as good as Vetrix is, but he's still good. His backstory is kind of confusing, and I don't like how they don't make him remorse that much when he finds out his true past. The change from being bad guy to good guy is abrupt, and isn't explained much, but other than that Vector is a good villain. And 4kids RUINED the voice. *cringe*

"Nash"/Dumon: Dumon is a Barian who is very loyal to Shark aka the real Nash. He used "Nash" as his fake name in order to find the real Nash. Honestly, he's not bad, and I really wish he played a bigger role.

Rio/Marin: Shark's younger sister. I like her personality, and she's a girl other than Teá who isn't just a cheerleader for the main character or a damsel in distress.

Don Thousand: Again, he's a one dimensionally bad guy. This is one of the worst villains in the YU-GI-OH franchise because he has no backstory and no real explained reason to do what he's doing. Villains shouldn't be evil for the sake of being evil, so get rid of him or fix him.

Mr. Heartland: JUST GET RID OF THIS CHARACTER I'M SICK OF SEEING HIM!

Enjoyment: 7/10

I have to say I really enjoyed this season. It was action packed and fun, and I loved the struggle between the Barians and Yuma and his friends because the Barians weren't just one-dimentionally bad.

Overal: 7/10

Not bad, but could still use some improvement. I'm kinda sad that the end of the series is a cliffhanger, I REALLY hope the next series finishes this.

This is talking about both seasons of Zexal btw, Zexal was enjoyable but even so, it was still the worst of the series of Yu-Gi-Oh, but it had some stiff competition to be fair. The story was great because it always kept me intrigued about what new number ideas they had in mind. Even after Yuma collected almost every number, they came back with a plot twist with the over one-hundred numbers *spoilers contained*. The song "Take a Chance" the first opening was an amazing followed by a not so good opening "Halfway to Forever." Btw I watched this anime in dubbed just in caseyou did not catch on because of the openings. Character development was key in this anime because Yuma starts off as a sucky Yu-Gi-Oh player and then changes to the best duelist in the world. A great anime in all and very enjoyable to watch, who cares if it is the worst in the series still good.

I understand where the hate for zexal is coming from, it might have been more lighthearted than the previous series but regardless it had its fair share of dark moments (talking about the sub obviously), putting that aside this will be my review of both zexal I and II which will contain SPOILERS of course; ZEXAL I: keeping it short, it was really mediocre, neither awful nor really good, it was trying to be very humorous which honestly made me laugh at times, then the ending felt very rushed that failed to give a satisfying conclusion. ZEXAL II: now we’re talking; Unlike people hating YUMA for being theway he is, I couldn’t bring myself to hate him, yes; he’s clueless and easily fooled, but that’s his charm, because regardless of how many times he gets tricked and deceived by others he never gives up and will always believe in them, most people say he’s stupid for it, but honestly I find it beautiful how he still sees the good in others and extends a hand to them, I think that forgiving someone after betrayal instead of going for revenge is true strength.

And what makes ZEXAL more worthy is the development between YUMA and ASTRAL, well most of the show was about their relationship anyway and how they learn to grow on each others despite how different the two are, still I think all the zexal fusions designs were awful felt like super saiyan rip off lol.

SHARK and KAITO, I honestly did not like them as much as I wanted, well kaito was fine, he was too cold and nonchalant which almost made him seem emotionless but that’s the author attempt for you to write your average bad boy, SHARK on the other hand I just couldn’t bring myself to like him, hey don’t get me wrong I don’t hate him and I really tried to like him but the author felt like he was favouring him really, making him NASH a king in his past life and a “righteous” barian, I hated it, the worst part is once he remembers his past life he doesn’t hesitate to throw everything behind and go against his former friends while justifying his actions by saying stuff like “it’s my destiny” or “it’s for my people”, but I admit he had the biggest development in the whole series. And the bad guys going against each others was a satisfying sight.

VECTOR, in a few words, he’s the best, he made the show worth it for me, he was pure evil and just didn’t care, I actually was on his side most of the time, also one reason why I hate shark is because I just wanted vector to win against him which is totally biased but whatever.

Then of course there’s the school friends which made zexal unbearable for me, they refused to develop and just dragged the show, if I could erase them along with kotori (aside from being a girl who existed solely for fanservice there was nothing to see) zexal would have been top tier.

The story was entertaining enough and honestly it had its moments, then there’s the ending, not my cup of tea, it left me unsatisfied moreover yuma and astral goodbye felt too sad for me, I also couldn’t care less about everyone coming to life, it was an open ending that had no basis whatsoever, I checked the manga ending just in case and it was much worse (and more gay) so I should be grateful I suppose tho.

The openings were pretty good along with the soundtracks, I enjoyed all of it.

This series is a so-so for me, but it kept me on my toes and was a fun ride regardless of its downs.

