Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL

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Revision as of 14:20, 13 October 2012 by 72.216.8.65 (talk) (these arent allusions at all (similarity and allusion arent the same thing), something like shark and chazz wearing blue at some point in time isn't and allusion at all(and majority of these "allusion" are along that border of thinking))
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"ZEXAL" redirects here. For the power featured in the series, see ZEXAL (power). For the Dueling Team featured in the spin-off manga, see Team ZEXAL.
Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL

English Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL logo

Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL遊☆戯☆王Yūgiō Zearu

Anime series
Directed by

Satoshi Kuwabara

Studio

Studio Gallop[1]

Network

Japan TV Tokyo, BS Japan[2]

Original run

April 11, 2011 — ongoing

No. of episodes

74 as of October 7th, 2012

Manga Series

Authored by

Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL (pronounced zay-al [IPA: zeɪal] in Japanese, pronounced zek-sul in English) is a Yu-Gi-Oh! anime and manga series, as the successor to the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's series.

The anime first aired on April 11, 2011 in popular evening slots in Japan on TV Tokyo.[3] It introduces the Xyz Summon mechanic and Xyz Monsters. It also starts the use of the Series 7 card layout replacing the Series 3 layout used in later episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh!, and the majority of episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's.

Starting with the show's fourth arc, the show was advertised under the name Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL II (pronounced zay-al [IPA: zeɪal] sekando in Japanese, pronounced zek-sul second in English), but both NAS and TV Tokyo classify it was the same show, with the episode numbers continuing from where it was left off instead of returning to the start.[4][5]

The English dubbed version premiered on October 15, 2011 on the CW4KIDS Toonzai. Official English subtitled episodes can be found on Hulu, though only available within the United States thus far.

Summary

Japanese Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL (遊☆戯☆王 ＺＥＸＡＬ（ゼアル）) Logo

In a city in the near future, Heartland City, kids and adults enjoy Augmented Reality Duels. Augmented Reality Duels are Duels that use Duel Gazers and D-Pads, which when the two are used together, whether on the ground or in the sky, cause monsters to erupt from buildings and fight each other. The hero is Yuma Tsukumo. At a beginner level, he's a champion at absolutely losing. Due to a chain of events, Yuma ends up challenging the number one delinquent at his school, Reginald. His destiny is changed by a bizarre door he's seen in his dreams. When Yuma unlocks this sealed door, countless lights fly from it and escape. And when Yuma comes to, he sees the mysterious entity, Astral, who came from a parallel universe, standing before him.

Dubbed version title screen.

In order to regain Astral's lost memories, the flying lights from the door that have turned into the 99 "Numbers" cards, these two must work together. A series of mysterious and powerful rivals begin to appear before Yuma and Astral, slowly unraveling the mystery of the "Numbers" and of Yuma's family.

Characters

See: Category:Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL characters

Anime only

Manga only

Manga

Main article: Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL (manga)

The Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL manga is written by Shin Yoshida, illustrated by Naoto Miyashi and published by Shueisha. Unlike Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, the Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL manga was released before the anime and follows the same story as the anime up until Rank 009.

The series is set in the near future. Something unexpected happens as Reginald Kastle challenges Yuma Tsukumo to a Duel. When the mysterious entity Astral appears before them a new legend begins.[6]

Spin-off

Main article: Yu-Gi-Oh! D Team ZEXAL

Yu-Gi-Oh! D Team ZEXAL is a spin-off of the series made by Akihiro Tomonaga with the cooperation of Wedge Holdings. This spin-off is non-canon to the anime and manga series, and focuses on humor.

Just like in the anime and manga, the series is set in the near future. However, it has no relation to them. Here, Yuma already knows Astral since the beginning, and forms a Dueling Team with Tori, Bronk and Caswell.


Music

Japanese opening theme 1: Masterpiece

  • Performer: Mihimaru GT
  • Episodes: 001-025

Japanese ending theme 1: My Quest

  • Performer: Golden Bomber
  • Episodes: 001-025

Japanese opening theme 2: BRAVING!

  • Performer: KANAN
  • Episodes: 026-049

Japanese ending theme 2: Longing Freesia

  • Performer: DaizyStripper
  • Episodes: 026-049

Japanese opening theme 3: Soul Drive

  • Performer: Color Bottle
  • Episodes: 050-073

Japanese ending theme 3: Wild Child

  • Performer: moumoon
  • Episodes: 050-073

Japanese opening theme 4: Unbreakable Heart

  • Performer: Takatori Hideaki

Japanese ending theme 4: Artist

  • Performer: Vistlip

English theme: Take a Chance

The first official soundtrack CD, Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL Sound Duel 1, was released by Marvelous Entertainment on September 28, 2011.[7]

The second official soundtrack CD, Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL Sound Duel 2, was released by Marvelous Entertainment on September 19, 2012. It includes two CDs.

Episodes

Main article: Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL episode listing
Main article: Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL II episode listing

DVD

Main article: Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL DVD listing

Development

An encore screening of Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D Bonds Beyond Time on February 20, 2011 in Japan contained details on the production of Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL. The second 2011 issue of Weekly Shonen Jump included details of the screening a competition on how one hundred and ten readers can win passes to see it.[8]

4Kids confirmed that an English-language dub would premiere on October 15th 2011 at 9:30 AM.

