Shadowverse

Shadowverse(TV) is a shallow 48-episode commercial made to sell a Nintendo Switch game. I feel the need to stress this, because the amount of corporate apathy towards storytelling can be felt at every point while watching this anime.

At first it may seem like Shadowverse(TV) isn't too terrible starting out; its first episode is a bit bland, but a poor first episode does not make for a bad anime as a whole. Unfortunately, it showcases a few key problems the anime will have throughout its entire runtime. The first of these problems is with the battles themselves; while they're not too hard to understand, there's a ... major flaw in how they're presented. Several turns are often cut out from the middle of the fight. Normally this isn't such a big deal if it only happens once in a while, but having a full-length battle you follow start-to-finish is *not* the rule with this anime. It is the exception. What you are left with, then, is an extremely unsatisfying big picture, as the writers will magically conjure up whatever specific game state they need with no regard for how the characters involved would actually get to this. It feels like they did not care to write around the limitations of Shadowverse as a game and instead opted for the most lazy way out as to save themselves some work.

The second problem this anime faces is that of extremely shallow characters. While it attempts to have character arcs for a select few side characters, most of them are either derailed or resolve in ways that don't actually solve their own problems. Further, the main character, Hiiro, is extremely shallow. He has one dominant character trait, that being loving Shadowverse and proceeds to spend the next 48 episodes learning to care about absolutely nothing else. Somehow Hiiro seems to act like a friendship magnet, with everyone around him captivated by his charisma after just one battle... only this does not work, as Hiiro never actually attempts to emphathise with anyone he meets. He talks around people rather than with them and selfishly superimposes his own belief unto others. Somehow the writers let him get away with this each and every time, convincing the other character to see things in Hiiro's way even when this is absolutely not deserved and Hiiro is completely in the wrong. Only one character in this entire show seems to independently fix his own issues with the world, but said characters is not part of the main cast. This makes the seven we are supposed to care about and root for feel extremely underwhelming.

The third problem Shadowverse(TV) faces is that it is extremely generic. Everything is resolved through card games. The power of friendship prevails in the face of overwhelming odds. The main character is a prodigy at the game he is playing, the entire works. Just playing it by the book is not an issue by itself, but the problem for Shadowverse(TV) is that it not only plays it extremely safe, but also poorly executes on these elements. Almost every episode there is something that will leave you wondering 'Why did they do it this way? This could've been good if only it had been a little different' and it proceeds to become extremely frustrating to, as a veteran of the genre, watch the producers fail to grasp even the basics of storytelling.

The story as a whole is also underwhelming. Without going into spoiler territory, it is split into four roughly 12 episode chunks which I consider to be arcs. The first arc is slow and highly focused on our main character meeting the cast of side characters, while the second arc has them split up to do their own things... only even in the second arc, most episodes are focused on our main character as others barely get the screen time they need. Even keeping this in mind, the second arc's overarching plot will make your head scratch as to why the first needed to happen to begin with. The third and fourth have a more consistent and interesting plot going on with them, but the villain motivations are shallow and predictable. Also, the main characters have almost entirely stopped developing past one extra episode dedicated to each, but half of those episodes don't actually develop the featured character either. You're just being strung along for the ride as you watch these one-note personalities repeat the exact revelations you've heard a million times before and only save the day because of course they would. Even the very climax of the show suffers from poor pacing and character writing as the final villain, while not coming out of nowhere, was barely relevant even when they were hinting at his villainy throughout the show.

The only thing Shadowverse(TV) has going for it are some okay visuals, which are serviceable but not spectacular, and some alright soundtracks. Several themes are pretty good and stand out above the rest, but a lot of recycling and having some very generic tracks make the soundtrack as a whole mediocre at best. Shadowverse(TV) does manage to make some hype moments, but this is mostly achieved through a mild uptick in animation budget and by blasting energetic music into your ears. It is an extremely shallow form of hype not backed by any good character payoff, as there is no payoff to be had. Still, credit where it is due, in terms of presentation there is not much to complain about. It is absolutely not worth watching this show for as it's not spectacular and cannot carry its horrible writing, but if you are deadset on watching this, then the animation and soundtrack will not bother you in the least.

