Raccoon

"Racoon" or "Tanuki", known only as "Tanuki" (狸) in the Japanese version, is an anime-only archetype used by Ponta in the Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL anime. They are all Level/Rank 2 EARTH Beast-Type Monsters, with the exception of "Turtle Raccoon".

They focus mainly on swarming the field to Xyz Summon "Number 64: Ronin Raccoon Sandayu", who will then swarm the field with Kagemusha Tanuki Tokens and protect itself.

The other monsters of the archetype, "Tanukit Ponpoko" and "Tanukit Tantan" summon each other when Flip Summoned. Additionally, "Leaf Transformation" Special Summons a "Tanuki" from the hand.

Play style
Both Tanuki members can summon monsters from deck, which helps Deck Thinning. Ponpoko can Special Summon in face-down position, which can be useful when used in conjunction with cards such as "Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter" or "Nimble Momonga" or Tantan itself, who are all best summoned face-down. Tantan can be just as useful, when flipped, it can summon Nimble Momonga as well for Stall or Swarm purposes, furthermore it can be used to summon the likes of "Wind-Up Kitten" (assuming no other monster will attack it) for the next turn and use its effect to return a monster from the opponent's field for both offensive and defensive purposes.

Because most of the monsters ran here are level 2, "Junk Synchron" can be used just as well in order to summon powerful Level 5 Synchro Monsters such as "Ally of Justice Catastor", "Armades, Keeper of Boundaries", the otherwise hard to summon "Frozen Fitzgerald" and also "Junk Warrior". A One Turn Kill can be achieved with Junk Warrior and "Number 64: Ronin Raccoon Sandayu". This can be done in two ways:

1) First summon Sandayu and then use its effect to summon a Token (with as much ATK as possible) then summon Junk Warrior in order to boost its ATK to enormous levels. This method is best used when Junk Warrior would be weaker to the strongest monster available.

2) Summon Junk Warrior (while possessing a high ATK sum amongst all low level monsters) then use Sandayu to create an exact copy of Junk Warrior's high ATK value. This form is best used when Warrior is the stronger than any monster available.

Regardless of the method used, cards such as "Waboku", "Threatening Roar", "Mirror Force" and "Magic Cylinder" are recommended in order to protect your weak monsters in order to make the best use out of flip effects on your next turn. Furthermore "Closed Forest" can be a major support as due to the major swarm of weak monsters and also due to Ryko's effect. It is entirely possible to have a large amount of Beast-Type monsters in the Graveyard, increasing the ATK of new monsters to tremendous levels making weak monsters into powerful beaters.

Weaknesses
As explained above, the Tanukis and overall most monsters ran in the deck (including general support) have low ATK value and likely to be destroyed fast. If one does not get cards such as Kitten or Ryko to deal with the powerful monsters, then the player can put on a tough spot. Cards such as "Summon Limit" can limit the potential of the deck, while cards like "Skill Drain" or "Deck Devastation Virus" can single destroy the deck, largely due to Flip effects taking place into the field even if the monster is destroyed and due to the low ATK value respectively. Therefore making it important to set game faster than the opponent can counter-attack.