Ahh, Yugioh Zexal. Arguably one of the most controversial Yugioh series to this date, with many blindly hating on it, and many others who didn't like the anime. It suffered from filler eps, and with a weekly release date, the story couldn't be enjoyed and appreciated. But I wholeheartedly believe this is one of the best Yugioh anime, and anime in general that I have watched. Yugioh Zexal has quite a bit of flaws, mainly the lack of development for Kotori, and the annoying filler, but this doesn't discredit the great moments and enjoyability of this series. I give it a 9, for the solereason that:

Masterpiece (pun intended)

Seriously though, it has the most visually pleasing and consistent animation of any Yugioh series, with my personal favourite art-style

Some of my favourite openings and endings of any anime, The ost's work really well with the series

The story starts slow, but kicks off and develops into something amazing, much like Yuma himself.

He starts out insufferable and annoying, with duelling skills so bad, it would be better if he didn't duel at all, to one of the best in the series, being able to hold his own against the best duelist.

The antagonists are actually awesome, and all of them have compelling stories, that make you sympathise, and Rei Shingetsu (aka Vector) is one of the greatest villains I have ever seen.

Also, can we please talk about the openings and endings again! Masterpiece, Braving, Longing Freezia, Artist, and Mirrors of dualism are literally peak.

I truly love this series, and while it isn't the best written series of all time, it definitely is one of my favorites.

This isn't really a review, but why I personally love the series.

Before you read this, please keep in mind that Zexal is much more light (and I'm giving that a little credit there :D) than any other Yu-Gi-Oh! series. But it's watchable for any true Yu-Gi-Oh fan. Now then, Zexal II is the continuation of the first series, more precisely the 3d season, but they felt like putting a 2 there. It continues where the previous season left off, and comes closer to the plot. It still is as exciting as the first series, though. A lot of things are revealed, but I'm keeping this spoiler free. Also, there are a few interesting plot twists. Story: 6/10 The storyis as good as a type of this show can be. But it's extremely slow paced and badly developed at some points. Zexal II's story starts with the actual enemy, the Barian World, finally talking matters into their own hands. Well, kinda. There are good plot twists that will leave you wondering, yet 90% are badly performed. Most episodes of season 1 (or 4) are filler, and then a good finale to wrap it up. Season 2 is a bit better, but still. 3 is better than 1, yet worse than 2. It's all about Barian World, and nothing else really goes on in the series.

Artwork: 8/10

The art is lovely. Yup, it's childish, but I find it quite likeable. Yet there are some episodes when you can't even look at the characters. Well, every Yu-Gi-Oh series has some episodes like that. The backgrounds fit mostly the mood of the show, and even if it's, like dark stuff going on, the colors are lighter. But overall, it's good.

Sound: 9/10

The sound is really good. I'm actually surprised they used these tunes for a younger audience show. Maybe to attract more viewers. The OP and ED are pretty good also.

Character: 5/10

This is probably the weakest part of this whole show. The characters are pretty weak. Yuma, the main character is the worst. He's annoying, only remembers that some characters exist when they pass by him and doesn't really solve his problems, but leaves them be/accepts them. Astral is definitely better, and he makes up, like all of the time for Yuma. Shark/Ryoga is pretty good, he's given quite some story and development to deal with. Kaito is thrown out of the window for Zexal II, and all his goodness as a character from Zexal is gone. Rio (Ryoga's sister) is good too. The Barians... only 2 out of 5 are good. Also, SPOILER: Arclights are back, and especially one of them has some development. But still, things are extremely slow paced, some characters are wiped off of the stage, just to make something memorable, but their leaving doesn't really serve for any purpose. So, yeah...

All in all, Zexal II is an enjoyable series. It's not that bad, yet not really that good. It's fun to watch. But if you will, remember that it has a lighter tone than, I don't know, 5Ds, which is the one many people like the best. I like the series, but I oughta stay true, it's not that good.

I was ready to write off Zexal II as just as bad as the first series. Fortunately, Zexal II is slightly better. Not by much, but better is better. The show doesn’t really get going until season 2 when they go full sci-fi and that’s pretty fun. It feels like this was the show the creators were waiting to get to during the original series. I just don’t know why they waited so long. There was one twist in particular I really enjoyed. I recommend this only for diehard Yu-Gi-Oh fans. It still has the problems of the previous episodes and doesn’t come close tothe original series, GX, or 5D’s.

Yugioh series review - zexal Oh boy, Zexal, if there is one series in the Yu-gi-oh franchise that nearly everyone love to rip on or mock it is Zexal. And after completing it and looking back, it was highly understandable. I think the best phrase to describe Zexal was, it was a average kid show (better budgeted than most), but sadly in the entirety of the Yu-gi-oh franchise that just isn't good enough. Story - 5 Many say that Astral and Yuma are a rehash of Atem and Yugi (the pro and the noob), and that is completely true, with the magic trinket, the final duel and thespiritual advisor who make the MC grow. All of this is pretty much a carbon copy of Atem and Yugi. Now that isn't necessarily bad (even though it does cause diminishing return), since if done well all this can be forgiven. But it isn't handled that well which is where the problem come from. Yuma's Kattobingu isn't that good of a moral (ridiculous stubborn as some would say), but the story have everyone following it like it can't be wrong. The show is spelling out its Aesop too easily for kids and it ended up making Yuma's development barely noticeable. Let's be serious is there that big of a difference between Yuma of the first episode and the last? Probably not, Kattobingu back then Kattobingu at now (with more friends).

