Cardfight!! Vanguard Divinez DELUXE Arc Review

Posted on August 3, 2025 by dreager1

Cardfight is back with another top tier title. It’s no surprise that this one would be good either because the entire anime arc is a single tournament. This means that every episode is filled with action. You’ve got everyone trying to be the best and the tournament isn’t even over when the season ends. Only the first phase, then finals will be the next season. It’s a pretty fun way to go about it. Now technically I’d have preferred to open things up a bit and get more combatants here in a bracket system instead of the whole round robin thing. Still, this works out well enough and it’s nice to be seeing every character duking it out at the top of their abilities.

The show starts out with a bunch of fighters being invited to the next Deluxe tournament. You’ve got a mix of old and new fighters trying to prove that they are the most powerful in the world. Akina is ready for this and hopes to have a good time. He is shaken up though when a new guy shows up Kagetsu and he’s awful close to Akina’s mentor Nao. Akina needs to get to the bottom of this and crush this guy but before he can do this, Akina will have to learn the true reason behind why he plays Cardfight in the first place. Without that answer he will be lost.

There won’t actually be a lot to talk about story-wise compared to other seasons since again, this is all just one big tournament. So I’ll spend most of the time here talking about the 12 contestants. They all have had a lot of character development in order to get to this moment after all so it makes for a good tournament. Of course the new characters do have to spend a little time getting introduced but they still did go through their share of struggles off screen. The stakes are also pretty high because out of the 12 fighters who are kicking things off, only 6 will move on to the finals. The final 2 slots of the top 8 will be filled out from good ole America.

So lets start off with Akina. This guy is the main character after all and he’s got some good skills. He has grown a lot more confident over the years but this season does bring up some of his insecurities like with how he reacts with Kagetsu shows up. By the end of the season he does finally come to terms with this and even makes a speech involving Nao. It’s definitely a big scene even if it’s sort of putting her on the spot there. He does have the worst lyrical song out of all the combatants but you can’t win them all.

I think the main character will always be at a disadvantage to the extent that you have seen his deck and heard his song far more than any of the other combatants. So it only makes sense that it won’t be as exciting as the others. Akina is a well written character either way and while I am not rooting for him to win the tournament, it is nice to see him doing well.

Then we have Mirei who is one of the fun wild cards here. She was the big bad several seasons against the original main characters so now she gets to test her skills one last time against the new fighters. She still has tremendous abilities so it’s good to see that she hasn’t been completely phased out. It’s hard for me to picture her winning the whole thing, but she looks better than I expected she would. Mirei still has a lot of confidence about her although she doesn’t talk smack as much as almost any of the other fighters. She prefers to win in a rather graceful way and even her cards feel rather ordinary next to the others. She doesn’t appear to have any kind of killer card to seal the doubt but her abilities are still enough to take her to the next stage.

After that is Erika, the one I am rooting for to win this tournament. She has had to go through a whole lot during the series. Having to live through an incredibly dark timeline, then nearly getting erased, and finally having to give up her family. I’d say it’s about time something went right for her. Her deck is extremely powerful so I’ve been surprised to see her struggle so much. Perhaps I shouldn’t be, these are all some of the best fighters on the planet. I’m sure she will adapt and continue to fight well though.

She has a fun personality and while she can be overly defensive in just about every conversation, you get why she would be on guard after everything that happened in her past. I’d give her a pass on that. At least she still gets a few scenes to hang out with Akina, they may not be able to reveal that they’re family anymore, but no reason they can’t hang out as friends.

Then we have Nao who of course gets a really big role here. She may be Akina’s mentor but she hasn’t gotten a very large role over the last few seasons. This is her chance to make a big return. I will say that despite her aspirations to be the strongest pro and even getting to that level, her deck has never struck me as being very impressive. So this is a good chance to see more of it, although like Erika she struggles a lot here. She definitely deals with a lot.

I can give Nao full credit for always being a good mentor to Akina though. Even when she’s at her lowest in this series, she still manages to congratulate him and put on a brave face so that he doesn’t worry. It’s the hallmark of a great character to be able to do that instead of panicking or having an emotional outburst. I already liked her character quite a bit, but I can say that she ended up going even higher here.

Megumi is one of the original characters so it’s nice to see her return. In the original series she lost a whole lot and always took the back seat to the others. Now that Danji is an eternal old man and the old main character has vanished off the face of the Earth, this is her turn to shine. She definitely does well in the fights and proves herself to still have a lot of ability. In a way it would be fun for her to win the tournament as a way to prevent a passing of the torch. Show that the old generation can still fight and all that.

I wouldn’t be opposed to her winning it all. Megumi has a fun personality and is definitely a passionate cardfighter. You absolutely need those traits in order to keep up with the energy that the others put out. Perhaps this could also allow her to have one last rematch with Danji and finally take that elusive W. As the current head of Blackout, she could pull this off.

Suo was a big villain a while back so now that he is a hero, can he really hold his own? The series plays up how awkward he is around people but the important thing is that he is always trying to improve. I definitely admire that about him even if I preferred him as a villain. Maybe we just have too many heroes at this point but this isn’t the kind of series where people stay villains so I suppose it makes sense. To me this guy would be a bit more of a waste to win the whole tournament, but hey it would show that his skills really did not diminish at all. He also does have his own character arc since one of the new characters parallels the old him.

Raika was the previous tournament winner so of course he is back but the power creep is real. I think Raika’s main problem is his arrogance. To an extent the series always tries to show that he’s not that crazy but I dunno. The actions just don’t really reflect it. He always comes across as real stuck up to me in how he talks to everyone. He may plan out thoroughly for every character and never hold back, but he just makes it so easy to root against him. When a guest star character barked at him through text I couldn’t help but smirk. Raika is strong but he is sure good at losing.

Kuon shows up for this tournament but lets just say he is mainly used to show the power creep here. Yeah he’s strong but part of the point here is that he’s just not on the same level as the others. He needs more time and experience to really build up his skills. As far as the characters go I would also say there is just less to him than the others. I expect most people would pick him as one of their early exits from the tournament if you had to select one. Nothing personal to the guy but that’s how stacked the cast is.

Gui is in a similar boat. The guy is an incredibly powerful A.I. and was one of the top tier threats but ultimately he hasn’t adjusted and continued to improve compared to the others. This means he will be left in the dust next to the others. I also think there is less chance for banter compared to the other characters so less reason for the writers to keep him engaged. I preferred him as more of an antagonist too since as a hero he’s a little boring. Getting him out of here was probably the right move.

Kagetsu is one of the new hype characters so you can bet that he is getting a lot to do here. He was so good that he essentially got bored of Cardfight…or is that the reason? We learn more about his past later on and it’s a bit more petty than that. He is still a solid fighter though and shows the logic of “there is always someone stronger” very well. This guy is treated as an absolute beast and then we find out there is someone even stronger than him and by a fairly wide margin. I think it will be tough for this other character to live up to the hype but I’m still really interested in how that plays out. We’ll also see if Kagetsu is able to push past his limits here.

We have Michiru from the American branch who is still a prodigy. He’s in a bit of a weird position though because he’s always been treated as a nearly untouchable character but rarely felt like it. Gui messed him up a while back and then Danji also gave him a hard fight. We’ll see how well he performs in the next season but from the big fighters, he may be my least favorite. I don’t mind if he gets bumped in round 1 to hype up a different character.

The other American fighter is a new character named Ruka. She seems to be a very powerful fighter who is sort of like Saitama from One Punch Man. She is a Cardfighter for fun. Ruka isn’t in this for fame or glory. She just likes Cardfighting and that kind of character can always be a great foil to the others. Akina was basically told that this is not a satisfactory answer and yet Ruka is living this philosophy out to great effectiveness. I’ll enjoy seeing how she interacts with the others.

Senka returns as one of the powerful fighters from the recent seasons. I like her confidence and how outspoken she is all of the time. A good attitude to have in this intense world of Cardfighting. That being said, I feel like there isn’t much going for her character at this point so it won’t be particularly surprising to see her not do well here. She’s the kind of underdog I would root for a lot, knowing that she won’t be going very far. That’s just how it goes sometimes though.

Finally we have Suzune. She feels a lot of pressure to win because her family honor is on the line. She isn’t really even allowed to have fun playing the game because a single mistake reflects on everybody. I enjoyed her character but naturally you are expecting some changes by the end. It would have been nice if she could have been a bit more powerful but the show did well in showing how toxic this kind of mentality would be. It would be absolutely suffocating in practice. We’ll see how skilled she can be in the future once that level of stress is lifted.

There are a few supporting characters running around like Danji but for the most part this is about the combatants. Masanori is still around to act shady and at this point I’ve just accepted that he probably won’t be facing any justice for being a constant villain. I would have liked to have seen more guest stars if this is really the last big tournament within the Cardfight saga but the show did still branch out across the seasons so I can’t be too greedy.

