Hello Everyone! This is the Zexal Month blog.

August 25: Yuma should get a free murder lmao—

This is a joke but honestly I’d like to see him break, Dark Zexal was cool, I wonder what would happen if Astral and Yuma turned dark

Maybe I’ll make something but rn I have writers block—

August 26: The Arclight’s crests. Granted, I have a huge ass theory that transformed into a character design analysis but I can’t find it at the moment—

August 27: Hot takes? I… don’t think I have any? I mean I think Yuma is aroace but I don’t think that’s a hot take ngl. Like most of the stuff I could think off are things people would agree with lmao 😅

August 28: Hmh, damn, I’d change stuff just to screw with them lmao. Maybe I’d let DK win. Just to see how much trouble it would cause. How would it be like if the world came crashing down? What would happen if Yuma got trapped? Maybe this is apparent but I wanna know what would happen if the universe went to shit. Idk, maybe I’m just feeling a bit sadistic rn >D<

So. During Kaito's introduction- id say probably just after or just before his first interaction with hart that we see- he gets a call where we don't see who's on the other line. We don't hear their half of the conversation- only Kaito's. From Kaito's responses, we gather that the other person managed to snag a few numbers as well, and that he's concerned with kaito's physical health (due to photon transformation but that part is only known with Hindsight. It's kaito being quiet for a moment before loudly and solidly saying "I'm fine. Hart's health matters more than mine")

Anyways. then kaito's duel with yuma happens, he goes to be with haruto while he recovers, and we pan up to the top of a building, where my man Wynn has been spectating the duel! We don't see his face, just the silhouette, glowy eyes, and a glowing d-gazer tattoo (as a callback to his 5ds heritage, id imagine it's semi-shaped like yusei's criminal mark kinda almost).

And Wynn decides to gauge Yuma's capabilities. Because he gets why Kaito fights dirty with his time-stop and his duel-anchor, but Wynn wants to see how skilled Yuma is when he's not dueling under distress.

Meanwhile the Numbers Club (caswell, to be specific. i forgot his japanese name my bad) finds out about another number hunter. there was already the person stealing souls (kaito), and now there's another danger. A more physical one. People dueling a mysterious masked stranger with a summoning type no one is equipped to deal with, and who's attacks do real, physical damage. Caswell fulfilling the role of "smart guy" on the team recognizes this phenomenon as a Psychic Duelist, and knows that they're generally bad news.

He of course informs Yuma- who at this point has gotten back in his groove after defeating Fortuno(? is that is name? the fortune teller who pretends to work with kaito? idk) and decides that he can probably take this new guy. And immediately eats his words... when he meets Wynn.

Wynn, by all accounts, is very friendly. If a bit... weird. He addresses Astral directly, although he asks Yuma "you commune with duel spirits as well?" (a blatant lie, wynn knows what astral is truly), but he challenges Yuma to a duel. He's heard a thing or two about the boy wonder duelist from "a friend of mine" and wants to duel him.

And by all accounts, Yuma is down for it! Like, sure, Wynn has a D-Gazer tattoo, and he's not summoning any monster with the same level as each other, but like how bad could it b-oH GOD WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT SUMMONING METHOD

Yuma sees Wynn Synchro Summon his ace, Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons. And when he lands a hit on Wynn, it, well, does real damage. Yuma starts to bleed. Wynn fake-panics, and forfeits the duel, opting to help Yuma patch up since his injury wasn't actually that serious.

Yuma thinks it's the coolest shit ever until Astral reminds him of what Caswell said. And then he panics a bit.

Anyways, Wynn decides to let Kaito deal with Yuma since while Wynn's hunting strategy of "duel them masked until they're unconscious and steal their number cards" might be less lethal, that's only really for adults. Yuma's still in middle school, he's got no clue if he could survive it.

And then Kaito decides to steal Yuma's key. Instead of Kaito retrieving it from Orbital, Wynn insists on it himself. He duels against Shark with his mask- and Yuma realizes "oh fuck, that's the guy i dueled" when Wynn summons Beelze.

Anyways, he takes the key from the barely-conscious Shark, and then he straight-up tells Yuma where he's taking it. He summons a winged monster, and flies off with the key and delivers it to Kaito- almost hesitantly. He straight up asks Kaito "are you sure this is a good idea?"

kaito isn't too certain himself but he needs to figure out the secrets of the key. Wynn hates what he's becoming, and while he doesn't plan on stopping Kite, he does plan on giving Yuma the tools to do so. He lets them into the building- straight-up telling them that he wants to get the old kaito back and yuma might be the way to do it.

