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
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 J. 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	Seiyū	Dub Actor
Main Characters
	Yuma Tsukumo	Tasuku Hatanaka	Eli James
	Astral	Miyu Irino	Marc Thompson
	Rio Kastle / Marin	Megumi Han	Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld
	Tori Meadows	Mikako Komatsu	Eileen Stevens
	Reginald Kastle / Shark / Nash	Toshiki Masuda	Gary Mack
	Kite Tenjo	Kōki Uchiyama	Christopher Kromer
Allies
	Kari Tsukumo	Nami Miyahara	Rebecca Soler
	Haru Tsukumo	Ikuko Tani	Kathryn Cahill
	Kazuma Tsukumo	Ichiro Mikami	Sean Schemmel
	Mira Tsukumo	Eri Miyajima	Veronica Taylor
	Bronk Stone	Makoto Shimada	Sean Schemmel
	Caswell	Taishi Murata	Jason Griffith
	Mr. K	Tomoaki Maeno	Darren Dunstan
	Flip Turner	Aki Kanada	Kevin Kolack
	Nelson Andrews	Yuichi Iguchi	Wayne Grayson
	Mrs. Andrews	Kaori Yamagata	Karen Neill
	Cathy Catherine	Yū Kobayashi	Erica Schroeder
	Roku	Shōichirō Akaboshi	Mick Lauer
	Anna Kaboom	Rei Mochizuki	Suzy Myers
	Hart Tenjo	Yūko Sanpei	Rebecca Soler
	Orbital 7	Tomoaki Maeno	Sean Schemmel (eps. 13-46)
			Darren Dunstan (eps. 72-146)
Enemies
	Mr. Heartland	Jūrōta Kosugi	Marc Thompson
	Dr. Faker	Shinji Ogawa	Ryan Stadler
	Scorch	Daisuke Kirii	Eric Stuart
	Chills	Kenji Fukuda	Sam Riegel
	Kaze	Shōma Yamamoto	Sean Schemmel
	Fortuno	Ken Narita	Justin Badger
	Dark Mist	Miyu Irino	Marc Thompson
	Vetrix	Sachi Kokuryu	Michael Smith
	Trey	Kyousuke Ikeda	Brian Munn
	Quattro	Yoshimasa Hosoya	Michael Smith
	Quinton	Shōma Yamamoto	Jamal Najum Khan
	Nistro	Gō Shinomiya	Jason Griffith
	Dextra	Yumi Fukamizu	Eva Kaminsky
Others
	The Door	Kazuhiko Inoue	Marc Thompson
	Striker	Mitsuki Saiga	Tom Wayland
	Cody Callus	Motoko Kumai	Michael Sinterniklaas
	Tombo Tillbitty	Kenji Nomura	Dan Green
	Charlie McCay	Daisuke Hirakawa	Ryan Stadler
	Cameron Clix	Takuya Eguchi	Ted Lewis
	Pip	Sumire Morohoshi	Lisa Adams
	Roscoe	Keisuke Ishida	David Wills
	Spencer	Yasuaki Takumi	¿?
	Weasel	Yuki Fujiwara	Jamie McGonnigal

Additional Voices

• Ryan Andes
• Justin Badger
• Bradford Cameron
• Johnny Castro
• Matt W. Cody
• Marc Donovan
• Daniel J. Edwards
• Wayne Grayson
• Dan Green
• Edward Henry
• Mick Lauer
• Michael Liscio, Jr.
• David Zen Mansley
• Christie Moreau
• Lisa Ortiz
• Jake Paque
• E.J. Parker
• Haven Paschall
• Mike Rivers
• Dan Rosales
• Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld
• Anthony Salerno
• Sean Schemmel
• Marc Schneider
• Erica Schroeder
• Michael Sinterniklaas
• Rebecca Soler
• Therese Spurrier
• Eric Stuart
• Ben Stumpf
• Veronica Taylor
• Billy Bob Thompson
• Marc Thompson
• 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

Additional Voices

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

Notes

• Sam Riegel is the lone voice actor to appear in both dubs.

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