Yu☆Gi☆Oh! Zexal Second

After defeating a mysterious enemy, Yuuma Tsukumo, along with the help of Kaito Tenjou and Ryouga "Shark" Kamishiro, has thwarted the Barians' plans. However, Yuuma is still on a quest to retrieve the Number Cards to restore Astral's memories. The Seven Barian Emperors catch wind of Yuuma and Astral's endeavors and begin to collect the cards themselves to achieve their ultimate goal: destroying Astral's world in exchange for saving their own.

Though only five of the emperors are present, they unanimously decide on annihilating Astral and Yuuma once and for all. Elsewhere, with their newfound powers of ZEXAL, Astral and Yuuma work to eliminate the enemy force that threatens Earth and the rest of the universe.

Yu☆Gi☆Oh! Zexal Second unveils the mysteries and unpleasant surprises that lie in the wake of Yuuma's adversities. As Astral struggles to accept his past and the consequences it may have brought, will the gods continue to shower their fortune upon Yuuma on yet another perilous adventure?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tenjou, Kaito Main

Uchiyama, Kouki Japanese

Kamishiro, Ryouga Main

Masuda, Toshiki Japanese

Tsukumo, Yuuma Main

Hatanaka, Tasuku Japanese

Astral Main

Irino, Miyu Japanese

Mizuki, Kotori Main

Komatsu, Mikako Japanese

Shingetsu, Rei Supporting

Hino, Satoshi Japanese

IV Supporting

Hosoya, Yoshimasa Japanese

III Supporting

Ikeda, Kyousuke Japanese

Kamishiro, Rio Supporting

Han, Megumi Japanese

V Supporting

Yamamoto, Shouma Japanese

Jitsumatsu, Teruaki Producer

Kuwabara, Satoshi Director

Matsuoka, Hiroki Sound Director

Matsuda, Tetsuaki Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation

Reviews

Mar 26, 2014

TheBlackCrow

Recommended

I'll get straight to the point, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal II (subbed) is one of the best anime I have seen to date. With a top tier engaging story, detailed art that is stylistic yet still a homage to its predecessors former styles, and a truly lovable main cast that viewers will progressively get more attached towards, this second season reinforces the already good first season, and with it, genuinely breathes new life into this ever-changing franchise.

Story - 9
Revolving around the Barian's, Zexal II has arguably one of the eeriest and intriguing plots of the franchise to date. However, this does not come without flaws. ... Most find issues in the pacing and execution of this story, and complaints about it can be heard throughout fans of anime and Yu-Gi-Oh! alike. As the story progresses and the plot unravels you realize the series is a lot less predictable than anticipated, and instead, is actually presented quite well.
To put it into laymen's terms for readers of this review, think of Zexal I as Clannad, and Zexal II as the after-story. Simply put, it is essentially the pay off to the big build up that is Zexal's first season, and what a pay off it is.

Art - 9
The art is indeed "candy for the eyes" and furthermore is quite a "treat" to look at. Everything from the "Shonen-esk" characters to the background are well detailed and it results in an incredibly visually appealing animation style. The openings and endings are gorgeously pieced together and executed in such a remarkable fashion that they still remain some of my favorites. As mentioned before, the stylized dramatization, which is readily apparent to returning fans of the franchise, can seem off-putting at first, but rest assured as it serves to intensify suspenseful moments, create remember-able duels, and evidently be a stylistic take that is for the better.

Sound - 10
Zexal II added a completely new soundtrack that widens the large range they had originally, to an unfathomable degree. This, coupled with the appropriate use of Zexal I's OST, effectively puts a perspective on the growth of individual characters and to a larger degree, the change of Zexal II's overall tone. The soundtrack completely compliments every spectrum of mood in the series and is one of, if not the best, in the franchise to date.

Character - 10
This show is packed full of them. From the cameo occurrences of certain disliked characters, to disliked reoccurring ones, it's odd to see so much hate geared towards main and side characters alike. Here's why I think the characters are not just good, but great:
The show relies on a typical trope for Shōnen in that the protagonist starts off as a beginner and slowly but surely get's stronger. No problems there, it only adds to the experience as one notices Yuma not only developing as a character, but also getting better at playing the game. Additionally, they wrote in some of the greatest antagonists ever, which is more than enough reason to deal with certain characters that you inevitably detest, like the ever loved Tokunosuke. Jokes aside, this is no understatement, the characters are all well developed throughout the 73 episode, this makes even Tokunosuke tolerable to a certain degree.