Anyways, the story progresses as normal up until the WDC. Dextra remains on the board for the carnival, and wynn joins it instead. sorry dextra i need this for My Boy.

Wynn is the one fighting Vetrix, and Vetrix quickly realizes Wynn's love for Kaito- and so does Yuma. But unlike Dextra's own love for him, Wynn sees Kite as his friend first. He can focus on stopping Heartland and Faker from using his own son as a weapon first, helping kite heal from the trauma that will follow from that second, and maybe getting together with him 3rd. So of course Vetrix exploits that and defeats Wynn.

And Yuma tells Kaito about this during his duel vs V. Telling him that all Wynn wants to do is save him from the monster he's becoming. Kaito doesn't doubt he's become a monster or a tool to be used. And when Yuma tells Kite that Wynn loves him (on accident, Kotori promptly smacked him to shut him up after that), Kaito doesn't say anything, simply turning back to duel V

Against Vetrix, Kaito is dueling for Haruto- but for Wynn, too. Wynn, who reaches out to Kaito to tell him that he'll be alright. Kaito still duels for him. And he still looses. While he recovers, Wynn sticks by his side, and its very cute and gay when kaito wakes up, both very relieved that the other is alright cause like. theyre kinda each other's only friend at the moment

then the Faker duel, and Wynn is there spectating. But here is where the first non-wynn related plot diversion happens and that is Kaito Does Not Forgive Faker. He straight-up tells Faker he might never forgive him for what he's done to him. Faker turned him into a monster. Into a tool to be used. Faker makes peace with that and is prepared to forfeit and then the barian thing happens and well you know the rest.

There is an episode in between the last Trio's Challenge and Kite's Plight, and that is the Wingshipping episode! Where Wynn insists Kaito takes a day off before his duel with Yuma, to sorta... begin to learn how to be a person again. At the start of it, Yuma remarks that Kaito and Wynn are acting a lot like boyfriend and girlfriend- which kaito and wynn both Strongly Deny. but. the episode is basically them on a date let's be Real.

There's no grand kiss, but at the end they do get together. Wingshipping Real. And, fun fact, while there is no kissing they are holding hands practically every time they're near each other (or one has their hand on the other's shoulder... basically some sort of subtle, gentle touch) and Yuma is the only one completely oblivious to this.

Wynn has his own duel vs a Barian Servant who has a deck based on cards with ranks- and Wynn doesn't use XYZs monsters. So he can't really do shit until he pulls out his ace-in-the-hole. The one XYZs card in his deck. i havent worked out the specifics, but it's a number card that Kaito has used before. He gave it to Wynn (in the wingshipping episode, wynn gives kaito a tuner and a synchro card and we do see him use it during a duel at some point methinks)

anyways. Wynn travels with them during the Mytharian Numbers arc and here's our next major non-wynn plot deviation; Rio Doesn't Side with the Barians. She refuses to. She tells Shark she'll be by his side. But when Shark decides to turn to the Barians, she says, quote "i said I'd always side with Shark. But I never said I'd side with Nasch" and leaves to fight the barians with her friends.

But she does realize the true enemy is Vector- and tells Dumon this, who trusts her. They duel Vector, and yeah Rio fuckin dies. rip girl you wouldve loved chappell roan.

anyways. Wynn rides the airship with Yuma and Astral to Barian World- and at the end of the moon duel, Wynn breaks down into tears. (in fact. there's two times wingshipping kisses on screen. kaito kisses wynn's forehead, promising he'll be back, and the second is wynn kissing kaito's cheek when he's revived via the numeron code.)

Yuma doesn't really understand why Wynn is as distraught as he is until Astral pipes up with "From my understanding, it would be more of a cause for concern if one were to not have this major of a reaction from the death of a romantic partner". A tiny moment of silliness in the angst.

Mizael gives Wynn Kaito's deck when he meets them and duels against Don Thousand. He also gives Wynn his coat. Wynn uses Kite's deck, and joins Shark and Yuma to duel Don Thousand and it's fucking glorious. i wasnt kidding when i said this au was self-indulgent as shit. anyways.

The final non-wynn plot change is Yuma and Astral become a canon couple. theyre canonically gay in the manga let me have this konami. please.

