Selector Infected WIXOSS

This show has just ended, and it’s turned out to be much better that its title. Moreover, it’s one the best animes this season. Yeah, it’s about girls playing a card-fighting game. Seriously it is.
It may seem strange based on the synopsis, but the plot itself keeps you on your toes. Sure thing, it often lacks some crucial parts, however, as the story resolves, you get more questions you truly wish to be answered. The weirder it feels when in the end you get no answers AT ALL. Like, they are realizing the sequel this autumn. Well, has there been a sequel – the story ... would get a plus. Nothing as for now.
The characters, sorry to say, are kinda one-sided. Everyone has their prescribed role, and they act it out without any stray. Some just do exist while almost not adding anything up to the course of events – yet, again, the trailer promised us lots of changes. Well, it’s the second item you can’t put a good mark on based on these 12 episodes solely. The characters have a way to grow up, but now they have a minus.
The world itself is good, and the better it gets as the truth behind the scenes unfolds. I liked the mechanics behind the normal people interrupting the battles. The very card game, to my mind, is rather boring, yet it’s well-watered down with “pew-pew” on the battlefield. The dimension “on the other side of a card” is very intriguing and unexplained, and< I nedd to say, it actually counts as a good one. After adding everything up, it’s a plus.
The world itself is good, but is slightly illogical. You know, this ain’t no math to forbid things and then violate them saying “ah, sorry to say, they can do it in the calculus thing”. Some aspects are made in a naively-innocent manner at start to cause a bigger shock on the viewer later on, but that self-proclaimed ignoring the very basics of logic by the creators can’t make you happy. However, hopefully, this problem will get a descent solution in the sequel (too many hopes for this autumn, don’t you think?). In the current state, it’s betwixt and between.
But excuse me; there is a thing I should praise over and over in this series – the technical part. The opening and the ending bring up only the most pleasant emotions, without making me feel like turning the volume off or closing my eyes. The girls are drawn in line with the K-ON! Standard, which is actually not bad. But the thing I liked most is the background music in the last episode, it has all the rights to hog into my everyday playlist. The impression could be worsen by the acting part, but that’s not happening – everything is on par. Without a doubt, it’s a plus.
At the outlet, we have one really enjoyable anime, which has its own charm and style, despite the main idea’s triviality and platitude. It’s of that stuff which makes itself by its way of showing off some nice picture and storytelling (the first half), then suddenly starting surprising you (the second half). That’s why you can ignore some flaws of it.
6/10, it was a pleasure to meet you.

‘I don’t know what she’s thinking!’

This line taken from a brief flashback of main character Ruko sums up my thoughts on Selector WIXOSS’ writer, Mari Okada. At the surface, she’s made a show about granting wishes through a children’s card game, and if I had to summarize the theme, it’s about reaching your goals through your own power. That said, if you were going to watch this show for tense, tactical, turn-based card play, look somewhere else. You’ll find none of that here.

No wait, the story does have a lot of tension thanks to its music track. While there aren’t many pieces, the music that’s ... there is distinct, ranging from loud and bombastic battle themes, to slower, incomprehensible messes of static that would be disturbing even without the story to accentuate it. It also has a solid grasp on the art of silence. From time to time, even the more ambient tracks are absent entirely and the show lets the story speak for itself; the scene in the second season—which I’ll call Spread—where Ruko, Yuzuki, and Hitoe are having a heart to heart in a restaurant is especially powerful for it.

Unfortunately, the show doesn’t always use its soundtrack to the best of its ability at some really crucial moments. While it’s fine in the battle scenes and the build-up leading up to them, some of the moments after the fact don’t work as the music is overplayed. Of course, this overplaying wouldn’t be noticeable if the suspension of disbelief were kept, but this is where the show starts to fall apart. And really, there’s deeper problems at work than mistimed music.

One of the major problems—at least with the first season, which I’ll call Infected—is Tama. She’s childlike, speaks in the third-person, suffixes nearly all of her dialog with ‘BATTLE!’, then turns around in her mood and priorities in one episode. While there is some attempt to show her changing, it’s already halfway through Infected. With a character like this who’s going to be lacking inner thoughts, showing the change gradually is crucial. While I would give her a pass because shocking events can change someone, it would really be a disservice to the characters who are handled correctly.

And despite my initial doubts, main lead Ruko is surprisingly one of those characters. At first, there’s really nothing to her and the story can meander because of it. But, this is intentional, as the way Infected picks up steam reflects the way Ruko slowly finds her purpose. And this happens twice. While her newer reason for playing WIXOSS—the titular card game—is typical ‘save the world’ fare, her first reason touches on something rather disturbing, that might have actually explained why she is the way she is at the start of Infected. Sadly, the story doesn’t elaborate on this. Still, ‘missed opportunity’ isn’t the same as ‘bad.’

But for Yuzuki, ‘missed opportunity’ is the same as ‘bad.’ See, she romantically loves her younger twin brother Kazuki. But, she’s afraid of what the stigma surrounding incest would do, if she were straightforward with her feelings. Thus she partakes in WIXOSS to make her love come true. Yuzuki herself, forbidden love angst aside, is personable, clearing the air with her friends when she needs to, and plays the voice of reason especially in the later parts of Infected and most of Spread. Even then, the story remembers she’s still a teenage girl, bringing in harmless banter with Ruko and Hitoe from time to time. Yuzuki is nothing if not believable.

As for Hitoe, she plays WIXOSS because she wishes for friends, but before her battles can really get going, she hits it off anyway with Ruko and Yuzuki. Unfortunately, she develops almost as fast as Tama, going from meek to strong (relatively) without much in-between; her angsting before her rapid rise in resolve doesn’t count. Shaky development aside, though, it’s that moment where she becomes stronger that really marks the birth of her fire-forged friendship in Infected, with Ruko and Yuzuki, that burns well into Spread. And it needs to, considering what the three friends learn about WIXOSS.

WIXOSS itself is a card game, but there are special cards called LRIGs—Tama being one of them—that can talk with girls. These girls are called Selectors, and they fight each other to become the Eternal Girl. The Eternal Girl gets her wish. However, if a Selector loses three times, she loses her right to the wish. But, there’s more to the Selector battles than meets the eye, and I’m not talking about the ill-defined game mechanics; the battles themselves aren’t meant to be taken literally. They’re simply vehicles to move the story.

Because more than a dark interpretation of the card game genre, Selector WIXOSS is a deconstruction of the power of wishes themselves. If you reached your goal without the normal work needed to get there, would you truly have achieved it? Can you set your mind free to do what you believe to be impossible? Through careful story development, the show asks these questions not with words but through its characters’ actions. It makes most of them—at least the main characters—compelling enough to warrant the musing, rather than their personalities bending to drive a question home.

Speaking of the main characters, while Ruko, Yuzuki, and Hitoe aren’t spectacular individually, together their fire-forged friendship creates a bond that I can only describe as authentic. They’ll banter about pointless things like ice cream, they’ll support each other through and through as Hitoe will attest, but they’re also willing to reign each other in when one of them gets ahead of themselves, as Ruko and Yuzuki learn. The later parts of Infected and most of Spread spend its time around this trio, and the story is all the better for it.

Then we get to the side characters, who are anywhere from well-written like Fumio to completely stupid like Akira. Now, Akira is a great villain in Infected because she reflects pettiness and shallowness so well, it’s when Spread tries to make her character deeper that it ends up sinking her. There’s also the hyperactive Chiyori, whose quieter side needed to show up more to make her development believable. Introduced late in Infected is Mayu, whose development in Spread is last-minute despite her importance and screentime. And then Ulith, who replaces Iona as one of the forces to fear during Spread.

Iona herself is a single-minded side character in Infected, but develops as she joins the main cast during Spread. Her purpose in battling can be summed up as self-satisfaction, but she slowly finds another reason to fight. As she spends time with Ruko and her friends, her mentality is steadily less selfish, her person more approachable, and her strength even greater (literally and figuratively). And she defrosts at nothing but a believable pace, going from temptress to motivator to redeemed over the course of Spread. If Tama is a major reason Infected is held back, then Iona is a major reason Spread is that much better. She’s by far Selector WIXOSS’ best character.