The animation and sound being what it is makes the show get an overall rating of 2/10 for me, if only because of that slightly redeeming quality. Had this been any worse I would not have hesitated to give it a 1/10 and I do not recommend anyone to watch this. Yu-Gi-Oh has, at the time of writing this, 6 completed shows and even at their worst they are all still much better to watch than Shadowverse(TV) is. With other franchises like Battle Spirits and Vanguard you will no doubt also find everything Shadowverse(TV) has to offer, but better.

This anime may be called "Shadowverse" but everything from art style to story is completely different. As a relatively new player (of almost 1 year), I'll try to objectively judge this adaptation without lingering too much on what it *could've* been had they kept the same serious aesthetic and maturity from the game.

Story: 3
As per the word "poor" suggests, the storyline (so far) has been basically nonexistent. Each episode hangs on its own and could be essentially described as the MC finding an excuse to battle someone, top-decking that op 7 cost dragon card that wipes the board and hits face for 10, and without ... fail winning while exclaiming "Shadowverse is fun" half a dozen times. No exaggeration.

The only exception would be ep.4 which has the female lead pull out an interesting, non-BS strat that actually has an in-game counterpart. Though you could argue that the essence of Shadowverse *is* pulling off BS like turn 6 OTKs (would've been nice to see Alice pull out that 13/13 Shadowcraft card that hits face). For that reason alone I'd rate ep.4 higher than the others.

I'm sure the reason they chose the fairies archetype for Mimori is cause they didn't want the female lead spamming cockroaches the entire battle in true Forestcraft fashion lol.

Art: 7
Pretty standard fantasy anime art style. It's pretty similar to the new Princess Connect anime which is also by Cygames. Not bad but I certainly think adhering to the game's style would've been better.

Sound: 8
The battle soundtracks are quite good. Some are based on the game's battle music which explains why they really get your adrenaline pumping. The OP & ED however aren't memorable.

Characters: 2
Braindead MC. The characters are about as interesting as that cardboard box you got ordering from online. Though that's hardly anything new these days. It doesn't help that there isn't even a modicum of strategy, planning, comboing, or outwitting happening in those battles you spend half of every episode watching.

Enjoyment: 5
It's had some moments where I couldn't help but go "LUL." But many more moments were VERY cringe. Not quite sure if the LUL can outweigh the cringe, esp for a SV player.

Overall: 5
It only made 5 thanks to its decent art and nice soundtrack. I'm sure they had some reasoning behind making "Shadowverse" nothing like Shadowverse (expanding/diversifying their player base perhaps), but I really don't see how expanding their player base to encompass 9 year olds with what is clearly a kid's show is gonna increase their revenue. A failed investment if you ask me.

For someone who very much enjoys the combos and meme decks you can pull off in Shadowverse, as well as the post-apocalyptic setting filled with hardship and overcoming past grudges, this generic isekai-looking anime can feel like an utter disappointment. Unfortunately there's plenty of that around these days for this show to fit right in the 5s.

My honest opinion on the anime is that it quite good for a kids show!

This is a fucking kids show and if you guys don't understand that then leave. This show isn't trying to change the kids' genre. This is your normal kid shonen protag show. It was quite fun and enjoyable and we get to see the OG protaginist on episode 25 YES!

The narrative was quite amazing the fact they had such amazing character development for each character. which is key for this show. The only character development I need is Hiros. He is always winning battles. He only got 1 episode ... so far which is episode 25 and he didn't get much character development time he always thinks through the impossible. What if he lost one battle to his father that would make me happy since he finally experiencing loss. everyone else gets enough character development to where it is like oh cool you need no more character development lets move on to our protag character development now. That's why I give it an 8 everyone else got character development expect for our protag.