August 19th: Gentian (angsty moment)

i think my favorite angst moment might have to be the episode where hart just gets scooped up by the tsukumos for an episode and winds up on top of a building trying to find a caramel for kaito. its such an innocent little thing but like. recognizing his brother is getting physically worse by the day and doing all he can to help. ough.

August 20th: Thorn-Apple (disguise)

i actually. have a heroforge for this! im one of those people who prepare for halloween in august and im going as a final fantasy black mage for halloween! the one with the blue cloak and yellow hat. so of course i. might have made a heroforge of my oc wynn in it. and then went "well i gotta make one of kaito as white mage!"

just for fun i also made wynn and kaito in a couple-forge as i call them which i Have Not Done In A Few Years. i took off the hood/wynn's hat to make them. slightly more recognizeable? idk.

anyways, they.

August 21st: Vervain (magic)

i made a whole-ass magic system based on the soul thing they touched on in the manga does that count. there's four main types of magic- sea, sky, land, and light- but also a bunch of magic that is formed by mixing two of the types (fire is light and land. storm is sky and sea. plant is sea and land. theres more combos but i couldnt think of them) but there's also chaos magic which is anything that doesnt fall into that like divinitation and transformative magic. and dark which is really just light magic but pulling from shadows and not light but people are scared of it... yeahg. i. made this in an evening. im not gonna do anything with it but it Exists.

August 22nd: Daphne (food)

so my whole family is BIG on food and cooking to the point where the first thing decided on when planning for any event- a vacation, a birthday, or a holiday- is what's on the menu. so im going to pull a cheap one and say that the tsukumos are the same way. food is important to them (especially yuma) and very much how they show love to each other. Haru always makes large amounts of onigiri to give to not just yuma, but to kaito, shark, and the arclights whenever there's a tournament. she invites them over for dinner and makes a desert that's not quite pumpkin pie but its similar and its the best thing in the world

(the pumpkin desert thing is a family recipe from my fam. and no. you cant have it)

August 25th: Tamarisk (crime)

i have a fanfic in the writings where kaito learns how to be a teenager and does stereotypical teenage things with wynn who also had a fucked-up childhood and while i havent writen this chapter yet. they do some Trespassing. but i also have a handful of aus where kaito kills faker for various reasons (self-defense, a dark urge moment in a bg3 au, on accident, there's a lot)

less seriously. i think shark is a chronic jaywalker. he does Not Give A Shit about it. technically not a crime but it is funny.

August 26th: Sainfoin (confusion)

yeah. uh. i know this is an anime meant mainly for kids but ive got a few gripes with consistency. mainly. why is kaito not in pain. his overuse of photon transformation is shown, in multiple episodes, to cause him physical harm. if it has gotten to the point where is he passing out. that boy should have chronic pain. why does he not

"oh cause he stopped number hunting" he hasnt stopped using photon transformation. the main cause of the chronic pain. i dont have chronic pain myself but i am committed to making something that should have been canon a prevalent part of my fanfics. all of them. it hasnt shown up in my tma au yet but it will. rest assured it will.

August 27th: Diphylleia (hot takes)

Oooh. okay. i dont think i have many hot takes within zexal itself but when it comes to yugioh as a whole, regarding zexal, i think zexal is one of, if not the best series of yugioh. genuinely. it's not without its issues but i think the ones it has are small enough that they can be glossed over without too much trouble.

i think it hits spot on with its theme of families of all types- biological and found family both- wait no i just remembered an actual zexal hot take.

said hot take. there is not one rival. it's not kaito or shark its kaito and shark. okay yknow how pokemon nowadays gives you multiple rivals? sword and shield sticks out to me most here with hop and bede (also marnie if you count her). all the takes i see on this debate are "oh shark's the rival not kaito" or "kaito's absolutely the rival. its not shark" guys it. it can be both. we can have both.

more of a lukewarm take than a hot one though; uh. Rio should not have blindly followed Shark into rejoining the barians. im kinda sort not really vocal on this take but i think its still one worth saying. i think what would have been way more compelling and a great way to make some angst is have rio. not go with shark. yknow how sometimes you'll ask someone for their opinion just to make your own choice? yeah that should have happened here. rio saying she'll always be on shark's side, shark choosing the barians, and rio going "actually, No! i said i was on shark's side, not nasch's" and sticking with yuma and the gang. i would have loved that.

(super secret hot take that no one else has an opinion on; the idea of rio and astral falling in love from bonding over their shared experience of their crushes (kotori and yuma respectively) choosing comphet is actually so good i need someone to write this fic please.)