Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal

Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Original Title	遊☆戯☆王ゼアル (Yūgiō Zearu)
Original Language	Japanese
Dubbing Studio 1	4Kids Entertainment (eps. 1-24)
Dubbing Studio 2	4K Media, Inc. (eps. 25-146)
Dubbing Studio 3	Bang Zoom! Entertainment (Unreleased)
Voice Director 1	Darren Dunstan
Voice Director 2	Kristi Reed (Bang Zoom!)
Translation & Adaptation	Mizuho Murakami Barton Bishop Matthew Drdek Roland Gonzalez Shane Guenego Michael Haigney John Touhey
Recorded	2011-2015
Dub Country	United States
Original Country	Japan
Episodes	146
Year	2011-2014
Chronology
Predecessor	Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Successor	Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V

Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal (遊☆戯☆王ゼアル Yūgiō Zearu) is an anime television series based on the manga series written by Shin Yoshida. The series originally aired in Japan between April 11, 2011 and September 24, 2012, consisting of 73 episodes.

Synopsis The story takes place in the near future in a city called Heartland. The story focuses on Yuma Tsukumo, a young duelist who strives to become the Duel Monsters champion, despite being an amateur. One day, during a duel with a school bully, a mysterious spirit called Astral appears before him, and helps him to win. Astral explains to Yuma he is searching for his lost memories, which have been transformed into 99 Xyz Monsters cards called Numbers and have been scattered across the globe. The Numbers have the ability to possess the duelists who own them and bring out their darkest desires. In order to recover his memories, Astral teams up with Yuma in order to recover the Numbers cards. Using the powers of Zexal, the two must compete with Numbers Hunters, who seek to claim the Numbers cards for themselves in order to destroy Astral's homeworld.

Dubbing History

4Kids Entertainment produced an English dub which debuted in October of 2011. After the company's assets were sold in a bankrupcy sale in June 2012, production and distribution shifted to Konami's newly formed 4K Media. 4Kids' bankruptcy was due to a lawsuit filed by Nihon Ad Systems and TV Tokyo in March 2011, which alleged that 4Kids hid revenue genertated by the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise and sought to revoke their license to the property. In the midst of the legal battle and bankruptcy proceedings, Nihon Ad Systems' parent company, ADK, solicited international sales for Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal. This was found to be in violation of the bankruptcy court, which required the companies to act as though the license dispute wasn't taking place. The courts later determined that 4Kids was still entitled to the Yu-Gi-Oh! property. The lawsuit was settled in March 2012, with ADK/Nihon Ad Systems and TV Tokyo paying 4Kids $8 million. Their English dub would continue with the same production crew and completed its run in February 2015.

Unbeknownst to 4Kids and while the court case was ongoing, Nihon and TV Tokyo had proceeded to produce their own English dub of the series over a 6-8 month period starting in June 2011. Contracted out of the Los Angeles-based Bang Zoom! Entertainment, 26 episodes of this version were fully localized, including the addition of a new musical score, comedic sound effects, and retouched animation. The latter was done as the English production crew was given unprecedented access to the animation files. Two more episodes were in the early stages of production but were abandoned after it became clear the project wouldn't be allowed to see the light of day.

The only footage of this alternate English adaptation to surface has been clips shared through an Armageddon Expo panel hosted by voice director Kristi Reed in October 2012. In late September 2016, a user on the Neo Ark Cradle forums discovered a demo version and the finalized opening theme song for the show uploaded onto some of the music crew's Vimeo accounts. Johnny Yong Bosch, who had been cast as the lead Yuma, performed the track.

