Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal

Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal is a tedious and lackluster entry into the long-running Yu-Gi-Oh! Franchise, failing to live up to the standards set by its predecessors. With its uninteresting characters, repetitive plot, and lack of strategic depth, this series offers little to captivate or engage its audience.

One of the major flaws of Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal is its unremarkable and poorly developed characters. The protagonist, Yuma Tsukumo, lacks the charm, complexity, and relatability of previous Yu-Gi-Oh! Protagonists. His constant bumbling and unconvincing growth as a duelist make him an uninteresting and frustrating character to follow. The supporting cast fares no better, with forgettable personalities and lackluster character development. The absence of compelling and relatable characters hampers any emotional investment in the series.

The storytelling in Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal is repetitive and lacks originality. The plot follows a formulaic structure with predictable duel after predictable duel, offering little in terms of surprise or innovation. The narrative fails to build suspense or create a sense of genuine stakes, making each episode feel monotonous and unexciting. The attempts at injecting dramatic tension often fall flat, lacking the intricate and compelling storytelling that defined earlier iterations of the franchise.

The duels in Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal lack strategic depth and fail to create engaging gameplay. The battles feel formulaic and rely heavily on overpowered card effects rather than strategic decision-making. The animation during duels is lackluster, lacking the dynamic and visually engaging style that fans have come to expect from the franchise. The duels lack intensity and fail to generate the excitement that made previous Yu-Gi-Oh! Series so captivating.

Furthermore, the dialogue and writing in Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal are uninspired and lackluster. The dialogue often feels contrived and shallow, lacking the wit and cleverness that characterized earlier iterations of the franchise. The attempts at humor fall flat, relying on tired jokes and uninspired banter. The writing fails to deliver engaging and memorable lines, further diminishing the overall impact of the series.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal also suffers from a lack of meaningful themes or messages. The series fails to explore deeper moral dilemmas or delve into complex character growth. It lacks the depth and thought-provoking elements that made earlier Yu-Gi-Oh! Series resonate with audiences. The missed opportunity to address meaningful themes leaves the narrative shallow and uninteresting.

In conclusion, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal is a tedious and disappointing addition to the Yu-Gi-Oh! Franchise. Its uninteresting characters, repetitive plot, lackluster duels, and uninspired writing make for an underwhelming viewing experience. The series fails to capture the strategic depth, engaging storytelling, and memorable characters that defined earlier iterations of the franchise. Fans of Yu-Gi-Oh! Would be better off revisiting the classic series or exploring other entries rather than investing their time in this lackluster installment.

At this point in Yu-Gi-Oh history we should just accept the fact that they keep making these shows not out of love but out of wanting to sell more trading cards. That's what it was from the beginning and it's still continuing. Which is one of the TV shows biggest down falls. People not caring enough about the show and more about the product they sell. The main character Yuma Tsukumo is pretty annoying and even worse than Jaden Yuki from GX. At least Jaden could duel but Yuma needs help from an amnesic alien named Astral who should have replaced Yuma. The other characters are okay some are better than others like the two rivals. The animation is very nice to look at so that makes it easy on the eyes. I do enjoy the duels more in Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal. They don't feel like an eternity like the previous versions and honestly the story does flow alright with a few plot holes. So yeah it's basically what Yu-Gi-Oh GX should have been. I still believe that this is better than GX because of how entertaining it is but it does undergo from stereotypical characters, not the best (or worst) voice actors, annoying edits that anyone could clearly see and what irritates me more is how some of the duels were simply misunderstandings. However I still find it more engaging with the animation, some memorable characters, pleasant duels and charming story. Overall it's not bad but I feel as if it could have had more effort into it. So Yu-Gi-Oh classic fans please stop saying how bad this is. It has flaws but so did the other shows. So basically my summary is my conclusion: Could Have Been Better And Could Have Been Worse.

The previous Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series suffered from plots going completely absurd at times, especially in the first one, not to mention all the filler episodes that add nothing to the plot (looking at you GX). Zexal does not have these problems since the plot is fairly coherent and each episode feels like it fits well with the rest. It's visually good and the character design is captivating.

Now the most important part in the whole deal is the dueling itself and how the cards are played and presented. If you like the card game, then that's what really matters anyway, and Zexal has some interesting and intense duels. Of course the main course here is XYZ summoning, along with the cards that make it possible to achieve, and if you're playing Duel Links which introduced it recently, then you'll gain a lot of insights about it by watching.

The only thing I find annoying is how bad at dueling Yuma is, the protagonist, sometimes (unlike Jaden for example), but I understand it was a necessity to justify his bond with Astral and show how acquiring number cards can make you stronger.

Greatly received the most parts of the world, except a few places, mostly in the west. It was a broader reach series reached into broader. Topics didn't just go over tangible things like the penitentiary, like the previous series did or ancient Egypt Egyptian history like the first series or the Classroom like the second, it did what Pokémon's Fourth did. The reason why this series isn't greatly received everywhere isn't really explainable in the given context (Not what I have laid out right here, but the other context here YOU can see) Otherwise, it went over a plethora of great themes in a great way. Lessons that require experience alongside a broader understanding of life in general to be able to understand and relate to, and to appreciate and especially within the characters of the barians.

Was absolutely phenomenal and was greatly received the most parts of the world, but seeing as this review website, most commonly takes influence from America - you can see the mindset of the people who don't like it here. The need for someone to unjustly hate this show stretches so far as they had to wait, nearly a decade later to continue the same retired opinion is evident in this section of IMDb. It is when the psyche of such close-mindedness and rigid hate spreads that they must regress progressively wait in the future to reinstate such an opinion that doesn't allow the show to be married from when it was in its highlight and was fairly judged (Although still quite unfairly) A decade ago.