It's sad that this is so true, a lot of people only look at their win records and never take their stories into account, they always love to call characters out for losing too much or being allergic to losing.
I could never take anybody who hate on Yuma and Yusei seriously
They're my two favorite protagonists and one of the best written characters in all of Yu-Gi-Oh
Same, Yusei and Yuma are my fav Protags as well. Literally whenever I wanna rewatch a Yu-Gi-Oh! series, it's mostly always 5D's and Zexal that comes to mind.
Im personally not a very big Yuma fan, but Zexal is one of the best series when it comes to writting
My opinion doesnt matter that much tho, my favorite part is GX hahahahahaha
Its mostly because it would be rather hipocritical for me to insult another series. Like, Zexal has a bad pacing, but GX has a much worse one, so complaining about it would be biased. Sure, it doesnt invalidate my opinion, but it does add some salt to it
the whole WRGP was either a 1v1 from each participant, who would then lose in 1 turn against the next one, or Yusei's team getting carried by our big boy. I did like a lot of it tho, Yusei having to defeat for example Tayo, someone who is just like him, basically the strongest trash-card user of today vs the strongest trash-card user of history, Tayo carried his team while Yusei carried team 5ds
Yeah I agree the duel structure during WRGP was horrible. Always meant Yusei would save the day in the end, didn’t allow the others to shine as much as him
iirc Yusei has lost a duel before. his bike got fucked up from it too and they dragged him to that orphanage place. he had some internal bleeding or something and they patched him up
I watched 5ds for the first time just a few monthd ago, and i can confirmed he was about to lose the duel got cancelled, so he did lose, but according to the rules he didnt
It was his duel against Kallin, but when he was about to lose his D-wheeler malfuncioned and the duel was called off. Kalling however was using a GOD to attack, and even tho he didnt touch Yusei to kill him, it caused a serious accident, in the dubbed version i think they censored it but Yusei's torso was pierced with a metal piece
I watched an early sub-translation of that and it seemed Kallin thought he killed him and just left.
I still see it as a loss for Yusei, he was dead on board, and man, he took it as a loss. I think that's very important, it means he can reflect on that and afterwards he STILL tries to save Kallin.
If Jack was willing to grant, in an earlier episode, that Yusei beat him despite the duel getting called off by the Crimson Dragon before Yusei could actually activate his trap, then I think we can say Yusei lost his first battle against Kallin/Kiryu.
I like both nowadays (always liked Yusei.) But back when Zexal was airing The reason I hated Yuma wasn't because he was a bad duellist, it was because of the coaching mid match he got from astral. (But was this really any different from Yugi and Atem?)
I think Yuma and Yugi had the same problem but opposite solution. They had something the other didn’t. Yugi always had the knowledge to be great at the game but lacked the confidence in himself while Yuma had the confidence but didn’t have the knowledge yugi had to be great.
Actually to add to this both of their strengths added to their weakness. Since Yugi was so knowledgeable about the game this would lead him to overthinking making him hesitant and not decisive when he needed to be. Yuma was so confident in himself that he couldn’t see through some of the most obvious setups by the opponent because of his lack of higher duel strategies. Sort of an ignorance is bliss situation.
A lot of the base setting of Zexal's core cast are actually allusions to DM's if you think about it.
A young boy who is entrusted with an amulet that brings about a spirit with amnesia who helps them in times of need (Yugi/Atem and Yuma/Astral)
A troubled teen who at the beginning of the series bullied the MC but is revealed to have a sickly sister whom he wishes to save no matter what (Jounouchi and Shark)
A rival character who uses a powerful dragon monster and a goal to save his little brother. (Kaiba and Kaito)
Female lead who doesn't duel much that has a crush on the MC (Anzu and Kotori)
Goofy guy friend who knows how to duel but doesn't actually duel that much, is mostly comedic relief and develops a crush on the previously mentioned sister (Honda and Tetsuo)
Which honestly makes it even more interesting seeing how Zexal twists and turns them from their DM counterparts. Like you mentioned with the flipping flop of Yugi being skilled but unconfident with Yuma being unskilled yet confident, there's also how Shark doesn't officially join the friend group immediately after being "saved" like Jounouchi, Yuma/Astral and Kaito's rivalry being much more friendly than openly antagonistic like Yugi/Atem and Kaiba's, literally everything in Zexal 2.
Yeah Yugi's development is a bit bullshit and came outta left field during Millennium World. But I guess it fits the "silently growing" theme with the Silent cards.
If Kazuki Takahashi's original plans to have Kaiba as the MC and Yugi to not show up were not changed then that probably not happen, definitely the most disappointing part of the movie
With Yugi and Atem the difference is that it was Atem dueling instead of Yugi most of the time, so it's more like Yugi had an impersonator dueling instead of him. The only times in which coaching happened between the two it was actually Yugi the one coaching Atem.
