#zexal nash

[ygozexalarchive]

Although only Vector appeared in the "Barian Energy" form in the anime, a reference sheet for a Barian Energy form Nasch also exists

[junpei-gamer-boy-999]

Cute gif?

[kcuf-ad]

Rio and Shark have the most perfect sibling represantaion I have ever seen.

Sure Kite and Hart are good, the Arclight siblings are fun to watch, but these two are the funniest sibling duo I have ever seen.

One of them basically cheated in a tournament, and changed his personality to everyone else around him all because the only family member he had left is in the hospital...and then we then see him telling her, to all of her friends no less, that he reads her diary and tells her how many times he kicked her ass in duels.

And Rio doesn't even back down, hell she is even more fierce. She basically told to all of her friends that the most serious man in school is afraid of Onions and Peppers.

Peak Siblings.

[tff500]

Gandalf the Grey Vs. The Seven Barian Emperors

Nash: you can't kill us old man

Gandalf: What did you say

Nash: Old man

Dumon: Oh boy

Marin: well done big brother you missed him him off

Girag, Alito and Mizar: Crap

Vector: well nice knowing you guys

Gandalf: YOU SHALL NOT PAAAAASSSSSSSS

[shitpostingkats]

Yu-Gi-Oh Review Roundup: Zexal!

Favorite main character: Astral

Yeah, I like the funny little autism alien. Everyone contain your shock.

But aside from the fact that there is a main character who is a glowing floating non-human, Astral is such a well written character. He starts with some of the barest foundations of a personality, being literally an amnesiac with no idea what is going on. Over the course of the show, you watch him slowly learn about the world around him and his place in it. Same with his relationship with his co-protagonist, Yuma! They start off very combative, but then learn to rely on each other, then a blossoming friendship, until they grow into fully loving and protective best friends. And we get to see that! All the little moments of their friendship is onscreen from day one. 

And aside from Yuma, Astral is just???? Hilarious??? He has this very dry sense of humor that is so anachronistic to the rest of his general naivety and it makes me smile EVERY TIME. He’s FUNNY. 

A personal pet peeve of mine is the assumption that autistic coded characters don’t understand jokes, and the only way to make them work in a comedy setting is to have the audience laugh at them. No!!! Astral’s just got his own wacky sense of personal humor! Even as he grows closer to Yuma, he still has his witty jabs, but this time they’re affectionate. This really is the way he talks, not just some consequence of amnesia and social bluntness. I love him. He’s clever and funny and caring and learning to love and awkward and awesome.

Also, he glows and floats. 

Favorite antagonist: Vector

Vector may not be the most consistently written character, but GOD IS HE FUN.

About 80% of my love of Vector is just in the visual appeal of his design and animation. The black and grey, almost like a gargoyle, with pink accents, plus his chrysalis/butterfly/alien duel disk? Mwah. Because barians don’t have mouths or eyebrows, their facial animation has to be really exaggerated to convey expressions. Vector’s face is made entirely of squash and stretch.

Add on top of that the dub’s pitch perfect and very fun vocal performance, and I just grin every time he comes onscreen. The actor manages to sell how this guy is a wildcard and just evil for the FUN of it. The giddiness in his voice whenever tormenting someone with evil cardgames. Every one of the barian emperors is like “And then there’s this guy. What a weirdo. We’re not 100% sure why we keep him around, but he is OUR little office chaos gremlin and he is a VALUED MEMBER OF THIS TEAM.” 

 When Shark is introducing all the emperors after reclaiming his title, his literal words when he gets to Vector are just: 

“Vector! Need I say more?” 

And even after trying to kill Nash like three times, he’s still in the final Friendship Lineup for the duel of three worlds, his monster used with complete honor and seriousness, complete with a special summoning chant and battle cry. 

THEY GIVE HIM A SPACE IN THE FRIENDGROUP AFTER HE TRIES TO DESTROY THE ENTIRE WORLD.

Favorite side character: Nistro

Check it off the Spk Himbo Bingo, everyone. 

Dextra and Nistro are honestly some of the highlights of the show for me. I love it when yugioh side characters are allowed to recur and get minor character arcs that don’t subtract from the plot but still have an overarching development. The two of them show up in the duel carnival, first working security, then resigning and entering the carnival as competitors. While Dextra, professional, focused, does not make any major changes to her appearance, Nistro seems to revel in the chance to finally wear his full length flame/fur coat. It’s a subtle characterization, but it makes his ultimate turn to WWE wrestler completely believable. 

