Astral

Astral is a mysterious entity in Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL and one of the main protagonists, along with his partner and best friend Yuma Tsukumo.

Upon arriving in Yuma's world, his memories were scattered in the form of the 100 "Number" cards. While originally he only retained one of the Numbers, he knew that when two or more Numbers confront in a Duel, they will fight each other to consume one another, allowing Astral to absorb defeated Numbers. Since hunting the other 99 pieces of his memories, he and Yuma have collected a total of 50 Numbers, with the addition of one Chaos Version.

He was sent to Yuma's world with a certain mission, but he forgot his mission due to his amnesia. Number 96: Dark Mist claims that his mission is what all of the Numbers want - the destruction of the world. Some of Yuma's friends refer to him as 'Dueling Ghost', due to his Dueling skills and invisibility, while Dr. Faker and those who are associated with him, including the Vetrix Family, refer to Astral as 'Original "Number"' (ナンバーズのオリジナル, Nanbāzu no Orijinaru) or 'Emissary from Astral World'. Likewise, Astral himself has stated that he himself is the embodiment of the Numbers.

Appearance
In the English version of the anime, Astral's lower body is sometimes blurred off to remove nudity implications.

Personality
His personality is rather ambiguous though he is very intelligent and level-headed when it comes to Duels. Even in disastrous situations, he does not seem to lose his cool and can think of a strategy. Outside this he is, arguably because of his memory loss and sudden arrival to another world, is curious to the point of naivety, for matters as simple as eating, going to the bathroom, or believing that TV shows are real. His naivety would go to such extent so as to ask Yuma why "he needs to be alone" when Yuma's in the bathroom, to which he replies by saying that he would "die" (in the dub, Yuma says that he would turn into a "guinea pig") otherwise, a thing that Astral took literally.

However, this is more likely because Astral doesn't know anything about Yuma's world. When he "discovers" things, he has an habit of saying "observation number one, two, three" and then speak the result of his analysis, the fact that he can successfully continue the counting throughout the series, implies he has great memory. Astral's observations stopped after their first Duel with Kite Tenjo, which left him quiet and depressed. However, after their Duel with Fortuno, which restored his and Yuma's confidence, his observations returned. (In the dub, this observation came with a "sub-observation" that he labeled #13-A.)

Astral has ambiguous thoughts regarding Yuma Tsukumo; for the most part he thinks of him and his Dueling skills as unrefined and unskilled, which causes the two to clash and fight a lot. However, when Yuma uses an unthinkable, but effective strategy, such as in his Duel with Shark, his thoughts change to think of Yuma as an interesting Duelist. Astral even learns to use Yuma's lack of skill and obedience, as seen in Yuma's Duel with Mr. Kay when he tells Yuma what to do the opposite of what he should do so that Yuma disobeys him and makes the correct moves.

Astral has a fear of cats, which he defended by claiming that he hadn't done any observations about them. After dueling with Kite Tenjo for the first time, he developed a strong fear towards him, so he always tries to tell Yuma to run from Kite instead of fighting him, to the point of telling Yuma to forget his friends. He first denied that he was afraid of Kite, but later admitted. Later during the Duel with Fortuno, Astral overcame his fear and decided to actually fight. After he and Yuma thought about their previous Duels, stating they came too far to lose now, Yuma called Astral his friend, restoring his fighting spirit.

Astral doesn't smile much, but he smiled for Yuma recognizing him as his comrade and smiled often at Yuma throughout since then and even cheered him on with his friends and family when he was trying to do his 20-stack challenge.

Also, while dueling Vetrix and Yuma started to eat the rice balls that Tori gave him prior to the duel. Astral could feel what eating was through Yuma, and felt incredibly energetic and lively by the taste of the rice balls, stating he wanted to eat "two, three" of them, while cheerfully saying that being Yuma has been fun in a rather comedic instance.

Pre-World Duel Carnival
A new legend began when Astral appeared before Yuma Tsukumo and Shark. He comes from a different dimension and he ended up in Yuma's dimension. He lost his memories, but all he remembers is that he was looking for a talented Duelist. Since it is revealed that only Yuma can see Astral, which makes everyone believe he is a ghost. After gaining Number 83: Galaxy Queen, Astral remember his birth, and that he may have had a mother and also he was given the mission to protect his world, possibly meaning he was created solely for this task. Later, Astral surmises from within Emperor's Key that it might have been made intentional by someone to scatter his memories.

