I remember when I first discovered Cardfight Vanguard. I was browning on Youtube one day looking for anime to watch. When I clicked on the search bar, I saw a playlist that had 65 videos in it and the playlist was Cardfight Vanguard Season 1.
I decided to check out the show and before I knew it got addicted to it as I use to watch 13 episodes a day and I ultimately finished it in a week. It blew me just how fun, well-written and clever the show was. Keep in mind this was 2013 for me, and I was still establishing my tastes in anime. I eventually revisited the first season back in 2018, Two months before the reboot announcement and I still thought it was a good show that held up nicely.
Some aspects did not stand the test such the animation and cheesy comedy but I still liked a lot of aspects such as strong characterization, cardfights, themes and story minus the Psyquaila elements towards the end.
Due to my season 1 re-watch of Cardfight Vanguard, I had high expectations going into the reboot expecting to be on par if not better than the original and the results were let’s just say mixed.
The one thing I liked from the get-go was how it simply got straight to the point. The original series kind had a nasty habit of dragging out its story elements by having a series of episodes that only existed to promote set cards for a certain clan. While it necessarily isn’t a bad thing by any means, it was just that some of them in the original series were nothing but cannon fodder players using cannon fodder decks. However, this doesn’t happen here as all the cardfight in the show not only had a purpose for the overall narrative but the characters actually, for the most part, knew how to play set clan in a way it is meant to. Sure there were a couple of misplays done by characters, but they are nowhere near as cringe-inducing as the ones found in the original series and especially the G saga.
This is especially shown in the Fool Fighter arc aka the best arc of the show.
Sure, the arc has some cheesy moments with the whole Vglove thing that Team Fool Fighter use to shock their opponents during a cardfight but other than that as well PSYqualia supernatural elements towards the end of the show but the show was for the most part grounded in reality. Not as grounded as the original season 1 but still grounded enough.
It’s such a shame that the following arc reckons with the grounded aspects of the series and this is where the problems begin to rear on its head. For a show that was meant to be more darker than its original counterpart, the anime strangely suffers from a major identity crisis.
For some reason, Bushiroad kept the original dark tone of the manga while using the light-hearted tone of the original. The execution was a mixed bag at first but it quickly transcended to the badly executed territory as the show progressed, especially in later arcs in which the lighthearted tone did not mesh well with the more serious events at all.
Next, we have the PSYqualia Zombie/deteltor arc and it was subpar. The arc had a good start but man, did this arc quickly deteriorate as it progressed? The Psyqauila Zombie parts were so hamfisted and boring to watch due to how mostly predictable it was. The writing wasn’t as good minus the strong character moments and Psyqauila Zombies stuff were not engaging in the slightest.
Although not everything from the arc was bad, in fact, this arc surprisingly enough has a lot of merits that prevented it from being utter shit. Even Psquaila Zombie’s arc was ultimately hamfisted and cliched, it actually made more sense than the original reverse arc because almost if not all the events that happened in the arc happened because of Kai’s selfish power ideals just so he can beat Ren and Aichi in a cardfight (yeah, that actually happened.). Sure, the void has some influence to Kai’s Reverse transformation, but it was just mostly Kai being a jerk to people because ”I am power-hungry”.
The pacing was just as good as season 1 if not better at times. It hardly felt rushed not dragged out and that’s saying a lot because the pacing for the original Link Joker reverse arc was frankly non-existent.
The highlight of the Psuquaila Zombies arc was the ending impact. Like it or not everyone had a happy ending.
Sure the main threat has been defeated, and characters like Aichi, Noaki, Misaki and Kamui got happy but characters like Ibuki, Kai, Kyou, Tetsu and especially ultra-rare girls got the rough end.
Ibuki the owner of the deletor deck has now had to go through a redemption arc due to the evil actions that he committed to his friends and fellow cardfighters around him.
Kai, Kyou and other deleted fighters now have to regain passion towards Vanguard.
The Ultra Rare girls will become a shell of their former selves due to the conduct due to their memories being destroyed.
The ending is just all-around amazing. As a person who has watched a ton of toy product anime since the days of the Yugioh DM this ending was a breath of fresh air compared to many card game anime that I have seen.
Lastly, we have the Koukousei arc, and it sucks. Frankly, the only good thing about the arc story was the Ibuki redemption arc as well the rediscovering vanguard subplot with Kai and Kyou.
Everything else from the Miyaji Academy Cardfight Club stuff to the Koukousei-hen tournament itself was dreadful.
While the story had a lot to be desired the characters for the most part least thankfully make up for it.
First up we have Aichi and unfortunately, he’s the weakest character in the series. Don’t get me wrong he’s not the worst character in the show but he was a big disappointment in my eyes.
My problem with Aichi is that he becomes less of a compelling character as the show progresses as he dives into a typical card game protagonist. Many of the things that he does later on if either because of plot reason or just to advertise a new card for the upcoming set.
