First up: On the matter of the 5D's finale, I've made my position on it known before the fact, and it's a good darned thing that they delivered on that relationship, because seriously, that would have been the third time a Yu-Gi-Oh! series ended with no emotional resolutions for multiple relationships, and as I've stated in the linked post, I'm rather attached to the Yusei/Aki couple.
And it was satisfying. In fact, even aside from the beautiful visuals and direction of The Moment (TM), that was just about the most romantic thing ever. According to the Yu-Gi-Oh! wiki, Yusei told her she had "the best smile in the world," and she responded that he had put that smile there. Take that, Team Satisfaction orgy shippers. (Yes, they exist.)
On the last bit of the "action" plot, if you were wondering why Yusei and his bike turned gold at the end of episode 150, there is a reason beyond simply imitating series like Dragonball Z.
A musician who performed a huge amount of 5D's music later in the series was Masaaki Endoh. Aside from being guaranteed a spot on any "top ten musicians of all time" list I would ever put together, he's known for performing the opening songs of a number of anime, one of the earliest of which was "King of Braves Gaogaigar" (which I've talked about elsewhere at least a little bit).
In the series, there's a giant robot called Gaogaigar (which roughly translates, by the way, as "growl harm being," i.e. a growling guy that hurts you) who can pick up a hammer called the Goldion Hammer which causes him to turn bright, shiny gold in pretty much exactly the same fashion as Yusei did. If you think that's a coincidence, Endoh also performed the opening theme for another robot-based series called Daigunder, and in the last episode of that the titular robot turned gold for massive damage as the opening song played.
So my conclusion is that Yusei's "Over Top Clear Mind" turned him gold because Masaaki Endoh sang during the series more than once, and apparently that's a law of anime now.
On ZEXAL: It's no 5D's or original series, but it isn't GX yet either.
The emphasis on the new Xyz (pronounced "ex-sieze" for no reason beyond perhaps confusing English speakers) monsters strikes me as a colossal blunder, mostly because they're much lamer than Synchro Monsters. They're simple and easy to summon for the most part, but they generally have pretty limited effects and unpleasant drawbacks which are unnecessary. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if someone figured out how to break the game with the rules weirdness surrounding their non-levels.
So far, it seems to be the Yu-Gi-Oh! series with the smallest amount of ancient civilization references. I can't say I care for most of the characters, although the mystery of Astral is vaguely piquing my interest. (He's a character who literally knows nothing; he wondered why Yuma and his family were eating in one scene.)
My favorite character so far, though, is probably Yuma's older sister, Akari, as she's rather hot and also entertaining.
Of course, she makes relatively infrequent appearances. If this series was about her instead, I'd probably be hooked. As it is, searching for the episodes (since YouTube finally seems to be having some success at keeping users from posting them) feels more like a chore than entertainment.
For that matter, there's just a general lack of attractive female characters in ZEXAL. (Yuma's schoolmates aren't legal.)
Of course, in episodes seven and eight, we get this lady, the mother of the Numbers-possessed duelist of the week...
...and I can't say I minded seeing her. (Incidentally, the wiki doesn't appear to have an article for her yet.)
Of course, seeing her express concern over her son causes Yuma to flash back to a memory of his own hot mom, and while I can't say that I minded seeing the best shot of her that we've gotten so far, it's still a little weird.
Kudos for these being pretty much the least absent of all Yu-Gi-Oh! series' protagonists' parents, as even Dr. Fudo only showed up as a ghost and in a few flashbacks, and it'll at least be possible for Yuma's parents to show up in the series as not-dead people if the information on the wiki is correct.
Also, I think I would watch a show about hot shonen moms.
-Signing off.
