It was either this or Blade and Soul, and I decided to go for the one where the characters are actually wearing clothes, even if they are a bunch of moe schoolgirls. And Blade and Soul’s PV makes me think of Ikki Tousen just a little, and thinking of Ikki Tousen gives me an irresistible compulsion to close out of whatever browser window I’m on and cry.
Now, the Fantasista Doll comparisons started adding up the moment this started, but, to selector infected WICROSS’s credit, this is not even in the same ballpark as that show. I know my opinion is incredibly biased because I saw just one episode, but Fantasista Doll would have had to have some sort of incredibly shocking turnaround to actually be good. This… it could be good, but keep in mind that it’s a card battler where the cards allow you to summon moe girls (in some sort of pocket dimension thing, not in actual real life) and make your dreams come true (or something like that). So, basically, it’s basically a counterpart to those kids’ shows (like Yu-Gi-Oh!) that are trying to sell you toys. To be fair, there isn't a scene with communal shower, so it seems like selector infected PICROSS is already winning over Fantasista Doll. Not that that’s a very difficult thing to do, but hey.
The studio is JC Staff, but this really seems like it’s a bit out of their comfort zone. JC Staff does fairly light school, romance, fanservice, stuff like that. The ultra-serious PV and the fact that everything’s tagging this as ‘psychological’ makes me think that this is trying to be a dark, dramatic show (somewhat circumvented by the fact that it’s a card battling anime about cute girls). Then again, JC Staff is also apparently doing a mecha show this season, so what do I really know?
The animation is actually better than usual for them (the style reminds me of Kyoto Animation with a lot less money, with maybe a little A-1 Pictures thrown in), and definitely looks a lot better than Golden Time (which looks incredibly lazy, an odd choice for a show that was basically a guaranteed license to print money), which was the most recent thing they made. The music left absolutely no impression, which means that it must have been so good that my unworthy eardrums just closed up whenever it started.
Really, the only reason I was actually interested in watching this is because it has the same director as Steins;Gate (well, and Mari Okada, who I wouldn’t say I love but the stuff she makes generally isn't total crap). The appeal of card battlers kind of eludes me, because why would I watch people play a game if I could just go play it myself? The only real way to actually make it worth it is to make the plot and characters so strong that the story revolves more around them than around the game itself. I mean, the game looks fun and all, but Pokémon is a fun game, too, and I’m pretty sure watching someone else play it isn't exactly very stimulating.
So yeah, basically, this anime is suddenly going to become really dark and dramatic or it will cheerfully continue doing what it’s been doing and every bit of promotional material about it has been lying. I’m hoping for the former, because watching them try to be serious and failing is still more fun than watching Fantasista Doll.
Oh, and there’s some light one-sided twincest in there, because it’s an anime and everyone in Japan is a single child… right?
Because when that girl who meows fired her magical laser, blood and guts totally splattered everywhere and her pink-cheeked, big-eyed Selector screamed the seven words you can’t say on television in anger.
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