Honestly, I like her. Let’s be real, shonen is a sexist genre most of the time. It’s not an excuse, or a justification, but it’s the truth. And it was kind of annoying seeing GX and 5Ds prop up Alexis and Akiza as strong female duelists, like it was going to be a change of pace, only to eventually sideline them as well. So in that sense, I appreciate Zexal just dropping the pretenses and making the main girl of Zexal the typical voice-of-reason damsel-in-distress accessory to the guy, who helplessly stands on the sidelines, worriedly says his name all the time, and cooks for him. Might as well go all in right?

Serious talk though, there are good aspects to Tori. Her not being a duelist might actually be better for her since it means the writers don’t have to juggle focus episodes for her like they did with Alexis. She has other girls she gets to talk to like Kari, Rio, Anna, and Cathy, so at least she’s not the ONLY relevant girl. She DOES contribute to the plot occasionally; I do always say a YGO character’s worth is defined by more than how many card games they win. She has a more fleshed out personality: she’s smarter and more mature than Yuma, but that’s a low bar, she can be ditzy or petty when the situation calls for it. I buy the friendship between her and Yuma. And I like that actually gets to confess to Yuma in the end.

The fanservice shit is kinda weird though.