As Astral absorbs the power of the "Numbers", bits and pieces of his memories start to return, most of them incomplete. Upon absorbing "Number 83: Galaxy Queen", he sees a vision of his birth. When he absorbed "Number 61: Volcasaurus" and "Number 19: Freezerdon", he had a small glimpse of his world, which was apparently being bombarded by explosive energy.. Dr. Faker stated that a messenger from the Astral world would appear together with the Numbers, obviously referring to Astral.

During the Duel with Kite Tenjo, he found it very suspicious that someone besides him and Yuma are looking for the Numbers. He also was surprised that Kite's Dueling skills were even superior than his, when he was sure Yuma lost and he would disappear, Kite cancelled the Duel. He was left shocked at what happened next to Yuma whose pride was severely hurt and even questioned about his Kattobing spirit.

Later during climaxes in the Duel with Fortuno, Astral overcame his fear and decided to actually fight. He also learned how to feel hope, which he realized was the antithesis of fear. After he and Yuma thought about their previous Duels, stating they came too far to lose now, Yuma called Astral his friend, and Emperor's Key started to shine. It resulted in granting him and Yuma a new power, the "Chaos Number", "Number C39: Utopia Ray" as well as making Astral appear and Yuma's friends able to see him for a moment. Using it, they defeat Fortuno and take the 2 Numbers cards he was using. Yuma's friends who were freed in the process, all went to thank Astral instead of Yuma, running right past him, still unable to see him, and thus were shouting at nothing, but Astral didn't pay much attention to it and kept his cool.

One day, Astral assists Yuma in trying to locate the Emperor's Key after discovering it missing. He learns much about the origin of the Key and Yuma's father, who had a vision of the Astral World being attacked and the sound of its inhabitants screaming. A strange figure, much like Astral, gave him the key. Astral is much kinder to Yuma, smiling warmly at him and encouraging him to tackle the high jump he attempted at the start of the series.



After safely recovering "Number 96: Dark Mist" from a stranger, Bronk and Yuma start to fight. When Bronk knocks off the Emperor's Key from Yuma, a Black Ooze comes out of Yuma's Deck Case which grabs Yuma and starts taking control of Astral. Before Astral gets completely taken over, he tells Yuma to give "Utopia" to Bronk. Afterwards he gets completely possessed and changes from white to pitch-black. Number 96 (In Astral's body) tries to take "Utopia" from Bronk, but the Emperor's Key protected him. Bronk then challenged Number 96 to a Duel for the Number. Number 96 accepts and takes control of Yuma's movements to Duel. In his first turn, he Xyz Summons Number 96: Dark Mist and starts inflicting huge damage to Bronk. Bronk however Summons "Utopia" and tries to make a counterattack, but fails in doing so and "Utopia" is destroyed. Yuma then pretends to be under Number 96's control and tells him to destroy "Gearspring Exploder" while explaining its effect. Number 96 listens to Yuma and destroys the mentioned card. This however was a trick as it allowed Bronk to summon "Gearspring Spirit" as well as resurrect "Utopia" to win. Bronk then throws the Emperor's Key back to Yuma and Astral is freed from its control. Astral then absorbs Number 96 again, while Bronk returns "Utopia" to Yuma and they both apologize to each other.

When Kite manages to steal the Emperor's Key, Astral was trapped inside it and the key was then deactivated and the set Numbers became cards again, and a voice told Astral to obtain the ZEXAL power. Kite tries to figure out the Emperor's Key and manages to make a portal using a mysterious rock inside Orbital 7. When Kite manages to go inside the Emperor's Key, he finds Astral. Kite and Astral had a small talk and the two engaged in a Duel. In this Duel, Astral uses Yuma's deck to Duel Kite and started playing defensively, using Gogogo Golem but was easily countered by Kite's Reverse Buster. As Reverse Buster increased its attack making it 2000, Astral was scared as it may be the start of Galaxy-Eyes Summon.

