assunta.stracke - 2015-12-04 22:14:37

=Preface=

 My review is heavily tinted by my own love of it, as can be seen by my icon and username. Be warned. Another warning is that due to me completing this, my retrospect on this as well as my discussion about plot and themes will have spoilers to some degree, so if you wish to actually watch this, please consider sticking to my review summary. I am reviewing the Japanese voice-acted work, as the dub is a bit of a mess in terms of edited out pieces and has a completely different soundtrack which is significantly less enjoyable.

As someone who tried and failed to start GX due to the slog of the first season (though I am definitely going to retry watching said series) , and who shied away from 5Ds due to whispers of the protagonist being flat, Zexal was an odd choice for me to pick up, especially considering that a large segment of fans of the original series mock this one in particular for having extreme designs in regards to hair, as well as a decent chunk of fans saying the protagonist was annoying. What I found in Zexal was far better than I expected, leaps and bounds in fact, though by no means perfection.

=Story (7)=
 

Our story follows an attendant of Heartland Academy, Yuma Tsukumo (or Tsukumo Yuma, if you prefer a non-english name order) , a 13-year-old boy with (initially) sub-par dueling skills, as well as a pendant given to him by his father who has been missing along with his mother for five years.

Yuma has reoccurring dreams of a gateway which speaks of gaining power in exchange for 'his most important thing' , and one day, while dueling resident skilled duelist and bully Ryoga Kamishiro over a friend's stolen deck, a vision of said gateway appears yet again and Yuma opens it with his pendant, The Emperor's Key. This releases Astral, a being from another dimension, and The Numbers, 99 cards which contain pieces of Astral's memory and can manipulate or amplify the desires of human beings, oftentimes taking control of their actions. Yuma eventually decides to help Astral retrieve his missing memories by dueling and winning against those who have Numbers cards, and for the first couple episodes, Zexal is quite episodic, introducing more of Yuma's friends and allies, as well as developing Yuma himself and his dueling skills.

The plot shifts in format when Yuma first encounters Kaito Tenjo, who is also collecting Numbers for unknown reasons, albeit additionally stealing the souls of those who have Numbers in the process. The duel with Kaito, which is left unfinished due to Kaito leaving to check on his ill brother who has collapsed, profoundly changes the course of the series, as Yuma begins to realize how much more his dueling skills need to improve, and later character introductions only further complicate the plot, as there are two different antagonist factions, with one in particular holding a deadly grudge against the other.

If any of this sounds familiar in plot structure, it's because it, to some degree is. Zexal is in many ways a spiritual successor to Duel Monsters, with many elements and themes echoed, albeit with some additional messages within. Zexal's first and foremost theme is family, and what families should do for each other;  Yuma has a missing father, Kaito has a father which counts as major spoilers but also affects Kaito's life in an intensely negative way, and the third faction's motives and structure are very much designed to talk about fathers who are absent, emotionally distant, or even worse to their children, oftentimes using them for their own goals.

As someone whose family life is far from ideal, I appreciate that a Yu-Gi-Oh series tackling this front-and-center as a theme, even if DM did allude and discuss such things before.

=Animation (7)=

Not ideal, especially in terms of distance shots in regards to characters,  but by no means completely horrible. There is a decent amount of use of CGI in the appearance of Numbers cards and XYZ monsters, and I personally feel this actually helps in regards to giving the cards a distinct look in many cases. If you enjoyed the really intense/exaggerated faces characters made in DM, you're in luck! Those still happen, and it's still a fun ride. If those were what you disliked about DM... I'm sorry. Those still happen.

If I want to say something nice about the animation that doesn't sound fake, I can say this much : The color palettes used for scenes are lovely, and Zexal knows how to do mood lighting. The backgrounds are gorgeous. The design and thoughts behind the design of buildings and setting? Gorgeous. It's only in aspects of character design proper where I feel hesitant to praise, primarily due to just honestly not being fond of how Yuma, (who, as a character, I love to death) Ryoga, and Kaito's hair is drawn or animated. I think they tried to capture the bright and vivid high-tech aesthetic of Heartland in the designs and it all went to their heads. Literally.

