

Episode 128: III and V lose to Mizael and are sacrificed to the Barian World.When Yuma's key and Nasch's emblem resonate and Yuma sees Nasch's memories, the shock knocks him out. Episode 124: Shark reveals his true nature as Nasch, shocking Yuma.Astral is able to give a heartwarming goodbye speech to Yuma before both he and Yuma's key disappear. Episode 111: Astral is killed by Black Mist in order to save Yuma.Episode 96: Yuma is broken by the revelation that Rei Shingetsu was Vector all along, and that he had been faking his friendship with Yuma.Episode 84: Yuma almost loses a duel to Mizael, and again becomes depressed over the fact that he's not a strong enough duelist to protect Astral.Episode 47-48: Yuma's "kattobingu" spirit is stolen from him, regressing him to the depressed coward who never (among other things) met Astral and became a proper duelist.Episode 14: When Yuma is almost defeated by Kaito, he becomes wary of dueling and feels like he can't protect Astral.Break the Cutie: Occurs multiple times in Zexal I and Zexal II.Case in point, near the end of the show, he's the only major duelist left who still needs to use a Duel Gazer. Badass Normal: In a show loaded with sci-fi-powered paramilitary types, aliens, and reincarnated heroes, Yuma gets by with a little help from Astral and largely by being himself.

Audience Surrogate: Started out as one, but quickly graduated from it by the start of the second season.Retreat! Retreat!: Both to highlight that it's capable of doing so and to stress his own initial recklessness, Yuma sometimes used Utopia's attack-negating effect during his own battle phase on itself. Not only does it have the size of a Super Saiyan 3's hair, but it's tri-colored. Which is taken up a notch with his ZEXAL II transformation. Adaptational Badass: In the manga, he takes on Kaito (who is possessed by one of Kyoji's Numbers) in their second Duel and won.Acquired Situational Narcissism: After becoming eligible for the World Duel Carnival Finals, he tries to sell his autograph to all his classmates.Yuma is the first protagonist to be something of a loser at the start of his series. Tropes exclusive to him in the first half: In the manga, Yuma gains the ability to summon Shining Numbers such as SNo. His strategies involve manipulating the Levels of his monsters to Xyz Summon and increasing the ATK of his monsters with various card effects. Yuma plays a syllable-themed deck, featuring monsters with repetitive names or puns. Number 39: Utopia), Yuma and Astral must track down and collect the remaining Numbers cards. He possesses a pendant called the Emperor's Key, which turns out to be the key to unlocking a gate to another dimension, releasing the spirit Astral and the ninety-nine Numbers cards. Despite, or because of, his energetic, peppy personality he's known amongst his peers as a screw-up who can't do anything right, whether it be at school or at Duel Monsters. The protagonist of the series, Yuma is a thirteen-year-old middle-schooler living in the city of Heartland. Voiced by: Tasuku Hatanaka (JP), Eli Jay (EN, ZEXAL), Noah Benjamin (EN, Duel Links)
