History YMMV / YuGiOhZexal

** Kaito himself went memetic on at least one forum after some of his...expressions in Episode 22.

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Yuma in the manga is a downplayed case. While he's still a total goofball, he's not as stubborn or [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocritical]] as his anime counterpart, and he doesn't do [[TheMagicPokerEquation Shining Draws]] too much. He also fares better against Kaito in their second Duel and ends up ''winning''.

** III is so frequently mistaken for a woman that it's common to call him the best girl of the series. The fact that plenty of fanartists like to draw him crossdressing (and he's been cosplayed by girls too) just makes the confusion even greater.

* VindicatedByHistory: For years, ''Zexal'' was the whipping boy of the franchise in the West due to following up on ''5D's,'' Yuma's grating personality and allegations of being a cheater due to Shining Draw, and the slower pace of the opening episodes before the arc storylines began with Kaito's introduction, leading to it being seen as when the anime shows began to fall off. With time and more fans of the show growing up on the internet, alongside a growing awareness of the second half of the series and its darker plotlines, this has generally faded and ''Zexal'' nowadays has a large number of fans in the west. Notably, this only really applies to the Western fandom- [[GermansLoveDavidHasslehoff the Japanese fandom]] adored ''Zexal'' from launch and reports indicate that its reruns on TV were able to consistently beat new episodes of ''Arc-V'' or ''Vrains.''

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: When Nash uses [=CXyz=] Barian Hope against Yuma, he pays 400 LP to activate its effect instead of using its Overlay Units because he says the units represent his fallen Barians. However, he even refuses to detach Vector's unit, even going so far as to imagine Vector dueling with him when he activates its effect, even though he made it clear just a few episodes ago that Vector "had no soul" (or "was on his thirtiest chance" in the dub). [[EasilyForgiven What changed Nash's mind?]] Is Yuma's AllLovingHero personality rubbing off on him? Is he just acting on principle? Or did Vector's HeroicSacrifice convince Nash that Vector really had changed for the better?

* GrowingTheBeard:

** The fandom's reaction to learning that [[spoiler:Yuma would duel Astral at the end of the series]].

** E'Rah in the manga for Don Thousand (who was already disliked in the first place). She's generally viewed as one of the most {{Generic Doomsday Villain}}s in the franchise, has a thoroughly uninteresting deck, and shows up out of nowhere during the final duel with Yagumo to hijack the match. [[note]]As it turns out she wasn't even meant to appear, but Miyoshi (the artist) was grumbling about having to draw Kyoji Yagumo so much.[[/note]]

** In the anime, the concept of Yuma taking the Numbers used by his opponents is never utilized to its full potential; Yuma relies mostly on Utopia and its upgraded forms, at least when in a duel involving Numbers (which is every duel of any significance), and once he obtains a new Number, chances are good that it will never be used again. It's particularly irritating since he uses Gagagas, which have the gimmick of highly variable levels, but he almost never makes use of their abilities in favor of going straight for Utopia whenever possible. Though the show attempts to play this as Utopia being a card of great personal importance, it results in his duels becoming decidedly formulaic. In fact, as the series goes on, he actually starts using other Numbers ''less'', with Leviathan Dragon and Terror-Byte being phased out. The manga thankfully averts this trope, while maintaining Yuma's use of Utopia. It helps that Yuma has a smaller Number pool closer to his deck's default levels, making it easier for him to call said Numbers out.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: Thanks to many the events in the series, especially in ''ZEXAL II'', many fans have argued that ''ZEXAL'' is NOT a kid's show and get angry if someone states that it is one.

* BizarroEpisode: Episode 81 is probably the closest thing to this. It starts with Kotori and Cathy arguing about who's going to be the cheerleader for the Numbers Club and it suddenly snowballs into all members (plus Rio) arguing with each other. So Girag concocts a plan to defeat Yuma by helping him set up the 'Friendship Games' to make his friends make up and tells him to lose purposely. After all the games, Girag brainwashes Kotori and Cathy. During the finals, Girag is forced to partner with Yuma against the two girls much to his fear as he would be forced to return to the Barian World since Yuma would lose on purpose. After a bit of back and forth, Kotori uses Rank-Up-Magic Barian's Force forcing Yuma to take the duel seriously and win. It all makes so little sense that the episode might not exist at all with the only mention of it being when Girag reveals himself as a Barian to Yuma.[[note]]Even Utopia's final attack is hilarious. Because the Terrain was a baseball field, instead of his usual swords, Utopia uses two baseball bats.[[/note]] Notably it's also the only episode where Kotori is seen dueling.

