The following are my thoughts on episode 47-54 of this anime show in no particular order:
Kotori Mizuki / Tori Meadows
She gets a section of her own because she is just that bad. In this post where I reviewed the first 46 episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal, I talked about hating her. Well, I still hate her. Unfortunately, she hasn't gotten any better. She is still the most useless and unnecessary character in this series.The worst is how she shows up in pretty much every episode, but she doesn't really do anything. She's not even a duelist. She just stands there, doing nothing. More often than not, most of her dialog consists of her screaming Yuma's name.
I'm still firmly of the belief that Zexal would be infinitely better and way more interesting if she wasn't around. Kotori doesn't contribute to the plot in a meaningful way, so take her away, and the show doesn't lose anything.
It can still go on without her. Sigh. I'm really starting to loather her. I wish she'd either start being more useful or just be removed from this show.
Numbers Club Members
I'm starting to get sick of the characters that make up the Numbers Club. I still hate Kotori more, but these guys are starting to get on my nerves. They come across as extras that seem to exist just to watch Yuma duel. At least they're better than Kotori in that they're actually duelists and it's clear their lives don't revolve around Yuma all the time.Bronk Stone / Tetsuo Takeda is the one I like best out of all the members of this club. It's too bad he doesn't do much. So far, I think his only major contribution to the plot was when he fought against Number 96: Black Mist (Number 96: Dark Mist) and managed to win. That was a pretty fun duel.
I still hate Flip Turner / Tokunosuke Omoteura. I'm neutral towards the class rep (Caswell Francis / Takashi Todoroki). He's better than Kotori. Well, at this point, every other character is better than Kotori.
I find Cathy Katherine (Cathy or Cat-chan) way more useful and better than Kotori. She has a crush on Yuma too, but at least it doesn't seem like her life revolves around Yuma. She can function without Yuma, and she doesn't need to hang around him all the time. She's also a pretty competent duelist.
Actually, if you really look at it, they're all okay and competent duelists. I mean, Yuma's the inexperienced one when compared to the others, but he manages to win because that's what the plot demands, because he's the main character and can't lose important duels. Since Cat-chan's not the main character, of course she and the others will have to lose their duels.
She can even communicate with cats, and she's used this ability to help Yuma like that time dogs took Yuma's heart pieces and she sent her cats to search for them.
Then there was that time when she was the only one who was able to escape from Jin / Fortuno and warn Yuma about the guy who'd kidnapped the rest of their friends.
She was also the one who was able to reveal that the Kite / Kaito Tenjo watching the duel between Jin and Yuma was nothing but a statue. Compared to all that, what has Kotori done?
IMHO, in terms of likability, I would rate the Numbers Club members in this order with number 1 being the most likable and number 5 being the least likable.
- Tetsuo
- Cathy
- Class rep
- Tokunosuke
- Kotori
Episode 47
When Numbers 33: OOPArts Super Weapon - Machu Mach / Number 33: Chronomaly Machu Mech destroyed Gagaga Magician, shouldn't he have been revived because Bound Wand was still equipped to him? Or did I miss something here?In the anime, Bound Wand's text says:
"Equip only to a Spellcaster-Type monster. It gains 100 ATK × its Level. If the equipped monster is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, Special Summon that monster from the Graveyard at the end of the Battle Phase."
Episode 48
Once again, Number 39: Utopia / Numbers 39: Kibou Hope shows up. Did not miss him at all. In my review about the earlier episodes, I talked about being sick of Kibou Hope because it shows up pretty much all the time, and I would have wanted to see Yuma use the other Numbers Xyz cards at his disposal.Well, at least in this episode it made sense why Yuma summoned Utopia. Astral was supposedly dead and had apparently left him with only Kibou Hope.
But I do have to wonder why Yuma didn't use Chaos Xyz Change (Chaos Xyz Evolution) in this episode to turn his Utopia into Number C39: Utopia Ray / Chaos Numbers 39: Kibou Hope Ray. At this point, his life points are already below 1000.
If I remember correctly, his life points are now only 400, so he could have summoned Hope Ray. If he summoned Kibou Hope Ray, it would have had 3 overlay units (the two attached to Utopia and the Utopia card itself).