Enjoyment - 10, Overall - 10
Admittedly, the first couple of episodes are quite formulaic and tedious, but as the show passes through its exposition, I began to find myself eagerly waiting on a weekly basis for the next episode as it was that enveloping as a show. If you're a fan of the franchise, I suggest you give it a hearty try, even If you dropped it before. If you're not a fan, I still suggest you give Zexal II a chance as its story is fantastic.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Sep 17, 2024

Haannnnn

Mixed Feelings

I understand where the hate for zexal is coming from, it might have been more lighthearted than the previous series but regardless it had its fair share of dark moments (talking about the sub obviously), putting that aside this will be my review of both zexal I and II which will contain SPOILERS of course;

ZEXAL I: keeping it short, it was really mediocre, neither awful nor really good, it was trying to be very humorous which honestly made me laugh at times, then the ending felt very rushed that failed to give a satisfying conclusion.

ZEXAL II: now we’re talking;

Unlike people hating YUMA for being the ... way he is, I couldn’t bring myself to hate him, yes; he’s clueless and easily fooled, but that’s his charm, because regardless of how many times he gets tricked and deceived by others he never gives up and will always believe in them, most people say he’s stupid for it, but honestly I find it beautiful how he still sees the good in others and extends a hand to them, I think that forgiving someone after betrayal instead of going for revenge is true strength.
And what makes ZEXAL more worthy is the development between YUMA and ASTRAL, well most of the show was about their relationship anyway and how they learn to grow on each others despite how different the two are, still I think all the zexal fusions designs were awful felt like super saiyan rip off lol.
SHARK and KAITO, I honestly did not like them as much as I wanted, well kaito was fine, he was too cold and nonchalant which almost made him seem emotionless but that’s the author attempt for you to write your average bad boy, SHARK on the other hand I just couldn’t bring myself to like him, hey don’t get me wrong I don’t hate him and I really tried to like him but the author felt like he was favouring him really, making him NASH a king in his past life and a “righteous” barian, I hated it, the worst part is once he remembers his past life he doesn’t hesitate to throw everything behind and go against his former friends while justifying his actions by saying stuff like “it’s my destiny” or “it’s for my people”, but I admit he had the biggest development in the whole series. And the bad guys going against each others was a satisfying sight.
VECTOR, in a few words, he’s the best, he made the show worth it for me, he was pure evil and just didn’t care, I actually was on his side most of the time, also one reason why I hate shark is because I just wanted vector to win against him which is totally biased but whatever.
Then of course there’s the school friends which made zexal unbearable for me, they refused to develop and just dragged the show, if I could erase them along with kotori (aside from being a girl who existed solely for fanservice there was nothing to see) zexal would have been top tier.

The story was entertaining enough and honestly it had its moments, then there’s the ending, not my cup of tea, it left me unsatisfied moreover yuma and astral goodbye felt too sad for me, I also couldn’t care less about everyone coming to life, it was an open ending that had no basis whatsoever, I checked the manga ending just in case and it was much worse (and more gay) so I should be grateful I suppose tho.

The openings were pretty good along with the soundtracks, I enjoyed all of it.

This series is a so-so for me, but it kept me on my toes and was a fun ride regardless of its downs.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Sep 29, 2015

ap1001

Not Recommended

Yugioh series review - zexal

Oh boy, Zexal, if there is one series in the Yu-gi-oh franchise that nearly everyone love to rip on or mock it is Zexal. And after completing it and looking back, it was highly understandable.

I think the best phrase to describe Zexal was, it was a average kid show (better budgeted than most), but sadly in the entirety of the Yu-gi-oh franchise that just isn't good enough.

Story - 5
Many say that Astral and Yuma are a rehash of Atem and Yugi (the pro and the noob), and that is completely true, with the magic trinket, the final duel and the ... spiritual advisor who make the MC grow. All of this is pretty much a carbon copy of Atem and Yugi. Now that isn't necessarily bad (even though it does cause diminishing return), since if done well all this can be forgiven. But it isn't handled that well which is where the problem come from. Yuma's Kattobingu isn't that good of a moral (ridiculous stubborn as some would say), but the story have everyone following it like it can't be wrong. The show is spelling out its Aesop too easily for kids and it ended up making Yuma's development barely noticeable. Let's be serious is there that big of a difference between Yuma of the first episode and the last? Probably not, Kattobingu back then Kattobingu at now (with more friends).

But once again, that is not the most major problem, Yusei suffered the same stagnation of character but 5Ds is still better in the development of the story department.