The animation is really excellent as always. The colors are striking and I definitely enjoyed seeing how dynamic the cardfights were. The show is always very energetic. Likewise the soundtrack is excellent with a whole lot of lyrical songs. The opening isn’t one of the strongest ones but it wors well enough. The soundtrack as a whole easily gets 5 stars here. The technical elements never let the show down at all.

Overall, This was another great season. While I may miss some of the end of the world stakes, a good tournament arc is a close second place for the kind of stories that I enjoy. It’s great being able to see the characters just enjoy their battles with no asterisks. The season also moves at breakneck speeds the whole time as it has to cover a lot of battles in just 13 episodes. Naturally this does mean that some fights do have to be rather rushed but all of the big ones get a solid amount of screentime. I definitely recommend checking this one out and it’s really impressive how long Cardfight has been going on for at this point. It’s a true rival to Yugioh.

Overall 9/10

Cardfight!! Vanguard Divinez Season 2 Review

Posted on March 2, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time for the return of Cardfight Vanguard! The Divinez season last time was excellent and this one definitely continues to operate as an incredibly high level. We get a big clash of teams here which was really hype and it ensured we got a whole lot of action. There were also some pretty massive plot twists that even affect events that happened in previous seasons. This really puts a cap on a lot of the recent adventures that each character had so it’ll be interesting to see how the next season plays out. It’ll also be hard to top this one although that has been the case for each season for a while now.

The show starts with a new villain named Sybilt appearing. This creature has decided to bring back the Destined fighters from last season so they can take on his chosen fighters. Once again the stakes are pretty high as the winners will be able to get their wishes granted. This time it’s not just one person who will have their wish granted after all but a whole team. So there is a lot of pressure on each person to win. Additionally Sybilt has turned on a sort of mind control on the fighters representing this side. Gabwelius knows that his fighters from the previous season are strong but can they really hold their own here? If they lose then everything might end up being lost.

The idea of bringing in a team of fighters who are all even more powerful than the first group is a very direct kind of story arc that works really well here. Folks that you saw as the enemy last time now have to team up which is another kind of story trope that I like. So mix that in with a tournament type setting and you’ve definitely got me on board. I would say the last season may have the slight edge in terms of impactful duels but it’s extremely close. As with last time, the highlight here is Hikari, the older version of course.

The younger version gets a much bigger role here as she shows up on the villain side. Unfortunately this role makes her look really bad as she turns against Akina and doesn’t even really try to get him on her side. She is completely stuck on her ways which is really unfortunate. I would say she comes across as ultra unreasonable even if she is doing this to help Akina out in her own way. You can’t help someone out by shutting them out first. It just doesn’t work that way and so she puts him through a lot.

Fortunately the older Hikari is around to help save the character. She directly confronts her younger self and really shows how to get off the dark path. The older version may not get to appear very much in any season but she really makes the most out of her scenes. Once again she completely steals the scenes that she is in. Her deck is also really impressive and still has a great theme to it. There are very few in the whole verse who can really hope to match her abilities.

As for Akina, he has come a long way since the old days. He certainly sticks up for himself more and isn’t quite as soft spoken. At this point it is old news since I’ve liked him for quite a while now. I’m not saying he’s on Aichi’s level yet but this guy can hold his own with any of the other protagonists. His skills are quite serious and he is really able to discuss any serious topic with ease. He’s someone that the heroes can really rally behind. In this season things may get rough for him during the duels but he is definitely no quitter.

Gabwelius is someone who doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence at all. Sybilt just seems better and more equipped for combat each time. Gabwelius is mostly stuck playing defense. Now granted, he does a good job of shutting down her more aggressive actions but it would be nice if he would straight up fight the whole time. Meanwhile Sybilt is actually a really fun villain. She has big plans on her end and keeps the heroes from getting too comfortable. The more we learn about her, the more impressive she gets. She really put in a whole lot of effort here in order to get her way. Also the fact that she can also duel really well is a huge advantage in her favor.

Then we have Massanori who somehow continues to show up in every single season. After a point you have to give the guy some respect although I still don’t like him. He’s just not that interesting and I also don’t think that he is really strong enough to justify his continued role. At this point it’s such a running gag he should probably be in the next season as an antagonist too though. Maybe you can somehow leverage this into some kind of really cool plot twist.

Jinki returns here and I was glad that his A.I. protected him from the mind control. It was a good way of acknowledging just how strong the program was and let Jinki keep some hype. I know a certain degree of power creep is unavoidable but I would have been a little sad if he was effortlessly defeated. In duels he still shows a good amount of skill and ends up being one of the more interesting characters on the villain side.

The thing to remember is that the mind control basically brings out your true instincts but doesn’t totally change you as a person. For that reason I’m still going to be a bit harsh on some of these characters. For example Kyohma. The guy resents how Taizo doesn’t take things seriously and really wants to take over the company. To an extent it’s to help Taizo but for the most part it’s just plain ole jealousy here. Taizo helped him a whole lot so for the guy to basically betray him here was crazy. I thought he was the least sympathetic character from the bunch and it wasn’t even close. He just seemed super ungrateful and so I wanted him to be defeated.

Taizo may not be the strongest character in the series but he’s always near the top so I really had to respect that. He’s just a fun duelist and someone who doesn’t take things too seriously. You want someone like that on your side to keep things from getting too stressful. You can also count on him when the chips are down like when he helped out Hikari. Rooting for him was a really easy decision and I think he let off Kyohma way too easily.

Suo may have been a really hype character back in the day who had serious abilities. Well at this point he has lost a lot of hype not that he is a hero. He looks good in the duel but not amazing or anything like that. It’s clear that he no longer has the same intensity. It’s great that things are going well for him now but it would have been good if he could have looked a little more powerful. His role here isn’t all that big but to an extent that had to happen to everybody since the episode count is very small. Most characters just get one duel and have to make the most of it.

Kuon was a fun duelist on the other side but I don’t think he ever grew on me too much even with all the screentime. It felt like the show was trying to make him really important retroactively but unlike the Sybilt twists, his just doesn’t work as much. I think the show should have kept him as a total mystery. He’s a nice guy and I liked having him around as an opponent to defeat but it still felt like there just wasn’t much to the character. I’d like to see him appear more without the whole tournament and see more of what his personality brings to the table.

Mikoto is one of the characters on the hero side who feels like she’s hit a bit of a wall as a character. She’s skilled to be sure but not one of the strongest ones. Her deck is nothing special and so her rivalry battle feels a bit generic. She is okay but it just feels like the writers don’t know where to take her next. With the cast already being rather large by this point I wouldn’t mind if she was the one to be written out.

Yuna on the villain’s side was also a bit of an empty character. I give her props for not coming across as antagonistic the whole time though. She actually seemed to be enjoying the fight and being very personable so it shows that even without any inhibitions she is a nice person. That’s always nice to see since some characters should definitely not be corruptible at all. It’s just not in their character.

Nao is a really fun heroine so it was nice to see her getting a big role here. She was originally a big mentor but got less to do as the series went on. She shows that she still has a lot of talent here and is one of the most charismatic members of the hero group. It’s easy to root for her and since she is the only one here aside from Taizo really going the pro route, the show should continue to show how advanced her skills are.

I also liked her opponent Senka. Senka is super competitive and wants to be someone who can defeat Nao. It’s a really goal and I always love a good rivalry so you’ll see no complaints from me. She just needs to level up her skills a bit more and she will really be a big threat. She also had to share time with a bunch of new characters so on her own she will be able to stand out more if she does return. Granted, the 12-13 episode count does limit possibilities for everyone but the more seasons you show up in, the more your appearances can at least stay high.

As always the soundtrack is really good here. Several characters have their own themes which is really awesome. It keeps the variety high at all times. Additionally the songs just rock out. They really help to amp up the intensity and even emotional feel of the duels. Then you have the animation which is pretty solid as well. They don’t have a blast showing off the in game animation as much as they used to but the character designs are still on point and the colors really pop out at you.

This is the kind of show that is more about the writing and the duels than the technical elements though. You will like the show if you like good duels and that’s really the whole point. Every duel throws in some good context and emotional weight behind it so that you are glued to the ending. The high stakes of the tournament also help to remind you that these aren’t just friendly fights either. Getting whatever you wish for is a pretty big deal after all, but you should be cautious considering who is offering the prize. At the end of the day when something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Overall, Cardfight turned up another elite title right here. The episodes go by so fast and have such high replay value. You will get invested into pretty much all of the duels, even when it’s not the most exciting matchup. It shows that the company has turned these battles into a true science and you can really feel the intensity and creativity the whole time. The fact that they threw in a whole end of the world type plot at the end was just the cherry on top. I’m eager to see what happens in the next season and if the streak can continue. Cardfight is truly a worthy rival to Yugioh both in quality and scale at this point.