=Sound (10)=

I've actually been searching around for more of the Sound Duels (aka soundtracks) of this particular incarnation of the franchise, because say what you will about everything else, the music of Zexal is fantastic, and I'm not just talking about the openings and endings; the instrumentals are nothing short of a delight for me, and I have played them on many occasions just because I wanted good focusing music. In terms of voice-acting, from what I could hear, it was decent enough. It wasn't an affront to my ears, and the voices fit the characters well enough.

=Character (9)=

This review is getting really long, so I'll keep this short.

Many characters are re-imaginings of older character archtypes from Yu-Gi-Oh, Kaito in particular being quite Kaiba-like. Yuma in my opinion is not annoying, and I feel a good benchmark for whether you will consider him annoying is if you are fine with his dueling skills gradually getting better over time, crying a decent amount, and having a catchphrase. If these aren't things you can survive, Zexal may not be for you.

Astral develops over time as he learns more, and his interactions with Yuma are a major part of the series.

Kaito is different from Kaiba, and really cannot be considered the main antagonist for part one, as if you do so you will come away with a weak feeling. The third faction characters are by far the most enjoyable antagonists, especially the leader of the third faction, who has distinct Pegasus-like elements and a reasonable, understandable motive that still does not excuse the horrible way he treats his compatriots and... everyone else, for that matter. The rest of the third factions internal struggles and complexes are a breath of fresh air, should observing Kaito and the faction he serves becomes tiring.

Yuma's friends, sadly, are one of the weaker developed cast members, which is unfortunate, as I really do want to like the characters known as Tokunosuke and Tetsuo.

=Enjoyment (10)=

In all honesty, I enjoyed the first part way more than I had any right to, but I can say this much : It's a nice retelling of an old starting idea, with a lovely soundtrack. Good for those already enjoying 2nd and 3rd series, and you should also check out the second part if you watch and like this one.

hailie33 - 2013-07-23 13:28:51

=Updated=Just when everyone thought the Yugioh anime franchise was over, Kazuki Takahashi did it again. Creating another anime and manga series, proving audiences will never get tired of people playing with cards over and over again.Despite having used Duel Monsters as a plot device in every episodes of every Yu-Gi-Oh series, Zexal still manages to be entertaining, set in a colorful futuristic city (unlike 5d's) called 'Heatland', likeable and somewhat relate-able characters, great art and okay voice acting and a decent attempt at creating a story which anyone can get into. =Story [6]=Basically, the story follows an happy-go-lucky energetic boy with very bad duelling skills who comes across an 'alien' named Astral, who's memories have been transformed into 99 'number cards', which possess numerous minor characters. Astral then helps Yuma defeat these people in order to obtain the number card and another piece of his memory. =Character [6]=The characters are likeable though are pretty generic. you've got the hero of he story, his sidekick and future love interest?, hero's trusty best friends, a nerd, a girl who thinks she's a cat and so on. What Zexal is lacking is a good villain, Kaito is just a attempt at cloning Seto Kaiba, the characters are pretty much the same, though Kaito just doesn't fit into the villain role. =Art [8] and Sound [8]=The art upgrade is very nice, the backgrounds are really impressive and the colour's used are very bright (to appeal to children I guess). The character designs are nothing special though.The voice acting is good, again nothing special. The first OP and ED were alright, though the second OP and ED were awesome, though it's a shame they were wasted on a anime like this, where mostly the only fans they could get would be 8-12 year olds.=Enjoyment [7]=The enjoyment level isn't too high for this one, don't go in expecting it to be as good as the originals because it isn't. There's a lot of cliches and the story is very repeatable and predictable.=Overall [6]=Overall, Zexal isn't very good, it's more of a step down compared to the other three series. Though, Yu-Gi-Oh is Yu-Gi-Oh and collectable card games are collectable card games, things which will always have an audience no matter how boring they become.