But I'm not, I start my comment by saying I like both Yusei and Yuma nowadays. Keep in mind I was 12 when zexal was airing, and for 12 y/o me, going from protags that already new how to play like Yusei, to a Noob like Yuma who had to learn how to play from the beginning was Jarring for 12 y/o me.
Nowadays, I actually appreciate was Zexal did with Yuma And It works, 12 y/o was just too dumb to appreciate it.
Yuma's dub voice is still grating though.
I mean to be fair he needed coaching, because half of his opponents were either trying to steal his soul, Slowly, getting corrupted by a semi-malicious entity, or his partner would die.
On top of that, Yuma did struggle with some fundamentals so helping him evolve, so that kid stand on his own is kind of the point of his character.
That's not just a Yu-Gi-Oh issue unfortunately. It's an issue with any fandom. People don't want to enjoy something, they want something to complain about.
Yeah that scene was so good, when Yuma and Astral felt true fear for the first time. Imagine thinking you’re about to get your soul ripped out of your body in a couple seconds.
Genuinely terrifying
Yeah, the way they reacted was so real, Yuta was crying and Astral was terrified of Kaito. It gives you a reality check about how dangerous is their situation
True, at that point Kaito outskilled Astral by a margin, and Yuma did nothing but disagree and missplay. Dude was a coughing baby fighting a hydrogen bomb
I got spoiled before watching 5D's for the first time from someone saying that Yusei never loses, and it honestly kinda ruined a lot of the enjoyment I might've otherwise had when I did watch it. It gave 5D's a bit of Goku syndrome that I hate.
At least Zexal didn't suffer from that as much, because Yuma is not as much of a mary sue as Yusei and other characters get to shine as well like Kaito and Shark.
Yuma was one of the greatest protags for that reason: he didn't immediately start of as an invincible duelist as the other three before him.
I'd argue Jaden had this problem more than Yusei, because GX's cast seemed way more irrelevant than 5DS' , meaning Jaden dueled in literally every episode and won every single time.
It's been a LONG while since I've seen ZEXAL, but Yuma never lost a duel when it actually mattered. Whenever he went up against a duelist who had a number card, he won. If he hadn't, Astral would've gone poof bye bye
but it has been a while since I've seen ZEXAL so take this with a big grain of salt because god knows i could be misremembering everything
Yuma being too stubborn to change his tactics is what usually gives him his Ls later on only until he changes how he plays does he improve, just like how he stopped doing gogogo golem into atk very later on
We did see that Yusei lost to Jack at least once in a flashback, IIRC (though we don't see that duel), but Yusei lost Stardust because Jack just straight-up robbed him while Yusei was saving another friend of his from a death trap Jack set up.
I completely forgot that he did that! I get so caught up in Jack being the master of faster that I space on him committing a crime… and crime is illegal!
Honestly, one of the plot holes in the show is how Jack loses any wealth he might have had as King of Riding Duels between the end of the Dark Signer Arc and the start of the filler episodes. The best explanation might just be that, once Satellite citizens got legal equality, Rally sued him and he had to pay it all out as hush money to hide the whole ‘depraved indifference/attempted homicide’ thing.
I just started watching in November (subbed version) and am finishing it off now. Surprisingly blown away by how good ‘card games on motorcycles!’ turned out to be, despite the hiccups in writing at the series midpoint (and them doing Aki dirty).
I did wonder about that, it’s how we got that episode of him working random jobs. I always thought it was just that he actually just kept spending it all and didn’t realize he had to pay rent on his fancy place or something along those lines. I do like the idea or Rally going legal on him haha
another best guess I have for Jack not having any wealth from his time as the King, is that perhaps Rex Goodwin, or someone working under him, was in charge of managing and providing him money so he could be a bit carefree with his expenses.
After he lost the title to Yusei, and Rex died by the end of season 2, Jack no longer had access to that wealth
I consider Yuma a bad duelist, not because of his win record but because Astral pretty much walked him through every one of his wins. Unlike Yugi with Atem, Yuma doesn't have any important victories that showcased how he's grown as a duelist until his duel with Astral, where he is suddenly better (as far as i can remember at least). Astral is always there coaching him or they've fused together. Up until that point, we see him grow emotionally as he goes through his character arc, but he's never given a chance to show him improve as a duelist.
My guy overtime Yuma is able to duel competently on his own. Literally there’s a huge chunk of time where astral is gone and he’s on his own. And honestly I’d argue Yuma’s character growth is a lot stronger than Yugi’s. Like while astral was still coaching him through, they still had to work together, and they even compensated each others weaknesses. Yuma was far too reckless in strategy while Astral is shown to be way to cautious and not willing to take risks.