In addition, Iona also introduces a new conflict of sorts for Ruko. While Tama during Infected reflects how strong Ruko can be when things are going her way, Iona during Spread mirrors how Ruko learns to cope when things are not in her favor. It’s a much needed dimension to a character who was otherwise too strong to consistently create tension around. Another problem is how the story struggles for shock value subtlety. At times the foreshadowing toward certain events is barely noticeable until after the fact (the opening scene in Infected), and at others it’s literally a character saying nothing will go wrong (and then something does).

This is what I mean when I say I don’t know what the series’ writer, Mari Okada, is thinking. The drastic quality differences between the characters make it obvious when Okada puts a lot of care into the work, and when she’s merely moving the story. Some parts of Spread are hard to care for as they focus heavily on Ruko and Tama’s friendship, and the latter lacks development. The foreshadowing itself is also too obvious at many points. Now, a sense of inevitability can work, but the overall cast would have to be at least solid to make the obvious event a truly dreadful experience. But solid the cast is not.

Not helping matters are the visuals. Not just how drab the coloring is despite the colorful LRIG designs, but from the visual direction itself. While I’m not expecting the most stunning choreography during turn-based battles, I do expect to see some creativity with the effects. Unfortunately, for all the cards the Selectors have, most of them amount to beams and barriers only distinguished by color. And no, the visuals themselves don’t have to be drab to match the story’s mood; look at how vibrant Death Note and Texhnolyze are despite the limited color palette.

Despite my rather negative tone, though, the visuals aren’t bad. They’re just severely lacking. And if nothing else, the new character design for Tama during Spread at one point, combined with Misaki Kuno’s voice work, serves to make for a legitimately terrifying character. And speaking of voicework, special mention also goes to Ayane Sakura (Yuzuki) and Asami Seto (Iona), as they display a lot of range within the voice of the same character. Chinatsu Akasaki also really shines as Akira, seamlessly shifting voices to very disturbing effect.

It’s just a shame Selector WIXOSS isn’t as seamless as Akasaki’s voice work. Heading into this show I expected character exploration and a dark atmosphere. What I didn’t expect were dropped story threads and undeveloped or rushed characters, leaving the story’s mood to feel forced at points. It certainly made for a unique experience, but that’s not necessarily a good thing. Still, it mostly plays its cards correctly despite the mess caused by the shuffle, and that’s all I can ever wish for.

Selector Infected Wixoss or Selector as I'll refer to it from now on, drew me in almost solely on it's name, it sounded so bizarre to me at the time that I almost had to watch it, that and being a fan of games like Magic the Gathering and the Pokemon TCG when I was younger I figured maybe I would enjoy it . The first thing I have to mention is that they give youlittle if not absolutely no explanation as to how the card game (Wixoss) is actually played, which you might think is a bit strange for an anime centered around a ... game, and rightly so. It seems they decided to skip Wixoss' mechanics all together in exchange for a more character driven and more emotional plot, where the story centers highly around what happens after battles and the consequences of having them, instead of the battles themselves. The animation is very well done, the backgrounds are especially beautiful, and the characters all look great. I do have one caveat with the animation though, the noses always seem to be weirdly animated from the front, this is true with almost every character, the noses seem to always be drawn in a different shape or angle, which is confusing to me because the rest of the faces always look perfect. The characters are really what drive the plot of Selector, and having them battle for their wish with the battles not actually being focused on the mechanics allows for there to be some character development for almost everyone, even if only a little for the supporting characters. By the end I found myself sympathizing strongly with many of the characters and their wishes, and I feel like that's important to mention. The big issue that Selector has is that by the end the story has become quite convoluted and we're left with many loose ends and unanswered questions, essentially it's a huge anti-climactic and unfulfilling cliffhanger. By the time I'm writing this review there is already a sequel planned for Selector this fall season, but I don't and never will feel that ending a season in a cliffhanger is a good idea, it makes the viewer feel like they're being lead on in hopes of something better next season, leaving them unhappy with it as an overall experience. Selector was a show that I actually enjoyed watching the whole way through, I enjoyed it because of the card game theme, and because it reminded me heavily of Madoka Magica. Despite my personal enjoyment Selector does have some glaring flaws that I can't ignore, and for that I've chosen to give Selector Infected Wixoss a 6/10, slightly above average.

How I personally describe this anime is comparing it to Madoka Magica except with cards. I found that only a few characters stood out to be interesting. The rest of the characters are a bit bland. The animation is beautiful and stunning. I loved watching the battles between selectors. If you have watched Madoka Magica and like it, I recommend this one also.

STORY
Selector Infected WIXOSS, is a dark show, and I knew that as soon as I saw the first episode. While the show covered things up with its somewhat up beat disguise; the foreshadowing of the major tone shift could be seen. This isn't really a bad thing as it doesn't really ruin anything in my opinion, because when the shift happens you can still feel the impact of it.
It turns from a cute card game show to a show dealing with a number of themes. Themes such as incest, family relationships, loneliness, hate, and of course friendship. While ... these themes are explored well in my opinion, especially incest. Though my main problem with the execution is that to make these themes work, the writer had to sacrifice logical things a normal person would do. For example, why would these girls do anything to just please Akira. I know she's a popular, but they take it waaaay too far. I mean these people are acting like serial killers here.
Plus I felt like the anime took up too many themes for a 12 episode anime. I mean it does a really good job giving focus to each theme, but in the end they didn't really go as far as I would have liked as a result.
While I do think the execution is a bit shaky, what we got was still pretty good. The pacing is just right. It wasn't too fast that I couldn't absorb the info, but it wasn't too slow either. The story the show told was engaging, and while I could guess what was going to happen a few times, I wasn't 100% right most of the time. As for the conflict, it's an internal conflict is mostly about the choices out main character, Ruko was going to do about these games she was thrown into into. While it felt a bit more like a conflict out of a magical girl anime, it was handled with a psychological edge to it. Plus the awesome directing also helped greatly.
Overall, really engaging, despite the lack of logic for certain segments. I could overlook those moments, because they weren't related too much to Ruko's conflict.

CHARACTERS
If I could describe how I felt about this cast in one phrase, it would be above average. I like most of the characters, and the only one I truly didn't like were the ones without explored motives. Characters like Akira. I can somewhat see a broken character in her, but the picture failed to fully developed because she motives weren't explored. Like why does she hate Inona so much? Cuz she's more pretty? Cuz she's more successful? Maybe, cuz she has some kind of past relationship with Inona? I don't know, and I could maybe only find out the the next season. Though, in this season, while I found Akira amusing in the beginning; she slowly started to be annoying.
As for our main characters, they were likable, and I was invested in their conflicts, and I could sympathize with them. The one that I liked the most however, is Ruko. Her uncertainty through the journey is typical, but I liked how it was done. I related to it, to a very stretched extent. She doesn't know what to do, but there was one thing she knew. She loved battles, and it's this conflict against her desire that made me like her as a character.
Though, I was disappointed in how we don't really get know know any LIGS characters, besides Tama. I mean they served their purpose and that was it. Hanayo seemed rather interesting, as we don't really know if she's happy in the position she is in.
Overall, the cast has its up and downs, but in the end shines with its main cast.

ANIMATION
Animated my J.C. Staff, this is very surprising. As, from what I have seen from them, they don't make anything too stand out, in terms of animation. (Not to say they're bad, cause there're not.) WIXCROSS, has very good animation. The fights look really good, and while I do think the card game aspect limits the direction, they are exciting enough to watch. Though, what really stood out to me is the tone. The colors of the characters; bright and colorful, contrasts the dark tone the backgrounds give off. Which is fitting, for WIXCROSS. Although, the character designs are very forgettable, and their noses bothered me. I mean the noses looked fine from the side shot; up front it looked like a hole, rather than a nose. Overall very exceptional, and is a stand out for J.C. Staff in my eyes.

SOUND
The music is... okay.... I mean nothing really stands out. Besides the dub step that show up in battles. Which is fitting, but forgettable. Even though the music itself was forgettable, the way it was used was nice. Sometimes during scenes, the music would just stop, letting the silence to either sink in, or to break tension. Though, right after, the music resumes, bring you back into the action. This helped made many scenes very memorable. Though, what I have to note is the opening. Sung by Kanon Wakeshima, it's super nice to listen to. Although, I like the second season's opening a lot better, this song was nice as well.

