SPOILER WARNING! I REPEAT, SPOILER WARNING!
Story: 6/10
Basically the story is about this person called Yuma, who comes across this alien called Astral who is on a mission to collect all 99 number cards. I personally think that the story isn't bad, but it's just not handled in the right way, the tone is a little to airy. And 4Kids just made it WORSE because they can't bring themselves to use the word "die".
Art: 7/10
The art is really good, but there are some times where the character faces are a bit derpy, but overall not bad.
Sound: 6/10
The sound was a step down in my opinion, and I just didn't enjoy it as a used to.
Characters: 2/10
THIS is where Zexal goes wrong. I'm just going to do the main characters because I don't want to go through all the characters cause I'm lazy.
Yuma: Ok, Yuma in my opinion is just bad. I get that he's not supposed to be good at dueling, but he doesn't have to be a stupid head 95% of the time. He's also a bit of a stereotype, and the only way he wins duels in my opinion is because he has a "epiphany" at the end, has Astral helping him, or via shining draw (which is just plain cheating). He has a little character development, which is a step up from Yussei, but that's all I have for Yuma.
Tori: Oh, WHYYYYYYY! I've seen all the girls in the YU-GI-OH series and minus Teá, all the girls are basically either cheerleaders for the main characters or damsels in distress. She has almost NO character development and is basically of no use. Just get rid of her.
Bronk: I don't have much to say for him. He has again, little to no character development and the only time he has a significance is when he rescues Yuma from Number 96.
Astral: Ok, Astral's one of the DECENT characters in Zexal (which is saying something here). He starts out as a alien who just want's to win, and he has a half decent reason why. Over time, he bonds with Yuma and starts to take risks a little more often. I like how he's serious, and the observations are just hilarious XD. I'll have to see if there's more the next season though.
Shark: Shark is one of my favorite characters in Zexal, and is also one of my favorite characters in the YU-GI-OH series (though near the bottom). He starts off as your stereotypical bully, and this is one of the things I wish they would fix, but moving on. He starts to help people more, and gets along pretty well with the group. He has a lot of character development, and I can't wait to see what's next.
Kite: Ehhh. That's all I can say. Kite is good in some aspects, such as rescuing his brother, but he's YU-GI-OH Zexal's failure to recreate Seto Kaiba. I don't have a lot of expectations for him, so yeah.
Hart: Hart's concept is nice, but he has very little character development. He's basically the victim, and he doesn't fight back that much in my opinion. That's really bad, because he has the ability to fight back.
Mr. Heartland: He's the one-dimensionally bad villain. I don't know what to say except either give him a reason to be evil or just dump him.
Vetrix: Vetrix is one of the good villains in the YU-GI-OH series. He has a good reason (not telling you what) and he has development too, but it's still kinda little.
Dr. Faker: YECH. GET RID OF HIM PLEASE.
Enjoyment: 3/10
I have to say this is a step down. This anime was really boring cause it was so stereotypical you could basically figure out what was gonna happen, and some of the concepts like the 99 number cards just don't hold up to scrutiny. How many number cards are we on again?
Overall: 3/10
This YU-GI-OH series is one of the worst, and I REALLY hope Zexal second is better. There was funny moments and extremely high action mashed together in a really bad way, and if they decide to patch this up it's gonna take a lotta work.