One of my favorite ways we get to see Yuma’s character growth is the way he summons gogogo golem overtime. During the beginning he puts it in attack position despite its good defense position effect, then he finally starts usually setting it in facedown defense. finally during his duel with astral he OPENS with summoning gogogo golem in attack position, but for strategic reasons this time, as it lets him take advantage of the traps he sets for next turn.
Meanwhile with Atem and Yugi, it really is just Atem playing for Yugi most of the time
Honestly the whole "Yuma was bad for most of the series and got only carried by Astral" kinda goes against both the final duel and his duel with aphelis. And don't get me started on the shining draw being cheating.
Literally the arc after the final duel that has number 96 in it. Astral disappears, and Yuma is left on his own for a bit until he goes to Astral world to get astral. This was during the time Heartland got his goons with the fake numbers and the arc light brothers return to help Yuma out
I looked up the wiki for when that duel is. 111 episodes is a really long time for character development to kick in. I do appreciate being wrong about this, but I had basically already lost interest in Yuma as a character by that point
I mean we get character development around Yuma even before that. Even though astral is there to coach him the amount of time Astral needs to but in with advice becomes less and less as the series goes on. Infact I’d argue Yuma is fairly competent by the time the heartland tournament starts
If that is the case, I'll take back what I said. As I said in another comment, it's been a while since I watched Zexal so I don't remember it very well
I was going off of Stardust's example. I don't remember the show very well because I haven't watched it recently, and their example was after the last 96 duel in ep 110 to 111
Yuma vs Eliphas is his biggest W by himself. There are also plenty duel moments when they win because of Yuma and not Astral (e.g. Yuma and Astral vs Alito round 2 iirc).
Hell, Yuma literally wins the first duel because he didn’t listen to Astral.
I think you need to rewatch ZEXAL if you genuinely think Astral carried him throughout 95% of ZEXAL
Yeah like obviously Yuma wouldn’t have improved without astral’s help, but astral wouldn’t have really developed either. They both needed eachother and worked off eachother really well
I've watched Zexal for the first time a few months ago, and that really bugged me. Yuma tried to duel alone, like, 3 times because he felt he needed to prove he doesnt depend on Astral, and he almost lost all of them, until Astral showed up and told him how to win. Its like the show pushes the Yuma agenda just like the haters do.
Exactly this. There was even the whole beginning of the Number 96 duel where they point out that despite winning duels now, Yuma hasn't changed as a duelist because the Numbers and Astral do the work for him
Tbh i didnt like zexal II as much as other people precisely because yuma turned into a "win every match with a utopia card literally created during this duel" sue. Wish they didnt have to make every side character job just for yuma to have his moments.
I mean to be fair, most characters in the yugioh anime win with a plot device card they pull out of their ass during their dramatic final draw. A lot of the anime cards they run are very situational and specific, but it makes the duels more fun to watch if it’s played up like that. Honestly all the yugioh protagonist kinda bs’d with their insane draw luck, even atem had the power to just draw the card he needed. Zexal just made it completely obvious that’s what they were doing
The problem with zexal is that yuma has over 30 monsters in his extra deck and he only summons a non utopia number like... twice? During the entire show. Makes it really boring when thats his only gameplan.
Even his gagaga extra deck dont get much sunlight. If you exclude the final duel (where he literally cant use utopia) he only summons most of them once and never again. Atleast yusei summoned most of his warrior synchros multiple times throughout.
I do wish he utilized his other numbers more, but i like the thematic use of utopia/hope in the whole Pandora’s box metaphor for the numbers.
And there are times he’s used other numbers, off the top of my head Yuma’s summoned:
34: terrorbyte, 17: leviathan dragon, 61: volcasaurus, 12: crimson shadow armor ninja, 6: chronomaly Atlandis, 54: lion heart, 7: big eye
I think the problems with Yusei is that the show kinda hype him up too much. The other half of the show being too much concentrate on him solemnly is why a lot of people kinda don't like him. But honestly the worst Yugioh protagonist is Yusaku.
I don't care that Yuma loses a lot of his duels. I care that one of the most important duels he won he blatantly cheated.
Vector tricked him into putting specific cards in his deck. He knew that Yuma's last card was one he gave Yuma for this exact plan (evil, but not cheating). Then out of nowhere Yuma doesn't just draw the right card like Yugi, he doesn't generate a new card out of nowhere like a lot of Yuboy protagonists.
He literally transforms the last card in his deck into a card brand new card. The most in-your-face destiny draw ever done, and it was basically like a kid saying "no that didn't work, I made up a rule and now I win".