He’s excitable, hot-headed, and values his relationship with Dextra; the two play off each other very well, somewhat paralleling the dynamic between Yuma and Astral. And, I cannot stress enough how much I loved having a male and female relationship that was just. Good. Dextra is an equal and he cares for her completely, and they work well together, both in chemistry and in their literal jobs. It’s just. Nice. To have this background duo with no drama or yugioh-female-character weirdness.

Nistro just happens to be my personal favorite because he decided the best way to confront an alien hostile was to hit a baseball at them, then casually lean on the bat and smirk. 

Favorite duel: Yuma vs. Eliphas

Basically the entire show, Astral World is this big question mark in the lore. So when we finally got to see and go there, I was excited. Like, kicking my feet and flapping my hands excited. (This is yugioh, after all. It wouldn’t be completely out of the question to just never explore this cool alien world that holds a ton of answers to questions in the plot.) Also, because at this point we had been missing Astral for several episodes, and I was ready for Yuma to have his funny alien bestfriend back. 

But first he’s got to duel for it.

And boy is it a good duel.

Eliphas is a great antagonist, his archetype being based around not only being powerful, but on being levels of power far above his opponent. In one duel, we get the whole deal of Astral world: toxic superiority. His monsters are all wonderfully creatchury, tapping back into some DM era egyptian aesthetics, and just delightfully weird. Etheric Amon is also a highlight. I especially love how it calls to mind the silhouette of Monster Reborn, and the pillar fading near the base gives it a trippy optical illusion effect. 

Being the first person besides Yuma and Astral we see use Shining Draw, it’s an excellent and immediate threat that instantly ratchets up the tension. Same with the New Order numbers using exactly the same summonings and sound cues as regular numbers. The magical powers our protagonists have been slowly mastering through the entire course of the series? Child’s play. Not even anything special.

Yuma v. Eliphas also kicks off the longest chain of duels that I unilaterally love that I have so far seen in yugioh. From this to the duel on the moon, it’s just all bangers.

Favorite arc: Mythyrian Numbers War

Zexal is the first show I’ve really agreed with the general consensus on the quality curve: It gets better as it goes on. Part 2 is just exponentially stronger, and with every episode grows more into its potential. That said, I kinda like the funky monster of the week format the pre-duel carnival had.

So the search for the mythyrian numbers feels like the best blend of those two flavors. It’s basically an arc of cleverly delivered build-up for the main villains, introducing each barian emperor’s backstory one at a time. Plus, some broader worldbuilding about Astral and Barian, which after over a hundred episodes of no answers, was sorely needed. 

It gives the villainous coterie some personality. Dumon’s quiet honor and chivalry, Alito’s brash competitive streak, Girag’s raccoon-based military career. The emperors are a highlight of Zexal, and it’s in large part to this time spent fleshing out each one’s personality and past. And we still get to bounce around to wacky locations and weekly boss monsters. Then, with the mini arcs of Astral World and the three barian mercs, it just encapsulates all of my favorite parts of this series. 

Greatest strength of the series:

*points at Yuma and Astral on the cover art*

It’s them.

My controversial yugioh opinion is I didn’t really love DM. I found the pacing boring, the duels awkward, and that it never delivered on some of its strongest ideas. The basic premise, two souls in one body, one foreign and confused, contrasted by the plucky average joe? Awesome idea. How do they interact? How does that partnership develop, literally sharing a headspace? What sort of adventures do the two of them get up to, racing around the world to uncover the secrets to the amnesiac’s past?

What does this have to do with Zexal?

Yuma and Astral is everything I wanted from Yami and Yugi, and more.

While I found the number of Yami & Yugi interactions in DM frustratingly few, I liked the idea of dual protagonists, and was curious what a well written version of that dynamic would look like. Zexal makes having two protagonist really work. They’re just a delight. From the stumbled irritation of first meetings, then the unsteady alliance of companionship, to straight up would-die-for-each-other partners. They both share the spotlight, learning from each other as the show goes on, and compliment in all the right ways. Their banter feels organic and refreshing, you truly believe these two are the best of friends. When they lose each other it’s painful, when they reunite, it’s cathartic. Their bond is literally the foundation of the show, in a way that I didn’t really see in Yami and Yugi, or the criminally little time we got with Jaden and Yubel. The first time we see Astral smile is when Yuma calls him a friend. There’s a billion little moments like that. The two of them speaking in tandem the first time they work in sync. Astral’s pure delight at getting to experience food for the first time as Zexal. Yuma’s desperation when he thinks he’s misplaced the emperor's key. A massive chunk of the show goes to building up these two, and, by the end, it’s far and away the biggest success of Zexal.

