Duel Masters!!

partial disclaimer: this was the season that got me interested in duel masters. i am by no means an expert on the franchise, nor a fluent japanese speaker. this is based on basic verbal comprehension alongside occasional auto-translated subtitles.

with that out of the way, here's an abbreviated review of duel masters!!

i personally find this show to be underrated; of course, a lack of english following gets in the way. but even among those who enjoy kids/toy anime, i find the discussion of duel masters to be lacking. i'll be upfront: this is by no means a masterpiece, nor is it as serious/deep as ... a lot of other kids shows (ie danball senki or inazuma eleven. of which i highly recommend checking out) but what stands out are the designs. duel masters!! has a plethora of incredibly cute characters; alongside a creative design approach to monsters/creatures. there's truly something for everyone here; whether it be the main character joe's childlike drawings, to aquatic-themed robots and technological dragons. the CGI used for these monsters is pretty good, too. definitely a treat for the eyes, especially in regards to more complicated designs like each character's respective ace monsters.

as for story, i will say that its fairly decent. it seems to follow a gag approach to storytelling, with heavy underlying tones. joe kirifuda is a rather young, immature protagonist; but he grows throughout each season he's in. duels become more and more dangerous, and the looming threat of enemies makes his choices all the more permanent. despite the lighthearted exterior, this season does deal with potential death alongside an overarching conflict between numerous civilizations. while it may be a bit difficult to follow, the lore is surprisingly interesting, connecting directly to the card game.

as for the duels; i don't have much to say here. i don't play the game (apologies for that), but i will say that the more intense/serious duels DEFINITELY have weight to them. this season introduces new mechanics into the game as well, making things a bit more interesting. you're able to grasp the idea of whether or not someone is losing, and sometimes, that has mortal consequences. this iteration of duel masters separates duels into play duels and "true" duels; the latter of which has the ability to harm or kill the loser. this addition, albeit extreme, adds a needed severity to a show that tends to be a bit TOO lighthearted at times.

as for artwork; it's standard. like i said, CGI looks pretty good; but the animation itself is average. there's a lot of cute scenes with the main characters, though (bolts, kira, cap, and joe). you'll find a lot of beautiful stills or unique facial expressions for sure; but a majority of the high quality animation is reserved for special card draws (when a character summons their "ace", so to speak).

music is great. the openings and endings are legitimately high quality, as well as the BGM for the show itself. my favorite has to be the ending "i'm your joker" preformed by KPOP group IN2IT. kira hikaru's theme is stellar as well. openings are engaging in both tone and visuals, often changing as the season progresses to reflect the story/additional characters. despite the low budget of the show, they appear to truly care about making things engaging and unique, so props to them for that.

all in all, duel masters!! is a spinoff of a long forgotten franchise. remarkably enough, said franchise is still MASSIVE in japan. designs are solid, music is great, and the story isn't half bad. i recommend this to fans of kids/toy anime, especially those who like kaitou joker (in terms of comedy), and yugioh (specifically zexal) in terms of design and over-the-top character acting.

6.5-7/10