Overall 9/10

Cardfight!! Vanguard Will+Dress D2 Review

Posted on November 2, 2024 by dreager1

This manga is definitely a pretty interesting one. On one hand, it’s over extremely fast. There are only 12 chapters in the series and the whole thing is a quick tournament. So it has nonstop fights which is always fun for me but one thing that takes away from it a bit is that you already know who is going to win. I suppose if you got to read it instantly then maybe you could have gone in blind but the first episode of the season taking place after this one already revealed who would win. So that takes a little of the pop out of guessing who would win the match. Still, there are no real negatives to be had with the story. It’s a fun little title that lets you take a peak at how the characters have improved their deck.

The A.I. that nearly took over the world has decided that it needs to see a little more about how everyone duels. What is behind the magic of Cardfight Vanguard? Well the only way to really find that out is to bring the top 16 players over. Unfortunately there are a few big shots who don’t get to enter the tournament but we do have a lot of fun fighters here like Tohya. The winner will prove themselves to be the next true Cardfight champion. Without further adieu, let the games begin!

Each fight is generally around 1 chapter which makes sense since there are 16 people fighting it out here. Some of the minor fights do have to get skipped or abridged though. I was pulling for Tohya the whole time to be honest and you almost have to assume that he wasn’t giving this tournament his 100%. If he was then he should have done way better. This time there are no true stakes after all and I believe that’s what got to him. He’s the kind of character who performs best under duress and without it he gets to be too calm.

The series randomly introduces a new kid to the tournament roster. So far he has yet to appear in the anime so I’m not sure if it was just to give the manga some kind of exclusive or maybe he will return later on. He was nice enough and seemed like a good duelist but at the same time you’re never really thinking that he stands a chance here. I did like the banter he had with another player back in the shop during the final chapter. I think you could make a fine spinoff series about those two just having fun and dueling everybody.

Raika has a big focus here since he i one of the favorites to win the tournament. It’s nice to see him doing well and still getting really into the duels. He is not my favorite rival among the Cardfight cast, far from it! However, his deck is pretty fun. He goes for a very offensive style so he’s always on the attack which is naturally fun to watch. Certainly far more so than a defensive style although that’s where the duelist’s personality shines through. The right duelist can make any deck fun.

Also, fans of the card game will probably appreciate how in depth the games go. The manga is able to extend some of the fights beyond what the anime typically shows. So you get to really see the fight from start to finish with all of the cards that were used and their effects. You could probably try and pull off each combo yourself eventually. Provided that you own the cards of course.

The art is also pretty good. The characters are all on model and it is an easy title to read. You can really blast through the chapters without any real issues and follow the action at all times. It’s not extremely detailed but works for the approach that they are going for here. The writing is also pretty good. The author could maybe have infused the characters with a bit more personality as they aren’t as strong as in the tv show but of course we are working with a very limited amount of screentime here.

We definitely should have had some more cameos at least though. Showing a bunch of the characters who couldn’t enter the tournament would have been quite a grand idea if you ask me. There’s a lot you could do with that, even throwing in some foreshadowing or sequel bait. For better or worse, this is completely a self contained story that isn’t trying to be anything more ambitious than that. While it might not have a ton of impact right now, I think if they had released this a few years from now instead, it would have been super nostalgic to see all of the classic Will+ Dress characters again. Calling them nostalgic feels pretty weird right now though since I still think of them as being rather recent.

There isn’t much more to discuss for the title because of how direct it is though. You either really enjoy all of the classic duels and seeing the characters hang out or you don’t. This could have probably been stretched another volume or so and we could have really gotten to have the full versions of every duel in the tournament. That’s pretty much unheard of so it would have also put this manga on the map. Either way I look forward to seeing what manga they come up next. A crossover at some point would be awesome between classic, G, and the Dress series.

Overall, This was a pretty good mini series. Not every card title has to include end of the world stakes after all. I would have liked something to spruce the tournament up a little bit more though like some more banter and setup before the matches though. I think part of why this title feels extra low key is because everybody is super polite and professional. You don’t have any delinquents or people who are really trying to make a splash and change things up. Everyone treats this as if it’s their full time job and it is for some players but usually the series does a good job of still keeping all of the personalities really colorful. I would challenge a future series to spend more time making the characters interesting next time. Still, I would recommend checking this out whenever you have the time.

Overall 7/10

Cardfight!! Vanguard Divinez Review

Posted on August 4, 2024 by dreager1

Cardfight Vanguard is definitely one of the most impressive franchises out there. The fact that it has managed to create an all star franchise 3 times with classic, G, and then the Dress series is crazy. If you count the reboot and Divinez as separate then they’ve pulled this off 5 times. The fact of the matter is it can absolutely hold its own with Yugioh right now which would have been seen as nearly impossible back in the day. This is definitely a whole new era of hype and I don’t see it going down any time soon. This season is definitely a lot of fun.

The series starts off by introducing us to Akina. His little sister Hikari has been sickly for a long time so he works a job while in school to have the money for her bills. She occasionally gets better but always relapses. One day a cosmic being known as Gabwelius shows up and declares that the fated clash is about to begin. Several fighters have been selected for this and the winner will get their wish granted. Akina knows this is his chance to save Hikari and so he quickly enters. How hard can this Cardfight game be right? Of course everyone has their own reasons for entering and with wishes being what’s at stake, nobody is going to back down. Also why is Gabwelius hosting this tournament in the first place? There is a mysterious masked fighter who is trying to sabotage the tournament as well for some reason. A lot of mysteries need to be unmasked here.

I would say the series covers a whole lot of ground in 13 episodes. We get to see everyone’s motivations here and so the characters are really fleshed out. It reminds me a bit of Fate/Zero with how almost everyone feels like a main character and gets focus. The only decision I didn’t agree with here is how it’s not a standard bracket. So you just fight if your name is called and that means the same person can fight a whole lot. This is used to get Akina to fight multiple times in a row and I get that he’s the main character but seeing everyone get the standard amount of fights would have been better I’d say. It’s a minor thing though, I definitely enjoyed all of the fights either way.

As far as the characters go, I would say Akina is already better than the last one. Perhaps not in terms of skill level as that will take some time but he’s more confident which is always good. His wish is also a good one and the fact that he grinded out the training sessions enough to become world class in such a short amount of time speaks to his dedication. He really checks off all the right boxes of being a good lead so I really didn’t have any problems with him. He’s a good kid who who does the right thing and at the end of the day that’s what counts.

Hikari is more of a surprise standout character. Her determination is even greater than Akina’s and I would say that she easily has the best fight in the season. It’s an extremely personal duel with multiple insert songs and strong convictions on both sides. I’ll go more into this in the spoiler portion near the end of the review but yeah it’s good stuff all around. I really didn’t expect her character to go the direction that it did so definitely big props to her. This is another example of the show’s writing just being absolutely epic in every way.

Nao is the main heroine I would say. You would have some debates on this but ultimately her role is consistently large and she is also extremely important to Akina’s character development. She shows him how to really play and is always around to encourage him. He does the same to her and it’s really the ideal kind of bond between coworkers. She’s funny and talented which is a great combination and by the end of the series we see that she will only continue to improve from here. I’m definitely looking forward to her returning in a future story.

Suo is the main villain of the season and he’s okay but I don’t think he holds up compared to a lot of the previous villains. My main issue with him is a part of his character arc and that is that he barely feels anything. He is a very emotionless kind of character and he is just in this tournament because he was selected by destiny. He has one of the best themes in the season and a super strong deck though. His skills are the real deal but as a villain he wasn’t super interesting.

Then we have Mikoto who is rather famous and always has to keep up a nice attitude as a model. So by night she enjoys trash talking in Cardfight Vanguard while playing it online. It’s nice to see the online version of the game after so long because it makes sense that this would be really big too. In theory in a world that is absolutely filled with people playing the game, there would be a ton of people playing the online game too. So that works out pretty well. I think they could have done a bit more with her character and this is one of the only times where it felt like the 13 episode count was a little restrictive. She was all set up to be like a main character and she was definitely strong but doesn’t get to do a whole lot.

Still, Mikoto’s another character to bolster the cast with so in a future season I would expect her to still be doing a lot. She definitely has the skills and the fun personality to make this work out. Then we actually have some old characters who show up as main characters. You have cameo characters like Raika and Megumi but they don’t actually do anything here. I’m guessing they will eventually cross paths though and that will be super hype. In the meantime Taizo and Masanori get to have the lead roles.

Masanori enjoys trolling everyone as always and talking a real big game. I still wouldn’t say that he’s one of the better villains or anything like that but at this point he’s lasted for so long that I have to respect the hustle a bit. No matter what scheme is going on, he wants a part of it. He’s been on so many villain groups by now that it’s crazy. He also puts up a pretty good fight here so yeah the guy never gives up.

Then we have Taizo who is a fun character. He’s always been one of the strongest fighters on the planet but the problem is that he still manages to lose. This season sort of continues the trend so I do tend to feel bad for him. It’s got to be rough always being so close to the top but never actually getting to hold the gold trophy. Making it that far is super impressive of course but it’s probably not a huge consolation at the end of the day when you taste defeat.