Cast

4Kids

Image	Character	Original Name	Seiyū	Dub Actor
Main Characters
	Yuma Tsukumo		Tasuku Hatanaka	Eli James
	Astral		Miyu Irino	Marc Thompson
	Zexal		Tasuku Hatanaka Miyu Irino	Eli James Marc Thompson
	Zexal II
	Zexal III
	Dark Zexal
	Rio Kastle/Marin	Rio Kamishiro/Merag	Megumi Han	Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld
	Tori Meadows	Kotori Mizuki	Mikako Komatsu	Eileen Stevens
	Reginald Kastle / Shark / Nash	Ryoga Kamishiro / Shark / Nasch	Toshiki Masuda	Gary Mack
	Kite Tenjo	Kaito Tenjo	Kōki Uchiyama	Christopher Kromer
Allies
	Kari Tsukumo	Akari Tsukumo	Nami Miyahara	Rebecca Soler
	Haru Tsukumo		Ikuko Tani	Mary O'Brady
	Kazuma Tsukumo		Ichiro Mikami	Sean Schemmel
	Mira Tsukumo	Mirai Tsukumo	Eri Miyajima	Veronica Taylor (first voice)
				Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld (second voice)
	Bronk Stone	Tetsuo Takeda	Makoto Shimada	Sean Schemmel
	Caswell Francis	Takashi Todoroki	Taishi Murata	Jason Griffith
	Mr. K	Ukyo Kitano	Tomoaki Maeno	Darren Dunstan
	Flip Turner	Tokunosuke Omoteura	Aki Kanada	Kevin Kolack
	Nelson Andrews	Fuya Okudaira	Yūichi Iguchi	Wayne Grayson
	Mrs. Andrews	Mrs. Okudaira	Kaori Yamagata	Karen Neill
	Cathy Catherine	Cathy	Yū Kobayashi	Erica Schroeder
	Roku	Rokujuro Misawa	Shōichirō Akaboshi	Mick Lauer (first voice)
				Darren Dunstan (second voice)
	Anna Kaboom	Anna Kozuki	Rei Mochizuki	Suzy Myers
	Hart Tenjo	Hartuo Tenjo	Yūko Sanpei	Rebecca Soler
	Orbital 7		Tomoaki Maeno I'm	Sean Schemmel (eps. 13-75)
				Darren Dunstan (eps. 82-146)
	Lillybot	Obomi	Yūko Sanpei	Eileen Stevens
Enemies
	Mr. Heartland		Jūrōta Kosugi	Marc Thompson
	Dr. Faker		Shinji Ogawa	Ryan Stadler
	Scorch	Rikuo	Daisuke Kirii	Greg Abbey
	Chills	Kaio	Kenji Fukuda	Marc Thompson
	Kaze	Yamikawa	Shōma Yamamoto	Ben Stumpf (eps. 15-16)
				Sean Schemmel (eps. 82-125)
	Fortuno	Jin	Ken Narita	Justin Badger
	Dark Mist		Miyu Irino	Marc Thompson
	Vetrix	Tron	Sachi Kokuryu	Michael Smith
	Trey	III	Kyōsuke Ikeda	Brian Munn
	Quattro	IV	Yoshimasa Hosoya	Michael Smith
	Quinton	V	Shōma Yamamoto	Jamal Najum Khan
	Nistro	Gauche	Gō Shinomiya	Jason Griffith
	Dextra	Droite	Yumi Fukamizu	Eva Kaminsky
Barian World
	Don Thousand		Haruhiko Jo (Barian form)	David Wills
			Mitsuru Miyamoto (true form)
	Vector / Ray Shadows	Vector / Rei Shingetsu	Satoshi Hino	Billy Bob Thompson
	Dumon	Durbe	Daisuke Hirakawa	Jake Paque
	Girag / Commander Kiraku	Girag / Souhachi Kiraku	Kōsuke Takaguchi	Marc Thompson
	Alito		Takahiro Hikami
	Mizar	Mizael	Genki Okawa	Billy Bob Thompson
Astral World
	Eliphas		Kenji Hamada	Matt W. Cody
	Enna		Eri Aida	Meredith Zeitlin
Others
	The Door		Kazuhiko Inoue	Marc Thompson
	Striker	Kakeru Kunitachi	Mitsuki Saiga	Tom Wayland
	Cody Callus	Shobee Yuatsu	Motoko Kumai	Michael Sinterniklaas
	Tombo Tillbitty	Housaku Yasai	Kenji Nomura	Dan Green
	Charlie McCay	Charlie McCoy	Daisuke Hirakawa	Ryan Stadler
	Cameron Clix	Syuta Hayami	Takuya Eguchi	Ted Lewis
	Pip	Dog-Chan	Sumire Morohoshi	Lisa Adams
	Roscoe	Chukichi	Keisuke Ishida	David Wills
	Spencer	Taichi	Yasuaki Takumi	Marc Thompson
	Weasel	Ginji	Yuki Fujiwara	Jamie McGonnigal
	Iris		Megumi Han	Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld
	Ponta		Ryōko Shiraishi	Veronica Taylor (first voice)
				Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld (second voice)
	Jinlon		Kenichi Ogata	Eric Stuart
	Abyss		Katsuhiko Sasaki	David Zen Mansley
	Erazor	Semimaru	Kenichirō Matsuda	Ryan Andes
	Scritch	Kaninja	Masahito Yabe	Daniel J. Edwards
	Jackal	Fallguys Jackal	Takuto Dōjō	Ryan Stadler
	Mach		Susumu Chiba	Michael Liscio, Jr.
	Wolfsbane	Fallguys Wolf	Anri Katsu	David Wills
	Chironex	Kurage	Yoshito Yasuhara	Michael Liscio, Jr.
	Fender	Fuma	Takaya Kuroda	Tom Wayland
	Devon Knox	Daisuke Katagiri	Mamoru Miyano	Jake Paque
	Carlyle Chesterton	Mamoru Jinguji	Kazuyuki Okitsu	Dan Rosales
	Lotus Hanazoe	Aika Hanazoe	Yūka Nanri	Lisa Ortiz
	Scorch	Rikuo	Daisuke Kirii	Eric Stuart
	Mrs. Meadows	Mrs. Mizuki	Kana Omuro	Eileen Stevens
	Tetsumi Stone	Tetsumi Takeda	Shizuka Okohira	Sean Schemmel
	Meredith	Yone	Keiko Katsukura	Veronica Taylor
	Dempsey Crossit	Kazu Kunitachi	Daichi Endō	Ted Lewis
	Donovan Crossit	Hide Kunitachi	Manabu Sakamaki	Marc Thompson
	Mayday Walker	Tobio Habara	Keiichi Nakagawa