He could then use Overlay Eater's effect (he already discarded this to the graveyard to activate Flelf / Full Elf's effect) to get the last overlay or Xyz material attached to Machu Mach (Overlay Eater's effect allows it to be banished from your graveyard so you can take one of your opponent's Xyz materials. You can then attach this material to one of your own Xyz monsters).
Doing this would have given Ray 4 overlay units. If Yuma had used up all of those units, Ray's attack would have been increased (it would gain 500 ATK for each Xyz material detached from it) and Machu Mech's attack would have been decreased (thanks to Hope Ray's effect, Yuma can choose one monster his opponent controls and have it lose 1000 ATK for each Xyz material detached from Ray).
Wouldn't this be enough for Yuma to win? Even if it's not, doing this could have given him the advantage since Number 33 would have been destroyed, he himself would still have Hope Ray on his side of the field, and III's life points would have been heavily reduced. So, why didn't Yuma do this? Was he needlessly trying to prolong the fight, or did I just miss something or what?
Also, I wonder if the audience is really supposed to believe that Astral is dead. Well, for me, I don't believe it. I mean, Astral is one of the main characters. He and Yuma are a team. They're partners. Plus, the entire plot is basically about Astral needing to collect the Numbers Xyz cards to restore his memories.
And we, the viewers, have yet to find out the mystery of the Astral World and why Astral was sent to Yuma's world. So, I find it hard to believe that they'll kill off Astral at this point in time. There's just no way that's going to happen. I know he'll turn up again sooner or later.
Episode 49
For this episode (and the ones after this), I'm writing this review while watching it. Or to be more precise, I'm writing the draft of this review while watching this episode. I just pause every time I want to comment on something. I'll just fix up this draft before publishing this post.Anyway, so Yuma finally summoned Utopia Ray. It just makes me wonder why he didn't do this in the previous episode. Once again, he's in a pinch, but I'm not really worried. For one thing, we already know how this is going to turn out. Somehow, Yuma is going to win. Most likely by cheating via the Shining Draw thing again or by creating yet another new card out of thin air.
Another thing I really have to comment on is how seriously annoying it is to have the camera cut to show the members of the Numbers Club watching the duel between Yuma and III. I'm getting really sick and tired of seeing these extras. Why can't we just focus on the match between Yuma and III? Why do we need to see these other characters anyway?
It's not like they're even saying something useful. They're basically just saying or pointing out things that the audience already knows. For example, they'll be like "Yuma only has 50 life points left" or they'll scream Yuma's name, and I'm like "I already know all of this. I was watching the duel. So there's no need to tell me." Argh!
This is so frustrating and annoying. Can Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal please stop having the camera cut to them after every pause in the duel? Ugh. Honestly, it's like they're just being shown to remind the viewers that, hey, these guys are still around. And I'm like, ugh, yeah, unfortunately, please don't remind me.
Can we just get back to the duel now please? It's infinitely more exciting than watching the Numbers Club members standing there doing nothing, or screaming Yuma's name and giving us commentary we already know.
One thing I like in this episode is how there's a consequence for III (Trey) for obtaining and being able to use the power of Numbers 6: OOPArts Atlantal / Number 6: Chronomaly Atlandis. To use such great power, he has to suffer and feel pain. I wish it was actually like this for Yuma.
Because things are way too easy for Yuma. Supposedly, by using the power of Zexal, Yuma will lose something important. Supposedly, in exchange for great power, Yuma has to give up or lose something important.
But we've seen no evidence of this so far. I want to see Yuma struggle because it will make his victory and triumph over his opponents that much sweeter and more deserved especially if he wins due to his own strength and not because he somehow managed to create a card out of thin air or perform yet another Shining Draw.
Speaking of Yuma cheating- ugh, I'm not at all surprised that Astral's back and Yuma just fused with him. Also, here we go again with the Shining Draw thing and creating yet another card out of thin air. Meh. With this kind of power (*cough*cheating*cough*) on Yuma and Astral's side, then it's no wonder that they'd win their duels no matter what.
Episode 50
My first reaction upon hearing the new opening theme song (Soul Drive by Color Bottle) was that I don't like it. It's nothing when compared to the previous opening songs. The very first OP was amazing. The second was good too. But this one was just meh.About Yuma forgetting the invitation- I get that this was meant to be funny, but I would have thought that Yuma would have made sure that he had the invitation with him before leaving his house especially since he was so excited to go to the party.
