Yuma Tsukumo

Yuma Tsukumo is the protagonist in the new Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL series.

Yuma's surname, Tsukumo, can be translated as "Ninety-Nine" which may be a nod to the ninety-nine Numbers he and Astral are looking for.

Personality
Yuma is a hasty young boy who likes to challenge himself to do anything that seems impossible, which he normally fails at. He states that doing these challenges gets him fired up and will eventually accomplish what he sets out to do. He is also somewhat self-contradictory as he often says things like how he tells his friend, Kotori Mizuki that she doesn't understand what it's like to be him after being left exhausted only to change the subject to how he always gets fired up, or when he says he won't show up to his Duel with "Shark" Ryoga until immediately regaining his confidence. Yuma is shown to stick up for others despite their protests, challenging "Shark" to reclaim Tetsuo's Deck.

Yuma treasures the artifact his mother gave him greatly and when "Shark" crushed it in two, this drove Yuma to challenge "Shark".

He is easily annoyed when Astral calls him "Toma", to which he answers "It's not Toma! Its Yuma!". He also tends to disobey Astral's instructions when they duel, which leads to making his common mistakes and only starts obeying when he is about to lose.

Biography
Yuma aspires to be a great Duelist someday. Despite this, he is not a good one. He regularly lost to his friend Tetsuo Takeda. Something unexpected happened when Ryoga Kamishiro challenged him to a Duel. When the mysterious entity Astral appeared before them a new legend began. During this Duel, Yuma used a Deck constructed by his father, as opposed to his usual Deck.

As Yuma duels "Shark," a doorway appears and he's given the choice to open the door. After he opens it, a dark force envelops "Shark" as he summons No. 17 Revise Dragon to his field. Surprised at his power, and feeling like he wouldn't be able to win, a strange entity tells him to stand up and win.

The entity reveals himself to be Astral, a duelist from another world, shocking Yuma. As Yuma talks with Astral, he notices his friends, and everyone else, cannot see him. Astral tries to take over Yuma's duel, stating that he has to win at all costs with Yuma always complaining that it was HIS duel. During the duel, Astral tries to order around Yuma, intentionally or not, to gain the advantage against Ryoga. However, Yuma refuses to listen to Astral as he is taken down each turn. It is not until Astral tells Yuma that he needs to trust him as his life is fading away the closer Yuma's life points get closer to zero. Drawing Monster Reborn, Astral asks Yuma to special summon Gagaga Magician from his graveyard. After summon Ganbara Knight from his hand, he proceeds to summon Gagaga Magician from his graveyard. His friends puzzled by this strategy, Astral explains that the conditions are set for an Exceed Summon. Yuma questions this as he doesn't have an Exceed Monster in his deck. Astral asked Yuma to check his Extra Deck when he pulls out a mysterious card that Astral identifies as No. 39 Aspiring Emperor Hope. He states that it is the power he has entrusted to Yuma and that he must use it to win the duel. Summoning Hope to the field and destroying Ryoga's Drill Barnacle, Yuma is excited and overjoyed about his first Exceed Summoning. However, his friends point out that he will still lose due to the difference in Hope's Attack Power and Revise Dragon's Attack Power. Ryoga proceeds to Advance Summon his Jawsman to eliminate Yuma's remaining life points. However, after learning of Hope's effect, Yuma and Astral negate Revise Dragon's attack. But with Jawsman still out on the field, Astral wanted to use Hope's effect again to negate the attack. Instead, Yuma activates his facedown card Bye Bye Damage. This causes Ryoga to lose double the damage that he lost which was 400 (so Ryoga lost 800 Life Points). Astral questions why he did this when Yuma talks about his big comeback combo that he had saved, betting the entire duel on his last draw. After drawing his card, he ordered Hope to attack Revise Dragon, shocking everyone, but used Hope's effect to negate his own attack. In response to this, Yuma activated the card he drew, the Quick-Play Spell Card, Double Up Chance, allowing Hope to attack again, but with double the attack strength (2500 X 2 = 5000). With that, Yuma won the duel and Astral proceeded to absorb the power of Revise Dragon.

As mentioned in episode 5, Yuma is not allowed to duel by his family for some reason. His sister said that duels are not normal for him.

Decks
Yuma's deck is filled with monsters which have repetitive names which are considered sound effects in some Japanese mangas e.g. Gogogo. Most of his Trap Cards consist of Burn cards such as "Just Desserts", "Secret Barrel" and "Bye Bye Damage". Yuma also uses an array of cards which increase the ATK of his monsters, such as "Wonder Wand", "Double Up Chance" and "Unprecedented Wind".

Yuma adds the Number Exceed Monsters to his deck after he defeats an opponent holding one, causing that they get absorbed by Astral. Yuma only has access to them while Astral is fighting alongside him in a duel.