CCG/Anime: Cardfight!! Vanguard!

I’m going to be covering not only the anime series of Cardfight! Vanguard, but a tokusatsu themed deck that I personally own and pilot dubbed Henshin Justice Unlimited in honor of the site. So follow me as I lead us into the world of a more realistic trading card game show and show off my version of justice!

First a bit about the show, Cardfight!! Vanguard is a tale about a boy Sendo Aichi who plays the hit new game Cardfight!! Vanguard as a hobby with his friends. Along the way Aichi tries to inspire to become a worthy opponent for his friend/rival/reason for playing Toshiki Kai. Along the way he teams up with his hobby shop’s assistant clerk Misaki Tokura and neighborhood loud mouth Kamui Katsuragi. The characters are pretty stereotypical for a show of this nature as are most of the characters presented into the show.  Now I’ve been watching this series for a while and I have to say I’m kind of impressed the show and how it’s been going. It first debuted back in January of 2011 and has been for the most part a pretty grounded series. What do I mean by grounded? Well unlike Yugioh this series has a few firsts for me that has actually keep me watching. First off Aichi is the main character of the series and he loses….a lot. Not only does he lose, but he actually loses to circumstances that a reason you, myself, or any card game player loses too. Such as people top decking the card they need at just the right time or something as simple as bad draws. That actually amazes me that they would do this. Very rarely do we see this in a show that is trying to promote a game. Usually we see that the main hero gets every card he/she needs when they need and always wins no matter who he/she is facing. Another bonus to the series is that the cards actually do in the series what they do in real life. This is quite nice because it helps those watching the series get to know the deck a head of time as they watch it in the show. Finally the show manages to keep itself based in reality to a degree at the core of the show this is nothing more than kid’s playing cards and going to tournaments. Sure we do go into the realm of fantasy with the show, we have the obligatory heart of the cards stuff we see in all shows that follow the genre. But it’s kept to a minimum and is mostly the underlying tone of the show with actually playing the game kept at the forefront. Ultimately however, we don’t get to into the crazy stuff as much as those other shows. After nearly 100 episodes we are just now getting into that crazy territory were something may end the world if a card game isn’t won, but even then the show is keeping it brief and we are going back to kids playing trading cards in the next few episodes. Oddly enough this show is not currently on any current US affiliated networks. Instead the entire series  which just ended season one and started into season two can be found completely dubbed in English on youtube for your viewing pleasure.

[Cardfight!! Vanguard Animated Series on YouTube]

Next we get into the description of the deck that I run that is named after the series.  Game’s monsters are broken down into Clans and I run the Dimension Police. The D-police or so I call it is everything Tokusatsu and is currently broken down into 3 character aspects mostly because they just debuted in America with the most current set of the game.  All of which are either based off parodying or just blatantly

First off we have the core of the deck itself the Enigman group. Upon first look at the cards it’s pretty obvious who they are based off of.  Enigman is based off the TV and movie series of Ultraman.  From the grade 0 Enigman Flow is based of Original Ultraman, while the two grade 3’s Rain and Storm respectfully based off Mother and Father of Ultra. Also like Ultraman their theme is to gather power before unleashing their devastating attack at full power to obliterate the opponent’s forces. Just to reinforce  that they are based off Ultraman somewhere down the road  a set will unleash the evil space Alien deck. That particular deck will based off the various Ultraman monsters, though mostly centering around an alien based off Zetton.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTBWfqcx4jY

Secondly we have the Riders and Metal heroes in Masked Police Grander, Commander Laurel, and Karenroid Daisy, and finally Twin Order. While Twin Order is pretty obviously Space Sheriff Sharivan this one of the few cards was they don’t even try to hide it, it’s them. Masked Police Grander is a parody of Kamen Rider right down to the Rider Kick done on the card. I’m guessing Daisy and Laurel are supposed to be from the Metal hero series or possibly based off either Gransazer or the Ryukendo series. However, while  I’m pretty sure it’s one of these, but I’m not familiar with this particular side of Tokusatsu. Their theme in the deck is mostly for support or adding the Enigman by boosting their power while heading into combat themselves.

Finally we have the Zords in Dimension Robo Daiyusha, Cosmo Roar, and Cosmo Break. There really isn’t too much to talk about with these a guys are they are pretty straight forward. They’re Zords they get in there they smash and they add their power to the final blow.  In a couple sets Daiyusha take center stage as full blown zord deck will be possible.

And that is the deck in a nut shell it’s a mid tier deck over all, but I really enjoy it. I want to also thank Bushiroad for creating the show and game and coming up with such a great idea for a team. Plus they have such amazing art work such as the stuff I am displaying here.