Weakest Points:

A good chunk of the writing effort apparently went into perfecting Yuma and Astral’s dynamic, because other characters suffer from a distinct lack of consistency. 

Shark, love him though I might, spends 2/3rds of the plot having no real reason to be there, then hard pivots into a heelturn that’s really cool, but breaks down the more you think about it. His entire motivation for the duel carnival arc was getting back at the person who hospitalized his sister, then he helps out with the fight against the barians for supposedly the same reason? Despite them having kind of next to nothing with Rio’s injuries. You could make the argument that his hatred of the barians is motivated by suppressed memories of Vector being responsible for his sister’s death when they were humans, except the second he recovers those memories, he turns around and goes back to leading them without so much as an unkind word to Vector. 

He’s not the only villain of the series to suffer from some questionable motives. Vetrix is also a mess, wanting to avenge Kazuma and himself by *checks notes* Opposing Kazuma’s son and abusing his children. Dr. Faker is equally comically antithetical, committing warcrimes for the sake of his sons yet treating both horribly.

Yes, there’s explanations given, but nothing that feels real to the character, just last minute plot twists. Vector’s appealing because he’s a loose cannon, yes, but he has the strength of performance and writing where that’s a believable aspect. His consistency is he’s inconsistent, and takes great delight in being so. Every other main villain feels like they’re just being jerked around into the shape the plot requires of them.

Also, for how exciting it feels to get answers in the latter half of Zexal II, it’s a bit much, even for yugioh, to hold the basic worldbuilding in such a stranglehold until then. Heck, no one even asks why the barians and astrals are fighting until like, episode one hundred. Even characters where it feels in-character to ask, to investigate, they simply. Don’t. For a series this long, I’d love to see that aspect worked into a more reasonable drip-feed of information.

Most yugioh moment: 

“Pack your bags, galaxy-eyes. We’re headed to the moon.”

He says this so seriously. Does he really mean for galaxy-eyes to get its little dragon suitcase and get ready for their trip? Is this a little joke, between an eighteen year old and his emotional support piece of cardboard? HE’S SO CASUAL ABOUT JUST. HEADING TO THE MOON. They need to have a card game on the moon for the sake of the world that is the single most yugioh plot beat of all time.

[overobsessedfanboy23]

At least I can't recall Gallop Yugioh murdering millions during one of their series, much less ONE EPISODE. The closest I can think of is Nasch's army that became the basically unseen citizens of Barian world in Zexal but... that wasn't given an exact number like Valvelgear was and we didn't know Nash's army the way we know Valvelgear. That didn't feel like as massive of a loss...

[tiredgremlintime]

CHARACTER ASK PROMPT WITH YUMA !!!! 😼 also you are so way cool

HI HI you are so way cooler!!!! >:3

How I feel about this character

He’s a HUUUGGEEE fav!!!!! I love the little guy!!!! He’s amazing and I could talk and defend him for hours!!! He’s actually in my top 3 Ygo protags!!

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Yuma is actually someone I multi ship with cause I headcanon him as bi polyam! I ship him with Trey, Shark, and Tori mostly!!! Those three ships are adorable to me! I wish Yuma/Trey and Yuma/Tori could be more popular though.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Astral of course!!!! They are THE platonic soulmates ever!! The bond they hold is a deep emotional special one, but seeing it as romantic,,,,,gives off bad vibes, especially considering how long Astral probably lived. It was either a mutual of mine or someone I follow who once stated how Zexal is about family and how Yuma and Astral’s bond is a big example of that and I love that analyze, overall to me atleast Yuma and Astral shows how much you can love someone without it being romantic

also bonus I love making crossover friendships so some other ones I have are Jaden and Yuma, Yusei and Yuma, Yuya and Yuma, Zuzu and Yuma, Yuto and Yuma, Lulu and Yuma, Yusaku and Yuma, and Takeru and Yuma! (I’m a big crossover fan lol)

also I’m a fan of Yuma being friends with the Tenjo brothers!!! He should be an honorary brother I think cough cough

My unpopular opinion about this character

“Oh Yuma sucked at dueling ohhhh he’s the worst” wow it’s almost as if THAT’S APART OF HIS CHARACTER ARC AND DEVELOPMENT. HIM LEARNING HOW TO DUEL IS APART OF HIS STORY are y’all paying attention

Uhhhh in the past I used to get upset at him for being easily forgiving if that counts

also I think he should get to smacked some of the people who hurt him :)

One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon

I really think a duel between him and Kari would’ve been SO cool, especially before one of his big battles, like protective big sis trying to stop her little brother from possibly dying by dueling him, it would have been SUCH an emotional duel and something I would have loved, especially if it was after the barian lords reveal before the gang went off to fight

also I don’t know if this counts but in my first time watching Zexal I generally thought that Dark Zexal was gonna come back but activated by YUMA’s negative emotions instead of Astral’s due to all the emotional betrayal after Nash revealed himself

[bariansiblings850]

“Sword of Ice, Merag!”

