Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL

'Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL (pronounced zay-al [IPA: zeɪal] in Japanese, pronounced zek-sul' in English) is a Yu-Gi-Oh! anime and manga series, set in the near future as the successor to the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's series.

The anime first aired on April 11, 2011 in popular evening slots in Japan on TV Tokyo. It introduces the Xyz Summon mechanic and Xyz Monsters. It also starts the use of the Series 7 card layout replacing the Series 3 layout used in later episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh!, and the majority of episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's.

The English dubbed version premiered on October 15, 2011 on the CW4KIDS Toonzai.

Characters

 * ''See: Category:Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL characters


 * Yuma Tsukumo
 * Reginald Kastle
 * Astral
 * Tori Meadows
 * Kite Tenjo
 * Hart Tenjo
 * Tron
 * III
 * IV
 * V
 * Dr. Faker
 * Mr. Heartland

Cast

 * Eli Jay as Yuma Tsukumo
 * Gary Mack as Reginald Kastle
 * Jason Anthony Griffith as Caswell
 * Marc Thompson as Astral and Kite Tenjo
 * Eileen Stevens as Tori Meadows
 * Wayne Grayson as Nelson Andrews
 * Sean Schemmel as Bronk Stone and Orbital 7
 * Eric Stuart as Scorch
 * Sam Riegal as Chills
 * Darren Dunstan as Mr. Kay, IV and Mr. Heartland
 * Rebecca Soler as Kari Tsukumo

Summary
In a city in the near future, Heartland, kids and adults are nuts about Augmented Reality Duels. Augmented Reality Duels are Duels that use Duel Gazers and D-Pads, which when the two are used together, whether on the ground or in the sky, cause monsters to erupt from buildings and fight each other; it's a super-charged duel!

But there's no one in town who's crazier about dueling than our hero, Yuma Tsukumo. At a beginner level, he's a Champion at absolutely losing. Due to a chain of events, Yuma ends up challenging the number one delinquent at his school, Reginald. The Duel before him will greatly change Yuma's destiny...!

A bizarre door that usually appears in Yuma's dreams suddenly shows up in the midst of this fight. When Yuma unlocks this sealed door, countless lights fly from it and escape. And when Yuma comes to, he sees the mysterious entity, Astral, who came from a parallel universe, standing before him.

In order to regain Astral's lost memories, the flying lights from the door that have turned into the 99 "Numbers" Cards, these two must work together. Just what is the purpose for Astral's appearance in our world? And what on earth is with these new monsters known as "Numbers"? A series of mysterious and powerful rivals begin to appear before Yuma and Astral, slowly unraveling the mystery...

Manga
The ''Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL'' manga is written by Shin Yoshida, illustrated by Naoto Miyashi and published by Shueisha. Unlike Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, the ''Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL'' manga was released before the anime and follows the same story as the anime up until Rank 009.

The series is set in the near future. Something unexpected happens as Reginald Kastle challenges Yuma Tsukumo to a Duel. When the mysterious entity Astral appears before them a new legend begins.

Music
Japanese opening theme 1: Masterpiece
 * Performer: Mihimaru GT
 * Episodes: 001-025

Japanese ending theme 1: My Quest
 * Performer: Golden Bomber
 * Episodes: 001-025

Japanese opening theme 2: BRAVING!
 * Performer: KANAN
 * Episodes: 026-

Japanese ending theme 2: Longing Freesia
 * Performer: DaizyStripper
 * Episodes: 026-

English theme: Take a Chance

The first official soundtrack CD, Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL Sound Duel 1, was released by Marvelous Entertainment on September 28, 2011.

Development
An encore screening of Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D Bonds Beyond Time on February 20, 2011 in Japan contained details on the production of ''Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL''. The second 2011 issue of Weekly Shonen Jump included details of the screening a competition on how one hundred and ten readers can win passes to see it.

4Kids confirmed that an English-language dub would premiere on October 15th at 9:30 AM.

Differences in adaptations

 * Some names are Americanized.
 * The names on the Duelist's picture are removed.
 * Skirts are lengthened.
 * Astral's lower body appears to be blurred.
 * While closer to the original than most english adaptions of Yu-Gi-Oh!, dialogue is altered to include more jokes.
 * The backs of the cards have been edited to become the standard backing seen in the other series.

Staff
The following staff are credited.

Allusions to previous Yu-Gi-Oh! series
There are a lot of allusions to various other Yu-Gi-Oh! series within several episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL. Most of these allusions have to do with characters or monsters, but there are some aspects of gameplay that bear allusions as well. Although Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's allude to previous series as well, there are more allusions in ZEXAL than in either series, though this is to be expected.

Yu-Gi-Oh!

 * Episode 15 features a Deck of Statue monsters that are based on monsters from the original series, like "Dark Magician" and "Blue-Eyes White Dragon".
 * Astral and Yuma's relationship shares many similarities with Pharaoh Atem and Yugi Muto's relationship.
 * Kite Tenjo's will to protect his younger brother Hart is similar to Seto Kaiba's desire to protect his brother Mokuba.
 * Shark has a lot in common with Joey Wheeler, wherein both bully their respective series' protagonists, Yuma and Yugi, early on in the series, but then later become good friends. They also end up Dueling in tournaments, fighting for their sisters who are in hospitals.
 * Flip shares many personality traits with Weevil Underwood. Also, both cheat when they Duel by messing with their opponent's Decks beforehand.
 * In Yu-Gi-Oh! history, Yuma and Yugi are the only two protagonists so far that live with family members (Yuma with his sister and grandmother, Yugi with his grandfather and mother, although she is rarely seen in the show).

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX

 * Anna Kozuki, first seen in episode 29, bears a slight resemblance to Jaden Yuki.
 * Shark's personality early on in the series is similar to that of Chazz Princeton.
 * Also, both Shark and Chazz are seen Dueling professionally and being banned from their respective leagues for breaking the rules.
 * Astral and Kite's rivalry, at least prior to the WDC, is similar to Jaden's rivalry with Zane Truesdale, in that the protagonist loses the first Duel (almost loses, in Astral's case, as the Duel is interrupted) and ties the second Duel.
 * Both GX and ZEXAL include schools as an important setting.

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's

 * Both the main protagonists live in futuristic cities in which there is a new style of dueling.
 * The concept of Xyz Summoning introduced in ZEXAL has a lot in common with Synchro Summoning, namely that both require all involved monsters to be on the field, both pay attention to Levels, and neither require any other cards.
 * The Xyz Monsters have their stars on the left side of the card, like the Dark Synchro Monsters used in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's.
 * When Kite is Dueling, after his outfit changes color, he bears a striking resemblance to Jack Atlas.

Trivia

 * There has been no mention or the action of Synchro Summoning or Ritual Summon in the series so far.
 * Although "Iron Chain Dragon" was seen in episode 1's preview, and Dark Tuner Nightmare Hand was seen in both the episode and preview for episode 1.
 * Although neither Synchro or Tuner monsters are seen nor mentioned in the series, they have been seen on other cards, "Counselor Lily" → "Attraffic Control".
 * Neither has been mention of a Duel Runner or a Turbo Duel. However, Reginald Kastle drives a motorcycle that has the same sound as a Duel Runner. Also, only in the manga, Thunder Spark duels in a Turbo Duel-like system.
 * There have been Fusion, Xyz Summon and Tribute Summons.
 * Duel Disks vary in styles (variety of different Duel Disks).
 * This series is the closest to real-world game mechanics than the other series, mostly because this series can perform more monster Setting; in other series, players would usually Summon a monster in face-up Defense Position rather than face-down.