Okay the next four paragraphs including this one are going to be spoiler based so skip them if you haven’t seen the show yet. It’s time to talk about their ideals. Specifically I’m talking about Akina and Hikari. So Hikari shows up from the future because Akina ended up losing the duel and so Suo’s wish ended up murdering everyone in the area. In an instant Hikari lost everything and she spent years on her own looking for Akina. Hoping that somehow he survived but this was not the case. So finally she entered the fated clash of her own and after winning, went back in time to save Akina. She tried a lot of different things to mess with the tournament but nothing worked. On this point I do have to say that I feel like she could have tried more things though. When it comes to time travel I’m always ready to backseat drive.

Why not snatch the card out of Suo’s hand so he can’t participate in the tournament? You could also do the same thing to Akina. There are a ton of ways you could sabotage everything as well. So I’m a bit skeptical here as I usually am with these things. Well, either way Hikari eventually decides to final option is to defeat Akina in a duel and get him to give up. Akina of course figures that he still needs to try and beat Suo so that he can cure Hikari and save the world. They have their duel which as I said earlier is the best in the season.

Both characters lay out their arguments but I thought Hikari’s absolutely destroyed his every step of the way. Keep in mind that she had to actually live out her entire future. So when Akina shouts that he won’t leave her, her comeback of “You already did!” is absolutely on point. Throughout the duel Akina keeps acting as if this is a hypothetical future which is why he says he won’t let it happen but it doesn’t sound very effective because he has no reasons for why it won’t happen this time. In theory it’s the same situation and he will get wrecked.

I don’t blame him for not believing in Fate because you can always change things but he should have based his arguments around that instead of just insisting that he would win. Hikari’s points were all a lot more valid and you have to consider the fact that she is still alive in the future. So at least the illness doesn’t seem fatal yet. Perhaps Akina shouldn’t be risking everyone’s lives for this wish when he already knows how it’s all going to end. Or at least how it can end. At the end of the day that’s why it is a clash of ideals though. Neither character is wrong and both should keep trying to do what they can. I just think Hikari’s positions were a lot stronger and she won that debate.

As always the animation is really solid here. I like all of the effects and backdrops. The character designs are really solid too so I definitely have no problems with them either. The soundtrack is excellent with quite a few good songs here. Unfortunately it is difficult to find them online for now except for videos with a ton of background noise. Either way you can be assured that these help to enhance the show and make the duels that much more epic. They were not holding back at all on the production elements here.

At the end of the day, the key to becoming an elite anime is to make sure that every episode forces you to watch it. Every episode needs to be important and powerful which this one pulls off. It may only be 13 episodes but each one meant a whole lot. It’s why a series like this can have more hype moments than a series with 20+ episodes. It’s not a pace that is easy for just any series to pull off but Cardfight is built for this. Mix in the fact that there is usually a new gimmick in every season and you’re never bored. I wonder if the user effects will return or not. Guess we’ll find out soon.

Overall, Cardfight continues to excel in every season. This new cast is already extremely strong and they are definitely ready to hold their own part of the franchise. I look forward to seeing Akina and the gang return again sooner than later. It’ll be difficult to pass this season but there’s always a chance. It sounds as though next season will be having an even bigger tournament. Throw in some heavy hitters like Tohya and this one could definitely make a lot of noise. I do always love to see some crossover aspects after all so that would do the trick but even without that, tournaments are always a lot of fun.

Overall 9/10

Cardfight!! Vanguard will+Dress Season 2 Review

Posted on July 29, 2023 by dreager1

Cardfight returns with another dynamite season! It truly is one of the most legendary comebacks out there and once the Dress franchise is over it will be fun to formally compare this segment of the franchise to the original, G, and then the reboot. While Tohya gets the shaft in this one, we still get a ton of great duels in each episode. The tensions are constantly high and you really feel like the action never stops. Trust me you don’t want to put this series down until you have completed it!

The main plot here follows Yu-Yu, Tohya, and Raika as they travel to America after having won the last big tournament. It should be a fun event where they just test their limits against the most powerful fighters out there but ultimately that’s not all that is in store for them. See, Cardfighters have been vanishing, defecting from their teams, and generally playing a more soulless game. There seems to be a group at the center of all this and it’s become such a big deal that even the government is involve. With Yu-Yu away on business, can his friends back home really defend themselves? They’re definitely going to need to improve their skills if they want to make a difference here.

First off I appreciate that the plot is really going strong here. The villains over at Team Uniformers are done with hiding/biding their time. They’re going straight for the wins now and that makes them quite the sizable threat. This feels like a modern version of the Link Joker story. Sure they may not literally be sealing people’s souls but it’s the same effect as anyone who is defeated quickly drinks the Kool-Aid and stops dueling like themself. It does result in a massive boost of power too which is something you always want in a duel so that makes thing tempting. I would have added some explicit supernatural theme to the mix just because otherwise it’s in an odd middle ground that makes the defeated fighters just look bad.

One loss shouldn’t be enough to make you toss your deck and lifetime of experience away right? That’s where the Link Joker plot had the edge since it was actual magic. The villain group is quite stacked though as their members were already super powerful before they got turned. Now that they have embraced the powers of darkness their abilities have grown even more to an absolutely terrifying degree. At this point the only heroes I would trust to hold their own in a fight would be Yu-Yu, Tohya, Danji, and Raika and even then Raika is already starting to get outmatched. Meanwhile the villains have at least 5 top tier fighters and they’re only getting better.

The season is fairly short as always compared to the good ole days when the seasons were 30+ episodes but they still cover a lot of ground in these 12 episodes. Like I said pretty much every episode has a big duel in it. Additionally each of the characters have their own battle themes here which is nice since it makes the soundtrack a lot more versatile. Plus just about all of the characters have hype rock type themes. Ironically Yu-Yu’s theme is one of the only ones I don’t care for so when he’s dueling it just doesn’t make for a very satisfying climax. Usually your theme plays when you’re about to win after all.

An excellent overall soundtrack is another reason why this season is so good though. Then we have the animation which is quite sharp. I’m not going to say that it is the best in the business or anything like that but it’s very clean, bright, and smooth. You couldn’t ask for much more than that. The battles really pop out at you. Also back to the soundtrack, this one starts to play the ending theme during the last scenes of an episode which is always a great move because it works so well for the cliffhanger. Another great decision there. So now lets talk about the characters.

Yu-Yu has really come a long way over the years. He’s a really confident fighter here who is an undeniable powerhouse. At this point he’s one of the strongest fighters in the verse and while he isn’t unbeatable, I would still choose him to win in a fight against anyone except Tohya. Danji can beat him but Yu-Yu can also win so their battles tend to be more 50/50. Just as important as the power though is the fact that Yu-Yu actually feels like a leader now. He has a Goku moment where he walks in once everyone else has been defeated and you know that things are going to be all right.

His final duel in the season was definitely great and his character got to shine through. I’ll be able to point to him as a great example of a complete character arc. Meanwhile the main heroine Megumi hasn’t had as much to do lately. I think she’s going to need to get a bigger role soon because otherwise Urara has basically replaced her as the main heroine at this point. Megumi can fight well, she just needs more opportunities to get up there.

Tomari actually gets a fairly big duel here. You don’t really expect that things will go great for her but she does tend to step up as one of the senior members of the team when the chips are down so you do have to give her some props there. I don’t find her super impressive power-wise but I like her confidence. She’s a lot more likable than Zakusa who gets his share of big moments but I never end up buying into it. It feels like he always makes the wrong decisions and I would say that this season is no exception. This guy is not leadership material.

It’s sad to say but there isn’t much to talk about for Tohya here. He gets a duel and then basically vanishes for the season. It feels like they are building up for a big revenge match for him but it hasn’t happened yet. It’s a bit odd since he is one of their best bets to take down the villains but as long as it leads up to something soon then it’s fine. He got the biggest duel in both the first and second season so I guess he needed a break this time around.

Danji actually gets to take center stage near the end instead and looks great. I feel like he had lost a lot of hype since the older days where he was the big threat so his fans should be pleased here. As always I do think that he makes a lot of mistakes with his judgment like Zakusa. Danji needs to trust his friends more but he’s finally getting close to that. His intense fighting style with the fire and soccer is always fun to watch. When he brings his A game then he is definitely one of the best fighters.

Masanori is around as always and I will give him credit for being a persistent villain across every season. Seriously this guy never goes down and that is impressive in its own right. That being said, he hasn’t done anything to make himself stand out so by this point he has just become boring. I’m much more interested in every single one of the other villains. For example Jinki is still a compelling main villain. There are times where he seems to be against all of the violence so he is maybe thinking that he is the actual hero in all of this. We’ll have to see, but for the most part he doesn’t need that. In general just being a fun villain is enough here.

Then you have Sophie who is a really powerful villain as well. She went out of her way to humiliate Raika the whole time during their duel. You feel bad for Raika since he tries really hard in this season but just doesn’t look great. His skills have just reached their cap and he needs to either surpass his limits or be satisfied with taking loss after loss. Letting her bark at him without coming up with a counter was certainly a low moment for him. I still like Raika a lot as a more antagonist type character but as a hero it does feel like he immediately got a lot weaker.