“The one who leads the Seven Barian Emperors…I am Nasch!”

Independent || Selective || Private Reginald Kastle/Nash (Nasch) and Rio Kastle/Marin(Merag) from Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal.

Post Canon || Canon Divergent || Headcanon Based.

Muse 25+ || Mun 25+

I can only write the light, dark and heavy topics here, but don’t be afraid to do this.💙💜

[kamenstrikerace]

Okay guys now look at this drama. How do i describe it as you may ask? Hypocrisy and Surgarcoating. Why? Because two comments are doing it to promote Zexal propaganda while the other two are correct.

''Zexal in terms of writing was dog shit, but Yoshida in terms of writing girls was shit. If you defend Zexal's writing you sir, are defeding sexim I loath this show either way you look at it. I prefer 5D's in terms writing and quality.''

Correct and well said. We know how it feels to defend a show that is 100% sexist like Zexal. It's hard to imagine that YGO fans can't think straight in the head and all they do is whine and complain. Take from a guy who loves 5D's.

''it is ridiculous. It isn't a War where defenders of Zexal are sexists. Kotori was not character of century but it wasn't a big problem. Rio was good.Kaito was in the best rivals , Yuma had good evolution , Tron 's family was excellent. Barians arc was in the best arcs in licence , révélation on Nash and his final Duel were stratospheric.''

Zexal fans are being 100% dumb again. This dude first off with defending Kotori leading into this bias counter claim with a side of hypocrisy and sugarcoating as the cherry on top over a cartoon show like a fool.How much do you think these dumbasses can't be honest than defend a show all because they can't be HONEST. I will say it again. This dude is either a fake fan to promote his own agenda or only does it because someone else roasted his favorite show. You say 5D's fans can't accept criticism, but Zexal fans are worst - they can't accept proper criticism over a dumb cartoon. 5D's fans grew up and stop caring about Zexal fans who can't accept criticism because let me explaine. What is the most mature thing on the planet. Being honest. That's why 5D's fans stop caring about Zexaltards in the place over the fact Zexal fans became toxic after shit like this. Zexal fans I know them since the early days. They can't handle any negative backlash over a cartoon because they afraid of being mature for a lously moment. So, they use Japan that the show was susscesfull enough to promote their own agenda. Nope. Zexal wasn't well received enough to be called a masterpiece. This dude has been listing to Dylan or those Reddit YGO fanboys again for the 100th time. Get a life moron. Steryotype or not he can't think straight with out getting mad. Bruh you mad? XD

''You do realize half of 5ds was written by Yoshida, right?''

You do relaize that most of what you said is pure hypocrisy. Yoshida was infact the writer of 5d's since it's inception and was the writer of DM and GX. This is the most common problem with YGO fans i can't stand. They just can't addmit that Yoshida is polarizing instead of using someone other series he wrote. Fans actually hate/love the guy so you can't accept that don't bother commeting.

''he must've lost his edge once 5Ds was over''

Exactly. Fans saying that Zexal was what saved YGO is incorrect. Zexal fans can't handle the fact that what made 5D's so special was him. Zexal was nothing more than a bad fanfiction. So, yeah writers do stop being good after a spesific series they worked on and later on get worst if they get overworked like how he was in the 2010s past 5D's onwards. He also wrote for OCG Stories as and got his mojo back. So anything in between 5D's and OCG Stories he wrote wasn't good in the fact because he sucked. Let's be honest. Doma was good, Gx Season 3 was better than Season 4. 5D's beyond Dark Signer had more concept than early 5D's.