Astral summoned Gogogo Giant and using its effect, summon Gogogo Golem back. He thought of Xyz Summoning Utopia, but was afraid of Kite's facedown card and so, chose to use Double Defender. Kite then used his facedown Photon Hurricane to return Astral's Spell and trap Cards to his hand, making Astral realize there was no reason to be afraid. Kite then tributed Reverse Buster to summon Photon Leo and returned Astral's hand back to the deck and draws the same number of cards. Then he equips "Leo" with Photon Spear and inflicted Piercing damage to Astral when Kite attacked and destroyed "Giant". During the Duel, Astral is shrouded with fear towards Kite.

Astral manages to fight back with "Number C39: Utopia Ray" and reduce Kite's life to 1300, but Kite takes the upper hand again and reduces Astral's life to 400. When Yuma manages to recover Emperor's Key, which takes him to "The Door" again, The Door opens again and tells Yuma to use the ZEXAL power, but repeats Yuma's previous warning. Yuma convinces Astral to not give up, and crosses the door, landing in the dimension inside the Key. Astral and Yuma receive the ZEXAL power, fusing themselves in the process. Using this new power, Astral and Yuma created a card that allowed "Utopia Ray" to defeat "Galaxy-Eyes". Kite, in a pinch for the first time, managed to end the Duel in a draw and escaped again.

The next day, a wave of energy from the Astral World and another world passed through Earth causing time to temporally stop and allow Kite to invade his memories. Astral also told Yuma that he fears that something bad might happen if they find all the "Numbers".

World Duel Carnival
During the first day of the World Duel Carnival, Astral helps Yuma defeat his first few opponents, but none of them had any Numbers. The first Number holder Yuma and Astral Duel against in the Carnival is Charlie McCay, who uses "Number 7: Lucky Straight's" power to always roll 6 during his Duel. Yuma defeated Charlie, but he allows Charlie to give Number 7 to his niece, which made Astral worry if they would get it back.

Dr. Faker stated that if Astral obtains all the Numbers, he will recovers his powers and use them against Dr. Faker.

During the second day of the WDC, Yuma and Astral watch Quattro use his Number to defeat Bronk and Caswell. When Trey Dueled Shark, Astral watched how Shark resisted Number 32: Shark Drake 's influence and defeated Trey.

Astral discovers that Syuta Hayami's power see the future in his photos is not completely accurate, as the photos only show what Syuta pictures as the future and his opponents obey the photos. He told Yuma to disobey the prediction, that way his predictions didn't occur and Yuma easily defeats Syuta afterwards. With Syuta's defeat Astral now has obtained 12 Numbers.



When Yuma Duels against Nistro and Dextra, Astral tries to go help him, but is stopped by Number 96: Dark Mist in the Emperor's Key who attacks Astral using it's true form but Utopia saves him. After sensing Yuma in trouble, Astral sends Utopia off. Meanwhile, Astral tried to out run Dark Mist character, but was caught. Just before he was infected entirely, a mysterious light hit him, and he broke free, leaving to go help Yuma win against Nistro and Dextra. During the Duel, both Nistro and Dextra state he is the "Original Number".

Later at night, Yuma, Astral, and Tori meet Kite's younger brother Hart Tenjo, who is able to communicate with Astral, and they later form a friendship. Hart then went on a search for Kite, and when he couldn't find him, he went berserk, but Yuma calmed him down with caramel. Quinton comes out of a helicopter to take Hart with him using his Crest. Before he leaves with Quinton, Heart reveals his mission to destroy the Astral World, which horrified Astral.

After Hart's kidnapping, Astral reminded Yuma of his previous Duel with Kite in that he mentioned he sold his soul to a devil to save his brother. Astral thinks he is referring to Mr. Heartland and solidified his theory of the carnival being used to hunt Numbers. As he, Yuma, and Tori searched for Hart with Kite and Orbital 7, he found the location through the description Hart projected in his mind. Once they arrived, Trey and Quattro challenge Yuma and Kite to a Tag Duel.

After Yuma and Kite's Tag-Team Duel ends with them defeating Trey and Quattro, Kite tries to steal Quattro's soul and Numbers with his Photon Hand, but was nullified by Quattro´s crest. Seeing this, Astral tries to absorb Trey's number, but is repelled by the latter's own crest and became visible to Trey at that brief moment.



When Trey challenged Yuma to a duel, he captured Astral with his crest and the power Vetrix gave him. When Astral gave his last bit of strength to Yuma in order to prevent him from losing to Trey, Trey was enraged and used his power to crush Astral, making him disappear.

