Who, despite suffering amnesia, still manages to understand duel monsters well enough to suggest winning strategies. It becomes really frustrating at times to see Yuma almost lose the duel, as he refuses to listen the advice of Astral. This wouldn't be so bad if he was willing to listen to advice others offer him regarding the game. Yuma is by far the least accomplished protagonist in any Yu-Gi-Oh! series, at least in terms of skill regarding the game. Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal's downfall is that most of these situations arise from Yuma's stubbornness and lack of skill. For those familiar with Yu-Gi-Oh! this format shouldn't be anything new: Most of Yu-Gi-Oh! revolves around the hero facing up to insurmountable odds, then finding a way to overcome them. These take a rather rote and predictable format: Each episode sets up the character who has the number card Yuma starts a duel with them he finds himself in trouble, which in turn leads to the episode ending on a cliffhanger then the next episode has Yuma make a comeback to win the duel. The twist here is that this is done with duels and each of the duellists has a ‘numbers’ card, which Yuma and Astral need to collect. Initially the series presents this in typical shōnen fashion, with each episode being of the traditional ‘monster of the week’ format. Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal sets itself up with a plot similar to shows like 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd and Nyankoi, where the main character has to search for 99 of something in order to regain what they lost. Now Yuma and Astral must work together to track down the missing ninety nine number cards, and thus restore Astral's memories. These are special cards, which contain special effects that can influence the card holder's behaviour. The ghost, named Astral, has lost all of his memories, which ties into the disappearance of 'number' cards. One day, whilst duelling, the key he wears around his neck begins to glow and from it appears an alien ghost only Yuma can see. Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal follows Yuma Tsukumo, a middle school duellist who likes to take on any challenge, even if there’s every chance he'll fail. Though in the series the game is referred to as “Duel Monsters”. Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal is the fourth main series of Yu-Gi-Oh!, a series based on the popular Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game which exists in both the anime and in real life.

Yu gi oh zexal season 1