The art and animation are quite good. I am glad they didn't go the pokemon sun and moon route. the art was terrible in my opinion. that's all I really have to say about art. I gave it a 9 since the animation does have its issues sometimes.

The soundtrack is amazing I never skip Opening 1 and probably won't skip opening 2 I happy that the soundtrack is so damn good.

Characters ehhhhhhhhhhh I give it a seven. the reason for it is that the ordinary and special duo is just ehhhhh how do I put it in word ironic I guess. and Luca and Hiro is the classic hero and villain tropes. Characters you can get attached to easily but it just the classic anime tropes are the problems I wished they did something different.

I enjoyed the series quite a lot it was never boring and we didn't get pointless filler episodes. thats why i am giving it a ten

The show does have its problems but it also has a lots of good thing too! so i suggest this series if you need a classic win it all protaginist.

Been a fan of Shadowverse since the beta so it's been more than 4 years playing it on and off, so I kept watching the anime up to it's latest episode and I have to say I've got mixed feelings on this one and it's not good. I enjoyed it at least with battles every episode and a new card introduction too(I seriously love new cards), the animation is seriously top notched and art style is really bright colored but it feels so off from my image of shadowverse which is more mature and dark.

Even though I'm enjoying it, the majority of people are pissed ... at it especially fans of the game. The story tempo is rushed because they wanted to slip in a battle every episode and character progression is so shallow it's a shame. The main character is annoying because of his naive attitude towards the game and he still hasn't taste defeat yet which is insulting, the rest of the characters were at least bearable.

So I thought this game would be targeted at newcomers especially kids since it's definitely not aimed at fans of the game but nope. They missed a crucial "how to play" episode leaving newcomers not knowing what's going on in the battle. The stuff mentioned in the tutorial of the game is never mentioned in the anime for something so simple.

In the end the only people who can enjoy this are fans of the game who can appreciate the little things instead of being salty all the time. It saddens me how my favorite game turns out this way. I sincerely hope from the bottom of my heart, that this anime can evolve from this crap and that the protagonist would someday lose and finally fall to the dark side and then this will become Shadowverse! Cringey? Yeah watever.

I had good expectations about this show but man... thirteen episodes and still no interesting? I tell you why. First, the good things:

The design of the cards are great, every class has his own features and they are good for eyesight even with the CGI monsters (that more than one must be fed up). The visual presentation is worth it. Shadowverse saw himself in the mirror of the big card franchise Yu-Gi-Oh!, taking of reference each one of the concepts that represent it:

* The way they put their Duel Disks
* The VR System
* The Tournaments

The Soundtrack fits very well in the show. Nothing super remarkable ... but no complaints either

Now, this is the hard part. The BAD things:

The Story it´s like a Zexal or even a Arc-V rip-off. Literaly, don't trust me? watch the show. With the Characters is the same thing. We have our Yuya Sa-Sorry, our Hiiro Ryugasaki who loves to play card games and that's all his plot (I know there's a little more but, it was already clear at first). And, he don't treat the game with other purposes, just play for fun. The others, the same thing: his filler friends including the guy with his dark attitude, as usual.

Other thing, the show doesn't teach you how play de game. Yes, like I said, you need to play the mobile to understand what the heck is going.

I tried to like him but this show went from presenting the characters in the first episodes to Focusing TOTALLY on the protagonist just because. If you watch Arc-V (I hope not) this is his minor brother. I feel like I wasted time watching this weekly. Honestly. If you are so interested, wait for the second arc to finish and you decide. For me, this is dropped until further notice (maybe never). This anime makes no effort to offer something new. It is simply boring.

