Stupid plot points and painful recreation!
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Akira Itou
Translation: Satsuki and Shizuki Yamashita
What They Say
After a trial-by-fire introduction to the world of Vanguard, Aichi has quickly grown to make new friends and rivals within the cardfight community. But until now, his battles have been with classmates or tense but generally friendly encounters. With a rogue gang threatening to take over Card Capital, a greater challenge awaits!
Now facing off against more aggressive opponents in VF Gloves, Aichi and crew come to feel the pain of defeat as well as the “psychic” thrill that is Riding the Vanguard!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
After Kamui awkwardly shrugs off Aichi’s questions about his old card shop, the pair arrives at Card Capital where they find a truly disturbing sight! As Morikawa loses to a strange new opponent he collapses in pain, thanks to something called a VFG (Vanguard Fighter Glove) that bafflingly helps to mix real pain with card games! It turns out that this fellow is a member of Foo Fighter, a card gang that forces people to play with the VFG and ruins card shops. As this is what happened to Kamui’s old shop he’s rightfully pissed, but Kai seems to have a history with them as well and ends up stepping up in order to crush the opponent. He of course wins and drives out the lowly Foo Fighter member, though that’s only the start of our heroes’ problems.
Next up Kamui and Aichi go to Kamui’s old shop, where he ends up in a battle Kyou, a member of Foo Fighter’s AL4 (Apex Limited 4), the gang’s strongest fighters. Kamui ends up losing and Kyou continues to prove that his gang is full of big jerks by throwing the young cardfighter’s deck on the ground. Aichi is rightfully pissed and stands up for his friend, and ends up winning in part due to a weird ability that lets him hear Blaster Blade. This ability is apparently called Psy Qualia, and it’s something that Foo Fighter’s leader Ren Suzugamori also possesses.
Finally, Miwa ends up in a fight with a woman from Foo Fighter. Will he be able to overcome his fierce opponent, or will he fall prey to the terrible (and terribly named) gang?
In Summary
This volume unfortunately seems to be moving the series from a lighthearted series about a rookie learning the game towards the realm of a Yu-gi-oh knockoff. The enemies here are cartoonish and incredibly jerky, and insist on the use of a pointlessly painful device. The bigger worry, though, is the potentially mystical powers that Aichi seems to display here. Hopefully they won’t turn out to be anything as crazy as they seem, but for now this volume takes a disappointing turn towards becoming overblown. Hopefully the series won’t go even crazier and will dial it down a few notches, but for now this remains a rather mediocre read that loses a lot of the charm of the first volume.
Content Grade: C+
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 10+
Released By: Vertical
Release Date: June 24th, 2014
MSRP: $10.95