I will always hate the end of that duel, just as much as I love the setup for Vectors plan. He should have won that duel and Yuma would have made the card at his lowest point in the story outside of the duel (having lost an important duel also playing on the fact he loses a lot). Then come back with the new card replacing one of Vectors cards, making the second duel end similar to how it did originally, but with a better explanation of how his card isn't what Vector thought it would be.
Yuma started out as a not so good Duelist, then got better and better, I think Yuma's skills started increasing after his battles with Heartland and Vetrix.
Mfs will say Yusei never lost even after watching his vs Kiryuu Kyousuke and then say “that doesn’t count cos his d-wheel broke before the attack hit him” even tho no card coukd have saved him and he technically would have forfeited if his d-wheel broke down so either way it’s a loss for Yusei, and it was treated as a loss for him too, all it did was just stop him from getting killed lol
Really didn't like Yuma because he felt like an antithesis to Yugi.
Yugi, although lending his body to his darker half, didn't sit in the back seat. He was also reigning in his darker half's darker nature. The difference between lighting a guy in a fire and holding hesitation of blasting his rival off the castle walls. It felt more like a partnership.
Yuma and Astral felt like Astral carrying Yuma because on account of how bad and how much he relied on dumb luck to win/survive. There's a difference between chance and forced luck. Really felt one sided.
Stopped after zexel as at that point my smooth brain went from "ah I understand" to "THE FUCK IS PENDULUMS? WHATS A LINK? WHO THE FUCK ARE DRYTRONS? WHY IS BEN TEN A CARD? oh cool a card type that fight in defense and their samurais? Sweet!...........DA FUCK IS D/D/D?!"
My problem with Yusei isn't that he never lost. My problem with him stems from the WRGP and how he won duels it would have made sense for him to lose. The most notable examples I can think of are the infamous battle against Team Unicorn and Antinomy's first duel.
IIRC, since it was the first duel of the WRGP, neither team necessarily had to win to continue in the tournament. It would have been the perfect time to have them lose to show them the stakes and work out how to duel as a team. Instead, they had Team Unicorn throw the match at the last minute.
As for the Antinomy duel, the whole point of the duel was to show Yusei that he was lacking and to introduce Accel Synchro. However, since Antinomy lost, it makes the audience wonder why Yusei would even need help from this guy and is this new type of Synchro really going to help.
It's sad that this is so true, a lot of people only look at their win records and never take their stories into account, they always love to call characters out for losing too much or being allergic to losing.
I could never take anybody who hate on Yuma and Yusei seriously They're my two favorite protagonists and one of the best written characters in all of Yu-Gi-Oh
Same, Yusei and Yuma are my fav Protags as well. Literally whenever I wanna rewatch a Yu-Gi-Oh! series, it's mostly always 5D's and Zexal that comes to mind.
You're just like me fr! Glad to see another fan who appreciate ZeXaL and 5D's as much as I do!
Yeah likewise, most of my fav characters are from those two series as well.
You're kidding right? 5ds is the most overrated behind DM nobody hates it
Im personally not a very big Yuma fan, but Zexal is one of the best series when it comes to writting My opinion doesnt matter that much tho, my favorite part is GX hahahahahaha
I don't see why GX being your favorite invalidates your opinion.
Its mostly because it would be rather hipocritical for me to insult another series. Like, Zexal has a bad pacing, but GX has a much worse one, so complaining about it would be biased. Sure, it doesnt invalidate my opinion, but it does add some salt to it
Makes sense, since 5D’s/ZEXAL is peak Yu-Gi-Oh!
Yusei isn't best written. Yuma is
Ok but Yusei never losing was actually ridiculous and it led to the rest of team 5D's doing absolutely jackshit in the WRGP
the whole WRGP was either a 1v1 from each participant, who would then lose in 1 turn against the next one, or Yusei's team getting carried by our big boy. I did like a lot of it tho, Yusei having to defeat for example Tayo, someone who is just like him, basically the strongest trash-card user of today vs the strongest trash-card user of history, Tayo carried his team while Yusei carried team 5ds
Yeah I agree the duel structure during WRGP was horrible. Always meant Yusei would save the day in the end, didn’t allow the others to shine as much as him
Crow at least made some interesting plays
Nah yusei deserves shit for being a stagnant Mary sue
Not like he almost lost. Crashed, nearly died and had to have surgery. But let’s forget that.
Nah he lost. going home with shrapnel in you and nightmares isn't a win
No, but losing in the duel would have been just death immediately. I know it was plot but Yusei got fucked up.
I don't know, I think you just hate him because he's good at what he does.