When Yuma regained his "Kattobingu", it was shown in a flashback that Astral taught him how to duel just in case he would ever disappear, with Yuma saying that Astral was still in his heart, and he was able to Summon Number 39: Utopia and destroy Trey's Number 33: Chronomaly Machu Mech.

When "Number 6: Chronomaly Atlandis" went berserk, Trey joined his power with Yuma in an attempt to activate the power of ZEXAL, and with it and the 12 "Numbers", Astral was revived. He combined with Yuma, using Shining Draw to gain a new monster, "ZW - Phoenix Bow" and defeat Trey. After the duel, Trey left "Number 6: Chronomaly Atlandis" and "Number 33: Chronomaly Machu Mech" for them, as well as the final Heart Piece needed to compete in the WDC finals.

WDC Finals
After Trey' defeat, Yuma and his friends have gone to a party. Despite the trouble, Kite managed to speak to Yuma, explaining that it is not him he wishes to defeat, but Astral. .



After the party, he guided Yuma on the Duel Coaster, as there were assassins (hired by Vetrix) planned to defeat Yuma. However, Nistro and Anna joined Yuma and helped to defeat the Fallguys.



Eventually, Yuma and Astral, along with Yuma's friends were looking for Yuma's lost deck. When they went into Hart's memories, they saw a holograph of Dr. Faker, meaning they will have to defeat him.

When Reginald and Yuma's duel came, he was surprised to see that Shark did not defend himself, but even more that Vetrix influenced him. When Yuma took Shark's Number, Yuma was in also in a bind, to help Shark or help Astral. Astral did not seem to be bothered much, but Shark activated Marine Snow Seal, giving Yuma the victory and "Number 32: Shark Drake".

During the Duel with Vetrix and Kite, Yuma and Astral heard Hart was in trouble. Despite the laser cannons, a much grater threat was seen - in Hart's mind was Vetrix's dragon who plagued Hart's memories. With the help of Number 39: Utopia, the dragon was slain and Vetrix's psychic link with Hart was disabled. However, Vetrix had still managed to defeat Kite with Number 69: God Medallion Coat of Arms, representing a greater threat to Yuma and Astral.

Vetrix, Yuma, and Astral came to the WDC Finals while Dr. Faker taunted the finalists and the Duel began in the Sphere Field. Afterwards, Vetrix took off his mask, showing Yuma, Astral and all others what happened to his face. By summoning Number 69: God Medallion Coat of Arms, he finally showed his true power. Astral and Yuma performed ZEXAL and summoned ZW - Lightning Blade, but Number 69 negated the attack.



Despite Vetrix's power, Yuma and Astral use their power to summon ZW - Tornado Bringer. Despite this, Number 69 negates even this effect. Yuma and Astral had no other choice but to bring out their ace ZW, ZW - Lion Arms and equipping it to Number C39: Utopia Ray. Negating Number 69's powers, Yuma and Astral won, but realized that the Sphere Field absorbed their own Numbers. Yuma attempts to rescue Vetrix, but Vetrix releases souls of Dextra, Shark and his own sons. Yuma and Astral were then teleported to Dr. Faker's tower.



At Faker's tower, they saw their own and Vetrix's Numbers assembled within the Sphere Field while Faker taunted them. Yuma was released, but Astral was absorbed into the Sphere Field. Before Faker's duel, he gave Yuma Number 39: Utopia and Number 32: Shark Drake to save him and Hart. Yuma gave Number 32: Shark Drake to Shark, and along with his own Number and Kite's Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, the Duel with Dr. Faker started.

When Vector took control of Dr. Faker, Hart managed to free Astral from the Sphere Field Cannon. Fusing his soul with Yuma's, they equipped Number C39: Utopia Ray with "ZW - Ultimate Shield" and with the "Xyz Unity", Kite's "Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon" and Reginald's "Number C32: Shark Drake Weiss", they destroyed the "Number 92: Fake-Body God Dragon, Heart-eartH Dragon" and defeated Vector.

Manga Biography


In the manga, Astral has the same role as in the anime, being Yuma's partner, and collecting the Numbers in order to retrieve his memories.