Halona hasn’t done a whole lot yet but as the one who trained up Urara we already know that she is powerful. If she had ended up fighting Yu-Yu at the end we could have really seen her skills but that will have to wait for the next season. So far she is a fun villain to have around. Michiru is also a decent villain but since his heart isn’t really in the mission he doesn’t feel as compelling. The guy is basically going through the motions so that he can fight more powerful opponents but that’s about it. He will need a much stronger ambition if he wants to go further.

His abilities are good though and I always like characters who are really invested in the game. It would just be nice if he used those abilities to take the villains on instead of just working for them. He basically admits to Danji that he disagrees with their mission so that makes working for them even worse. Not a good look for him at all. Meanwhile Samuel is a new character here who gets some screen time but ultimately he hasn’t done a ton yet. He is good at pushing the plot along but as a character he’s a bit bland.

Finally there is Urara who in a lot of ways is one of the biggest focuses here. She falls for the lure of power here and then the heroes have to do their best to bring her back to reason. This does make Urara look rather bad for the most part since she was turned so easily. In a way she’s like a mirror looking back into how Yu-Yu used to be. She lacks confidence and so she is very susceptible to what people tell her. Urara doesn’t yet have the confidence to make her own decisions but by the end of the season she should almost be there.

Now what about the Uniformers’ ultimate objective? Well first we do have to admit that their plan has a tangible benefit. They really do make all of their fighters a lot more powerful. I don’t think you can really argue against that. Everyone immediately jumped up by turning the game into a science. The main problem Yu-Yu had with them was how they would force people to duel their way. If they made it purely optional then there wouldn’t really be a problem. Dueling by the book may not be all that fun but winning is a lot of fun so that should help to balance everything out right?

So I don’t think the idea of dueling with a soulless style is in itself a bad thing. Like any other job some may just want the best results. Like in a video game where you play as the broken character instead of your favorite one right? This is no exception and it’s only the pseudo magical element of brainwashing people that was iffy. It would have made for an interesting character arc if Urara decided to still use this style while keeping some of her personal modifications. I don’t think you should completely disregard the things you’ve learned after all. Skills are skills, they can’t be good or bad. It’s just all in how you use them. At the end of the day this show isn’t about the moral debate of how you obtain power but it’s still fun to think about.

Overall, Cardfight is in a really great spot here. This easily could have been used as more of a setup season and instead the show jumped right in for a ton of great action. The pacing here was on point and you can’t go wrong with everything happening here. The duels are insanely entertaining and extremely explosive. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a fun time. It’s very energetic throughout and the cast has grown to the point where there are a lot of likable players in every subplot. The final fight of an arc can go to any number of different people and so you get to try and guess who that will be. I’m definitely hyped to see how this wraps up in the next season or if this saga will keep going on for a while longer.

Overall 9/10

Cardfight!! Vanguard will+Dress Review

Posted on January 14, 2023 by dreager1

Cardfight’s dress series is easily one of the greatest success stories in all of anime. It went from being a show that was barely treading water and a few more iffy moments away from being a flat out bad show to going all the way to elite now. It’s absolutely in the conversation with How I Became Reincarnated as a Slime and Mob Psycho as the biggest improvements for a TV show. This one continues to excel the series up to new heights to the point where it can now compete with the top Vanguard seasons although the short length does hold it back somewhat.

The show starts off with a new girl named Urara showing up. She is brand new to the game of Vanguard but thought that it looked rather cool and Yu-Yu shows her the ropes. Before anyone has a chance to catch their breath, a mysterious guy named Zinki shows up and announces that he is hosting a big tournament. This will determine who are more powerful. The professional duelists or the ones who duel off the record like Yu-Yu’s group. There is even a name for these duelists, “Counter Fighters” and professional fighters are known as “Front Fighters”. Yu-Yu and the gang are always up for some fun duels so they accept the invitations but is this really a friendly competition or is there something more going on behind the scenes? It’s really hard to know for sure. Specifically the heroes invited from Team Blackout are Yu-Yu, Tohya, Megumi, Zakusa, and Tomari. Other fighters involved are Mirei and Haruka as well as the new girl Urara. Naturally there will be new fighters here as well like Taizo, Michiru, and Raika. Can Yu-Yu take all these guys down for the count?

One of the big draws of this season is that the entire thing is a tournament. There are no breaks, slice of life eps, or things to distract from the duels. Instead you have a whole lot of fighters all doing their best to rise to the top and prove that they have what it takes. A tournament is always a fantastic idea to try and get your show to the next level and this one definitely pulled it off. The rules were also fun as it was not your standard single elimination tournament. Instead you play in a type of round robin that continues until you have enough wins to move on. The only downside is that a ton of fights had to be off screen since this season is only 13 episodes. If you remove the first episode which takes place before the tournament then you only have 12 episodes to get through a massive tournament. Round robin style is way longer than single elimination after all so you can see how this would be a big one.

So it is regrettable that so many battles were off screen. If they had made this show 24 episodes instead then it would have really gotten a nice boost even more than what it already got. The only advantage I can think of to the show being so short is that you know each on screen duel is massive so you really get to see how things go. Unfortunately that also means the victor is obvious almost every time but you still have to try and savor the battle for your character even if it may be the only one that he or she gets in the season.

Naturally the animation is really sharp here. The visuals are really good at all times and it helps to make sure that the anime is operating on a high level at all times. A great duel will be even more fun when the animation is stunning after all. They go all out with a lot of the battles here and everything is very streamlined. The character designs are memorable and everyone has a nice color scheme that stands out from the pack so they’re all unique. The soundtrack is also an area where this season really stands out.

Each character has their own theme that plays when they are about to win the duel. Yu-Yu is stuck with his old theme so it is easily the weakest one but everyone else has themes that really pop out while they are dueling. The one that stands out the most by far has to be Raika’s though. His Youthberk song really throws a lot of intensity into the moment and you really can’t count him out. This song plays early on in the season in his first duel against Yu-Yu and I’ve had to listen to that song many times after that. It was a powerful way to kick things off.

There was also a very solid lyrical song that played during the first episode when Zinki recruited the heroes and it helped to set the stage. At the end of the day what the series was lacking was a very dramatic tone and atmosphere that I had come to expect from earlier seasons. Season two of the dress series had some fantastic duels and a great climax but any time the characters weren’t dueling it was not nearly as hype. This season fixed that right off the bat with such high stakes. Then there was another great song that played to signal the end of the round robin portion of the tournament. We got to see each fighter get eliminated and what an emotional moment that was for them. Definitely stuff we hadn’t really seen before.

Yu-Yu is a solid main character here. He’s still a bit timid for my liking but he has slowly started to be a bit bolder. At the very least if someone is trash talking he will respond. His resolve is questioned once again but this time Yu-Yu doesn’t take it quite as hard as he once did. He is still shaken up though and I hope by next season that things like this won’t phase him anymore. He’s been through a lot so I want to see Yu-Yu embrace that more. You also can’t help but feel like his skills aren’t as good as some of the other fighters here despite winning a lot. In general he’s still got a ways to go but at least has made strides in his development. His current outfit is also many miles better than the original one so it’s great to see him getting the clothes upgrade here.

As always Tohya is the best character here but he doesn’t get a ton to do this time. We know that he was cruising through the tournament but most of his duels are off screen which is a shame. He’s a character who got a massive amount of character development over the past two seasons and has retained all of it. It’s always a pleasure to see him and of course he is still one of the strongest characters in the series. He fights with a lot of passion and ferocity. I look forward to him hopefully having a bigger role next season.

Then there’s Megumi who may have been the main heroine for a while but in this season she is mainly replaced by Urara. It’s pretty tough for her the whole time because it does seem like she has hit a bit of a wall. She’s a very good duelist but has been unable to catch up to Danji and has been left behind by Yu-Yu. I could see her getting some kind of a bigger character development arc out of this down the road though. She’s a fun fighter and I expect to see more from her as well.

I’m still not really a big fan of Zakusa though. I get that he can be tough when he wants to be but it’s never really convincing since he is comic relief all the time. If he was serious more often then that would really help big time. As it stands he just isn’t strong enough to pull this off. Then there is Tomari who is a fun character and does her best to help out as well. She is a decent duelist as well and certainly talks tough but feels even more doomed than Megumi most of the time. She would really need a new deck to go much further.

Masanori gets a minor role here as a villain in the shadows but the guy has already overstayed his welcome. It’s no longer possible to take him seriously so I hope Zinki holds onto the master villain role instead of sharing it with Masanori. Zinki is already way more interesting than that guy and he hasn’t really gotten to do much of anything yet. You at least know that he’s powerful and can hold his own in a fight though. That’s the kind of villain you want to have overseeing everything.

