(There will be some SPOILERS in my review)
[Story]: (8/10)
WIXOSS is a card game that's popular with teenagers. Supposedly there exist "LRIG Cards", female character cards with wills of their own. Special girls can hear the voices of the LRIG's, and those who possess them are called Selectors. These Selectors have card battles in a dimension that other humans cannot access. Ruko Kominato is the latest girl to find an LRIG card. The name of her LRIG card is Tama, and without any further explanation is thrown into her life as a Selector.
What can I say about the story? Is it good? Of course, it is. Ruko received an LRIG card, which is read GIRL backwards by the way, from her brother. Soon thereafter, it is revealed that she been chosen as a selector and she can become an eternal girl which grants any wish that she desires. You become an eternal girl if you win a certain amount of battles. How many exactly? What happens if you lose 3 battles? What exactly happens if you become an eternal girl? Watch the show and you'll find out that it's not as straightforward as you might think. *Hint.. Either way, you're f*cked up*.
The show's pacing is......let's just say, it's unbearable...for a 13 episode series. The first few episodes is slow. The plot seemed like it didn't move anywhere and it didn't even explain how the card games actually work. By the time I was on the 11th episode, there were a lot of unanswered questions and at this point, I didn't really get what was the point of the slow pacing at the start. Then you find out that the story will continue in the 2nd season. Clever move, J.C Staff. The plot holes alone could have made me hate this show but because they were going to continue the story in the second season and how dark the anime gets after the first few episodes, I'll give them a pass.
What exactly makes the show good? It's the dark mystery surrounding the Selectors and the LRIG's. It's not all about the card game. It also explores the character's feelings towards this "evil" card game. That's right, the show is mostly character driven story. More will be explained on my "Characters" category. There's also that goddamn incest. Why do most animes these days include incest? What's so special about incest? It's disgusting. However, at least it shows that most characters don't accept it.
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[Art/Animation]: (8/10)
The animation looks good to me but there are issues. The environment looks bland. It's like they've been coloured in by a 4th grader. You know when you colour something and you see those white spots around? That's what it looks like. The character designs, however, looks great. If you have seen a J.C Staff anime before then the character design is almost the same. The battle scenes are pretty smooth but they don't really last long. As long as they're smooth, I'm ok with short battle scenes.
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[Sound]: (9/10)
The soundtrack, in my opinion, is awesome. The background themes that plays during the action scenes are....let's say, they are well orchestrated.
The OP theme song is "killy killy JOKER" by Kanon Wakeshima and "realize -Yume no Matsu Basho" by Cyua. The OP theme song is one of the best OP I've ever heard and it will be put into my favourite OP list. On the other hand, the ED theme song sounds horrible. I listened to it for about 30 seconds then I just decided to end the video. Mostly because of the singer's voice. I just couldn't handle it.
I watched the show in English Dub so I'll be reviewing the English VA. In my opinion, they all sound great. I did have some few issues with Ru's VA because she sounds monotonic sometimes but she still did a great job with Ru's character. This is also FUNimation's Dub so it shouldn't be a surprise that their English VA sounds great.
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[Character]: (9/10) (SPOILERS)
Just like Madoka, this show has a strong characters. In other words, it focuses more on the characters than the actual plot itself. You have the 5 main characters which is Ruuko, Yuzuki, Hitoe, Iona and Akira. Out of the 5 characters, I only like Ruuko, Yuzuki, and Hitoe. I don't even know Iona's main purpose? She keeps babbling non-sense about Ruuko like she knows her or something. I'm going to assume that it's going to be answered on the second season.
Akira is just a spoiled ass b*tch. I have nothing to talk about her. You know what, I have time. Let's talk about her. She's a spoiled ass b*tch who has a nice personality and nice look on the outside but acts like some rich-ass girl when she reveals her true personality. She got what she deserved when her wish got corrupted. 3 of the remaining main characters are pretty good. Rukko is a new girl on the city who doesn't like making friends because she thinks it's unnecessary. A completely likable character if you ask me. Yuzuki is a girl with a goddamn mental illness. I lied, she doesn't have any illnesses but her love for her brother who happens to be her TWIN is just disgusting. Her wish is to make her brother fall in love with her. What the hell Yuzuki? Potential wasted. Hitoe is a shy girl and she also just moved in to the city. Rukko is also new to the city so this worked on her advantage and got a new friend...which is her wish by the way. Too bad her wish got corrupted and this is where the show reveals its true nature. You know what's funny though, the way they solve their conflicts feels similar to Madoka Magica. Ruuko is a Selector who doesn't have a wish. Later on, she figures out a wish to "save" (not) everyone and et cetera, et cetera.
There's also some of the side characters which are surprisingly good. For example, Ruko's grandma supports her in time of her needs. Awesome grandmother if I say so myself. There's also the whole conflict between Ruko and her mother. I guess that explains why Ruko loves her grandma so much and hates her mother with a passion.
Then there's the LRIG. A talking girl inside a card which only Selectors can see and hear. Sadly, the show doesn't focus much on the LRIG and they're not that developed either. Again, the LRIG is similar to Madoka Magica. Since I put a spoiler tag on this category, I'm free to spoil the reality of LRIG and who they really are. In short, they are former Selectors. My, My...that feels so familiar. *cough Witches are former magical girls cough*.
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[Enjoyment]: (8/10)
If you stopped comparing the 2 goddamn shows then you'll like this show. You'll probably love it too. That's what I did and I enjoyed the show.
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[OVERALL]: (8.4/10)
"Selector Infected WIXOSS" is, overall, a good anime to watch. I don't really know why some people hated it but I don't. I'm actually quite surprised that I even liked this anime. Aside from the fact that it feels similar to Madoka Magica, I hate the "card" genre because it's f*cking stupid. This is also why I hate Yugio with a passion. Thank god the show is more focused on the characters. This is not an anime for everyone. As a fan of both fast and slow pacing anime, I was able to handle the excruciating slow pacing of the first few episodes. It's also a dark anime show so just give it a try. One last thing, if you look at the show on its own and prevent yourself from comparing the anime to Madoka then it's a pretty good show.
Pros:
+Good Story
+Well-Done Animation
+Great Soundtrack
+Great Characters
+Story is more dark
+Card-Battles are smooth and great to watch
Cons:
-One of the plot points is incest
-Slow pacing at the start