OVERALL
Though this show has flaws that I couldn't ignore; I enjoyed Selector Infected WIXCROSS. So, much that I wished I could give a better score. Though it's not perfect, and it's not for everyone. I mean if you can't take incest, or can't overlook the problems described, then the show isn't going to be for you. Though, there is one last problem, no, nitpick I have. I felt like story could have just ended at the final episode, though I realize that would leave too many questions. The story could have just ended there, and I personally would have been fine. Because the characters were tied up enough, and I was satisfied. Although, that's not saying I think the second season is going to be bad. In fact, I hope for the second season to fix some of these flaws present in this season. So, let's hope for the best.

Wixoss was one of the only spring shows that I watched all the way through - although having said that, I don't think it quite reached the heights that it had set itself. The anime was released as a tie-in to the card game from which it draws its name, so the creators must have been banking on a surge of popularity on both fronts - which had quite a profound effect on the content of the anime.
First of all, one of the pivotal aspects of WIXOSS is the characters. It's clear that the intention of the writers was to have the viewer focus more ... on how the game of WIXOSS affects the characters and less on the game itself. To this extent the anime succeeds, as most of the characters, while somewhat clichéd, are fairly fleshed out with clear motivations and goals. Yuzuki's character in particular is the root of an interesting subversion of the popular incest trope, wherein it is portrayed in a substantially more negative light than in other animes. However, it is possible here to draw parallels to another popular anime, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika. This is particularly noticeable with Ruuko and Yuzuki's characters, who mirror Madoka and Sayaka's characters respectively. Ruuko and Madoka both, for example, start out as seemingly normal high school girls with no particular aim while apparently possessing a surprising amount of latent strength, eventually being driven to destroy the very game that they are trapped in. To this extent, it seems the writers tried to play off of Madoka's popularity while being unable to substantially differentiate their own story. That being said, this isn't necessarily a problem since the characters are still reasonably well written.
The audio design is another area in which I feel the anime succeeds. The majority of the soundtrack itself is fairly melancholy and mellow, which fits the overall tone of the show quite well and I adore the slightly detuned honky-tonk piano that’s very prominent throughout. I can’t say much about the OP and the ED because if I’m perfectly honest I can’t remember them very well, which I guess is a bad thing. I’m sure they were perfectly fine, though. The use of eerie whispers and laughter, most noticeably in the next episode previews, is superb – although sometimes the most effective use of sound is when there is none at all, which lends emphasis to certain pieces of dialogue, making them all the more pointed.
The art direction is also very nice. While the animation is fairly standard, the backgrounds are drawn very well. The prominent use of watercolours and the sparseness of fine details lend the backgrounds a sort of fantastical, childlike feel, which in a sense reinforces the fantastical, childlike foundations of the selector’s aims.
Unfortunately, I can’t step around my biggest issue any longer - the plot. The majority of my issues come from the biggest plot device, the game of WIXOSS itself. As many others have said before me, the anime does not adequately explain the rules of the game, and every battle seems to operate in a different manner to the last. This, in fairness, could be explained away by the assumption on the part of the production team that most viewers would have knowledge of how the real-life card game works, or would at least be interested enough to go and buy a WIXOSS set and find out for themselves. Even then, though, the card games shown in the anime largely don't seem to have much underlying logic to them. For example, an early fight has an instance where one of the combatants wheels off a number of devastating attacks apparently all within the same turn. Later, the fight between two other characters involves the two firing off attacks as quickly as possible with no apparent order. This incident in itself is incongruous to the apparent skill required to play the game because there doesn’t appear to be any sort of strategy behind either of the character’s moves. The bigger issue of this, however, is that there are various plot points that are muddled and lost because the mechanics behind them are not explained, like the exact win conditions of the game or what the exact punishment for failure is (we see this happen twice, and the end result varies wildly both times.)
Arguably though the bigger problem is that, apart from their wishes, there is no real reason for the characters to be fighting each other. There is no looming threat or malevolent force that is pushing every single selector to find and battle other selectors - we are given no explanation to the purpose the LRIGs and selectors hold, which ultimately detracts from my enjoyment of the anime because central conflict appears to be completely pointless. Even in lieu of the fact that there will be a second season airing soon, the fact that the meaning behind the conflict hasn’t been established is confusing at best. Even more confusing is that throughout the anime none of the characters were shown as wanting an explanation – which, considering they’re fighting one another for normally impossible rewards, would surely be one of the first questions they’d want answering.
Overall, I feel that Wixoss is an anime which would have benefited hugely from trying harder to do its own thing. The foundation for a classic is there – but I can’t help but feel that what we actually got is merely a retread of what other animes before it have executed much better. Of course, this entire review could be rendered completely unnecessary with the advent of the second series, but for now it feels as though it tries to take from the giants without fully understanding why they became giants in the first place and ultimately ending up more forgettable because of it.

So this will be my very first review. So WIXOSS was something I was going into with very little knowledge but, I heard it was a dark edgy show and I am into those types of shows. The story was great and it was all original so I don't have many complaints there. The Animation for the card fights were great but, in the real world it lacked a little but, not enough to really take any enjoyment out of the show. The music was AMAZING and its something I listen to daily. The only complaint I have about this show was one character I ... found to be a "useless" character I will not say there name but, if they were to remove that certain character nothing really would have changed. Overall I enjoyed this show and it almost made me cry at times, making me feel so sorry for the characters. I am pumped for the next season and I hope this helped you guys!

I don't usually watch card game anime. After seeing Yu Gi Oh as a kid, that made me abstain from them all together. Traumatized. However, in this anime, it does't make it out to be a lame card game with no character development. It makes you emotional, and makes you feel what the characters feel. That's what makes it different from all the anime you might have seen before that made you not like these kinds of anime. Not only that, it appeals to both girls and boys, as it has emotional scenes and fight scenes ( And vice versa for tomboys and emotional guys ... ). I guarantee you'll like this anime.

This anime took me by surprise , i was never that fond of the card game genre, but somehow this anime seemed appealing to me so i gave it a shot. and i was surprised how good it was. i didn't like mahou shoujou but i did like this! all the characters look stereotypical and love-able at first but during the episodes you get to know them more and they seem to have a twist. this anime also features the concept of wishes and forbidden love. ( i won't tell what kind , cause that would be a spoiler ) overall the characters , even ... if they look generic , i loved the design to bits, especially the main character. she seemed like she was a dere type , but there is something different to her. which i have yet to see ( i only finished season 1 while writing this review )
the anime is really enjoyable to watch , the opening was very very nice. the music during the battles fit perfectly. the voice acting is good as always , i almost never have complaints about that. i'll give you a warning though , if you can't deal with stress , don't watch this cause there are some people in this anime that will piss you off and make you smash their faces. ( which doesn't really happen in the anime except for that one....oops not gonna spoil that! :D

I most certainly recommend this anime to people who normally don't like the genre , this will give you a entire new way to look at the genre.

This anime deserves my 9/10

As a big fan of the Madoka series, I was looking for an anime series that is somewhat or almost similar to Madoka Magica. Welp, I found it and it feels very similar to Madoka Magica. This is also not a happy card game show. How similar could it get? Like I said, very similar and I won't consider it a Madoka rip-off because it does its own things that differentiate it from Madoka. I won't compare the 2 shows anymore.

(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

Major distinction that must be made for the sake of rational thought:

"WIXOSS is a copy of/very similar to Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magicka." No, it's not. It's like saying Windows is a copy of Macintosh.

Yes, WIXOSS does share have some obvious similarities in plot structure to Madoka, but it's really NOT COMPARABLE. I could go on and on about this, but I'll keep it simple. WIXOSS has a more intricate plot, more characters, more character development, is more relatable, and most importantly, has distinct themes that are human driven (and less plot driven). Madoka has otherworldly creatures driving its plot forward. Despite what initially appears to ... be a similar system, WIXOSS contains the conflict of human nature and themes along those lines as well.

Overall: 10
I greatly enjoyed this series, especially because of how well executed it was. The story flows well and the mood is meticulously constructed in every scene. The soundtrack meshes perfectly, and the voice acting is amazing. There are a great variety of interesting characters, and great characterization and growth. By the end, everything appears to be coming together, but they are only beginning to take root; there is significant further development in the sequel.

Plot: 7
The plot isn't terribly original, though there is a surprising amount of foreshadowing and hidden meaning that becomes relevant later.

Art and Animation:
The character designs weren't particularly special, but the landscapes were beautifully drawn; especially the battlegrounds, which were fantastically surreal with vivid movement; as were the battles themselves.