Danji surprisingly misses out on the whole thing. The show missed an easy opportunity for a massive upset by having him get taken down by the new villains. I suppose this way he keeps his hype for the next season as one of the strongest duelists though. Mirei and Haruka return but it’s safe to say that the power creep has gone right past them as they don’t look very dominant or imposing in this round. They really just get destroyed in most of the rounds although at least Mirei lasted long enough to make it to the last stage. Honestly she should have been more dominant and crushed Urara if you ask me. Her skills were just so good in the last season. She had bad luck in the seeding with fighting Raika so early on though.

Urara is a fun character even if I think her skills were overhyped. She tries her best and learns quickly so she gets to be on the level of the pros almost immediately but it feels like it should take a little longer to get quite so high up. She’s probably a little too sensitive with her empathic abilities since just seeing others play while being upset can mess her up a bit though. She even gets a bit sensitive while dueling if she is taken out of the zone. I expect her to improve on all of this and ultimately be a tough fighter who can really rise up the ranks of Team Blackout. So as a rookie she has come quite far but is still under some of the more senior members for me.

From the 3 big fighters introduced the first would be Taizo. He seems to be a step below the other two but is still great at what he does. He’s a top ranking pro and he has put everything on the line in order to win this tournament. If he loses then he may have to become rich and take over a company instead while feeling unfulfilled so he can’t let that happen. He takes things a lot less personally than the rest of the duelists and just likes to have a good time so I can really respect him there. It’s nice to see someone who is just embracing the game. Of course Taizo is taking is very seriously and trying to win but he’s not being a jerk about it.

Then you have Raika who in many ways is the biggest character here. He looks up to Michiru who is generally considered to be the strongest player out there but is trying to gain ground quickly. Raika believes that winning is everything and you shouldn’t have fun when you lose. It’s a classic character type that we’ve seen before but he can be a bit whiny at times. In fact I’d say that he whines a whole lot. He works well as a villain but it will take me a while to really get used to the guy as a likable character.

His best episode was easily during the fight against Tohya which is naturally a big highlight of the season in general. Tohya is really the only one who can really understand Raika the whole time and so they actually have a pretty good discussion about their way of battling and winning. Of course Raika isn’t able to hold his end of the conversation quite as well so it’s almost like Tohya is talking to a wall half the time. I can’t deny Raika’s skills though, he is a top duelist and that’s why he does work well as a really imposing villain. He’s also got the best theme in the whole show so he’s a lot of fun to see duel but I’d like him to be a little more confident without the whining.

Finally we have Michiru but he’s actually not as impressive as his reputation. Here’s what it boils down to for me. He’s supposed to be the best and all but he’s more of the quiet type of character. He really likes to analyze the plays and try to console the opponent but he doesn’t have any loud confidence. You always feel like he is doomed to be defeated as the tournament goes on and there’s nothing super interesting about his fighting style. I think what we needed was another duel or two for him to really help and flesh out his character. Especially with it appearing that he will miss most of season 3, he didn’t get to do a whole lot. I think he had potential but is just overwhelming as the big power-house.

There are other fighters in the tournament of course but for the most part they are busy getting absolutely destroyed off screen and don’t really get to do anything. Again, that’s the only rough part about the season being so short. Particularly when you’re going for a tournament plot since usually you need a whole lot more episodes for something like that. Still, I couldn’t walk away from the show feeling anything other than a whole lot of satisfaction. For me the show was elite even with the 13 episodes. It all goes by super quickly after all and the fights were absolutely spectacular.

This tournament was a real shot to the arm for the series and gave it the boost that it needed. If the next season can keep up the momentum then it should be really clear sailing from here on out. It’ll be tough to surpass this season without another tournament of course but at least the way the show ends we are continuing that to an extent. I’m actually not positive on exactly what the rules are going forward since it all seems a bit vague but I’m eager for more duels and in theory the opponents will be even more fierce now.

Overall, Cardfight Will + Dress is a fantastic show and the best yet in this part of the series. I would highly recommend checking this one out even if you aren’t familiar with the series. The whole point of this season is just to get the best of the best so that they can all compete. Is it perhaps a little too soon? Maybe, since we don’t have a massive cast yet, but it’s also a good way to kick things into high gear right away. You’ll be satisfied with how things play out and while some matches you will probably feel could be overturned, each battle just has so much energy. This season is a thrill a minute and that’s the kind of thing you always want to see. I can also say for once that the season is great in all areas as opposed to Tohya having to carry it through the tough times. It’s going to be a long wait until the next season.

Overall 9/10

Cardfight!! Vanguard G: The Prologue Review

Posted on January 7, 2023 by dreager1

Cardfight Vanguard is one of the greatest franchises of all time without a doubt. It always delivers on amazing duels and constant moments of hype and amazement that you just would not have seen coming. The series is just built different and it’s cool that it got a fun little prologue story like this. It’s a bit of an AU as things happen differently than in the main series but it’s fun to see Chrono return for the G part of the series. We get 2 duels here within the 5 chapters which is a pretty good mix I’d say.

The series starts off with Chrono scaring off some bullies who were picking on a weak cardfighter. He is always defending the weak but doesn’t really know what to do with himself. Well that changes when he finds a deck in his locker. He figures that he can sell this for good money and then take the world by storm but he is confronted by the store’s assistant Kamui who insists on dueling Chrono first. Just tossing out the deck would be a waste and his boss Shin also agrees. Chrono will have to fight hard to get past these two veterans. The man called Shin also seems very suspicious with how much he knows about Chrono. Playing these duels may end up teaching Chrono more about his past so that’s another good incentive to this fight now. Fight hard Chrono!

The chapters are all fairly short so I can only imagine that this was a very small volume even once it was released physically. Hopefully you could buy it at a discounted price and then it would definitely be a really good pick-up here. The art is solid and it captures all of the characters that you know very well. The character proportions are on point without a doubt. The action scenes are good and it’s all very clear so you couldn’t ask for much more from the series. A good amount of effort was put in and this could have been really fun as a long ongoing as well. You can never have too much fun with more and more Cardfight spinoffs coming out after all. This could have been another long one to add to the list.

As the main character Chrono is pretty good here. Unlike his main version he actually doesn’t come close to giving up or forfeiting this time. That’s a weakness that he has in the main series as well as the anime but in this prologue he fights all of his matches all the way to the end. That’s exactly how it should be for an up and coming duelist. You have to take the losses along with the wins. Chrono is a very solid character as a result and he fights really hard considering that he’s just getting started. He’s certainly ahead of the curve.

Kamui’s role isn’t super big but he was always a main character in G so it’s fitting that he got his own duel here. As one of the originals I would always expect him to absolutely crush Chrono though. I know Cardfight is set up in a way where the matches will almost always appear to be close but at least you definitely shouldn’t have any doubts about who will ultimately end up winning the match. Then we have Shin who is a lot more mysterious looking than usual. What I liked here is that Shin acts a little more like himself from the prequel anime. I believe this pre dates that one but it’s just nice to have him as a very serious adversary and cardfighter as opposed to being a washed up storeowner who can’t fight anymore.

Shin’s portrayal here is good and he actually does remember the good ole days. His deck was solid and he helps Chrono to pass his limits which is certainly a big deal. He works really well as a final boss in a prequel as he gives Chrono just enough info to get him interested in the game while also maintaining the mystery that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Chrono will still have a lot to look forward to and so you have cameos from characters like Ibuki and Tokoha who are around.

There isn’t a whole lot to say though because even if you merge all 5 chapters of the series it’s barely longer than one of those big One Punch Man chapters. It’s a very quick read that it just here to get you to see a fun pair of cardfights. Fortunately that’s all that I need in order to have a good time. The duels are good fun with a solid amount of detail put into them. They explain enough of the rules to where you should be able to follow along. They don’t bother to explain some of the more intense rules like stride riding but you can just figure that it’s a really impressive move.

At his best Aichi always does tend to beat Chrono for me but Chrono starts out stronger and this manga really shows why. He is already able to stand up for himself right from the start and he is quick on the uptake. It took Aichi quite a while to really believe in himself and that’s just not a problem that Chrono has. This prologue really gets you interested in re watching some of those classic G battles.

Overall, As a prologue I would say the goal of the manga should be to try and get some new fans into the franchise. With that in mind I would say this succeeds as it gives you a lot of reasons to come and check out the show real quick. You see enough interesting characters in the background and cool dueling mechanics to make you want a little more. With that in mind you should definitely check this one out. It really has no issues and it’s not like it’ll take you very long to read it either. It’s just two quick duels and you’ll get a flavor for what the franchise is like.

Overall 7/10

Cardfight!! Vanguard Gaiden: Shining Swordsman Review

Posted on August 14, 2022 by dreager1

Cardfight Vanguard is a massive franchise at this point with lots of shows, video games, manga, and more. It’s good to see it excel because I’d consider it to be a true rival to Yugioh. It absolutely holds its own in the comparison and now this would be a manga to focus on the card world which is always a fun angle. The series is really short at 2 volumes though and feels a bit incomplete. It’s almost like taking a glimpse into the world but not really seeing the beginning or ending. Still a fun journey but I hope we get a sequel series at some point.