It was nice of Gauche / Nistro to help out Yuma and his friends get into the party by vouching for Yuma. The least Yuma could have done was to thank the guy for his help, not just immediately run off on him.
I missed Kite and Shark (#ad) (Ryoga Kamishiro / Reginald Kastle). They need to show up more often. I still find them way more interesting than Yuma. And, yup, I still think either of them should have been the main character instead.
 |
| Kite and Shark need to show up more often. I find their storylines way more interesting than Yuma's. Their characters have depth and personality in a way that Yuma, and even Astral, just doesn't have and can't hope to have because Tsukumo is way too pure and way too good to be true |
Tron (Vetrix) sounds insane especially when he's laughing. He's really weird. I wonder if he really cares about III. It seems like he does since he held his hand when III asked him to. But then when he spoke with IV (Quattro), he said he wants results and that if he can't get results from IV and III, then he can get it from other people like Shark. So does he care or doesn't he? And why are III, IV, and V (Quinton) so loyal to him anyway?
It was quite surprising to see that Droite seems to care about Kaito Tenjo. When she and Kite first appeared in the same scene together in an earlier episode, I didn't get that impression at all. It was also a surprise to find out that V and Kite apparently know each other and that V was apparently Kite's mentor.
Much like with the new opening theme song, my reaction to hearing the new ending theme song (Wild Child by moumoon) was that I don't like it. It's better than the new OP, but compared to the previous ending songs, this one just isn't up to par.
Episode 51
There should be a limit to how much of an idiot Yuma can be. There are times when he comes across as way too dumb to live. At this point, it's bordering a bit on unbelievable now. He was so excited to participate in the World Duel Carnival finals that he even slept outside the entrance.So how could he possibly forget the heart pieces that he worked so hard to collect? Also, when Yuma found out that he didn't have his heart pieces, why doesn't he bother calling his friends and family to ask if they'd seen it?
Kari / Akari Tsukumo, Yuma's older sister, Haru Tsukumo, Yuma's grandmother, and Obomi, the cleaning robot, find Yuma's heart pieces. How come Akari calls Kotori then has Kotori call Yuma instead of calling Yuma herself?
This is ridiculous. Akari could have called Yuma herself. Why does Kotori have to be the one to do it? It's really like the show has to keep on shoving Kotori down the audience's throats.
I thought it was quite touching for Yuma's sister and his friends to help get the heart pieces to him, but I hated that Kotori ended up joining Yuma. The entire incident where she ended up next to him came across as contrived and unbelievable. How come Kotori had to join Yuma and Astral in the Duel Coaster? Why couldn't she stay with the rest of the audience instead of being right there getting in the way?
She's not even a duelist. She's not needed there. She's just getting in the way like the useless character that she is. Ugh. This just makes me hate her all the more especially when she starts screaming. Couldn't Yuma stop the Duel Coaster to drop her off? Am watching this for the duels, not to see Kotori be useless and screaming her lungs out because she's scared of how fast the Duel Coaster is going.
Mr. Heartland says, "The Coasters were originally made for one." If this is really true, then how come the Coasters are two-seaters? It's like they did this just so Kotori could join Yuma. But why does she need to join him anyway? Ugh. Also, why would Mr. Heartland allow Kotori to join Yuma? What would he get out of doing this?
In conclusion, I would have enjoyed this episode more if Kotori hadn't been around. I mean, other than screaming and just sitting there, she doesn't really do anything, certainly nothing useful.
I'm half-dreading the next episode. While it'd be interesting to see a three-vs-one duel (hopefully, there will be no cheating involved in the form of fusion and Shining Draw), there's the fact that Kotori is going to be present. Again. Truly, she is the worst character in Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal.
Episode 52
Still hate Kotori. Nothing new there. As usual, she's useless and doesn't do anything to help. In contrast to that, Anna Kaboom / Kozuki was way more helpful and useful. And her character is way more likable than Kotori's. I also like her deck. It's fun. And I like how Gauche also ended up helping Yuma.I do have to wonder how Anna managed to get in here though. When Yuma first met her, she'd said she wasn't participating in the World Duel Carnival, and she didn't seem to be interested in it either. So how was she able to get the heart pieces required to power up the Duel Coaster?