Sound: 10
The soundtrack in WIXOSS is one of the best I've seen (or heard) and really draws you in. The voice acting is impeccable; both perfectly suit the mood, atmosphere, and tension in each scene. OP and ED were nothing special (to me).

Character: 10
The characters types aren't incredibly unique, but they are very well characterized, very human and realistic, and for some, had powerful personalities.

Concerning battles:
I think it's probably pretty obvious, but the fact that "WIXOSS" is a card game doesn't mean it has meaningful rules or strategy (not that something like Yugioh has such either). Battles are about as strategic as any typical anime battle; wild particle effects are flying around, people are getting hurt, and someone's going to gain the upper hand, for one reason or another.

Rant:
People keep putting spoilers in their reviews. "This is how xyz in this anime works, and this is this main character's situation, etc etc." It's not your place to summarize the events of an anime, regardless of (and especially if) how obvious they are and how soon they are introduced; if people wanted this, they'd go read a summary, NOT a review. YOU DON'T NEED TO SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THE EVENTS THAT TRANSPIRE IN AN ANIME TO REVIEW IT. Most of all, most spoilers given tend to be completely irrelevant to their review.
All a review needs is your opinion on the specific criteria you use to judge a show’s worth, and maybe a bit of reasoning or background information.

Selector Infected WIXOSS

Review By: John Fragglepuss Evans

Selector Infected WIXOSS gives several twists on the classic “Card Game” anime. The card game itself is not explained in detail, but the basics are fairly obvious as more battles occur. However, the anime is not focused on the actual card game, but more on the lives of the Selectors that are in possession of the LRIG cards.

You might enjoy this if: You want a dark fantasy version of the card game genre. If you are not a fan of card games but enjoy the psychological genre, check out Selector Infected WIXOSS. If you enjoyed Madoka Magica, you will ... like Selector Infected WIXOSS. It is basically the same plot, but with a card game instead of magical girls…

You might not like it if: You want a light-hearted anime that will leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside after each episode.

Note to the Viewer: Do not be fooled. Even though the Selectors are younger girls, this is an anime with some mature themes.

Well, i spent 40 minutes writing one review because of it getting deleted, but oh well.
Here goes another one, right after it

:Note: I will be mostly pointing out the cons of the anime, since i am very, very negative...

For a short review- These people love cliffhangers too much, and cliches. But, schoolgirls, card battles, not the most original.

NOTE!!!!!- I tried to not spoil, but the way i explain, it would quite ruin the unknown of the anime, so i suggest you do not read the "story" setting if you haven't seen the anime yet.

Story-
Well, set around 3 school girls, 2 beauty models (school girls), and ... a family, they seemed to perform pretty well for a card battle theme...
Some innocent character, with some usual annoying cliches, gets dragged into playing cards, meh.
Then she meets some more cliche characters and then more, they meet an amazing villain, that i would have loved if it had stayed like that, but, nope, they lost their hope for being a 10/10...

Art-
The art of the anime was great, the animation was suited, the animation was very smooth itself, except a bit too fast for my eyes that never sleep, and quite shiny too. either wise, the art was amazing

Sound-
Now, the sounds of this anime... was just amazing.
The voice actors were ok, they made the cliches be very well spotted, since most of the cliches here, were character made, so thats what made them lower down a bit, BUT THE SOUNDTRACKS.
Oh man, i loved the soundtracks, whenever i get the chance to see em anywhere, i am downloading em.

Character-
Well, the main characters were all together one ball of cliche, and 1 villain made it amazing and entertaining, and the other one was amazing too, but, she appears to have caught some cliches in her (so much cliche going around) Then there were some, like the small girl on the cover? This isn't even a spoiler, BUT SHE WAS IN THE ANIME FOR LIKE 5 MINUTES??? What is up with this stupidity? So, the character part was the one which made me the most uncomfortable.
*note, this was mostly the negative, but, telling the nice would be too difficult for my sorry negative ass...*

Enjoyment-
Well, it was watchable, and somehow i even got to rating this quite high... But when i look deeply into the cons, it looks bad, but inside you still love it...
Also.. ENOUGH WITH THE CLIFF HANGERS? *small spoiler* They leave you with a cliff hanger with the ending from season 1.... One of the worst ones for me...

Overall-
Well, something stops me from rating it low, so i will say 8/10...
PROS-
Amazing battles+
Very good animation+
best of the best soundtracks+

CONS-
S**t tons of cliches-
You and your horrible cliffhangers-
Characters are balls of cliches ruining some of the story-

Eh, its 3:30, and i am whining about cliches, good night...

(This review has been adapted from my blog/reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!)

Have you ever played a trading-card game like the one in Selector Infected WIXOSS?

I used to play the Pokemon TCG, and by “play” I mean I liked collecting the cards and putting them in binders. I did not understand the rules (and I never took the time to learn them), so I simply collected. Dark Charizard, Ancient Mew (the one from the first movie), and the various Gym cards were my calling.

I also played Yu-Gi-Oh, but, again, “played” is just another word for “whining to our parents to buy my brother and me cards for ... collecting.” I remember during one Christmas (and I kid you not that this is a true story) when my brother got an extra, random pack of cards from my parents that they had bought on a whim. Inside was a card called the “Thousand Eyes Restrict,” the rarest card in existence at that time. I was so upset (and immature) that I started crying. I ran downstairs to wail in torment – not the proudest moment of my life.

Selector Infected WIXOSS is certainly about ultra-rare cards that make one cry. But the crying comes about for an entirely different reason.

STORY

WIXOSS is not just the title of the series but also the name of the trading-card game within the anime. Meaning, one would think there is some importance to the cards and the game itself. And, to a certain extent, one would not be wrong. General rules are provided, the settings are established, and the outcomes are influenced.

Yet the mood is awry; something feels off. Strangely, full games are hardly shown, and, in some instances, certain duels are never shown at all. It quickly becomes apparent that WIXOSS, the card game, is just the backdrop. What truly matters is the in-between details. Two of the girls conversing in a library. The feelings one character has for another. An expression of emotion during the games themselves.

That awry feeling turns to reality when WIXOSS reveals the cruelty that lay hidden behind the cuteness after its first plot twist. And the twist is cruel: it is about as opposite as one can get from a fairy-tale adventure. But the show does not stop its cruelty there. Instead, WIXOSS unveils another plot twist later on – a “reversal of fortune,” so to speak. Taking both twists together turns the narrative into a horrible, vile, and cruel offering.

Do not misunderstand; this cruelness is wonderful. It is wonderful because, despite the twists being slightly predictable, tainting an idea that is almost always painted as angelic invites the audience to view said idea from a different perspective.

This new perception challenges the audience to consider what drives people: friendship, love, and jealousy just to name a few. Yet WIXOSS does not stop there. It also challenges the audience to consider what one would be willing to do to make their dreams come true. Maybe it is having the courage to talk with strangers. Maybe it is admitting one’s actual feelings. Maybe it is selfishly trampling over others.

Perhaps the cruelest part of WIXOSS, though, is how these motivations and this willingness mean nothing. Characters that try and fail are punished, and characters that try and succeed are punished, too. It does not matter who is involved; misfortune befalls everybody. The notion that thinking and doing nothing is the best option – especially considering Ruuko’s disposition – is an enticing one. Not just because the narrative makes this notion clear but also because that lifestyle is the only way to never get hurt.

Nowhere is this hurtful sentiment stronger than with the ending. The conclusion to the first season is harsh. It is frustrating. But it is necessary. Yes, the conclusion aligns with the overall mood of the anime, but, more than simply fitting the mood, the conclusion drives home the cruelty. Someone may have the purest of intentions imaginable, but this mindset does not exempt him or her from tragedy.

Tragically, WIXOSS is not without its faults. Hitoe essentially getting cured is contrived to the point of unfairness, ruining the effect the choices and rules that the anime itself established. Also, in episode four, Ruuko getting chased around the school (where a random student insults the teacher when she says, “Shut it! Scrub-face!”) is a bit too silly.

Still, WIXOSS executes a lot within its first season, setting up the continuation nicely enough.

ANIMATION

One of the more obvious artistic choices that WIXOSS makes is the lighting. More specifically, low lighting, cloudy days, and an emphasis on the evening and the night keeps everything dreary in a natural manner. The color choices do this, too. Lots of grays, blacks, and browns subconsciously keep the mood dreary, matching the anime’s own tone.