The series starts with Prince Alfred deciding to surprise his troops by showing up during a normal battle. His top warrior Ahmes isn’t thrilled about this as he points out that Alfred is a ruler and shouldn’t be throwing himself into reckless danger like this. Alfred shrugs it off but then wounded soldiers begin turning into giant monsters. In an instant the clan is surrounded and their fighters across the kingdom are being assaulted by this mysterious force. Nobody knows how these creatures started appearing or what triggers them but they must be removed at once. The heroes may even need to rely on some experimental weapons in order to fight back but the risk may be greater than the actual enemies.

The enemy creatures may not have elaborate designs but they do the trick. You understand right away that these are mindless monsters that want nothing but destruction. It means that negotiation is off the table right away and the heroes must just try to survive. The villains do a lot of damage though particularly because they appear out of nowhere and have the element of surprise on their side. Additionally their defenses are quite good, only a handful of fighters seem to be able to go up against them.

The stakes are high here too as the series isn’t afraid to throw in a body count. So many characters are blown away and it can get surprisingly intense as they are ripped in half. Ultimately it’s easy to see why the extra power from the risky swords would be tempting but most characters can’t hold this power for long. In the end I would say there are 4 really important characters here among the crowd.

First is the creator of the swords, Blastid. This guy appears shady from the start but his swords are the real deal. They can cut through just about anything but if they don’t like their wielder, they will cut through him first. Blastid is protected all the while as the swords cannot harm him. I do think the heroes didn’t take him seriously enough as a threat though. When his swords murder one of their comrades he’s locked up but Blastid just breaks free and arrives later on to talk to the heroes about using another one.

They don’t seem to react to the fact that he’s no longer in jail and just take it in stride. I guess during a war you can be distracted but I was expecting some kind of reaction. “You can’t be here!” or something like that. I mean this guy appears to just be a villain flat out so go take him back to jail right? It may be hard to hold him but this guy is clearly shifty. Towards the end we get a twist about him so he’ll be back if we ever get a sequel.

Then we have Junos who is one of Alfred’s top soldiers and you feel bad for the guy. He trained all his life but was ultimately never able to match Ahmes in term of skill. Now with the swords he feels like he can finally contribute. Unfortunately he is given 0 support as Ahmes believes Junos won’t be ready and tries to talk him down. It’s sad because Junos was handling the power well enough at first but after the questioning started then he began to falter. That seemed to just suck the confidence right out of him. Ultimately Junos still has his big moment but I think Ahmes is to blame there because Junos may have done all right otherwise. Now it’s too late for him.

Ahmes is a very down to business character and outside of the Junos situation I thought he handled everything else pretty well. At the end of the day he is here to guard Prince Alfred and that guy makes it really hard on him. I don’t blame him for wanting Alfred to stay in the rear because it’s a lot easier to protect someone who isn’t constantly in battle. You figure from the start that he will become Blaster Blade so this works as a good origin story for him. He did well and earns his rep as the top guard.

Finally you have Prince Alfred. I think he’s a good character but I wish he was a little stronger. It’s a good morale boost for the soldiers to see your prince out on the battlefield but you need to be fairly powerful to ensure you don’t die. In any series when the king steps on the battlefield, it’s because he is a true fighter. It seems like Alfred never trained all that much so it comes off as a bit of an arrogant move on his part to think he could just walk in here and deal damage. It doesn’t quite work like that and so he is mainly ineffective for the whole adventure.

His father the King could at least fight well as we see in a bonus chapter at the end of the volume. Back in the day he was a lot like Alfred in that he would travel around looking for fights to help the kingdom. The difference there is that he was already known as a well regarded fighter who could look after himself. He clearly put in the work and that’s key for fulfilling that kind of role. I’d say it’s something that you have to do in order to be a ruler.

The series ends with a lot of open plot lines like the start of the Blaster Dark group, where did the monsters even come from, and what about those mysterious swords? It seems like an intentional cliffhanger to set up the status quo in the original series but I would be up for a sequel to show things in more depth. It was also a little convenient how the monsters all just decided to flee. Otherwise things were looking bad for the heroes. Potentially with the new sword Blaster Blade could have taken them all down but I wonder about that. The sheer numbers were going to be difficult to deal with either way.

As for the artwork, it is a little unrefined but looks good. I would put it more at tie-in level than a full fledged manga personally. It can be a little hard to follow the action scenes and it just rough around the edges. It does have its good moments during the action scenes too but I wouldn’t consider this a real strength to the series so it could improve a bit there.

At the end of the day I would say this series just lacks a hook to take it to the next level. The adventure is fun and all but it doesn’t feel like there is a ton of substance to the adventure. Like I said earlier, it feels like we’re jumping into the story midway through and leaving before the ending so it’s like a sneak preview. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but in the end it feels like a fairly standard adventure that you won’t remember much in the end. There also weren’t any true standout characters to help elevate this to the next level either.

Overall, Cardfight Vanguard Gaiden is a fun look into the world of Kray and how dangerous it can be. The heroes really have to go all out in order to stand a chance against the monsters. If every threat appears as suddenly as this one, I dare say that the heroes can never afford to rest in peace. If you’re a Cardfight fan then I’d say to check this one out. If you’re a standard fantasy fan then this one probably won’t impress you but it’s still not bad by any means. You’ll get your share of action and adventure. It’s also such a quick read that it’s definitely worth checking out.

Overall 6/10

Cardfight!! Vanguard YouthQuake

Posted on August 7, 2022 by dreager1

This is a pleasant manga so far. I’ve knocked out the first volume and it captures that low key energy of discovering a trading card game for the first time and having fun with it. I don’t see this being a super long running story but technically there are a lot of stories you can do here. I’ll have a review up as soon as I’ve completed the series.

Overall 7/10

Cardfight!! Vanguard overDress Season 2 Review

Posted on May 28, 2022 by dreager1

To put it mildly I was not a big fan of the first season. For a franchise that is used to getting 9s and 8s before, that one only got a 6. It had a lot of glaring issues and would have been a whole lot lower if not for Tohya taking the whole season on his back and keeping it afloat. I’ve rewatched his fights many times on Youtube while I have not rewatched any of the other episodes at all. Well, season 2 seems to have gotten the memo as Tohya is a full main character now and we even got a big fight between groups here. Season 2 is a complete step up in every way and while Tohya still carries all of the best moments, the episodes without him as the focus are finally solid here. We’re not quite at the great level yet but now I can say this season is pretty good.

Last time Tohya torched the banner of Team Blackout and Danji ran off somewhere. So this season begins with the fallout from that. Tohya is trying to make amends for what he has done and is starting by getting the banner back together and fixing the amusement park. He’s done rather well for himself and gradually everyone starts hanging out with him and acknowledging him as a good guy. Tohya is not very comfortable being part of a group and so he has to get used to this. There isn’t a lot of time to take it easy though as a group has started going around burning other team’s banners and they’re doing this across the country.

Tohya’s old partner is in on this but the mastermind is Mirei, the leader of team Daybreak. She will have to be taken down to restore peace in the Cardfight community. It won’t be easy though as she is the head of a multi million dollar company and her bodyguard is…Danji? Why has he crossed over to the villain’s side and will Tohya be able to take him down this time? So far he has not proven up to the task but now is his chance to win the rematch and help his new friends out at the same time. He can’t afford to lose!

With season 1 one of the many issues was just how aimless it could be. You would barely have a cardfight even happen sometimes. The humor didn’t work and Yuyu was a rather sad main character. Well, season 2 works on this by having more of a plot right away. Having Tohya work to atone from last time is already a good starting premise since it reminds you of the stakes from last time. We’ve also got an actual villain that isn’t comic relief here. (Referring to Tohya’s partner from last time) So the stakes are higher and the season is a lot more personal. Danji’s got his own plot here too but I’ll stick to the heroes for now.

Tohya is still my favorite character and it isn’t even close. He just does a really great job and you can tell that he’s a very responsible person too. He’s not taking the easy way here. He also didn’t have to be the guy to shut down team Daybreak but he goes in anyway. Then when he fights Danji he doesn’t back down and challenges him to a Cardfight. That’s exactly what I want to see from the tough rival here.

There are a lot of callbacks to the original fight. When Tohya asks Danji if he has any drive left that’s when the music starts up and you get pumped. Man that episode has a ton of great replay value and you could watch the fight so many times. There are fake-outs and moments when both combatants seem like they are going to win. It just doesn’t end and you can really feel satisfaction for the victor when it’s all over. It’s a spectacular fight and a 9/10 episode. Definitely the pinnacle for the season even if it wasn’t the end arc fight.

But we already knew that the Tohya parts were going to be great. We knew that he was the guy who carried season 1 so you are probably more curious about the rest of the cast and events. Well, that’s definitely fair and that’s exactly where this season excels over the first. So lets head over to the Danji plot now. Mirei is his younger sister and she is blind which is naturally quite rough if you want to play the game of Cardfight. They were very close back in the day but one day she was to be put into an arranged marriage and Danji found out that the guy was no good so he caused a scene and cancelled the wedding.

