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 and 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.

Starting with the show's fourth arc, the show was advertised under the name '''Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL II''' (pronounced zay-al [IPA: zeɪal] sekando in Japanese, pronounced zek-sul second in English), but both NAS and TV Tokyo classify it as the same show, with the episode numbers continuing from where it was left off instead of returning to the start.

The first season of the English dubbed version premiered on October 15, 2011 on the CW4KIDS Toonzai. The second season was brought to CW4KIDS's second Cartoon Block, Vortexx. Official English subtitled episodes can be found on Hulu, though only available within the United States thus far.

Summary
In a city in the near future, Heartland City, kids and adults enjoy 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. The hero is 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. His destiny is changed by a bizarre door he's seen in his dreams. 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. A series of mysterious and powerful rivals begin to appear before Yuma and Astral including a young boy named Kite Tenjo, revenge-seeking Vetrix and the maniacal Dr. Faker. Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL II takes place after the first series. The curtain falls on the World Duel Carnival, peace has finally returned to Heartland City. But now, emissaries from the Barian World, hostile to the Astral World, are aiming to steal the "Numbers" and Astral for themselves. In order to protect him, Yuma, Kite and Shark join together to combat the Barian menace, as they ultimately become involved in the Interdimensional War of two worlds.

Characters
These characters are in both the Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL anime and Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL (manga)
 * Yuma Tsukumo
 * Astral
 * Tori Meadows
 * Reginald Kastle
 * Kite Tenjo
 * Orbital 7
 * Hart Tenjo
 * Bronk Stone
 * Caswell Francis
 * Cathy Katherine
 * Flip Turner
 * Kari Tsukumo
 * Haru Tsukumo
 * Mr. Heartland
 * Dr. Faker
 * Kazuma Tsukumo

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.

Spin-off
''Yu-Gi-Oh! D Team ZEXAL'' is a spin-off of the series made by Akihiro Tomonaga with the cooperation of Wedge Holdings. This spin-off is non-canon to the anime and manga series, and focuses on humor.

Just like in the anime and manga, the series is set in the near future. However, it has no relation to them. Here, Yuma already knows Astral since the beginning, and forms a Dueling Team with Kotori, Tetsuo and Takashi.

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: 026-049

Japanese ending theme 2: Longing Freesia
 * Performer: DaizyStripper
 * Episodes: 026-049

Japanese opening theme 3: Soul Drive
 * Performer: Color Bottle
 * Episodes: 050-073

Japanese ending theme 3: Wild Child
 * Performer: moumoon
 * Episodes: 050-073

Japanese opening theme 4: Unbreakable Heart
 * Performer: Takatori Hideaki
 * Episodes: 074-098

Japanese ending theme 4: Artist
 * Performer: Vistlip
 * Episodes: 074-098

Japanese opening theme 5: Dual-ism of Mirrors
 * Performer: Petite Milady
 * Episodes: 099-123

Japanese ending theme 5: GO WAY GO WAY
 * Performer: FoZZtone
 * Episodes: 099-123

Japanese opening theme 6: Wonder Wings
 * Performer: DIAMOND✡YUKAI
 * Episodes: 124-

Japanese ending theme 6: Challenge the GAME
 * Performer: REDMAN
 * Episodes: 124-

English theme: Take a Chance

English theme 2: Halfway to Forever

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

The second official soundtrack CD, Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL Sound Duel 2, was released by Marvelous Entertainment on September 19, 2012. It includes two CDs.

The third official soundtrack CD, Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL Sound Duel 3, was released by Marvelous Entertainment on May 15, 2013.

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 2011 at 9:30 AM.

Differences in adaptations

 * Some names are Americanized.
 * The names on the Duelist's picture are removed.
 * The Win Sound Effect is changed in the English Dub.
 * Skirts and socks on female characters are lengthened to avoid any sexual nudity.
 * Astral's lower body appears to be blurred out with extra lighting.
 * The backs of the cards have been edited to become the standard backing seen in the other series, with an exception in the first 8 episodes, when they reaired, the backings are changed. In episode 26 and later, the backing of the cards changed to how they appear in the World Duel Carnival arc, just like the Japanese version.
 * The scenes depicting Numbers users aging from "Photon Hand" is cut. Although this isn't the case for when Kite takes Reginald Kastle's soul.
 * When an overlay unit is used, the sound effect is replaced with a new one.
 * The Life Point sound effects is replaced with a different one than the original.