There is a subtler artistic choice that is even stronger than the lighting or the coloring. Many of the locations visited are very constrained. Alleyways, warehouses, and apartments are nicely detailed and somewhat rough in appearance. Better yet, they are claustrophobic in feeling. This is purposefully and expertly done: It is not until the WIXOSS battles where the claustrophobia is dropped since the playing field opens up entirely. The purpose is to show that the characters, and by extension the audience, do not feel at ease unless WIXOSS is being played.

And then there is a peculiarity of the art. Throughout WIXOSS, the show places emphasis on the tram system. This includes showing the fast-moving tram from the outside, the characters riding the tram on the inside, and the entrance and exit to the underground where the tram is located.

Why does WIXOSS do this? Trams symbolize moving forward from one spot to another. But the interesting (and relevant) part is that the movement is not controlled by the rider; the movement is controlled by an outside source. And thus the purpose for highlighting trams is revealed: Ruuko and the others play WIXOSS, believing that they are moving towards their dreams on their own, when in reality their moves are controlled by a force larger than themselves.

As for the actual animation and the character designs, both are fine for what is provided. The animation does not do anything too fancy except for during the WIXOSS battles, but, even then, the fights are not that intricate since it mostly comes down to lots of explosions.

The character designs are nice in that they are not overt in their details. Ruuko’s side ponytail adds cuteness so the audience feels sympathy for her. Hitoe’s glasses, drab clothing, and tidy hair reflect her mature disposition. And Yuzuki’s hoodie gives her a metaphorical way to hide from the looks of disgust that people throw at her.

The only glaring issue with the character designs are their noses. They are often malformed in appearance, giving the characters some strange looks. But given everything else the art offers, this is a minute grievance.

CHARACTERS

Symbolism is almost always wonderful to include. WIXOSS realizes this, so the anime includes it with its characters.

Each of the (main) characters has a specific color that their WIXOSS decks revolve around. Ruuko’s is white, symbolizing purity – in this case, “purity” means “not having a wish of her own.” Yuzuki’s is red, symbolizing love, passion, and anger. These are emotions she goes through throughout the season. Hitoe’s is green, symbolizing friendliness and peace; a perfect color for the friend-finding and calm girl. Akira’s is blue, symbolizing her cold, icy behavior. And Iona’s is black, symbolizing her wicked ways.

The symbolism is nice because it adds depth to the characters without explicitly stating anything – showing rather than telling. But there is more to the cast besides symbolism. In regards to the narrative, the anime has a character representative of each side of the conflict. Hitoe is the character that plays the game, discovers she no longer has to, and then loses, falling into disrepair to show how horrible losing actually is. Yuzuki is the character that wins, demonstrating what “winning” actually entails. Akira is the character that constantly wins but never has her final condition met. Iona is more or less the main antagonist of the season. And Ruuko is the character who the audience uses to observe all of the different sides at once. In other words, WIXOSS is exhaustive in the possibilities that its story can generate.

On symbolic and narrative levels, WIXOSS performs well. The anime, however, starts to falter slightly when characters are looked at individually. Some of the weaker members of the cast are Iona and Akira. Iona does not have enough screen time to really be considered a worthwhile antagonist let alone the final boss of the season. Akira has troubles of her own, and she even gets to a pretty low point in her life. Yet the anime mistakenly does not conclude her conflict. Presumably it will be taken care of in the sequel, but leaving her character and her actions up in the air only hurts her character development.

Hitoe is not a subpar character, but Hitoe is not a strong character, either. She starts off in a dire spot herself. Having moved to a new place and unable to socialize with others, she finds herself alone. Or, more contextually, she has no friends to call her own. So she plays WIXOSS. In time, Ruuko and Yuzuki befriend her, so she no longer needs the game. But when Iona forces her third loss, the audience sees what becomes of someone in her predicament.

She undergoes massive trauma, but she does not undergo development. She continually seeks companionship, even when she is in her broken state. She just does not know it then. At the minimum, she pushes herself, trying to figure out what it is she is missing and fighting in the tournament to get what she wants. And, to be fair, her main purpose is to demonstrate the dark side of losing at WIXOSS which she did without a doubt.

Yuzuki continues to show the darkness of WIXOSS, and she is also the strongest character. Her love is one that is unrequited but also taboo. She understands this, but she continues to fight anyway. She fights and she loses. She fights and she wins. And all the while, she is ridiculed and reminded of the love she has that should not be.

Regardless, she does not let it get to her, and, when she finally succeeds, she ultimately fails. Her wish was granted, but not in the way she hoped. Her outcome demands thought on perseverance versus getting what one wants unfairly – could she have gotten the love she sought through normal means, or was crushing others dreams the only solution?

Her aftermath finally has her thinking about people other than herself, especially Hanayo. She comes to understand Hanayo’s situation, she decides to help her old friend Hitoe, and she believes in Ruuko. While she still has to contend with where she is at, her character arc over the course of the season did everything it needed to and more.

This leaves the last two important characters: Tama and Ruuko. Tama is mostly used for comic relief. Her perky personality and unending need to battle is designed to be a light amidst all of the surrounding darkness. She is also an anomaly. She obviously has a special role in the plot that has yet to be revealed. So, for now, her character is right where she needs to be.

As for Ruuko, she is likewise an anomaly. She is the main protagonist, but she is quite bland. She is technically the strongest WIXOSS player, but she plays for fun. She is the cutest character, but she is the scariest among all of them.

This last detail may seem strange, but it is true. And it is the most important one about her. The other characters find her lack of desire troubling and terrifying because where they are motivated by their separate sins – greed, lust, and pride – Ruuko is motivated by nothing. She is pure. (Said purity calling back to her white, “pure” deck.) Ruuko herself knows it is weird – she often recollects scenes from her past where her mother, like the other characters, was unable to understand her.

She is the only character without a want. At least, that is what she believes. What she truly vies for is fighting and battling and winning. But she rejects her twisted, sinful self; she does not, cannot see herself as thinking so cruelly.

Instead she finds a different want, one that is as selfless a gesture as possible. Yet her desire backfires. Not of her own volition (Tama takes the blame for that), but she fails nonetheless. Meaning, when she does nothing she is ostracized, and when she does everything she loses.

Ruuko, therefore, represents the idea that frivolity and purity are traits that a person cannot have. People have reasons that push them forward (calling back to the trams), and people have sins that they constantly carry (calling back to the other characters). And as Ruuko and the rest of the cast shows, it is these reasons and these sins that define who they (i.e., people) are.

SOUND

The opening track begins as melancholic as possible but quickly diverts into a more hopeful composition. Admittedly, this contrasting tone is strange, considering the dark contents of WIXOSS. But it works in making the audience feel as if everything will be all right, so when everything really turns sour it hurts that much more. The vocalist’s ability to carry notes, softly sing, and belt out quick lyrics – the best sections are where the singer moves fast through the track – turn the song into a welcome addition for the anime.

The ending track seems like it will go down the melancholy route, too, but it as well decides to come off as hopeful instead. Already having the hopefulness in the OP makes the appearance of hope in the ED somewhat useless. Combined with the lack of any standout parts for the vocalist and the beat itself being a bit too boring, the ED is a fine track but nothing more.

As for the rest of the original soundtrack, the tunes are heavily geared towards constructing an atmosphere that maintains that awry feeling. Haunting, music-box tracks that are unsettling to hear. Carried and rough ambient effects that grate the mind. And high-pitched piano keys backed by a high-pitched choir create creepiness by the crateful. While it is not necessarily an OST that is listened to outside of the anime, the OST manages to play its part well.

Finally, voice acting performances are generally above average. Misaki Kuno as Tama gives the battle-hungry LRIG a crazily contrasting cute voice. Chinatsu Akasaki as Akira had to demonstrate a wide range of emotions – happiness, anger, and sadness among others. And Ayane Sakura as Yuzuki deserves a mention for all of the crying and the screaming she had to go through. Also, a shout-out to the producers for the episode previews: Combining the voices to make everything feel more hectic and ominous almost always upped the overall suspense.

ENJOYMENT

It had been a long time since I had watched a non-airing anime – approximately one year to be a bit more precise. And it had been even longer since I sat down and watched an anime in its entirety in one sitting. This anime got me to reset my timer and to make me sit down for about four hours straight.