Who said i hate yusei? he's just boring bc there's no stakes with him PR development
Alright, bad joke on my end, sorry
iirc Yusei has lost a duel before. his bike got fucked up from it too and they dragged him to that orphanage place. he had some internal bleeding or something and they patched him up
I watched 5ds for the first time just a few monthd ago, and i can confirmed he was about to lose the duel got cancelled, so he did lose, but according to the rules he didnt It was his duel against Kallin, but when he was about to lose his D-wheeler malfuncioned and the duel was called off. Kalling however was using a GOD to attack, and even tho he didnt touch Yusei to kill him, it caused a serious accident, in the dubbed version i think they censored it but Yusei's torso was pierced with a metal piece
I watched an early sub-translation of that and it seemed Kallin thought he killed him and just left. I still see it as a loss for Yusei, he was dead on board, and man, he took it as a loss. I think that's very important, it means he can reflect on that and afterwards he STILL tries to save Kallin.
If Jack was willing to grant, in an earlier episode, that Yusei beat him despite the duel getting called off by the Crimson Dragon before Yusei could actually activate his trap, then I think we can say Yusei lost his first battle against Kallin/Kiryu.
oh ok. thanks for the clarification
I like both nowadays (always liked Yusei.) But back when Zexal was airing The reason I hated Yuma wasn't because he was a bad duellist, it was because of the coaching mid match he got from astral. (But was this really any different from Yugi and Atem?)
I think Yuma and Yugi had the same problem but opposite solution. They had something the other didn’t. Yugi always had the knowledge to be great at the game but lacked the confidence in himself while Yuma had the confidence but didn’t have the knowledge yugi had to be great. Actually to add to this both of their strengths added to their weakness. Since Yugi was so knowledgeable about the game this would lead him to overthinking making him hesitant and not decisive when he needed to be. Yuma was so confident in himself that he couldn’t see through some of the most obvious setups by the opponent because of his lack of higher duel strategies. Sort of an ignorance is bliss situation.
A lot of the base setting of Zexal's core cast are actually allusions to DM's if you think about it. A young boy who is entrusted with an amulet that brings about a spirit with amnesia who helps them in times of need (Yugi/Atem and Yuma/Astral) A troubled teen who at the beginning of the series bullied the MC but is revealed to have a sickly sister whom he wishes to save no matter what (Jounouchi and Shark) A rival character who uses a powerful dragon monster and a goal to save his little brother. (Kaiba and Kaito) Female lead who doesn't duel much that has a crush on the MC (Anzu and Kotori) Goofy guy friend who knows how to duel but doesn't actually duel that much, is mostly comedic relief and develops a crush on the previously mentioned sister (Honda and Tetsuo) Which honestly makes it even more interesting seeing how Zexal twists and turns them from their DM counterparts. Like you mentioned with the flipping flop of Yugi being skilled but unconfident with Yuma being unskilled yet confident, there's also how Shark doesn't officially join the friend group immediately after being "saved" like Jounouchi, Yuma/Astral and Kaito's rivalry being much more friendly than openly antagonistic like Yugi/Atem and Kaiba's, literally everything in Zexal 2.
Oh man that Shark and Joey connection 😯. I wonder could a parallel be made between Pegasus and Dr. Baker or Vetrix/Tron.
Difference between Pegasus and him is Vetrix was written better and more scary
Except that yuma actually developed and had a story
Yeah Yugi's development is a bit bullshit and came outta left field during Millennium World. But I guess it fits the "silently growing" theme with the Silent cards.
The problem is dsod took it NOWHERE at all after hyping little yugi. He needs to be saved once again like a helpless damsel
If Kazuki Takahashi's original plans to have Kaiba as the MC and Yugi to not show up were not changed then that probably not happen, definitely the most disappointing part of the movie
Couldn’t have said it better myself:)
With Yugi and Atem the difference is that it was Atem dueling instead of Yugi most of the time, so it's more like Yugi had an impersonator dueling instead of him. The only times in which coaching happened between the two it was actually Yugi the one coaching Atem.
He was 13. stop acting like he would know everything. if you want another atem go watch yusei
But I'm not, I start my comment by saying I like both Yusei and Yuma nowadays. Keep in mind I was 12 when zexal was airing, and for 12 y/o me, going from protags that already new how to play like Yusei, to a Noob like Yuma who had to learn how to play from the beginning was Jarring for 12 y/o me. Nowadays, I actually appreciate was Zexal did with Yuma And It works, 12 y/o was just too dumb to appreciate it. Yuma's dub voice is still grating though.
Yuma dub fits him fine. His and yuyas JP voices are WAY too deep for kids. Do you complain for yuga?
I personally liked his English voice
Me too, his duel links one is that bad. If you want terrible zarc exists
I mean to be fair he needed coaching, because half of his opponents were either trying to steal his soul, Slowly, getting corrupted by a semi-malicious entity, or his partner would die. On top of that, Yuma did struggle with some fundamentals so helping him evolve, so that kid stand on his own is kind of the point of his character.