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, with the Emperor's Key taking the place of the Millenium Puzzle.
 * Don Thousand, the God of the Barian World, was defeated by Astral thousands of years ago and sealed away, much like Zorc Necrophades was sealed away thousands of years ago by Atem. Evidently, Astral will eventually have to defeat Don Thousand again, just like Atem defeated Zorc in the Millennium World arc.
 * The Millenium Puzzle, much like the Emperor's Key, was also purloined or taken away from the main protagonist on several occasions.
 * Kite Tenjo's will to protect his younger brother Hart is similar to Seto Kaiba's desire to protect his brother Mokuba.
 * Kite Tenjo signature card, "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon", has a lot of similarities with Seto Kaiba's signature card, "Blue-Eyes White Dragon". They have same name structure, both cards are Dragon-Type, LIGHT Attribute monsters with 3000 ATK and 2500 DEF and both cards have, in addition, an Extra Deck monster upgraded counterpart: a three-headed version with 4500 ATK (the "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" and "Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon"). Both also have similar attack names ("Burst Stream of Destruction" for "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" and "Photon Stream of Destruction" for "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon"). Additionally, they both have a ritual monster that can be used to summon them (Both have been used in the series at a certain point): "Knight of Photon Dragon" for "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon" and "Paladin of White Dragon" for "Blue-Eyes White Dragon".
 * 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.
 * Rio Kastle has had bandages on her eyes, similar to Serenity Wheeler.
 * Flip Turner shares many personality traits with Weevil Underwood. Also, both cheat when they Duel by messing with their opponent's Decks beforehand.
 * "Gagaga Magician" and "Gagaga Girl" are similar in appearance to "Dark Magician" and "Dark Magician Girl", respectively.
 * Number 96: Dark Mist shares a similar role to that of Yami Bakura, an evil entity that dwells within an artifact which is important to the plot.
 * The World Duel Carnival shares a lot in common with the tournaments of the Yu-Gi-Oh! second series anime.
 * It is the first tournament in Yu-Gi-Oh! anime history since Battle City to require participants to collect what are essentially pieces of a puzzle (in the WDC, Heart Pieces; in Battle City, Locator Cards, which contain pieces of a map) in order to enter the final round.
 * Furthermore, during the second round of the World Duel Carnival finals, each Duel is held on a different field with its own unique characteristics, similar to the KC Grand Championship, and somewhat antithetical to Duelist Kingdom, where the finals were held in the castle on a normal field and the remaining Duels were on special fields.
 * Mr. Heartland's group of Number Hunters is similar the Rare Hunters who appeared during the Battle City arc.
 * "Rank-Up-Magic Barian's Force" is similar to "The Seal of Orichalcos" by how the the logo on the cards appear on the foreheads of the people who use it, make monsters stronger by dark magic, used by the main antagonists and appear in season 4 of their respective eras.
 * Vector using an alternative name to gain the trust of Yuma and his friends is similar to how Marik Ishtar used "Namu" to deceive Yugi Muto and his friends and how Yami Bakura used Ryo Bakura as a masquerade to hide his true goals.
 * Astral being corrupted by darkness by Vector is similar to how Yami Yugi was corrupted by darkness when he played the "The Seal of Orichalcos".
 * The way Vetrix used Hart as a shield against Kite is similar to the way Noah used Mokuba as a shield against Kaiba.
 * The way Astral took the hit from Dark Mist for Yuma is similar to how Yugi pushed Yami out of the way when Yami's soul was going to be taken by "The Seal of Orichalcos."
 * Don Thousand orchestrating the death of the Seven Barian Emperors for his sake is somewhat similar to how Dartz manipulated some events just to recruit Raphael, Valon and Alister.

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX

 * Both of the protagonists, Yuma Tsukumo and Jaden Yuki have energetic, cheerful and easy-going personalities but become very furious and serious when their friends are put in danger.
 * Both characters also sport red attire and are known to not do so well in school.
 * 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.