The romance was nice to see – albeit some pretty weird romance but romance nonetheless. Tama was hilarious in how gung-ho she was about battling and beating all of the “scaries.” Knowing that Akira got her just desserts was wonderful. All of the plot twists were sickening but interesting. And the ending made me want to immediately go into the next season.

But one of my favorite parts – if I am permitted to be demented for a second – was Hitoe’s original outcome. I consider everyone I meet my friend, so when Hitoe was pushed towards her unfair fate I became audibly upset. I recall using expletives when using the phrase “messed up” to describe her situation. Forced to be alone for the rest of one’s days? It was honestly one of the cruelest, scariest, and harshest moments I have seen from anime.

I was actually a bit mad that I had to write about this one first before moving on to the next season because I just had to know what was coming next. Thankfully, having written this fully, I now get to do just that.

Selector Infected WIXOSS is not a show for the faint of heart. The story is cruel, the characters are sinful, and the music is haunting. The visuals make one feel claustrophobic and the events themselves make one aware of how messed up life can get. This anime has made sure that those trading-cards in the binders will stay there indefinitely.

SUMMARY

Story: Good, small plot contrivances aside, the cruelty, themes, and ending form a solid narrative and a strong foundation for the continuation

Animation: Good, various artistic choices follow the tone and the purpose of the show, with about average actual animation and okay character designs

Characters: Good, while Iona, Akira, and to some extent Hitoe could have been handled better, the symbolism, the exhaustive sides, and Yuzuki’s strong character arc, as well as Ruuko’s representation of reasoning and sin, are executed well

Sound: Good, good OP, okay ED, nice atmospheric OST, and above average VA performances

Enjoyment: Great, gripping the whole way through

Final Score: 8/10

I'll refrain from outright using the term "rip-off", but this is very, very heavily "inspired by" Madoka Magica and it does more than "borrow from" it. There's a little bit of Yu-Gi-Oh and a little bit of Fate sprinkled in there as well, but by and large this is an inferior Madoka.

It's well animated and has solid voice acting, since it's the same five voice actors we always hear in English dubs, but beyond the presentation the actual substance is lacking.

The plot does not hold water AT ALL. It wouldn't stand up to a gentle breeze, nevermind actual scrutiny. There's more holes here than Swiss ... cheese. Asking basic, common sense questions about potential workarounds to all the rules and problems presented by the plot yields no answers because the anime simply doesn't provide any. It wants you to simply suspend your disbelief and go with it and that is, indeed, the only way to enjoy this.

Compounding the plethora of plot holes is an extreme lack of clarity. Having finished the entire first season, and being a former professional MtG player and not even a little bit TCG illiterate, I have at best a vague idea as to how this game actually works. Rules are not explained or established. I know that I have an avatar that attacks your avatar and it can grow. That's more or less the extent of what I know. Even when a battle concludes, it's never quite clear WHY the battle concluded. Does your opponent have life points that they're now out of? Does your avatar have a stamina bar that has depleted? Did the opponent simply run out of cards?

The pacing was reasonable and there are battles in most episodes, which is really the only thing that keeps this show in the category of mediocre as opposed to simply being trash, but make no mistake that this is mindless entertainment. Do not try to THINK about what is going on, because it does not make logical sense whatsoever.

Overall, while I guess I liked this more than I disliked it, there's nothing special here whatsoever. I'll probably watch the second season anyway simply because I really love TCGs and I wish there were more anime like this, but this is far from the most original, most logical or most clear example of what this genre can be.

OBJECTIVE RATING- 6-6.5
PERSONAL ENJOYMENT RATING- 6.5

Selector Infected WIXOSS is a show which both exceeded my expectations and disguised itself as a 'cute girls playing a card game' type anime. For the most part I thought this outshined most of the other anime airing this season.

Story - 9/10.
The story revolves around the shy and unassuming Ruuko (or Ru-chan), her associates (particularly Yuzuki), and the card game WIXOSS. The first interesting idea that is presented to us is the idea of the 'Eternal Girl'. Let me explain; certain cards which can only be heard by certain girls (known as 'LRIGs' and 'Selectors' respectively) allow the user to battle other Selectors in order ... for the LRIG to fulfill their wish and the Selector to become an Eternal Girl. Sounds relatively generic so far - girls battling to fulfill their wish - however the show throws so many darker twists into the story (I won't expand on this point, as I think spoilers would ruin the experience of this show) which surprised and intrigued me.
I enjoyed the way the show handled the reactions of the girls to their new situation, it wasn't shoved under unnecessary fanservice or comedy which made it hit home a lot harder, and it made me feel a lot more for the characters.

Art - 8/10.
The art of this show is well-executed. I enjoyed the different battle environments, and the general setting of the anime added a certain something to the atmosphere and later even added to the story. The backgrounds were always nice to look at, too. Character design was decent - nothing hugely original and intuitive here, but one plus is that each character actually looks like a different person - none of them looked like a carbon copy of another with a different style or colour of hair stuck on top. I also enjoyed the fact that each character wasn't defined by the colour of their hair - they all had relatively neutral hair colours, so you weren't left thinking of them as "the one with the pink hair" or "the one with the green hair". But I digress. The only small issue I had with the art was the nose, the shadow of the nose seemed to be outlined rather than the actual nose which gave the characters an unusual look.

Sound - 8/10.
One of the first anime I've really 100% been engaged with listening to the sound in. They are engaging and fitting to their scenes, and they really set up a very intense environment when it is needed and a lighter environment when it is needed. The OP is also worth mentioning - killy killy JOKER - it is catchy and I found it intensely addictive. Also great as a standalone track.
The voice acting was good - each girl's emotion was portrayed in a very believable manner, it didn't sound forced, contrived, or flat.

Character - 8/10.
Ru-chan was probably one of the most intriguing characters here, although she has been compared to Madoka (she's not sure of her wish and whether or not she wants to participate as she doesn't really have a strong wish) I thought her development was unique. She struggles internally with feelings of doubt as to whether she wants to battle and take away other girls' dreams, and the thrill of battle, which is portrayed very well in her interactions. Yuzuki is worth a mention here - although incest is a BIG thing in anime (she is infatuated with her twin brother), which may make her seem a little generic, I enjoyed the way she developed, and how strong her wish actually was (which in turn made Ru-chan a little more reluctant to battle, as she could see how fervent her friends' wish was).
What really made the characters, for me at least, was their interactions with each other. Also worth mentioning is their development, which for a 12-episode series, was handled very well.

Enjoyment - 9/10.
I thoroughly enjoyed this series, and hope the second season lives up to the high standards set by Selector Infected WIXOSS. It was an emotional rollercoaster when it hit its stride, and it left you wondering and rooting for the characters.

Overall - 8/10.

A young girl starts to make friends through a magical card game. Sounds like a fun little anime for boys and girls of all ages, right?

Aha. Ahahaha. Selector Infected WIXOSS...this show is something else.

STORY (8/10):

If my above statement didn't make it obvious enough, WIXOSS' plot goes a lot deeper than that. The first few episodes are fluff, purposely misleading fluff about the protagonist making friends and learning about her new card game. This is to lure you into a sense of false security. From there, the show goes kinda batshit - and it's wonderful.

There is one pretty obvious plot hole that was never explained, ... though. You'll know it when you see it.

ART (8/10):

The show looks great in 720p, with beautifully-crafted backgrounds and battle scenes. I only wish there were more battle scenes.

SOUND (7/10):

Both the English and the Japanese tracks have above-average voice performances. Jamie Marchi did a great job as the villain(?) Akira in the FUNimation dub.

Neither the opening or the ending impressed me, though they were catchy. Could take or leave them.

CHARACTER (9/10):

One complaint I read about WIXOSS is that we meet a lot of characters, but don't get much time to explore all of them. I disagree: I feel like WIXOSS did exceptionally well with the amount of characters it had with only twelve episodes. I cared for all three of the Selector girls (the ones we're supposed to be rooting for, anyways) we saw regularly and their ongoing plots, which is more than I can say about a lot of anime.

While some questions were still left open, I have a feeling that's what the second season is for.

ENJOYMENT (8/10):

Wasn't immediately hooked, but was never bored.

