Aichi’s got his game on as he goes against Gouki with all he’s got.
What They Say:
Aichi’s fight with Gouki begins with the tournament on the line! Aichi stands up to Gouki, fighting for his team and to avenge his previous loss!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the final round of the regionals underway, there’s the potential for the big fights as Team Q4 goes up against Team Handsome. There’s nothing riding on this beyond reputation, no lives in the balance, romances that will be crushed or childhood angst to be avenged. It’s all about just winning and showing off your skill at this point. With the way the matches have progressed, Aichi has certainly learned a lot along the way and has grown as a Cardfighter and is now capable of show it all off. What’s really surprising to others is the kind of confidence that he has as the fight gets going as he plays strongly, aggressively, but not with a poor or overconfident attitude. He’s playing to win but he’s not going to brutalize the other person verbally or through the style he uses.
Not surprising, the majority of this episode is given over to the fight itself between the two as Aichi uses all the moves he can muster and has to work through some difficult spots. He manages to do a lot of pushing himself which is a positive, so he’s not on the defensive at all times, and his Buster Blade is used to good effect. There’s some amusing banter to be had among his friends as they talk about the match and just how much they know, Aichi does suffer a bit of a morale loss during the course of it, but you know he’s going to pull through it in the end an get his groove back on. His match against the Team Handsome leader has a lot of moments as Gouki gets confident but understands just how many changes Aichi has gone through and grown since the last time they played. It’s one of those matches that does bring things full circle as they battle it out against each other.
In Summary:
Cardfight!! Vanguard moves things along here and does a couple of things in a very longwinded kind of way. What we see is just how much Aichi has grown as he goes against Gouki this time around as well as how aggressive and confident he can play when he really puts his mind to it. Of course, there will be moments where he loses his resolved unfortunately, and that’s made into a mildly dramatic moment, until you know he gets things going again. With this getting close to wrapping up the regionals, and with Gouki claiming that they’re not playing well enough for the nationals, the show is certainly on the path to finish out the season by getting all of this taken care of and making things ready for the next level. Will the show get a third season? Quite possibly, considering it’s already lasted far longer than I thought it would. It still hasn’t truly grown beyond what it was at the start, but at least it’s not a teaching show anymore.
Grade: C
Simulcast By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