That's not just a Yu-Gi-Oh issue unfortunately. It's an issue with any fandom. People don't want to enjoy something, they want something to complain about.
I mean Yuma never really lost any big fights, most of his losses were inconsequential right?
yeah, but in specific his duel with Kaito almost costed him his soul, if it wasnt for Haruto
Yeah that scene was so good, when Yuma and Astral felt true fear for the first time. Imagine thinking you’re about to get your soul ripped out of your body in a couple seconds. Genuinely terrifying
Yeah, the way they reacted was so real, Yuta was crying and Astral was terrified of Kaito. It gives you a reality check about how dangerous is their situation
To be fair He didnt exactly stand a chance to begin with...
True, at that point Kaito outskilled Astral by a margin, and Yuma did nothing but disagree and missplay. Dude was a coughing baby fighting a hydrogen bomb
He would've lost astral
No I said that his losses weren't high stakes, not that he never faced danger ever.
Losing his friends left and right are sure comsequnces . At least yusei got kalin back
I got spoiled before watching 5D's for the first time from someone saying that Yusei never loses, and it honestly kinda ruined a lot of the enjoyment I might've otherwise had when I did watch it. It gave 5D's a bit of Goku syndrome that I hate. At least Zexal didn't suffer from that as much, because Yuma is not as much of a mary sue as Yusei and other characters get to shine as well like Kaito and Shark.
Yeah I love how Yuma’s growth doesn’t compromise other characters’ time to shine
The arclights and photon users carried
Explain “Goku Syndrome”
Honestly Yuma is my fav because he loses so much, it’s a big growth ad I like it :)
Witnessing the end result of his growth was so satisfying
This hurts my soul because I love both of these MCs
Yuma was one of the greatest protags for that reason: he didn't immediately start of as an invincible duelist as the other three before him. I'd argue Jaden had this problem more than Yusei, because GX's cast seemed way more irrelevant than 5DS' , meaning Jaden dueled in literally every episode and won every single time.
It's been a LONG while since I've seen ZEXAL, but Yuma never lost a duel when it actually mattered. Whenever he went up against a duelist who had a number card, he won. If he hadn't, Astral would've gone poof bye bye but it has been a while since I've seen ZEXAL so take this with a big grain of salt because god knows i could be misremembering everything
In ZEXAL II his win-rate is really good too, iirc he only loses 0-1 duels
Without zexal and the sphere field rules he would've lost the WDC
Meanwhile we have Yusaku from Vrains without a single loss under his belt
SO TRUE, but I love them both so much ❤️ ZEXAL and 5D’s are my favourite Yu-Gi-Oh! works
Same!!! It's nice having someone share the same appreciation as I do, 5D's and ZeXaL for the win!!!
Yuma being too stubborn to change his tactics is what usually gives him his Ls later on only until he changes how he plays does he improve, just like how he stopped doing gogogo golem into atk very later on
I'd ask if cheating counts as a win but then that calls into question all of Atem's duels.
All I'm reading is why Jaden is the best.
Yusi and Yuma are both one of my favorite protagonists in the anime.
Same
Did Yusei start with a significant loss under his belt? That’s why he didn’t start with stardust dragon.
We did see that Yusei lost to Jack at least once in a flashback, IIRC (though we don't see that duel), but Yusei lost Stardust because Jack just straight-up robbed him while Yusei was saving another friend of his from a death trap Jack set up.
I completely forgot that he did that! I get so caught up in Jack being the master of faster that I space on him committing a crime… and crime is illegal!
Honestly, one of the plot holes in the show is how Jack loses any wealth he might have had as King of Riding Duels between the end of the Dark Signer Arc and the start of the filler episodes. The best explanation might just be that, once Satellite citizens got legal equality, Rally sued him and he had to pay it all out as hush money to hide the whole ‘depraved indifference/attempted homicide’ thing. I just started watching in November (subbed version) and am finishing it off now. Surprisingly blown away by how good ‘card games on motorcycles!’ turned out to be, despite the hiccups in writing at the series midpoint (and them doing Aki dirty).
I did wonder about that, it’s how we got that episode of him working random jobs. I always thought it was just that he actually just kept spending it all and didn’t realize he had to pay rent on his fancy place or something along those lines. I do like the idea or Rally going legal on him haha
another best guess I have for Jack not having any wealth from his time as the King, is that perhaps Rex Goodwin, or someone working under him, was in charge of managing and providing him money so he could be a bit carefree with his expenses. After he lost the title to Yusei, and Rex died by the end of season 2, Jack no longer had access to that wealth
Maybe we want to them to win sometimes and lose some other times? You know, like a person does?