I was really surprised when Yuma ended up Xyz summoning a new monster (One-Eyed Skill Gainer). Honestly, I thought he was going to summon Utopia again. I wish Yuma would do this more often. He shouldn't have to rely on Utopia all the time. But without Anna's and Gauche's help, would Yuma have been able to summon this card? Or will this be the first and only time the audience will ever see him use One-Eyed Skill Gainer?
I like that the Fallguys / Triad of Terror really seem to care about each other. With how they're trying to protect and look out for each other, it shows some depth to their personality, so they don't just come across as the usual bad guys or villains.
It looks like Anna now has a crush on Yuma. Well, better her than Kotori. I wish we could see more of Kozuki. She's way more interesting than Kotori. Overall, this was a fun episode, and I think it would have been way better if Kotori hadn't been around.
I'm trying to ignore her, but it's hard when the show seems so keen on shoving her in front of the audience. She's always there, but she's so useless. She's just sitting there, shouting when Yuma gets attacked or saying his name. Ugh. She gives Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal a bad name.
Episode 53
There are 14 duelists left in the World Duel Carnival finals. I look forward to seeing all the duels. Am just hoping that Yuma and Astral wouldn't resort to their usual cheating via Shining Draw and using the power of Zexal.I still think the finals would be way more interesting without Kotori getting in the way. Can't she just go back to where the rest of the audience are? It'd be easier to tolerate her annoying presence if she wasn't being shoved down the audience's throats all the time in practically every single episode, even the ones where she's not the least bit necessary.
Well, if you want to be technical about it, that would be all of the episodes so far. Truly, she's one of the most useless and annoying characters ever. It's too bad she wasn't the one who got hit by that trap card. Maybe then she could have been ejected out of the Duel Coaster.
I wonder what happened to the One-Eyed Skill Gainer that Yuma managed to summon in the previous episode. Shouldn't that Xyz monster still be on his field? It hadn't been defeated or destroyed in Episode 52.
In fact, it was the one who managed to get rid of Electromagnetic Magnedragon, so where did it go? Is it because two of the Xyz materials used to summon this monster don't belong to Yuma (one belongs to Anna and the other belongs to Gauche)?
Gauche vs V (Quinton) - I think V's going to win this battle, but it should be interesting to see how it goes. I'm disappointed that we didn't get to see this fight from start to finish. This could have been a good opportunity to show just how strong V is.
Also, did V just activate a trap card without setting it first, or did I just miss something? I wish they'd make the rules clearer since it's apparently different from the normal gameplay now that they're on Duel Coasters.
Since Yuma only has 600 life points left, I was disappointed that he wasn't trying harder to increase his life points or, at the very least, keep it from decreasing further. It's like he doesn't even care with how he recklessly activates trap cards that ended up dropping him down to 200 life points.
There should be a limit to how much of a reckless idiot he is. This doesn't make me want to root for Yuma. It just makes me really disappointed in him because his reckless actions seem to show that he just doesn't care. I think he should be taking this more seriously.
When Yuma encountered The Paths of Destiny (toss a coin. If you get heads, you get 2000 life points. If you get tails, you lose 2000 life points) trap card, I already knew that he would end up winning the coin toss and getting 2000 life points because there's just no way he's going to be allowed to lose.
That's what makes his reckless actions even more frustrating and infuriating. It's like Yuma can squander his life points as much as he wants to, but he doesn't have to worry about losing because he's not allowed to.
He's the main character, so he can't lose right now. It's too bad. I would have wanted to see Yuma lose the coin toss, lose his remaining life points and be ejected from the competition. Then he could take this as a learning opportunity and try harder next time.
I thought it was the end for Gauche when V managed to counter his attack. It was nice of Yuma to go and save him (after all, in a previous episode, Gauche did the same for him), but I'm still mad at Yuma for his recklessness and for the blatant main character favoritism he has going for him.
Someone remind me again why Tron doesn't want V to get rid of Yuma right now. Let me guess, it's because he's the main character and he's not allowed to lose this competition. Also, let me guess, Yuma'll end up being the winner of the World Duel Carnival, right? Someone prove me wrong. I'm rooting for Kaito to win. Who cares about Yuma?