* BizarroEpisode: Episode 81 is probably the closest thing to this. It starts with Kotori and Cathy arguing about who's going to be the cheerleader for the Numbers Club and it suddenly snowballs into all members (plus Rio) arguing with each other. So Girag concocts a plan to defeat Yuma by helping him set up the 'Friendship Games' to make his friends make up and tells him to lose purposely. After all the games, Girag brainwashes Kotori and Cathy. During the finals, Girag is forced to partner with Yuma against the two girls much to his fear as he would be forced to return to the Barian World since Yuma would lose on purpose. After a bit of back and forth, Kotori uses Rank-Up-Magic Barian's Force forcing Yuma to take the duel seriously and win. It all makes so little sense that the episode might not exist at all with the only mention of it being [[spoiler:right before Girag's duel with Yuma and Rei]].[[note]]Even Utopia's final attack is hilarious. Because the Terrain was a baseball field, instead of his usual swords, Utopia uses two baseball bats.[[/note]] Notably it's also the only episode where Kotori is seen dueling.

* CompleteMonster: [[GodOfChaos Don Thousand]] is the god of [[Characters/YuGiOhZEXALBarianWorld Barian World]] who wishes to use the [[CosmicKeystone Numeron Code]] to destroy Astral World. [[spoiler:In the past, Don Thousand had brought trauma upon the past incarnations of the Seven Barian Emperors, including causing Alito to be executed by his best friend, to corrupting Vector into becoming a tyrant that took thousands of lives, [[FakeMemories all while twisting their memories with his Over-Hundred Numbers]] to make them believe others were responsible for their suffering. In the present day, Don Thousand releases one million Fake Number cards onto Earth, amplifying the negative emotions of the people who picked them up, and increasing the hatred and chaos on Earth enough to allow it to be merged with Barian World. Don Thousand later has two of the Barian Emperors, Girag and Alito, further brainwashed to make them fight Yuma and Astral, whom they had befriended during their time on Earth. He also has the Barian leader Nash captured in an energy sphere, with [[EnergyAbsorption his energy sapped into Vector's Life Points]] during Vector's duel with Dumon and Marin, Nash's soldier and sister, respectively. Lastly, in Don Thousand's final duel against Yuma and Nash, he forces them to make a SadisticChoice with his Numeron Network card: leave it be, and Astral World succumbs to destruction, or destroy it and the energy that would be released annihilates Earth.]]

* EvilIsSexy: E'Rah, the BigBad of the manga. Who knew that the embodiment of despair indulged in ImpossiblyLowNeckline? (Well, besides ''{{VisualNovel/Danganronpa}}'' fans, of course.)

* ViewerNameConfusion: When the anime first came out, most people - including translators - started calling the anime's new summoning method "Exceed", following the pattern of the previous ones (Fusion, Ritual, Synchro). However, that turned to be JapaneseRanguage at work, and the ''real'' name of the method was "Xyz", referring to directional coordinates. Konami even made it a point to show the correct spelling in one interview. That doesn't stop some people from still using "Exceed" though.

* CompleteMonster: [[GodOfChaos Don Thousand]] is the god of [[Characters/YuGiOhZEXALBarianWorld Barian World]] who wishes to use the [[CosmicKeystone Numeron Code]] to destroy Astral World. In the past, Don Thousand had brought trauma upon the past incarnations of the Seven Barian Emperors, including causing Alito to be executed by his best friend, to corrupting Vector into becoming a tyrant that took thousands of lives, [[FakeMemories all while twisting their memories with his Over-Hundred Numbers]] to make them believe others were responsible for their suffering. In the present day, Don Thousand releases one million Fake Number cards onto Earth, amplifying the negative emotions of the people who picked them up, and increasing the hatred and chaos on Earth enough to allow it to be merged with Barian World. Don Thousand later has two of the Barian Emperors, Girag and Alito, further brainwashed to make them fight Yuma and Astral, whom they had befriended during their time on Earth. He also has the Barian leader Nash captured in an energy sphere, with [[EnergyAbsorption his energy sapped into Vector's Life Points]] during Vector's duel with Dumon and Marin, Nash's soldier and sister, respectively. Lastly, in Don Thousand's final duel against Yuma and Nash, he forces them to make a SadisticChoice with his Numeron Network card: leave it be, and Astral World succumbs to destruction, or destroy it and the energy that would be released annihilates Earth.

