The episode kicks off with Aichi facing Leon in the finals of...this year's Asia Circuit? Wait what? Didn't Leon just beat Gouki in the finals of what would have been last year's Asia Circuit? Are they implying that a time skip happened just recently? You could have fooled me. In any case we get our rematch between the two and now that we have both players equipped with plothax powers to balance things out we see how a game of Aqua Force vs any Force Clan plays out.
*ODA INTESIFIES*
Yeah Leon dies here. I'll give credit to the the anime being able to aptly convey how much Aichi has improved with him taking the brunt of Leon's attack but saying "I'm good" and immediately going into badass mode. Aichi's V Series Theme as a whole is underwhelming but here it works and seeing Leon get taken aback at his opponent's aura after seeing him be so confident/unintentionally smug was satisfying. We also get a few shots of the side characters from the Asia Circuit and the twins (who literally do nothing here so why include them?) so enjoy this moment as we're probably neeeeever seeing them again unless they make another filler arc that allows Bushiroad to print a 2nd wave of Granblue support....please? C'mon, guys I'm begging you here! Please make me pirates playable! Gib Cocytus now!
Misaki having indulged in too much cannabis from a recent trip to Canada is now contemplating her next snack.
Back at home we see the bleachers comment on Aichi's growth and AL4 remarking that he (or Ren) didn't use their PSY-Qualia in the tournament. Wait wait. So not only was there a time skip but Aichi's manage to grow enough during it that he can beat top class opponents like Koutei, Gouki and a PSY-Qualia user without using the power himself!? That's...concerning.
Oh wait these are probably best of one fights. Okay nevermind he probably highrolled someone a few times. The power of foil crits everyone!
Amidst all this we pan up to see Takuto Tatsunagi be impressed by Aichi as we cut to Ultra Rare performing a song that is also the new OP for the season. As an aside I generally do not care and actively avoid "idol" nonsense in an anime so as per usual I will skip the bits with idol characters acting like idols including any in episode concerts and shit if it comes up this season. New OP is good though not on the level of Wonderland or the GZ Theme. It does show that we're heading into the much vaunted PSY-Qualia Zombie Arc of the manga along with Planetary Corpse King, Brandt and Messianic Lord Blaster duking it out at the end which is a possible hint of a Set 5 featuring RP and LJ or another Mini Booster.
I HAVE WAITED OVER A YEAR FOR THIS.
We get our usual banter between the peanut gallery over best Ultra Rare Girl while Misaki subtly hints to the viewer that she's getting her hair cut when Kai remarks that one of the idols (Suiko) was the one who classified Aichi/Ren's power as PSY-Qualia which adds some intrigue to an otherwise boring character (seriously in the OG series Suiko was the least remarkable of the UR girls and I really don't see that changing here). Takuto gives his congrats to the participants while Kourin hands Aichi his trophy and stares at him just long enough to start shipping wars between her fans and the Misaki fans before leaving. I predict at least a thousand dead bodies before Aichi reveals that Kai is his true husbando and they're nothing more than thots to him.
Misaki fires the first shot in the war with a cute blush! How will Kourin respond!?
We cut to Aichi running towards Miyaji High School in the official kick start to this storyline (which is half way into this episode mind you) and he meets up with Misaki who now has her look from the Break Ride era in which she switched to Genesis while he's sporting his Liberator look. However one of the biggest differences between the original series and the manga that V is based on is that both of these characters never switched their decks during its run. Misaki will still be playing Oracle Think Tank (specifically the "Magus" theme) and Aichi sticks with Royal Paladins via even moar Blasters. Dragonic Overlord the Great also appears as some point and I wonder how they're going to handle that can of worms.
Jesus this is cringe. It's not "YGO Protagonist" level bad deckbuilding but christ. I will mock anyone who thinks this is a good deck.
After some minor stuff including more commentary on Misaki's haircut and questions as to why we see Aichi in his classroom working on his deck which someone asks about. He explains that it's a Vanguard deck and we learn one of the most horrifying things in this show;
At Myaji High School...Vanguard isn't popular.
Everyone at CC freaks the fuck out over this startling concept of a card game not being popular (Kamui even makes a motherfucking Jojo reference) while Misaki explains in a flashback that Miyaji is a college prep school and the students are usually focused on more things. The students in the classroom talk about things like important exams, their grades, their futures and all that boring stuff that doesn't sell cards to children which one person by the name of Naoki Ishida doesn't care for so he winds up leaving the room while scaring the shit out people along the way. We see him the next day as well wondering why Aichi has a grin and he decides to be a shitlord and trips him as he's walking out which makes the poor lad fall and spill his deck on the floor. Aichi takes the L on this which baffles him because his action was deliberate but Aichi leaves without calling him out on his behaviour. Naoki leaves grumpily while complaining about how boring the school is.
Nice eyeliner there edgelord. This is a case where the new character designs fail.
We cut to Miwa beating Morikawa (who finally switched to Spike Brothers too) while Aichi is coming up with a plan to get Vanguard hyped up at his school in the form of making a Vanguard Club. The crew thinks its a good idea with Aichi being the Asia Circuit Champ and Misaki can join too but just like OG she says "no I'm busy with the shop" and leaves with everyone dumbstruck and losing a point for her Team in the war. Fast forward to the next day and we have Aichi pitching his idea to the student council which I guess got approved immediately since we see his poster on the wall and Naoki looking at it. He also smacks into Aichi in the classroom which causes him to spill more posters but he once again isn't bothered by it and even offers an invitation to his club! What a swell guy she is! People are surprised Aichi attempted to invite "Scary-Face Ishida" which already tells us that the guy doesn't have the best of reputations in the school which will probably be a potential character arc for him.
Unfortunately his good feels get crushed as we see his original poster vandalized and this scene of him being hurt from it is well done. Aichi is saddened to the point of heartbroken and we have an equally saddening OST playing. As it is it's going to take a bloody miracle in order for this club to get off the ground as the fame of a National Level Champion is not enough to catch the attention of a school. This Vanguard Club is going to need a literal idol in order to stand a chance of succeeding.
...
Score one for Team Kourin. Now let's check out the new ED!
Really? Sigh.
With that we've got our first episode out of the way and it was...passable at best. I have concerns about this season as the Zombie/Brandt arc seems to be popular among fans but this is the VG Anime team we're talking about here. These people are bad at setting a good pace for a show, writing compelling fights and they are going to probably rush through the Zombie/Brandt arc so that it'll be done within 25 episodes and it will be awful for that. Add on the increasingly blatant amount of fan service shots (Asaka, Misaki and now Kourin) that really don't belong on a card game anime (aimed at kids mind you) and we have what someone described to me as "Sword Art Online but with Card Games" and that is not a flattering comparison at all. I haven't seen SAO myself but I've watched plenty of Mother's Basement and Gigguk videos on it to know that is not a flattering comparison at all. Maybe that's why I've been so hard on this show? Watching them has influenced how I look at things (though obviously not as well as these literal professionals here) and I can see why my recent opinions clash with alot of other people who just don't know any better.
I'm already regretting my decision to continue these reviews.
Nice review.
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