I'm surprised to see Kotori be the one to get hit by the trap this time. Yuma just doesn't learn, does he? Is he incapable of learning or what? Why can't he try to pay more attention to what's going on around him? I don't find him losing life points because he keeps running into trap cards amusing because he doesn't suffer from the consequences of his actions.
No matter what, he still manages to get away without losing. This wouldn't be so bad if he actually manages to survive because of his own strengths. But, no, it seems like the only reason he manages to survive is because he's the main character.
They're trying to hype up Tron by having him manage to defeat three people with seemingly only one hit. And these 3 all had monsters with high attack power as well as a lot of life points. Unfortunately, this falls flat for me. I'd be more impressed if they showed us, the viewers, how Tron managed this. What spell/magic or trap card or monster card did he use to defeat 3 people with one hit? This doesn't seem believable.
Looks like IV (Quattro) and Shark are going to be fighting. I'm hoping Ryoga wins. Am worried that the victor might turn out to be IV.
I found it touching that Droite (Dextra) wants to protect Kite by fighting Tron for him. I already know she's going to lose even after spending a lot of time increasing her life points up to 9000 (now 8000 since she used 1000 to get Kaito out of the way).
Episode 54
This episode features the Droite vs Tron duel. Like I said in the previous episode, I can already guess that Droite is going to lose. But this duel's bound to be interesting anyway since there will be no cheating via Shining Draw and there'll be no deus ex machina in the form of using the power of Zexal.Droite admits that she's in love with Kaito. Initially, I thought it was just a crush. I wonder when this happened. I really didn't get the impression that they were all that close. Kite seems oblivious to her feelings.
Looks like Droite started falling for Kite when he saved her during that duel as shown in the flashback. Kaito was really cool in that scene. Once again, viewers can see just how much he cares about Hart / Haruto Tenjo, his little brother.
The Tron vs Droite duel begins with Droite having the advantage. She has way more life points than Tron. In the very first turn, she was able to Xyz summon a monster (Photon Papilloperative / Photon Butterfly Assassin). Plus, she was able to activate 3 magic/spell cards that can help her. Tron is acting all scared, but I can see right through him. I know Droite will take the lead at first, but Tron will eventually manage to win.
There's no way the outcome could be different because Yuma has already fought against Droite, but he has yet to face Tron. Plus, the show has been hyping Tron and his power practically since his first introduction and particularly in the last episode where he apparently manages to defeat 3 people with a single hit. Still, even if Tron's victory is already assured, I hope Droite still manages to reduce his life points by a great amount before she loses.
Why does Yuma need to be present during Droite's and Tron's duel? How did he even end up in the Jungle Field? Shouldn't he be in some of the other fields so he can duel with the other finalists of the World Duel Carnival? He shouldn't be allowed to be here right now. Sheesh. Is he going to be watching all the other competitors duel?
Nice. Great job, Droite. She actually managed to get Tron's life points down to 100. Looks like it's now time for Tron to retaliate. I still don't like Yuma, Astral, and Kotori being present during this duel. They have no business being here. They should leave already.
I knew Tron would win. I didn't expect to hate him this much though. Initially, I was lukewarm towards him. He came across as weird, crazy, and strange, but I neither hated nor liked him. But now I hate him. He went too far with what he did to Dextra. I feel bad for what happened to Droite. It made me wish that she had won the duel instead.
According to the next episode preview, the next duel is going to be between V and Kaito. I'm worried. I want Kaito to win. I hope he does. Yuma doesn't need to face V. Can we just leave V's defeat to Kaito?
Miscellaneous
I'm still wondering why the dub changed some of the names, but not all. Is it because the names are hard to pronounce? Are they trying to Americanize the names or something? But names like Vetrix and Quinton don't really sound American. And how come only some of the names have been changed, but not all?Is there something wrong with some of these names? For instance, in the Japanese version, III's archetype of cards are known as OOParts, but in English, they're known as Chronomaly. Why the name change?
The way Mr. Heartland says "Heart burning" is kind of amusing. I like the gratuitous use of English in the Japanese version, like the way some of the cards and attack names use English words.
Share your thoughts and opinions
So, what about you? What do you think about all of this? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinion by leaving a message in the comments section below.*Notes:
- Pics are from Amazon.com; links shown above