Differences in adaptations

  • Some names are Americanized.
  • The names on the Duelist's picture are removed.
  • The Win Sound Effect is changed in The English Dub
  • Skirts are lengthened.
  • Astral's lower body appears to be blurred out with extra lighting.
  • While closer to the original than most English adaptations of Yu-Gi-Oh!, dialogue is altered to include more jokes.
  • The backs of the cards have been edited to become the standard backing seen in the other series, with an exception in the first 8 episodes, when they reaired, the backings are changed. In episode 26 and later, the backing of the cards changed to how they appear in the World Duel Carnival arc, just like the Japanese version.
  • The scenes depicting Numbers users aging from "Photon Hand" is cut. Although this isn't the case for when Kite takes Reginald Kastle's soul.
  • Screams heard from the Astral World when it's being attacked are removed.
  • When an overlay unit is used, the sound effect is replaced with a new one.
  • The Life Points sound effects is replaced with a different one than the original.
  • Riceballs and other Japanese cultural references are sometimes removed.

Staff

The following staff are credited.[1]

Original character draft Kazuki Takahashi, Studio Dice (Weekly Shōnen Jump)
Planning Yukio Kawasaki (TV Tokyo)
Masanori Miyake
Director Satoshi Kuwabara
Series composition Shin Yoshida
Duel composition Masahiro Hikokubo
Character design Hirotoshi Takaya
Monster design Seiji Handa
Mecha accessory design Mitsuru Owa
Art director Takashi Nakamura
Color scheme Ayami Minowa
CG producer Futoshi Nagara
CG direction Tomita Kazunori
Photography director Kendi Akazawa
Editor Kajino Masafumi
Sound director Hiroaki Matsuoka
Sound production cooperation Jinnan Studio
Music Conisch
Yutaka Minobe
Yasufumi Fukuda
Music Production Marvelous Entertainment
Music collaboration TV Tokyo Music
Casting cooperation Ai Ninuma (Neruke Planning)
Anime producer Furuya Daisuke
Producer Ryo Sasaki
Anime production Studio Gallop
Production TV Tokyo / NAS

Allusions to previous Yu-Gi-Oh! series

There are a lot of allusions to various other Yu-Gi-Oh! series within several episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL. Most of these allusions have to do with characters or monsters, but there are some aspects of gameplay that bear allusions as well. Although Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's allude to previous series as well, there are more allusions in ZEXAL than in either series, though this is to be expected.

Yu-Gi-Oh!

  • Episode 15 features a Deck of Statue monsters that are based on monsters from the original series, like "Dark Magician" and "Blue-Eyes White Dragon".
  • Astral and Yuma's relationship shares many similarities with Pharaoh Atem and Yugi Muto's relationship, with the Emperor's Key taking the place of the Millenium Puzzle.
  • Kite Tenjo's will to protect his younger brother Hart is similar to Seto Kaiba's desire to protect his brother Mokuba.
  • Shark has a lot in common with Joey Wheeler, wherein both bully their respective series' protagonists, Yuma and Yugi, early on in the series, but then later become good friends. They also end up Dueling in tournaments, fighting for their sisters who are in hospitals.
  • Flip shares many personality traits with Weevil Underwood. Also, both cheat when they Duel by messing with their opponent's Decks beforehand.
  • In Yu-Gi-Oh! history, Yuma and Yugi are the only two protagonists so far that live with family members (Yuma with his sister and grandmother, Yugi with his grandfather, included his mother in the Manga only).
  • "Gagaga Magician" and "Gagaga Girl" are similar in appearance to "Dark Magician" and "Dark Magician Girl", respectively.
  • The World Duel Carnival shares a lot in common with the tournaments of the Yu-Gi-Oh! second series anime.
    • It is the first tournament in Yu-Gi-Oh! anime history since Battle City to require participants to collect what are essentially pieces of a puzzle (in the WDC, Heart Pieces; in Battle City, Locator Cards, which contain pieces of a map) in order to enter the final round.
    • Also, the Duel Coaster becomes the first site of the Carnival finals, in the same way Kaiba Craft 3 became the first site of the Battle City Finals (albeit with different rules).
    • Furthermore, during the second round of the World Duel Carnival finals, each Duel is held on a different field with its own unique characteristics, similar to the KC Grand Championship, and somewhat antithetical to Duelist Kingdom, where the finals were held in the castle on a normal field and the remaining Duels were on special fields.


Yu-Gi-Oh! GX

  • Astral and Kite's rivalry, at least prior to the WDC, is similar to Jaden's rivalry with Zane Truesdale, in that the protagonist loses the first Duel (almost loses, in Astral's case, as the Duel is interrupted) and ties the second Duel.
  • Yuma by the same token as Jaden, is a "slacker" in school. They also both sport red attire (Jaden's Slifer Red trenchcoat and Yuma's red jacket as well as red hair highlights.
  • In episode 17, Fortuno kidnaps some of Yuma’s friends; they are then put atop a pillar where Fortuno casts an illusion that they are standing atop lava; this is very akin to when Jaden first dueled Nightshroud in a volcano by which beforehand, Nightshroud abducted two of Jaden’s friends, Syrus Truesdale and Chumley Huffington, whom are subsequently plunked in a protective globe in the vicinity around actual lava.

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's

Trivia

External links

References

  1. ↑ a b tv-tokyo.co.jp Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL staff, cast and music information
  2. ↑ tv-tokyo.co.jp onair
  3. ↑ animenewsnetwork.com News: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal Anime, Manga Revealed
  4. ↑ NAS "Works Time List" Check |url= value (help). Nihon Ad Systems.
  5. ↑ "Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL episode listing". TV Tokyo.
  6. ↑ V Jump scan.
  7. ↑ "遊☆戯☆王 Zexal　Sound Duel　１" (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on October 1, 2011. Retrieved October 1, 2011.
  8. ↑ animenewsnetwork.com New Yu-Gi-Oh! Series to Be Announced in February
  9. ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL episode 01313: "The Number Hunter, Part 1"
  10. ↑ Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL episode 04141: "Losing Hart"
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