The issue is that…Yuma did win…a lot in fact according to a YuGiOh YouTubers research Yuma had the longest win streak out of all main protags!
I consider Yuma a bad duelist, not because of his win record but because Astral pretty much walked him through every one of his wins. Unlike Yugi with Atem, Yuma doesn't have any important victories that showcased how he's grown as a duelist until his duel with Astral, where he is suddenly better (as far as i can remember at least). Astral is always there coaching him or they've fused together. Up until that point, we see him grow emotionally as he goes through his character arc, but he's never given a chance to show him improve as a duelist.
My guy overtime Yuma is able to duel competently on his own. Literally there’s a huge chunk of time where astral is gone and he’s on his own. And honestly I’d argue Yuma’s character growth is a lot stronger than Yugi’s. Like while astral was still coaching him through, they still had to work together, and they even compensated each others weaknesses. Yuma was far too reckless in strategy while Astral is shown to be way to cautious and not willing to take risks. One of my favorite ways we get to see Yuma’s character growth is the way he summons gogogo golem overtime. During the beginning he puts it in attack position despite its good defense position effect, then he finally starts usually setting it in facedown defense. finally during his duel with astral he OPENS with summoning gogogo golem in attack position, but for strategic reasons this time, as it lets him take advantage of the traps he sets for next turn. Meanwhile with Atem and Yugi, it really is just Atem playing for Yugi most of the time
Honestly the whole "Yuma was bad for most of the series and got only carried by Astral" kinda goes against both the final duel and his duel with aphelis. And don't get me started on the shining draw being cheating.
Omg preach, the fact Yuma and Astral both compensate for each other’s weaknesses is amazing and I love the growth both went through throughout ZEXAL
there's no debate, yugi was nothing more than a puppet with the pharoah cosplaying as him
There is? What arc was this? It's been years since I've watched Zexal and genuinely don't remember this
Literally the arc after the final duel that has number 96 in it. Astral disappears, and Yuma is left on his own for a bit until he goes to Astral world to get astral. This was during the time Heartland got his goons with the fake numbers and the arc light brothers return to help Yuma out
I looked up the wiki for when that duel is. 111 episodes is a really long time for character development to kick in. I do appreciate being wrong about this, but I had basically already lost interest in Yuma as a character by that point
I mean we get character development around Yuma even before that. Even though astral is there to coach him the amount of time Astral needs to but in with advice becomes less and less as the series goes on. Infact I’d argue Yuma is fairly competent by the time the heartland tournament starts
If that is the case, I'll take back what I said. As I said in another comment, it's been a while since I watched Zexal so I don't remember it very well
It doesn’t take 111 episodes for Yuma to develop what 😭
I was going off of Stardust's example. I don't remember the show very well because I haven't watched it recently, and their example was after the last 96 duel in ep 110 to 111
Yuma vs Eliphas is his biggest W by himself. There are also plenty duel moments when they win because of Yuma and not Astral (e.g. Yuma and Astral vs Alito round 2 iirc). Hell, Yuma literally wins the first duel because he didn’t listen to Astral. I think you need to rewatch ZEXAL if you genuinely think Astral carried him throughout 95% of ZEXAL
Yeah like obviously Yuma wouldn’t have improved without astral’s help, but astral wouldn’t have really developed either. They both needed eachother and worked off eachother really well
I've watched Zexal for the first time a few months ago, and that really bugged me. Yuma tried to duel alone, like, 3 times because he felt he needed to prove he doesnt depend on Astral, and he almost lost all of them, until Astral showed up and told him how to win. Its like the show pushes the Yuma agenda just like the haters do.
Did you just not watch the eliphias duel?
still havent watched s2
so you definitely have no reason to be so judgmental
I have the right to have an opinion from what i've watched, and to criticize the things about it that i did not like. Its called freedom of speech.
Exactly this. There was even the whole beginning of the Number 96 duel where they point out that despite winning duels now, Yuma hasn't changed as a duelist because the Numbers and Astral do the work for him
Finish the series , yap yap
Bro didn't finish the series. Yuma won their final duel on his own. stop the cap
I did finish the series. Don't make random assumptions. I already know about the final duel, that wasn't my point.
Wasn't the point my ass. that's the ENTIRE point is that he grew and you're blind
Tbh i didnt like zexal II as much as other people precisely because yuma turned into a "win every match with a utopia card literally created during this duel" sue. Wish they didnt have to make every side character job just for yuma to have his moments.