** [[IncorruptiblePurePureness Eliphas]] is the God of the Astral World who sent Astral out on his mission. Believing absolute order to be the only way for his world to survive, he tries to have his people who created him [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Rank-Up]] to combat the Barian World. When Yuma intervenes and challenges him to a duel, Eliphas makes full use of Shining Draw to give Yuma his biggest challenge yet. Upon losing said duel, Eliphas becomes more flexible and comes to accept ThePowerOfFriendship. During the duel against Don Thousand, Eliphas takes Astral's place in a HeroicSacrifice, tossing him Rank-Up-Magic Astral Force and entrusting the future of the Astral World to him.
** [[WellIntentionedExtremist Nasch]], formerly known as [[RivalTurnedEvil Ryoga "Shark" Kamishiro]], reassumes his identity after regaining his memories. Wanting to protect the Barian World at all costs, he leads the Barian Emperors' assault to wipe out Yuma and his friends. After getting caught in Vector's snaring trap and witnessing the deaths of Durbe and Merag, Nasch breaks free and defeats Vector, [[XanatosSpeedChess surpassing the latter's many tricks]]. Nasch teams up with Yuma shortly afterwards to defeat a common enemy in Don Thousand, being granted the latter's powers after they win. He then uses those powers to engage Yuma and Astral in one of the franchise's most climactic showdowns, only losing due to circumstances that he couldn't have known about. Never letting go of [[TrueCompanions his reasons to fight]], Nasch says goodbye to Yuma and Astral before dying, calling them his two best friends.
** [[TheUnfettered Astral]] is the [[PostFinalBoss final opponent]] that Yuma faces to secure his desired happy ending. Believing the Barian World to be the root of all chaos, he intends to use the Numeron Code to wipe it from history, even if its inhabitants aren't necessarily evil. Yuma challenges him to a duel for the fate of the universe, where Astral shows just how [[WorldsBestWarrior versatile he can be with all of his memories and Numbers restored]]. Understanding how mentally broken Yuma is in the aftermath of recent battles, Astral becomes a WarriorTherapist to help him recover from his trauma. When Astral loses the arduous duel, he spares the Barian World and its people, hoping to find another way to maintain peace.

** Eliphas demonstrated [[StoryBreakerPower the ability to perform Shining Draws]] ''[[StoryBreakerPower at will]]''.

* WhatTheHellCastingAgency:
** Yuma is supposed to be 13 years old, [[VocalDissonance yet his dub voice makes him sound a lot younger.]] It doesn't help when you hear his Japanese voice, though this has the opposite effect and makes him sound a little older.
** Casting Gary Mack as Shark. At first, it sounded very cartoony, almost as ridiculous as Toomey from ''Film/TheLangoliers''. [[GrowingTheBeard He got better, though.]]

** [[HotBlooded Gauche]] and [[BoobsOfSteel Droite]], two of Dr. Faker's Number Hunters, for both being likeable and badass.

** In the anime, the concept of Yuma taking the Numbers used by his opponents is never utilized to its full potential; Yuma relies mostly on Utopia and its upgraded forms, at least when in a duel involving Numbers (which is every duel of any significance), and once he obtains a new Number, chances are good that it will never be used again. It's particularly irritating since he uses Gagagas, which have the gimmick of highly variable levels, but he almost never makes use of their abilities in favor of going straight for Utopia whenever possible. Though the show attempts to play this as Utopia being a card of great personal importance, it results in his duels becoming decidedly formulaic. In fact, as the series goes on, he actually starts using other Numbers ''less'', with Leviathan Dragon being phased out. The manga thankfully averts this trope, while maintaining Yuma's use of Utopia. It helps that Yuma has a smaller Number pool closer to his deck's default levels, making it easier for him to call said Numbers out.

** ZEXAL II is shown to have the power of "Shining Evolution" which can reveal the "true form" of a card. This is only used once, changing Rank-Up-Magic Barian's Force to Rank-Up-Magic Numeron's Force. However, Vector gave five other Barian cards to Yuma as Ray, but these cards are never seen again, nor do we ever see their "true forms".

** [[ActionGirl Rio]] became intensely popular just hours after her design was revealed in the anime, getting dozens of fanarts all over Website/{{Pixiv}}, and her personality was well-received too, as the first thing she did was call out Shark on his currently poor dueling performance.[[note]]He was of course handicapped at the time, and as soon as Rio was safe he proceeded to wreck his opponent.[[/note]]

** The series itself, though mostly in the west, specifically with the character designs and the younger protagonists. While it is often not looked at as being "epic" when compared to 5D's, it actually has better ratings in Japan than 5D's did. Coming out in the middle of the downfall of 4Kids probably didn't help its popularity too much.