Additional Voices

Ryan Andes Justin Badger Matt W. Cody Marc D. Donovan Daniel J. Edwards Wayne Grayson Dan Green Jason Griffith Mick Lauer Michael Liscio, Jr. David Zen Mansley Christie Moreau Edward Napier Lisa Ortiz Jake Paque E.J. Parker Haven Paschall Therese Plummer

Mike Rivers Dan Rosales Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld Anthony Salerno Sean Schemmel Erica Schroeder Bradford Scobie Michael Sinterniklaas Rebecca Soler Eric Stuart Ben Stumpf Veronica Taylor Billy Bob Thompson Marc Thompson Russell Velázquez Tom Wayland David Wills Meredith Zeitlin

Bang Zoom!

Image	Character	Seiyū	Dub Actor
	Yuma Tsukumo	Tasuku Hatanaka	Johnny Yong Bosch
	Astral	Miyu Irino	Liam O'Brien
	Bronk Stone	Makoto Shimada	Richard Cansino
	Tori Meadows	Mikako Komatsu	Cassandra Lee Morris
	Reginald Kastle / Shark	Toshiki Masuda	Vic Mignogna
	Kite Tenjo	Kōki Uchiyama	Sam Riegel
	Caswell	Taishi Murata	Spike Spencer
	Nelson Andrews	Yūichi Iguchi	Erik Kimerer

Additional Voices

• Jason C. Miller - Clockwork Shinigami, Iron Ai Ai

Notes

• Sam Riegel is the lone voice actor to appear in both dubs.
• Jake Paque, Ryan Andes and Daniel J. Edwards’ anime debut role at 4K Media, Inc..
• Mick Lauer’s debut role before 4Kids shutdown.
• Darren Dunstan replaces Sean Schemmel as Orbital 7 in episode 82 due to Schemmel moving to Los Angeles.
  • Secondly, he replaced Mick Lauer as Master Roku due to the same reasons as Sean Schemmel.
  • Schemmel would remain as the The voice of Bronk and Kazuma. Also, He replaced Ben Stumpf as Kaze, who did not return to the series, for unknown reasons.
• Cassandra Lee Morris, who voiced Tori in the unreleased Bang Zoom dub, previously voiced Yubel in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and Leo and Luna in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's (eps. 12-65).
  • Coincidently, Morris also shares these same roles with Eileen Stevens who also voiced Tori in the released dub.
• This is Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld’s first anime dubbing at 4K Media, Inc. She also replaces Veronica Taylor as Mira Tsukumo and Ponta due to her moving to Los Angeles in 2015.

Transmission

Date(s)	Channel	Country
2011-2015	The CW (Toonzai / Vortexx)	United States
2012-2013	YTV	Canada
2013-2015	Hulu/Nicktoons	United States
2014-2015	Teletoon	Canada

Video Releases

Distributor	Year	Format	Contents	Region	Country
New Video Group	2015-2016		The Complete Series	1 NTSC	United States
			3 Volumes

External Links

• Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal at the Internet Movie Database
• Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia