Tag Archives: Trading Card

Pokémon Trading Card Game Review

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I’ve played my share of trading card games over the years. Mainly Yugioh but I’ve also played Duel Masters and Shadowverse. I like to think of myself as a bit of a veteran but I never got into the Pokemon one. I felt like the rules just didn’t make a lot of sense to me initially and it didn’t seem as fun. My opinions on it haven’t changed a lot as I consider this to still be the weakest of the trading card games but this title still does a reasonably good job with it. The fact that there is a story mode at all is definitely a plus as that is never a full guarantee.

The basic goal is to defeat all of the club leaders and then take on the elite four. The terms are slightly different from the main games but it’s really the same effect here. You start off by choosing a trial/starter deck from one of the main 3 types and then go from there. Whenever you defeat an opponent, you randomly get 10-20 cards. Some leaders will require you to defeat 3 trainers before you can fight them while others will fight you right away. Keep this in mind for when you are picking which leader to fight next. Since I had a fire deck, I naturally went for the grass gym first.

The initial deck took me pretty far, I was able to beat 3 leaders before I had to start doing a lot of tweaking. By the end of the game I had a balanced fire and psychic type deck. I find the Abra line to be absolutely busted in this game. They just have so many cool abilities and not a lot of weaknesses since the dark type wasn’t out yet. Some of the type advantages are quite a bit different from the original games so you should definitely keep that in mind or you will be in for a really big surprise. That definitely got me a few times so after a while I would start looking at the weaknesses. At any point you can freely inspect every card so that’s not a problem.

I should note that the game is reasonably difficult and I would even say incredibly so at times. It all depend son your deck though. For example it took me over 50 tries to defeat the psychic gym leader but then the Pokemon champion only took me 2 tries. It all depends on the deck that you have built for yourself. This is a game that is really big on type advantages and disadvantages so you have to keep that all in mind. If you underestimate that element of the game then you will really be in for a rude surprise here.

Also the game is insulated against rewinding. I believe the reason for this is that the coin flips are all pre determined even 2 turns in advance. So no matter how many times you try it, the opponent is going to keep hitting his lucky heads to knock you flat. At the end of the day there just isn’t a whole lot that you will be able to do against this technique. So make sure you have a good deck and you will just have to absorb some losses. A good deal of the game is luck based and so if the opponent wins a lot of flips then you’re just going to lose.

I will say this is definitely the weakest part of the Pokemon trading card game to me. I understand a little RNG of course but it feels like virtually every ability is related to a coin flip and so you are going to see a ton of those. It also slows down the pacing of the game by a longshot. None of these animations are skippable after all and you will be seeing them over and over and over again. I also think the games would be really annoying when the opponent would happen to draw the one card that is needed to stop you. It might make you slightly grin at how the enemies have main character levels of plot armor but that will fade when you have to do the whole thing over again.

The graphics aren’t bad. They do remind me a lot of the mainline games and for its time you could tell that they put in a lot of effort. The soundtrack is also not bad, there’s some actual variety here. It’s got nothing on the main Pokemon games to be sure but it’s also more memorable than the average spinoff which is also impressive. I keep saying this but that’s why even if the game wasn’t exactly my speed, it’s clear that this wasn’t a bottom effort cash-in or anything like that. I think they could easily make a new version that would sell really well if they put in the same kind of effort with today’s tech. Maybe just remove some of the coin flips and luck stuff unless it’s extremely ingrained into the card game itself.

Overall, Pokemon’s trading card game has a lot of depth to it. I don’t think it’s amazing but at the same time it would probably be better with some quality of life updates. The game itself is older and does feel dated in some ways. It’s like how Yugioh wasn’t ultra fun in some games because they weren’t optimized so I can acknowledge that’s part of the issue here as well. It still feels like it needs something more to spice up the game but at least now I can say that I know how to play it. If you’re looking for an intense trading card game then this could be a decent one to check out though. Not much to lose and it’s not every day that you get to see a bonus Pokemon storyline.

Overall 6/10

Cardfight!! Vanguard Divinez Review

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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

Yugioh Arc V Review

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Yugioh Arc V certainly lasted a while but every Yugioh series must end at some point and 7 volumes is a go to number for the franchise. As with the other Yugioh titles this one opted to go for a completely original plot which is always a good idea since you don’t need to experience the same story twice. That being said, It wasn’t quite as engaging as the other spinoffs and from the manga sequels it is probably the weakest. I think it will probably make for a stronger read in volume format but monthly it could feel a little scattershot and rushed at times. As always you can look forward to having nonstop duels though.

Yuya is the main character and he has the spirits of 3 other people inside of him. Like Yugi he can body switch with them at any given point and they help a lot with the duels. Yuya is trying to stop a bunch of time travelers and enemy groups from using the G.O.D. card to wipe out humanity. He then runs into the main heroine Zuzu. She is determined to be his agent so she can make a lot of money. Certainly not the most noble of goals but at least she is trying for an honest living and not exploiting his skills. Can Yuya save the day or will this turn of events prove to be a distraction?

As with most Yugioh titles Arc V starts off rather low key with the stakes and by the end the lead is engaged in cosmic duels. It’s always fun to look at the progression there. I may be getting ahead of myself with the skipping here but the climax is excellent. We get a battle between two G.O.D. cards. Naturally both of them are comically OP with how their special abilities are basically all powerful. Landing a crazy infinite combo is basically all you can do to stop him. All of reality is at stake here since if Yuya loses then it’ll be like nothing ever happened the way he remembered it. Making an alternate reality is always an interesting idea but as the hero will always point out, it’ll always be “alternate” and not the real deal.

The art is pretty solid. It can get a little chaotic at times but not to the point where it would hurt your enjoyment or cause you to get confused. The action is captured pretty well by all of this. The character models are on point as well which is always important. There isn’t much to say about the writing as it is quite good. The name changes from the show can take a little getting used to, as with the characters’ new personalities. There isn’t a lot of time for most supporting characters. They show up for a duel and that’s about it. Technically I suppose that’s probably the case for most of these spinoffs. You only have so much time for duels after all.

The big villain of the series is Eve and she makes for a great final boss. It seems to be a bit of a trend with the final villain being a cosmic lady but I guess having it happen twice in a row may not be enough for a trend. Regardless she has a cool design and a great ace monster in G.O.D. The manga titles have always been on point with the original villains and she is no exception. Her right hand man was also pretty good. He definitely never felt like a big time threat the way that she was though. He was just there to stall the heroes a bit and was successful at his mission.

I do have to question the Adam guy though. He feels like a total villain even though I think the manga was a little ambiguous on that part. He basically goads Decklan into fighting Yuya one last time in the end. The thought was barely in his mind before that happened. I do think that Yuya deciding to destroy the god power right away may have been a little hasty but with how often power corrupts it was likely the right move. Likely the right move…but I was a little more on Declan’s side in the end. He wasn’t going to use the illusion but was hoping he could learn something from the power. It’s something that is worth doing. Imagine the technological innovations such a power could produce. It could be magnificent.

Meanwhile, Declan was pretty good here. I think he was more likable here than in the anime. Technically his character isn’t all that different, but maybe having him be the big final boss here made him feel more like a threat. His plans also seemed more well thought out here as opposed to the anime where it felt like he was on the losing side for a good part of the mental battle between him and the Professor. It goes without saying that Yuya’s dad is better here than in the anime because Yusho was terrible there. He’s one of the few characters where the anime probably dropped the ball a bit.

Meanwhile Yuya is definitely a solid protagonist. He has a goal right from the start and stays on the course til the end. He’s a little more serious than his anime counterpart and I dare say that he’s a better duelist at least in the start. That being said, he doesn’t have all the cool rage moments that his anime version had so he loses out there. The manga made the interesting decision to have him share a body with his other universe selfs and dropped the whole universe thing entirely. This was the part I wasn’t a huge fan of, but the whole plot is built around it so for better or worse it was here to stay. It’s interesting having Yuri act as a hero here. All of the personalities were pretty solid, but I’d say that Yugo takes the win here. He was definitely ready to take charge and made the hard calls.

I think Shay and Sora got the shortest end of the stick from all the characters. Shay is nowhere near the calm and collected guy he once was. He’s basically just a crazed lackey here. Sora isn’t much better. He’s at least a bit of a spy and still has skills, but after getting wrecked that’s basically it for him. Silvio’s pretty much the same. I think even if I hadn’t seen the show first I would have had a hard time liking Shay here. Suffice it to say the supporting character roster wasn’t amazing. Zuzu’s pretty decent though. Her decision to become Yuya’s manager is a pretty smart one since that’ll put her in a position to get fame and glory once he saves the multiverse. As for it actually turning out that way…well I wouldn’t get my hopes too high.

As far as the Yugioh spinoffs go Here are my current rankings. The best one is still Zexal then GX then 5Ds then this one. I think the VRains one has a good chance of beating Arc V as well. Again, this is still a great manga but it just wasn’t quite as much fun as the others. The other Yugioh titles simply set the bar a little too high I think. In particular it’s tough for Arc V since it was following Zexal which had an intense climax and around 3 different rivals. Against that, Arc V didn’t even really have a true rival character. Declan was more of an enemy than one after all.

On a more positive note, the manga did fix most of what I didn’t like about action duels in the anime. In the anime it all felt luck based as cards would just happen to be around to save the day. In the manga you know exactly how many cards are on the field from the start and you can only use 1 per turn. This prevents crazy strategies like in the anime where one guy picked up like 6-8 cards in a row and kept on using them. We also get a good amount of normal duels and even one turbo duel to keep it varied. At the end of the day this is still a Yugioh manga so you can expect a lot of amazing duels. Card duels are why I love the franchise so much in the first place and so long as the writing is solid (Which it was) then the manga is destined to be quite excellent!

The ending of the series may come across as a bit rushed. This is mainly due to the fact that the final events come out of nowhere and the ending isn’t really all that satisfying. It’s certainly nowhere near one of the worst endings though. Some aspects of it are pretty hype like the lead-up to a fight that likely won’t ever occur. The timelines possibly being rearranged and people not remembering the characters can be more annoying though. We won’t know any of this per say since the series ends so abruptly, but there’s a chance that things really didn’t go well for some of the heroes here.


Overall, Arc V is definitely another great Yugioh title to add to the collection. It delivers with a lot of great duels and maintains a pretty epic feel throughout. It reminds you why the Yugioh franchise is just so much fun. Arc V is a complete manga containing pretty much every positive element that you would want to see in such a title.. You’ll be sad to see it go and hopefully the next Yugioh manga starts up soon. I would highly recommend checking this manga out and if you buy the new copies you can even get a rare card. Now that’s a steal!

Overall 8/10