But once again, that is not the most major problem, Yusei suffered the same stagnation of character but 5Ds is still better in the development of the story department.

That brings us to the real problem, the plot. Anyone would tell you that Zexal season 1 was terrible, cause it is, the beginning few episode was pokemon with cards, highly boring and kiddy. But later on when Tron, Faker and Kaito came in did it get that much better? Yes and No, the introduction of more continuity did improve the show, but it is still not good enough. First of all the forced bad guy turn good routine is pretty terrible, when IV and Faker were introduced they seem so evil, but all of a sudden they get an excuse and turn good. And when I say sudden I mean sudden, like within 2 episodes (a ridiculous short amount of time for a yu-gi-oh show). To make an example, in 5Ds to make Aporia sympathetic, they had him beaten twice, showed a shit ton of background, had reasonable build up and finally had him killed. Faker and Tron gets a flashback and poof they are now good guys (IV didn't even get much of a flashback). So weak villains combined with pretty generic beat the bad guy plot with barely any mystery, makes season 1 very dry.

Season 2 is where the opinions are really split, some call it good, other say it is overrated. Season 2 brings back the save the world using card game element that is in all Yu-gi-oh series, and go more into the conflict of the Barian and Astral world. Personally I would say that this season was average just like the first season, the Barians are pretty bad villains as well, 2 are flat out jokes, 1 is obsessed with dragons (average villain, OTK'd himself in front of the big bad), Durbe and Merag was pretty useless, so all that is left is Shark and Vector. The final boss Don Thousand is even more anti-climatic, just a generic evil overlord (who doesn't even seem that active or do much or give you a feeling of intimidation), after Z-One this is clearly a downgrade. Hell he doesn't even look as cool as Zorc or Darkness even though those two are just as flat.

Some claim that Shark and his sister being Barian and Vector betrayal was good, that I agree, but a few good point isn't enough to save an entire season. For example the Zexal asspull/super-saiyan thing got worse this season and end up making Yuma look even more ridiculous. The only people that mattered were Shark/Kaito/Yuma (which 5Ds, GX also suffers). Most of all, the ending basically meant everything is back to the status quo, nothing changed and no one died (except don thousand), that is ridiculously cheap (DM had Atem die, 5Ds had the future group die). Vectors turning good, which removes the best part of the character and makes Yuma seem like a Gary-stu in terms of moral.

I can find a lot more problems here and there for both season 1 and 2, these scratches pile up and since the plot of the two seasons are average, it is death by a thousand cut for Zexal. I guess the reason for it all is Zexal is aimed at a younger audience, therefore they hoped that kids wouldn't mind and just be distracted by the pretty colors.

character - 3

Yuma is a hilarious joke through and through, the preacher of the Kattobingu religion that never failed once. People complain about Yusei being card game Jesus, but between card game Jesus and moral Jesus, I think I choose the card game Jesus. Yuma never doubts, never go down the wrong path, and for all the lose fun in card game thing, that is bullshit, cause unlike Judai, Yuma barely showed it. His highly energetic actions also makes him annoying, and despite mellowing out a bit later, he is still pretty much the same. The problem with Yuma is he hits so many annoying traits (that appeals to kids), yet he never fully grow out of it.

Astral's development is a "become a real boy" plot-line, straight and simple, a smart person who gradually become kind and believing Kattobingu. The thing with Astral is that, this is Yuma's story, so while his development is kind of interesting, it just doesn't carry the entire weight of the show. He became kinder and now believes in Kattobingu, that is all I can say for his development.

Kaito, the rival, not much to say, a nicer kaiba clone.

Shark, the other rival, not much to say either, a meaner Jounochi clone. His "development" is pretty much the same as Kaito with a reset. Basically get nicer, become the bad guy, get nice again.

Kotori, useless load.

Vector, the character many love, which is easy to understand. He is hammy, he is comically evil, he makes faces so ridiculous and kick the dog so ridiculously hard that it is hilarious to watch. The main thing is Vector is a over the top villain with some pretty good background, so the seeing contrasting him with all the other characters make him feel stand out. He is actually a pretty good character, besides the fact he gets redeemed by Yuma so easily.

Art- 8

Colorful and kiddish

Sound-9

Zexal had some very good track

Enjoyment - 5

Zexal was made for young kids, the magic revival, super saiyan power up, moral Jesus all points to this fact. It's not as bad as most say, cause if you turn off your brain and skip to episode 80 or something, you can still watch it through no problem and probably enjoy it. But that is the problem with it, there are so many filler episodes, episodes that are pointless and generally useless plotlines. It just doesn't measure up to the others in the franchise and that is a damn shame.

P.S. Hope is a terrible archetype, Yuma's duel is so bad.