OVERALL (8/10):

In conclusion, this series really isn't for everyone. It has a slow pickup before getting to the juicy stuff, and it may simply be too dark for some tastes. However, if you enjoy the occasional dark tale and a slow build only makes you more excited, this is definitely a show for you.

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CONTENT ADVISORY: Some occasional moderate profanity, fantasy violence, and mature themes. Best for ages 13 and up.

I wanted to wait until I've seen the second season, Selector Spread WIXOSS, to write this as it seems clear to me it is a direct continuation without much of a pause between the two shows, but I decided I'd have to take a break, not being able to handle anymore of the series for the foreseeable future. This isn't because I don't enjoy the universe, in fact quite the opposite (more on this later), I just needed a break and didn't want to forget too much about the specifics before writing this.

Ultimately, Sector Infected is a decent show held down by a myriad ... of pointless baggage. I originally watched the first episode of it in Spring 2014 when it was first airing. I set it aside, intending to come back when I had a season that I was watching less. Due to a long break from anime, that wasn't until now. WIXOSS, at first glace, appears to be a show about cute girls playing card games. What wasn't to love about it? I quickly found out: a lot.

Examining and explaining the story without spoiling it is difficult, but I'll try my best. Overall, I enjoyed the concept and the path that the plot took. But like I said before, I feel like it is weighed down for absolutely no reason. In terms of what I enjoyed, while the plot was predictable it was still entertaining. I found myself almost excited to see what happens next, eagerly moving on to the next episode. With all of WIXOSS' flaws, the story was still intriguing enough to make me want to keep watching, which should of course be its first goal.

The overall concept is intertwined with one prevailing theme: the greed of almost every single character, the exclusions at times being the MC and her close friends. While this could be interesting, especially when you factor in the goal of the WIXOSS card game and why it is that girls are going forward with being Selectors, it essentially just becomes a boring plot device rather than saying anything compelling. The show offers no insight on human greed and offers no answers to it, merely using it to propel the story along. Why are all the characters acting like terrible human beings? Because they want to get something out of it, giving them a reason to be in the situation they're in (not a great answer IMO). In my opinion, a theme in an narrative work should do more than just, well, exist. There's nothing that made it stand out or make me think about the series more. Perhaps the second series utilises this better, but for now its simply uninspiring and frankly quite boring.

Like a lot of contemporary anime, WIXOSS consistently attempts to mind fuck the viewer with its twists and turns. The problem though is that these twists are easily predictable and often seem pointless. Of the numerous times that the show tries to drop a bomb on audience, I was surprised a whooping 0 times. All these twists do is detract from any development and attempt to hide the show's lack of depth behind them. It's as if the creators somehow think that they can substitute character development with something sp00ky happening to one of them, even when that character almost fails to even react, accepting whatever happened as fact and failing to grow. The writers' attempts to be edgy has gutted the show's potential and left it with little to keep it standing.

The show looks like 70% of all other contemporary anime, failing to stand out. The battle animations look decent at times, but it shows little flair and again wastes the potential it has. You would think that would be one of the highlights, but the battle scenes are rather lazy at times and nothing to write home about. There was just not enough complexity or depth to make it impressive. While the different LRIG's designs could be cool, they were often boring and uninspired, the opposite of what shows that try to sell a card game should be doing. The real world character designs were meh as well, none of them really standing out. They look like what you'd expect out of any generic high school anime.

Sound design is probably the category I had the most difficulty defining, not really making a strong impression on me in any way. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention, but there wasn't much to say about it one way or another. The voice acting was what I expected out of a girls playing card game show, while the soundtrack was forgettable. Truthfully, this aspect of the show played little into my overall rating of it. But I suppose that best sums up WIXOSS mediocrity, there simply wasn't much there.

Every single character, excluding the MC for the most part, is so one dimensional that it hurts to think about. Every character is motivated by one simple goal and lacks any sort of humanity, touching on the aforementioned theme of the show, having it substituted by unyielding greed. These goals completely dehumanise 80% of the cast and make it difficult to empathise or even like any of them. This isn't just the case for main characters who are playing the WIXOSS game, literally every single character except for the one male high schooler is willing to step on anyone to get what they want, even if what they want is a ridiculous cause to tread on someone's humanity. Sure, everyone knows that high schoolers can be unforgiving, but at times it just becomes ridiculous and hard to watch. While attempting to show the dark side of humanity and its greed, all WIXOSS has shown me is how lazy they were with fleshing out their cast. It wouldn't have been too difficult to demonstrate some kind of internal struggle, expanding on the theme of greed and contrasting it with characters who are willing to sacrifice personal gain for the greater good, but we simply never see anything of the sort. Instead all we get is a very basic thematic structure that rigidly defines almost every character and how they interact with each other, making it even more predictable and boring.

The MC does sees some development, but its superficial at best. She changes very little, and when she does it was hard to even make a comparison with her from before the change as it didn't do much. Most of this development also happens in the blink of an eye, stemming from her finding friends and becoming less lonely. The show lacked any sort of change and development over time, the most being the weird motivation of really wanting to be in battles but going nowhere with it. The show is constantly alluding to there being more to her without ever actually demonstrating it, devaluing her to being driven by one of the most boring character traits that could be imaginable in a show like this. Bloodlust, or however you'd describe her constant need to fight, can be an interesting aspect of a character, but not when they lack any depth or personality outside of it. The only other trait that the MC possesses is the desire to keep her grandmother happy, which is also pretty lame. While some of the MC's close friends do sort of kind of change through the show, these changes are simply predictable and follow the logical path for that character and what their singular goal is. These changes also don't really qualify as growth, more as lateral changes in how they react to the events in the world around them. Not much is done with the characters of WIXOSS, leaving them to be husks with little development and giving me no reason to care about them.

With all these flaws, I still however find WIXOSS somewhat enjoyable. It's not a super fun show to watch, but the potential for the devices to be used effectively remains, making me come back for more. The show may be lackluster in many departments, but there is still enough mediocrity left standing to keep you reasonably entertained.

For me, WIXOSS is a show with a lot of problems but just enough answers to make it watchable. The story is underwhelming at times but still holds together somewhat, with the art and characters trying to do the same. If I was on a deserted island and could only bring one show to watch, WIXOSS would not be anywhere near my first choice. BUT it still brings enough to the table to warrant watching it, assuming you don't have much else to do with your time. While it doesn't have much to say, it can still be enjoyable to a reasonable extent.

I purposely created an account just to drop a review and rating because I believe this anime is really underrated.

The cover art (and possibly synopsis at a certain site) lead me to believe that this was a shallow anime about card games and cute girl sexual fanservice for males, and therefore I did not even try this anime when it was released until recently when I accidentally bumped into it.

A definitely must-watch anime if one is into good unique stories and realistic characters! :D

Story 10/10:
An amazing masterpiece I would say! Events and contents were definitely fresh and unique. Each individual character feels real. ... WIXOSS is more of a character-driven story but it is also supported by a really intriguing and well-thought-of setting. Having the story driven by characters makes it much more interesting because the characters have choices and their choices affect the story. Not many things are forced upon the characters.

Definitely NOT a copy of Madoka. Anyone saying that clearly does not know what they are talking about. There are similarities but definitely not a copy. The similarities are "What is your wish?" and stuff/wishes not going as predicted upon being selected as a participant in the WIXOSS game. The entire wish system, battle system and the rules are much more complicated compared to Madoka. Whether or not bad or good stuff happens, or whether a wish will or will not be granted and how it is granted, highly depends on certain situation/condition and is it not as straightforward as Madoka.

What makes this story unique is that not all characters go through the same route and not all the outcomes are the same. There are harder choices to be made and more realistic and gritty events in WIXOSS compared to Madoka. It's not all about characters suffering because of "story". And definitely not just bad things happening just because it is a "dark story". This story touches quite a bit on what it means to be human, learning about one's desire, understanding oneself, humans' interactions and relationships with each other and how each individual character views the world.

Good things do happen in the anime, which delivers a much more powerful punch when things are somewhere in between and bad...This show is somewhat like roller coaster ride. A much easier explanation would be, WIXOSS's story graph is more chaotic but Madoka's is more linear.