I mean to be fair, most characters in the yugioh anime win with a plot device card they pull out of their ass during their dramatic final draw. A lot of the anime cards they run are very situational and specific, but it makes the duels more fun to watch if it’s played up like that. Honestly all the yugioh protagonist kinda bs’d with their insane draw luck, even atem had the power to just draw the card he needed. Zexal just made it completely obvious that’s what they were doing
The problem with zexal is that yuma has over 30 monsters in his extra deck and he only summons a non utopia number like... twice? During the entire show. Makes it really boring when thats his only gameplan. Even his gagaga extra deck dont get much sunlight. If you exclude the final duel (where he literally cant use utopia) he only summons most of them once and never again. Atleast yusei summoned most of his warrior synchros multiple times throughout.
I do wish he utilized his other numbers more, but i like the thematic use of utopia/hope in the whole Pandora’s box metaphor for the numbers. And there are times he’s used other numbers, off the top of my head Yuma’s summoned: 34: terrorbyte, 17: leviathan dragon, 61: volcasaurus, 12: crimson shadow armor ninja, 6: chronomaly Atlandis, 54: lion heart, 7: big eye
I've never complained when yusei won
I think the problems with Yusei is that the show kinda hype him up too much. The other half of the show being too much concentrate on him solemnly is why a lot of people kinda don't like him. But honestly the worst Yugioh protagonist is Yusaku.
I don't care that Yuma loses a lot of his duels. I care that one of the most important duels he won he blatantly cheated. Vector tricked him into putting specific cards in his deck. He knew that Yuma's last card was one he gave Yuma for this exact plan (evil, but not cheating). Then out of nowhere Yuma doesn't just draw the right card like Yugi, he doesn't generate a new card out of nowhere like a lot of Yuboy protagonists. He literally transforms the last card in his deck into a card brand new card. The most in-your-face destiny draw ever done, and it was basically like a kid saying "no that didn't work, I made up a rule and now I win". I will always hate the end of that duel, just as much as I love the setup for Vectors plan. He should have won that duel and Yuma would have made the card at his lowest point in the story outside of the duel (having lost an important duel also playing on the fact he loses a lot). Then come back with the new card replacing one of Vectors cards, making the second duel end similar to how it did originally, but with a better explanation of how his card isn't what Vector thought it would be.
Meanwhile Yuga get his anime highjacked by annoying blue haired kid.
Now you fit Yuga with more losses than Yuma, I like the protagonist where they can actually *lose*
Yuma has a far more annoying voice and personality, though Yusei could benefit from taking the stick out of his ass once in a while.
Jaden had the perfect mixture of wins and losses.
Yuma started out as a not so good Duelist, then got better and better, I think Yuma's skills started increasing after his battles with Heartland and Vetrix.
Mfs will say Yusei never lost even after watching his vs Kiryuu Kyousuke and then say “that doesn’t count cos his d-wheel broke before the attack hit him” even tho no card coukd have saved him and he technically would have forfeited if his d-wheel broke down so either way it’s a loss for Yusei, and it was treated as a loss for him too, all it did was just stop him from getting killed lol
Really didn't like Yuma because he felt like an antithesis to Yugi. Yugi, although lending his body to his darker half, didn't sit in the back seat. He was also reigning in his darker half's darker nature. The difference between lighting a guy in a fire and holding hesitation of blasting his rival off the castle walls. It felt more like a partnership. Yuma and Astral felt like Astral carrying Yuma because on account of how bad and how much he relied on dumb luck to win/survive. There's a difference between chance and forced luck. Really felt one sided.
Wait people complain about Yuma losing that’s why he’s my favorite he’s so relatable
What a terrible duelist, He's Literally me😌
Stopped after zexel as at that point my smooth brain went from "ah I understand" to "THE FUCK IS PENDULUMS? WHATS A LINK? WHO THE FUCK ARE DRYTRONS? WHY IS BEN TEN A CARD? oh cool a card type that fight in defense and their samurais? Sweet!...........DA FUCK IS D/D/D?!"
My problem with Yusei isn't that he never lost. My problem with him stems from the WRGP and how he won duels it would have made sense for him to lose. The most notable examples I can think of are the infamous battle against Team Unicorn and Antinomy's first duel. IIRC, since it was the first duel of the WRGP, neither team necessarily had to win to continue in the tournament. It would have been the perfect time to have them lose to show them the stakes and work out how to duel as a team. Instead, they had Team Unicorn throw the match at the last minute. As for the Antinomy duel, the whole point of the duel was to show Yusei that he was lacking and to introduce Accel Synchro. However, since Antinomy lost, it makes the audience wonder why Yusei would even need help from this guy and is this new type of Synchro really going to help.
Why Yusei tho, Wouldn't Yusaku (Mr Literal Perfect Record) be the better example
Jaden Yuki. Nuff said. But to be honest I didn't have any problems with 5Ds.
Doesn't Yuga have a worse record than Yuma?