Only he knows the truth and everyone else thought he was acting out since Danji used to be a bit of a delinquent. So Danji was basically forced out and Mirei’s guardian Haruka told the world that he was dead. They even had a funeral for him. Well, now her overall goal is to use Cardfight to bring people together in a way where everyone can be equal. By each group having their own flag it means that can’t happen so they all have to be burned. Additionally no emotions are allowed during the games so that people don’t feel sad when they lose.

In a way she has turned her tragic past into her drive to make Cardfight the safest game around. A game where you can always be happy and the groups she takes out will thank her someday. It’s definitely an overly optimistic view of how things would go since you can probably imagine how each of the groups are quite upset at her for burning their flags. Who would be happy about that right? To an extent she has been tricked by Haruka who just wants Mirei to be happy but it’s also partially that Mirei has been sheltered from the actual effects of her policies. A lot of people also support them so she just doesn’t have a proper worldview now.

Danji is basically blackmailed into being her driver by Haruka. He is not to let her know that he’s the long lost brother and has to play it cool. He does want to be with her so this is how he does it but along the way that means he is basically overlooking all the crazy things that the group is doing. I heavily disagreed with Danji on this and in general he doesn’t look great in this season. He should have come clean to Mirei a lot sooner. Sure he might get sued and chased out of town again but she deserves to know and the longer he doesn’t say anything, the more it is like he’s basically tricking her too.

Particularly as we see later on that Haruka records all of their conversations. Danji knows this and doesn’t say anything so now this is also an invasion of privacy since Mirei is talking to him in confidence and doesn’t realize that she’s being recorded. Danji is passive as she meets with the heroes and debates. It’s all rather hard on him but he’s just not as outgoing and decisive as he was in season 1. He’ll be back to normal for season 3 but he’s just disappointing throughout the entire season. He makes all of the wrong calls and found himself on the wrong side. In a way the show may have been paralleling how Tohya atoned the right way and Danji as being in the wrong here but I’m not sure if that’s 100% intentional. It makes a lot of sense so I can roll with that though.

This shouldn’t be used as an excuse for Danji during his battle with Tohya though. Listen when you take the field in a Cardfight battle then you have to accept the results no matter the outcome. So even if he was dealing with some things, there is no backing out now. Danji may have been super annoying the whole time but at least he still does have a lot of skills and I doubt Yuyu would have been able to stop him.

As for Yuyu, he is still the main character and it’s fair to say that he gets the most screen time but at this point he shares so much time with both Danji and Tohya that it’s not by a huge margin. I’m completely cool with this because I’m still not a big fan of his. He does make some good speeches during the duels but he’s another character who is just a bit too passive and doesn’t just get out there. He has a little more confidence than he used to, but still just lets Mirei walk all over him in their verbal debate. If he keeps up the upwards trend then he should be set for season 3 but we’ll see how that goes.

As for Mirei, she’s the main villain and will be appearing a lot so it’s important that she be a good character as well. Fortunately I would say that she is fairly solid. I wouldn’t say her goals make a whole lot of sense when you think about it and she gets manipulated a lot but that’s why making her blind was a very smart decision. It makes a lot of her choices believable because your whole worldview is just so different if you have to rely on what other people tell you your whole life. I can’t really imagine what it’s like to be blind and this did have a big toll on her.

So while I think she could have handled things differently, it’s not something that I would seriously hold against her. Particularly when the heroes have multiple opportunities to talk to her and end up chickening out each time. Perhaps they would have been able to have gotten through to her a little sooner. Her guardian Haruka is also responsible for a lot of this as she takes the job a little too seriously. Haruka tries to keep Mirei in a bubble and make decisions for her but this doesn’t tend to end well. I can appreciate her intent but I would say she handled things poorly as well. If Haruka had realized the truth behind the arranged marriage and why Danji broke it up then that would be one thing but without that she is on the losing side here.

Then there’s Megumi who is still the main heroine…sorta. I feel like her role is so small that you almost forget that she is the heroine. She is around a lot of course but doesn’t get a whole lot to do. In part this is because she doesn’t have a big rival like the others although they try to play the kid up as her rival. He’s not much of a threat compared to the others but he can duel so I suppose that will have to do. Megumi is a solid character either way.

Tomari gets some action here and shows that she can still duel with the best of them. She is a member of the team after all so you’d expect her to be able to duel. I was glad she got a little shine here. Tomari tends to serve as one of the more experienced members of the group so she should absolutely be able to pitch in when needed and she keeps the characters sharp. Zakusa is also around but I was never as much of a fan of him. He has his whole punk angle where he starts to talk tough and then he’s usually mild mannered but that whole dynamic never works. It definitely doesn’t for Zakusa and he just isn’t very interesting to me. It doesn’t help that he’s another very passive character.

This may be why I like Tohya so much since he actually goes out there and gets things done while the other characters prefer to just talk and talk all the time. The cast isn’t very strong yet which also didn’t help season 1 since that was all about the characters. Here we have a lot of duels and the impending threat of team Daybreak so that kept everyone focused. The duels are really good so I do want to emphasize that the show did that justice. The stakes are high and the music is very fitting for each one of the duels.

Finally there’s Masanori and I still can’t take him seriously as a villain. I get that he’s always around and seems to be the mastermind behind everything but he takes so many Ls and at what point is he supposed to start being a serious threat? Right now it doesn’t seem like he can beat the heroes even if he tries his best and I don’t get the feeling that he even knows what he will do next. The guy is a true wild card without a doubt but not one that you need to fear.

The soundtrack is quite excellent. The gyroaxia song returns for Tohya as he questions Danji’s drive and it really is a song that gets you pumped up. The animation is also fairly solid. I don’t think there’s any scene that quite matches when Tohya pulled off his special transformation in season 1 but it’s all pretty solid though. You shouldn’t have any complaints on the technical side here as they don’t phone any of that in.

In terms of negatives, I’d say the only thing here is that the first half of the season can be a little weak. The show builds up to the war against Daybreak so in the first episodes you hear about them and see Mirei through the Danji subplot but not a whole lot happens. It’s got that season 1 vibe of being more of an aimless slice of life. It’s better this time though because it isn’t truly aimless, not to mention the episodes aren’t as weak. We don’t get a whole episode of Yuyu being sick after all.

In the main plot we have Tohya trying to get the town to accept him and in the B plot we have Danji getting absolutely devastated in every scene. So at least things are happening and there’s always a duel around. It’s just not until the second part of the season where we kick things into high gear with the big battles of clan against clan. The show’s humor is also fairly decent. The heroes running around trying to get a free meal was decent enough. If the whole show was like this then I’m sure it would have lost a star and been around the first season’s level but we did get the action so this ended up making it.

Cardfight also tends to be about a clash of ideals. Whether it is power vs enjoyment in Aichi vs Ren, Acceptance vs Change in Chrono vs the kid who lose his parents, or now Discarding vs Embracing the flames in Danji vs Tohya. There always tends to be something deeper behind each duel which is part of what makes the series is a blast. Naturally we have those themes in these duels as well. I would say in particular Danji vs Tohya and Yuyu vs Mirei would fall into those camps so lets quickly look at those two duels since they were some of the best in the season.

So for Danji and Tohya I mentioned there were a lot of callbacks to the first season’s fight. That time Danji won as he pointed out that Tohya was too fixated on power and ended up losing his strength as a result. So initially Tohya thought he had to discard his flames and completely change himself but instead of doing this he ultimately decided to embrace them. Danji didn’t particularly agree but also said it’s a choice each person had to make. Tohya won the duel but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s right. It does mean that he successfully defended his ideals though.

Danji wasn’t defending anything in this season which is part of why Tohya’s win was so important here to get Danji back into his groove. As for the Yuyu duel, well of course he believes that you should be able to have fun and laugh while playing Cardfight. This emotionless way of dueling that Mirei teaches goes against Yuyu’s ideas here. Instead of making the game completely equal, it takes away from the fun.

Neither character is as eloquent in this duel since they’re both a little on the younger side but they still do their best and it is a pretty intense battle. There’s a lot of good back and forth here and I will always say that my one complement for Yuyu is that he gives good speeches. Sometimes they are thrown right back at him like Tohya when he turned the tables but Yuyu has a lot of passion in his duels. If he could keep this up outside of the dueling table then he could definitely join Chrono and Aichi as some of the higher tier main characters someday. As long as we keep up these emotional duels then the series is in a great spot and I don’t see that changing.

Overall, OverDress still has a ways to go if it wants to catch up to any of the other parts of the franchise but an upwards trend is always good. As long as Tohya is here you know you’re guaranteed to have at least one excellent match in the season too. He always brings in the passion and emotion that you want to see from the main characters. He could really teach the other characters a thing or two. The third season looks to be finally adding in some tournament action so that sounds really promising. Who knows, it could end up being the best season yet!

Overall 7/10

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Tag Archives: Cardfight Vanguard

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