I'm not saying that Madoka is bad. It is definitely a masterpiece of its own BUT it is not fair to say that this anime, WIXOSS is a copy of Madoka. It's like saying Gundam and Macross are the same because "mecha" or Death Note and Code Geass are the same because "plotting". Just because this anime has "wishes granting disaster" as part of their theme, and just because all the main cast are females, it does NOT make this a copy of Madoka. FRIENDLY REMINDER, most shounen anime have a mostly/fully male cast, wanting to be strong and mamoru(protect) others, yet we don't see people emphasizing that they are copying each other.

All in all, it was a pretty intriguing, interesting, brain grinding, fun anime to watch. :)
Bonus points for a few touching scenes in this anime <3.

The only thing about the story is that perhaps the storytelling/directing could be improved-upon. It might just be me but with the contents they have in the story, somehow I got a feeling it could be done better. It started of freshly interesting then there was a slight dip in the anime quality around the mid part, but it quickly picked up its pace and soared its way into awesomeness. :D

Awesomeness aside, some did point out that they can't relate to the characters and I totally agree with it. I do root for the characters, but I can't seem to really get into the character and be enthusiastic about cosplaying them. After giving it some thought, I figured that it might be due to not having enough screen time for characters' monologue or for the character to tell their story from their point of view. The story of the characters are usually are being told by either another character or by the story showing what happens. This part could definitely be refined more.

One annoying thing (thankfully just a bit) about this anime is that it has a bit of suggestive sexual fan service. Suggestive words carefully picked to make it sound as if the characters want to have sex with each other or that they are turned on, random blushing and gasping while what they are actually doing is just the card battle and so on. But as-mentioned, thankfully the total of those scenes for the whole season is probably just around 5-7 minutes.

Character 9/10
A character driven anime, and it certainly does not disappoint! Good characters means that you could swap the gender of the characters and it would not affect the story, and WIXOSS is one of the very few who managed to pull it off! Hats off to Okada Mari. <3

Despite not being able to relate on a personal level, I could definitely relate as a human being. I really enjoyed how all the main characters are portrayed like real humans. No/not much stereotyping in this anime which is a huge bonus point. :D They are not perfect, some are mean, some are selfish but it is portrayed in an understandable manner.

It's always nice to see characters doubting their flaws and coming to terms and/or understanding their failings whether they decide to fix them or not. But the main point is that the show shows it as a failing and that decisions comes with consequences, may they be good or bad.

Art 7/10
The design of the characters are kind of plain. Definitely could have put in more effort in the designs, especially for the LRIG/characters in the cards. Environment and effects are standardly nice. Nothing much out of the ordinary.

Music/sound 5/10
I was rather disappointed by the OST for this anime. There is nothing special, and it doesn't stand out. It doesn't even sound particularly nice. The opening was somewhat nice, but the ending was okay. Music and OSTs are very important terms of having people remember the anime. They should have definitely put in more effort in the OSTs.

Would I recommend watching it?
Yes! :D

Reviewed by: kyu-erien
I cosplay, draw and sing. :D
www.facebook.com/kyuerien

I'll miss the days when I first became an avid anime viewer, that wondrous feeling as I discovered the unique styles of storytelling each series introduced me for the first time. Instead of nitpicking about formula and cliches, the world was my oyster and I had so many kinds of stories to choose from. But the more I watched, the more narrow my area of interest became. When you're exposed to enough shows, you'll eventually find a group of favorites that very effectively catered to your taste and enjoyment, fond anime and movies that you hold very close to your heart. Some people have the ... good fortune of not being as picky and simply enjoy good stories, but for me, I've developed a distinct enough taste that good stories aren't always enough - I hold a deep desire to find shows that could entertain me the way my favorite shows once did. Nostalgia would have me watch shows that try to be like my favorite shows, even if they're not necessarily better than my favorite shows. In this case, Selector Infected WIXOSS trying to imitate my all time favorite anime, Madoka Magica.

"Trying" is the definitive word. This anime is a mess.

Story: 5
The story starts out like a magical girl anime. Ordinary high school girl gets special powers, makes new friends with other magical girls, and confronts a bully 'dark magical girl' - just replace the 'magical girl' part with "card game battlers". The series spends its first-half on melodramatic moping about wishes and desires, some of which I could relate to while others just felt heavy-handed and dragged on for too long; the second-half focused on building up a looming dark twist that Madoka fans could see from miles away, and yet that twist was also dragged on, with the writers using the screentime for all its worth to postpone the revelation until the last episode.

And that's the really big problem with the story. I could always feel like the writers were holding back on us, not fully developing the characters or story properly just so they could hold it off till season 2. That's not how you tell a story, nor is it how you hold the audience's attention so that they might even be interested in watching season 2 at all.

In all fairness, there's a decent enough story here about friendship in (card game) competition, and how you should have conviction and sincerity in fulfilling your wishes without resorting to cheap and easy tactics. Much like the classic tales about genies granting you easy fortunes, working hard for them is much more satisfying. This lesson is particularly enforced when Hitoe Uemura, a shy and secluded girl whose wish is to make friends manages to do that on her own anyway in the process of battling with others, all without magic. But neither of these two themes take precedence because the show was too busy focusing on the aforementioned moping (about unfulfilled dreams) and building up the 'mysterious' nature of the card game. "Mysterious" is used loosely, of course.

And seriously, all that 'dark twist' about wishes becoming curses? It's worn out its welcome since Madoka popularized it back in 2011.

Character: 6
For a show about the wishes and friendships of cute anime girls, these characters aren't as terrible as they could have been. The writers put in bare minimum effort at making the characters interesting at all, but they fulfill whatever archetypes the story needed them to. We have your obligatory ditzy but innocent main girl who's selfless and lacks any wishes (Madoka Kaname), a loner outcast with unrequited love (Sayaka Miki), a cold and emotionless veteran jerkass (Homura Akemi), an outright aggressive and villainous jerkass without subtlety (Kyoko Sakura)... oh wait, I forgot I'm not reviewing Madoka. Or am I? ::)

You know, at some point, I could have related with these girls' woes and troubles. I mean, making friends is hard, and having someone you love not feeling the same is worse (especially if it's your twin brother). But there is a fine line between tragic and just plain sappiness. When your drama is formulaic, predictable, and having nothing new to say about relationships or anything else for that matter, then it becomes a practice in repetitive whining. By episode 9 or 10, I was bored. Run-of-the-mill cliches don't even begin to describe the kind of relationship turnabouts these characters have in the show. You have school bullies, (t)wincest troubles, idol celebrity angst, and let's not forget the oldest motivation in battling shows: a crave for battling others (from Pokemon to Dragon Ball; take your pick). Then again, real life is all about predictable cliches, so maybe 'slice-of-life' writing like this isn't catered towards my taste - but I'm willing to bet my last dollar that it's just bad writing.

Art: 6
Not only are the card battle sequences too short to showcase any cool special effects, the dark and distorted imagery feels like a poor man's version of Madoka's art style. It lacks uniqueness and creativity, being your average CGI-fest found in typical anime productions nowadays. Blend and boring, I wish J.C. Staff would have at least tried to create a more unique style to set the story universe apart from other similar shows, but that's probably asking too much from a show trying to garner profits for the trading card game.

Sound: 5
Forgettable. I don't recall any cool sound effects during the card battles, and the score and soundtrack are made up of generic music. The opening theme and especially the ending theme are the only music remotely worth mentioning, and even they don't stand apart from more emotional anime songs out there. They reflect the show's themes decently, but when the themes were that poorly set up in the first place, that's not saying much.

Enjoyment: 5
In case you couldn't tell, this was quite the chore to watch. It's not the most terrible thing I've seen. I like some of the subversion they try to do with Madoka tropes, like how the foil warned the ditzy main girl about the consequences of becoming a self-sacrificing martyr, or the way these wish-granting cards can't fulfill unrealistic dreams a normal girl couldn't have done herself in real life (again, reinforcing the idea that you should work hard on your dreams without underhanded techniques). That said, it still felt like a waste of time, watching something this unfulfilling (pun intended). Doesn't help that the last episode wrapped up so poorly either, giving me an unsatisfactory ending only to ask me to come back next season.

No thank you.

Overall: 5
Watch Madoka instead. It's got a hauntingly beautiful art style that reflects the tragic tone of the story, characters driven by compelling and larger than life ideals that make them interesting, and last but not least, an amazing and heart-wrenching soundtrack by the legendary Yuki Kajiura. Oh god, that tear-jerking music, so good.

Forget about this show like the way Hitoe got her mind wiped about her relations with the card game. It will only do you a world of good.