That brings us to the real problem, the plot. Anyone would tell you that Zexal season 1 was terrible, cause it is, the beginning few episode was pokemon with cards, highly boring and kiddy. But later on when Tron, Faker and Kaito came in did it get that much better? Yes and No, the introduction of more continuity did improve the show, but it is still not good enough. First of all the forced bad guy turn good routine is pretty terrible, when IV and Faker were introduced they seem so evil, but all of a sudden they get an excuse and turn good. And when I say sudden I mean sudden, like within 2 episodes (a ridiculous short amount of time for a yu-gi-oh show). To make an example, in 5Ds to make Aporia sympathetic, they had him beaten twice, showed a shit ton of background, had reasonable build up and finally had him killed. Faker and Tron gets a flashback and poof they are now good guys (IV didn't even get much of a flashback). So weak villains combined with pretty generic beat the bad guy plot with barely any mystery, makes season 1 very dry.

Season 2 is where the opinions are really split, some call it good, other say it is overrated. Season 2 brings back the save the world using card game element that is in all Yu-gi-oh series, and go more into the conflict of the Barian and Astral world. Personally I would say that this season was average just like the first season, the Barians are pretty bad villains as well, 2 are flat out jokes, 1 is obsessed with dragons (average villain, OTK'd himself in front of the big bad), Durbe and Merag was pretty useless, so all that is left is Shark and Vector. The final boss Don Thousand is even more anti-climatic, just a generic evil overlord (who doesn't even seem that active or do much or give you a feeling of intimidation), after Z-One this is clearly a downgrade. Hell he doesn't even look as cool as Zorc or Darkness even though those two are just as flat.

Some claim that Shark and his sister being Barian and Vector betrayal was good, that I agree, but a few good point isn't enough to save an entire season. For example the Zexal asspull/super-saiyan thing got worse this season and end up making Yuma look even more ridiculous. The only people that mattered were Shark/Kaito/Yuma (which 5Ds, GX also suffers). Most of all, the ending basically meant everything is back to the status quo, nothing changed and no one died (except don thousand), that is ridiculously cheap (DM had Atem die, 5Ds had the future group die). Vectors turning good, which removes the best part of the character and makes Yuma seem like a Gary-stu in terms of moral.

I can find a lot more problems here and there for both season 1 and 2, these scratches pile up and since the plot of the two seasons are average, it is death by a thousand cut for Zexal. I guess the reason for it all is Zexal is aimed at a younger audience, therefore they hoped that kids wouldn't mind and just be distracted by the pretty colors.

character - 3
Yuma is a hilarious joke through and through, the preacher of the Kattobingu religion that never failed once. People complain about Yusei being card game Jesus, but between card game Jesus and moral Jesus, I think I choose the card game Jesus. Yuma never doubts, never go down the wrong path, and for all the lose fun in card game thing, that is bullshit, cause unlike Judai, Yuma barely showed it. His highly energetic actions also makes him annoying, and despite mellowing out a bit later, he is still pretty much the same. The problem with Yuma is he hits so many annoying traits (that appeals to kids), yet he never fully grow out of it.

Astral's development is a "become a real boy" plot-line, straight and simple, a smart person who gradually become kind and believing Kattobingu. The thing with Astral is that, this is Yuma's story, so while his development is kind of interesting, it just doesn't carry the entire weight of the show. He became kinder and now believes in Kattobingu, that is all I can say for his development.

Kaito, the rival, not much to say, a nicer kaiba clone.

Shark, the other rival, not much to say either, a meaner Jounochi clone. His "development" is pretty much the same as Kaito with a reset. Basically get nicer, become the bad guy, get nice again.

Kotori, useless load.

Vector, the character many love, which is easy to understand. He is hammy, he is comically evil, he makes faces so ridiculous and kick the dog so ridiculously hard that it is hilarious to watch. The main thing is Vector is a over the top villain with some pretty good background, so the seeing contrasting him with all the other characters make him feel stand out. He is actually a pretty good character, besides the fact he gets redeemed by Yuma so easily.

Art- 8
Colorful and kiddish

Sound-9
Zexal had some very good track

Enjoyment - 5
Zexal was made for young kids, the magic revival, super saiyan power up, moral Jesus all points to this fact. It's not as bad as most say, cause if you turn off your brain and skip to episode 80 or something, you can still watch it through no problem and probably enjoy it. But that is the problem with it, there are so many filler episodes, episodes that are pointless and generally useless plotlines. It just doesn't measure up to the others in the franchise and that is a damn shame.

P.S. Hope is a terrible archetype, Yuma's duel is so bad.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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