 * In episode 1, Yuma was rushing for being late for school at the start of the series is similar to Jaden rushing to the entrance exam, due to being late for it.
 * Later on, while Yuma continued running to school, he bumped into a Litterbot, causing his cards fall out from his messenger bag and scattered on the ground is just like Jaden collided with Yugi Muto, which also caused his Deck to be scattered on the ground while rushing.
 * In episode 17, Fortuno kidnaps some of Yuma’s friends; they are then put atop a pillar where Fortuno casts an illusion that they are standing atop lava; this is very akin to when Jaden first dueled Nightshroud in a volcano by which beforehand, Nightshroud abducted two of Jaden’s friends, Syrus Truesdale and Chumley Huffington, whom are subsequently plunked in a protective globe in the vicinity around actual lava.
 * Yuma and his friends going to the Barian World to save Rei and later Yuma going to the Astral World to save Astral is similar to how Jaden and his friends go to the Duel Monsters Spirit World to save Jesse Anderson.
 * Yuma and Shark's Duel in episodes 61 and 62 has many things in common with Jaden's Duel with Chazz in GX episodes 87 and 88.
 * How Girag brainwashed multiple students and sent them to attack Yuma in episode 85 is similar how the Yubel-possessed Marcel transformed most students of Duel Academy into Duel Ghouls.
 * The way that Dr. Faker making an agreement with Vector for the sake of healing his son, Hart Tenjo is just like Professor Viper desperately helping Yubel who promised to raise his son, Pierce from the dead.
 * Dumon giving power to Vetrix for getting revenge on Dr. Faker is similar to Yubel giving the power of "Exodia" to Adrian while trapped in the alternate dimension.
 * The Seven Barian Emperors trying to obtain the Legendary Numbers is somewhat similar to the Shadow Riders trying to obtain the Spirit Keys.
 * Furthermore while Jaden and co. were assign to protect each key, each Number has a guardian of its own.
 * Astral being corrupted by Number 96 is similar to how Jaden was corrupted by Yubel, turning him into the Supreme King.
 * In episode 76, a boy is seen in the background that resembles Chazz Princeton.
 * How Quattro and other people before him being absorbed into the Barian World is similar to how a Duelist who lost a Duel in the Dimension World was "sent to the stars" (killed in the original version).

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's

 * Both the main protagonists live in futuristic cities in which there is a new style of dueling.
 * In addition, both protagonist's respective fathers are lost in a different way (Dr. Fudo died after the Zero Reverse incident and Kazuma Tsukumo was trapped in Astral World).
 * Yusei's, Jack's, Yuma's and Shark's signature cards belong to the monster Types introduced within their respective series ("Stardust Dragon" and "Red Dragon Archfiend" are Synchro Monsters, while "Number 39: Utopia" and "Number 32: Shark Drake" are Xyz Monsters).
 * Yusei's and Jack's signature cards each have at least one upgraded form, and all of those upgraded forms (not including their Assault Modes) are Synchro Monsters. Yuma and Shark's upgraded monsters follow a similar principle, but as Xyz Monsters.
 * When Kite is Dueling, after his outfit changes color, he bears a striking resemblance to Jack Atlas.
 * The first stage of the Duel Coaster is similar to the Battle Royal that Primo conducted in 106.
 * Mr. Heartland's group of Number Hunters is similar the Dueling Assassins who was sent by Yliaster.
 * Yuma, Kite and Shark Duel Dr. Faker in similar conditions to Yusei Fudo, Jack Atlas and Crow Hogan's duel with Rex Goodwin.
 * The "CXyz" monsters from ZEXAL II work much like the Meklord monsters, designed specifically to destroy the "Numbers" as Meklords target Synchro Monsters.
 * Rio Kastle and Luna share common traits with each other; they both have older twin brothers and they have connections to two different worlds: the Barian World and the Duel Monster Spirit World.
 * Ray Shadows is similar to Vizor, as they were both originally affiliated with a main antagonist in some way (Vizor with Z-one and Ray with the Barians (namely Vector) and that they both masquerade as best friends to the protagonist (Vizor with Yusei and Ray with Yuma) only to later reveal their real identities.
 * The main antagonists of the second season of ZEXAL are the Seven Barian Emperors, similar to the antagonists of the second arc of 5Ds being the seven Dark Signers.
 * Both groups' members undergo a death and resurrection to become said antagonists.
 * The way the Heartland City citizens were sacrificed to the Barian World for Don Thousand's ambitions is similar to how residents of Satellite, New Domino City and Grieger's village were sacrificed to summon the "Earthbound Immortals"
 * Yuma and his friends being shocked that Reginald and Rio siding with the Barians is similar to Yusei and his friends surprised that Sherry sided with Yliaster.
 * The Fortune Cup is held to gather the Signers, in a similar way that the World Duel Carnival is held to gather the Numbers.