Abilities
Astral is a Duelist of another universe, and has only been seen alongside Yuma. Others besides Yuma, cannot see or hear him, which often leads to others think Yuma is talking alone. Astral can't be touch physically, but is shown to be able to hold Duel Monster cards, though it is unknown if it's only the Numbers or any cards. However, Astral can be seen through photographs, although he only appears as a light blue haze. He is also capable of flight as he is always seen floating, and seems to not rely on things such as food to live. Although, Astral needs his current partner to have Numbers and will start dying if those Numbers are forcefully taken away or when Yuma is losing life points in a Duel with an opponent that has a Number. Astral can only experience the sensation of actual eating when he and Yuma share the same body in Zexal mode.

Even with his loss of memory it has been shown that Astral is indeed a very skilled Duelist, a fact he himself recognizes despite his amnesia, and further demonstrated in how he has advised Yuma on his play, only for him to play the opposite of what Astral dictates and end with rather disastrous results. He also has vast knowledge of the game and most of its cards, like demonstrated in by how quickly he understood Dextra's combo and found its weakness as soon as they arrived He also uses what he knows about a person to win duels. An example is when how he used Mr. Kay's desire to win a perfect duel to set up a situation that used his own desire against him. Astral showed good math skills during Charlie McCay's Duels being able to constantly calculate what were Charlie's chances of rolling 6 again whenever he rolled a dice.

He shares his information on the "Numbers" with Yuma and is capable of somehow manipulating the Numbers cards, this is seen in two ways, one is that without Astral present Yuma is unable to play any Numbers for they do not appear on his Extra Deck. The second is that as so far seen, Astral can pull a Numbers card out of a defeated opponent without direct contact, although it is unknown if this is also linked to a rather psychokinetic ability. Furthermore unlike those who use Photon Hand, Astral seems to be the only who can extract the card itself without taking a possessed Duelist's soul, however he was unable to take Trey's Number due to the Crest protecting him.

He can take all Numbers a defeated opponent has in their Deck that were presented during the duel. However, the Numbers that were not in their Deck are not taken, as shown when defeating Fortuno, as Fortuno used 2 Numbers which were taken, but Fortuno's third was still left with him, kept in a box outside of his Deck. He also has some form of control over how Numbers behave in battle or can gain access to new Number cards at certain times. For example; after Yuma refuses to sacrifice him during the battle against Fortuno, Astral received a jolt of power from Emperor's Key and was able to provide Yuma with a new Numbers card. This also made him visible to the others only during Yuma's Duel against Fortuno, but only visible enough for Yuma's friends to believe Astral is real.



It has also been shown that Astral is able to make a Duel Disk appear around his arm, coming from the blue aura around him. It was shown multiple times that Astral is able to talk with Yuma telepathically. After The Door opened for Yuma, he and Astral gained the ZEXAL (power) which causes Yuma and Astral to merge their souls, leaving Yuma with most of the body's control. With this, Yuma/Astral wears a white spandex suit with red armor plating, his right eye becomes golden like Astral's left one, his hair turns gold and he gains a golden aura. Also, in this state, they earned the cards "ZW - Unicorn Spear" and "ZW - Phoenix Bow" through an ability called Shining Draw.

Astral is shown to be able to see people's memories, as seen when he touched Hart's head to access his past memory. However, this only seems to apply when he touched the person's head.

Anime
Astral uses Yuma's Deck, but Yuma uses his Deck with an offensive strategy, while Astral uses a more defensive strategy using "Gogogo" monsters. However, like Yuma, he utilizes various Spell Card and Trap Cards and focuses on Summoning "Utopia", and eventually its upgraded version.

Manga
Just like in the anime, while Dueling in the manga, Astral uses Yuma's Deck but focusing on defensive strategies, and uses card effects to Swarm monsters to his field and Summon Xyz Monsters.

Chaos Numbers
Unlike Numbers which were formed from Astral's memories when he crossed into Yuma's world, the later-formed Numbers don't contain any memory and aren't considered part of original 100 Numbers. They are upgraded versions of their Number counterparts, and obtained through certain emotions. He has currently one Chaos Number in his possession.


 * Number C39: Utopia Ray (episode 18)

Manga

 * Number 39: Utopia (rank 4)
 * Number 17: Leviathan Dragon (rank 4)
 * Number 50: Blackship of Corn (rank 12)
 * Number 91: Thunder Spark Dragon (rank 15)
 * Number 22: Fran Ken (rank 18)