[forhope]

   “  Because  we  are  more  then  our  Titles..  “

    “  ???  “

   “  When  Two  Distant  Souls  Combine  Into  One,  The  Power  of  Zexal  is  Revealed.  .. . .  That  was  the  legend  Astral  World  held  of  Zexal..  a  Legend  I  was  never  intended  to  embody..  I  was  their  envoy,  their  failsafe,  .. ...  Their  Weapon  like  Eliphas  before  me.  Made  to  be  a  killing  blow  to  your  people.  “

   “  That  was  my  Title,  My  Goal,  and  I  thought  nothing  of  it  from  birth.  Only  that  I  had  a  Great  Purpose..  nothing  more  or  less..  Until  I  came  to  earth,  and  experienced  what  humans  call  ‘Life’  ..  The  feelings  of  love,  betrayal,  hope  and  despair,  fear  and  courage...  guilt  and  acceptance  ..  Repentance  and  Forgiveness  ..  all  of  these  feelings  and  experiences  that  shape  a  Human  Heart  allowed  me  to  question  who  it  was  I  truly  wished  to  be,  The  Envoy  of  Astral  World?  Or-  Astral?   I  worried-  with  your  human  experiences  separated  you  would  loose  the  part  of  yourself  that  housed  that  Human  Heart,  that  you  would  loose  the  part  of  yourself  you  tried  so  hard  to  deny  in  the  war,  yet  ultimately  let  remain  within  you  despite  it  all..  “

   “  ...  You  Are  Nash,  yet  you  are  also  Shark,  you  are  King  of  the  Barians  and  National  Duel  Champion,  you  are  a  leader  of  armies  and  middle  school  delinquent..  all  these  facets  remain  regardless  of  title  because  at  your  core,  you  too  have  a  Human  Heart  capable  of  such  things..  It  is  why  I  trusted  Yuma’s  judgment  of  you  in  our  fateful  duel,  and  why  I  became  fearful  that  it  was  lost  to  you  upon  your  splitting... I  worried  that  what  had  once  been  your  anchor  had  been  supernaturally  taken  from  you..  Though  I  passed  judgment  rashly..  for  that,  Nash..  I  am  sorry. “

[lord-thunder-maximus]

Yo also a question am I the only one who hates shark or Nash backstabbing Yuma and everyone in zexal for the barians

[ryuran2200]

Does this sound like a interesting concept for a fanfic to anyone? This is Zexal related

Idea: Dumon is a demon and mentally he's not in a good place. He and the other demon emperors get caught where they are forced to wear collars that suppress there demonic abilities. They are sold off to Barain slave brokers then taken to a party and supposed to be sold off as slaves. The party is being held in the World of Corruption, well that doesn't happen. Dumon sees the prince/king Nash (I can't choose which one I want Nash to be) and possess his body which brakes the collar around his neck. With the collar broken he gets his powers back, and is able to free the other demon emperors. But when Dumon possess Nash, he feels the coldness that he's been forced to deal with for years disappears. Nash picks up on this as well and sees that Dumon isn't actually an evil demon and that he just wants to be free. Abyss, Nash's demon counterpart, picks up on the fact that something has happened between the two. He later asks Dumon about it but he refuses to talk so he goes to Nash. Nash tells him about the coldness disappearing but isn't use what's wrong with Dumon and asks Abyss about it. Abyss reluctantly tells Nash about what's wrong with Dumon. Nash agrees to help and is trained by Abyss in fighting, healing and water hypnosis. Dumon isn't very cooperative at first with Abyss or Nash. But Nash puts his own little twist on the water hypnosis that Abyss told him. On his own, Nash learns to manipulate his voice so it sounds more comforting and soft. He's also able to make a high pitched piano key sound appear out of no where, he gives this a try on Dumon. Dumon is reluctantly to trust him but he eventually gives in to Nash and allows him to see into his subconscious mind.

[baddyzarc]

Thank you shark for owning some of the tackiest abominations i have ever laid eyes on <3

[tff500]

So I found This Fan art on Pixiv where Nash was an Octopus and His Sister Marin A Beautiful Mermaid, I assumed this was to represent an alternate Universe where Abyss gave them A Second option where they would thrive in the Ocean, while Losing all their memories except their Names, and to find out about their pasts themselves, and resulted in the Twins Finding Themselves having a Relationship of Love and Heart and Marin a Difficult choice where the Siren Queen (From sea of Thieves) tempting her to Become a Barian Siren

It will be a 2 part story Titled Alone Together and Unliftable curse Respectively

Link to art: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/39027622

[howaboutalittlehelpneos]

I forgot to make this yesterday please forgive me

Yes I put Vector in the bottom but make no mistake he smokes it too

[yata-garasuu]

I edited Nash so it looks like he’s actually wearing pants now

(+ an alt where I gave him claws because I think all barians should have those)