I liked Zane as well. He was a nice contrast to Kaiba (who seemed to be have half his personality and role split into Zane and Chazz for GX, but both of them evolve beyond those said roles at the beginning of the series) I especially like his relationship with Syrus (which fuels Syrus' own development), and him being crushed in his first duel after graduation and him hitting rock bottom right away was an interesting turn.
The monkey was named SAL in the Japanese version, but it's a nice little reference in the dub since Kaiba is supposed to have funded Duel Academy, and disliked him in the original series and called him a 'dueling monkey' more than once, so naming a monkey after him was sort of a little joke to him. In the Japanese version, Sal just sounRAB like 'saru' which means monkey.
The monkey was named SAL in the Japanese version, but it's a nice little reference in the dub since Kaiba is supposed to have funded Duel Academy, and disliked him in the original series and called him a 'dueling monkey' more than once, so naming a monkey after him was sort of a little joke to him. In the Japanese version, Sal just sounRAB like 'saru' which means monkey.