Creative Staff
Story/Art: Akira Itou
Translation: Satsuki and Shizuki Yamashita
What They Say
After the Asia Circuit, the Miyaji Academy’s Cardfight Club gets official recognition, which will allow them to compete in an intermural battle with other schools -including Fukuhara High, whose Cardfight Club is run by none other than Tetsu Shinjou of Foo Fighter. Tetsu, while continuing his research into the mysterious PSY Qualia, encourages Aichi to give his team a goal by entering the Vanguard National Championships…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As things kick off, we join the club as they’re just kind of hanging out. But before long we learn that because they’re now officially recognized, they’re going to do an intermural match against a club at another school. That school is Fukuhara High, and as it turns out, the club there is primarily the remnants of Foo Fighter. This whole section goes on for a while with some fights thrown into the mix… but they’re so half baked that you only really get pieces of them. So in effect, it’s just some drawings of the cards and little else, taking up plenty of space with very little to show for it.
Things “pick up” when we’re introduced to Takuto Tatsunagi, head of the conglomerate that sponsors Vanguard Tournaments. And then we pretty much just learn that there’s going to be a national tournament amongst the various high school clubs in the country. So at least that’s the next big thing set up, if nothing else.
Finally, we get the hype up for a new foe, who is a student at Fukuhara High but not part of its club, Kouji Ibuki. Apparently he was the one who taught Miwa and Kai Vanguard, so he at least has a bit of background. Anyway, we get yet another underdeveloped battle between him and Tetsu Shinjou. And it’s here that his gimmick comes to the forefront, in that he has monsters that can “delete” those of his opponent. The characters all act like this is some big crazy thing, but… it’s honestly something that’s all over the place in pretty much any other card game at least, and is so basic an ability that it’s hard to get hyped about it in the slightest. Oh, and we end on a match between Ibuki and Takuto, which seems to be set to dig us deeper into the hole created by the whole PSY Qualia crap.
In Summary
Put frankly, this volume is an absolute wreck with no substance to it in the slightest. I’ve had issues with stuff like PSY Qualia and halfhearted matches in the past, but here we go beyond that. Which is to say, this volume literally doesn’t even have a single full battle in it. Instead, we’re “treated” to a whole lot of talk about the cards and card clubs, some half-hearted character introductions, and fragments of matches. And those fragments are so empty and underdeveloped that they’re effectively little more than drawings of the cards. So I guess if you were here for the creature designs primarily, maybe you’ll still get something out of this. But for everyone else, there really is nothing here worth your time and money in the slightest.
Content Grade: D+
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 10+
Released By: Vertical
Release Date: February 28th, 2017
MSRP: $10.95