Sure he does grow as a character as the series progress and he does have his stand out moments every now and then but its not as exciting or memorable compared to his OG counterpart. It feels like am watching a shell of a character that I once loved.
The opposite thing can said for Kai. While Aichi was the weakest character in the show Kai is the strongest character in the show. It is frankly astonishing just how human and well-written this character is. Right, out of the gate I really appreciate how reliable he is.
The way the show managed to characterise and humanize Kai was not fanaticising but it really made me appreciate for fixing one of my least favorite characters in the original series, post-Asia Circuit Vanguard.
On top of being a better writer overall, his character chemistry is impeccable. My favourites are when he interacts with Ren, Ibuki, Kamui and Aichi. Kai and Aichi in the reboot have a healthier relationship as their consistent support each other with their problems. Kai and Kamui no longer argue with each other, and he doesn’t randomly get obsessives about Ren and Aichi power he’s just an overall nice guy who wants to face challenging opponents.
Well-done Bushiroad.
Misaki continues to be one of the best-written characters in the series with this reboot. From her coping with her deceased parent’s subplot to her bond with Kourin, she provides a lot of entertainment and substance. Nothing more nothing less.
I really like Kamui. Despite having way less screen time compared to the main characters he still managed to be a fascinating character that overshadows his original counterpart. Just like with Kai in the reboot he actually means he acts like a real person would. They, for the most part, got rid of the stupid junior high love triangle crap in the original series given Kamui a lot of needed development which was missing in the original series post-season 1. He’s funny, has a good sense of humour and I really love his determination to help his friends.
The only very minor issue I have with Kamui is that he’s not as strong as in cardfighter compared to the original which is justified here due to his age and overall story structure for the series but then again I rather have a retable well-written character than an annoying overpowered character and V Kamui lands in that category. Easily one of my favorite characters in the reboot along with Kai, Naoki and Ibuki.
Now because there are so many characters I will only be going through chararters that I think deserve to be talked about. I apologise if don’t cover your favorite character but I don’t want to this review to get dragged out.
Naoki is pretty much identical to his original series counterpart. His willpower, character development and bond with Aichi remain to be one of the series highlights.
Ren is another character that got a consistently overhaul from his original counterpart. He may be the Ren that we all know and love in the original at first but the way they handled him in the reboot was more satisfying. I loved how the writers went out their way to mesh his season two airhead personality alongside his season sadistic personality.
His introduction was handled way better compared to the original and his overall a compelling villian that had understandable intentions. When you finally reached the Psyqauila zombie, he becomes his season 3 self where he cares about his follow friends as being a powerful cardfighter.
Ibuki is my second favorite character in the show. He may have debuted in the unfortunate Psyquaila zombie’s arc, but I really loved his personality as well his strong redemption arc in the Kokushin arc.
His character development as well his presents more than not overshadows the subpar writing of the Psyquaia Zombies and Koukousei-hen arcs alone.
Unlike the original series where it was done by Studio TMS, this show was produced by Studio OLM, the same people that did Beyblade Burst, Shinkalion, Buddyfight, Inazuma Eleven and Pokemon. Needless to say, this show is a visual disappointment.
To the shows, credit, its not as visually bad as Inazuma Eleven Orion but it is still very underwhelming especially when you compare to season 1 of the original series that despite also being low budget it managed its low budget well compared to this.
The only good thing about Cardfight Vanguard 2018 visually is the character’s designs. They are very well done, and they stay true to the sharp art-style of the manga.
Everything in the visuals department ranges from mediocre to terrible. Fight choreography for the cardfights especially, later on, is weak, the animation is choppy in many instances, and it suffers from a lot of still frames.
I wasn’t a fan of the Cardfight Vanguard 2018 soundtrack at first but I watched more episodes and the soundtrack started to grow on me to a point where I ended up calling the soundtrack good. It may not be as amazing as Takayuki Negishi musical score for the original series, but it was still a solid soundtrack that fits well the tone of the series, especially with the electronic, sci-fi, upbeat and classical music that plays in the background.
The first opening theme “Legendary” by Roselia is a kickass song that perfectly captures the tone of the first half of the show. Sadly I cannot say the same thing for the other two opening themes as they were pretty forgetful.
English Dub is good. Some performances were clearly better than others but I feel the actors did a splendid job with the roles that they were given.
After watching Cardfight Vanguard 2018, what do I think of it? I don’t think it is as great as people say it is nor does I think it’s a total dumpster fire. The characters are fantasising and for the most part, well-written. The soundtrack is solid, and the plot in the first half of the series was soild. It does fall short in a lot of areas, though.
The visuals while decent at times is inconsistent, many of the cardfight wasn’t as engaging as the original, the second half resorted to using the cliche to save the world from a stock evil threat and the Vanguard Koshien part of the show was shit. Despite that, I still made it through feeling a sense of satisfaction in the end. If you’re looking for a card game that is not Yu-Gi-Oh then I can recommend Cardfight Vanguard 2018. Just don’t expect it to be a masterpiece or anything.
6.5/10
TakaCode Reviews 
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