At first I was thinking to myself, what in the pokemon ben10 genshin is this. So i continued to watch it and even thought I am not done with this series yet. I already love it! I personally love the characters and the awesome energy they give off. This anime may just be based on them all on playing a game, but theres is a storyline to it all and that is what makes it even more awesome! One of my favorite characters gotta be mimori, she is just so cute and sometimes i can find myself relating a lot to her.

Real score 0/10.

1. Duels go over turn 4. Nice joke. Also, no one was using Portalcraft, good one too. Unrealistic footage, I wanted to see someone getting raped by acceleratium, bestoval. Dissapointed.
2. All guys clearly suck at deckbulding. Like, why you play wards in aggro deck, of course you lose man, like, nice brain there? Also trade? Psss, you lose versus main character, unskilled brat. Main character is god and good though. Play bad, never trade, always face, card wins alone, very realistic.
3. Main character still has worse RNG than my average opponent in the master ladder, like, I got bestovaled and shioned by turn ... 3 today, and you feel bad for an invented effect on turn 7? Pathethic.

In all seriousness, this anime would have had a lot of potential if it followed the thread of the real shadowverse CCG. As others have stated, there's no point in doing a yugioh type of anime for youngsters AGAIN. I think I should remark my words because this is based in a card game with a dark history (like yu-gi-oh, you know, the lovecraftian things, angels and demons battling and all that cool stuff, solid shit man) and it actually is less dark than yu-gi-oh itself, which I find laughable. I only saw an episode and I think it is enough, watching the main story of the game itself is more enriching than this. Even the Weiss Schwarz anime looked better than this one, and that's one which is really hard to say...

I'm on episode 5 but still want to see HOW DEPPER can this show goes.
I played Shadowverse from the beta and still play until now, and can honestly say that this FUCKING director haven't even played 30 minutes of the game, sometimes i debate that he even played the tutorial, this is frustrating, ridiculous and nonsense.
Even that they explain some mechanics like the "storm" that they didn't mention it, they say like is a thing specific from some cards (WHICH IS NOT).
The evolution that is something so original from the SV game, THEY DON'T EXPLAIN, THEY JUST DO IT, and because of that you just ... understand if you pass atention in the details and even if you do that you will not know WHY THE HELL SOME FOLLOWERS LIKE "dragon warrior" DON'T HAVE +2/+2 AND JUST +1/+1, SO WHY THE FUCK THEY EXPLAIN SOMETHINGS AND NOT OTHERS???

If you want to explain things, make sure to explain everything for the new players, or just don't explain.
And the MC is braindead as shit, like the man just have a secret ability to topdeck his fucking "ignis dragon" every turn 7 and win the game that was "impossible" to win.

This show has gave me PTSD and cancer in the brain.

PLZ NO MORE IGNIS DRAGON FOR GOD SAKE!

So to start things off, here's some background:

Shadowverse is a ccg by Cygames that's available to play on Steam and mobile. This anime is made around that game, but you could say it's like the Build Fighters of Gundam instead of an actual series.

The anime takes place in modern day, and the Shadowverse game is incredibly popular on mobile, so much so that you can attach your phone to a type of "duel disk" system that works in a general arena in downtown...and in the park.

The main character starts the series finding a smartphone in a case at his home, with Shadowverse pre-loaded (figures), ... and he's really giddy about it. My thoughts immediately went to Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal: I'll have to wait a few seasons for it to get good. The question is, can I?

The main character is VERY happy-go-lucky, so much to the point that if he shows any tension(which is almost never), it IMMEDIATELY DISAPPEARS once a fight starts, never to return.

The main character's friends aren't that much better. You have the typical buddy plus a girl in the party, but that buddy has got a really annoying way of talking, and is just as air-headed as the main character. It's been 10 episodes, but there is no character development in the works.

When it comes to fights, there is no essence to them. They're all just means to display anime-exclusive cards, and most have the entire mid-fight skipped. You'll learn about card types and some "craft" particular playstyles, but there's no direct teaching of how-to-play.

The soundtrack is typical and I've got no complains on it. They make sure to include actual game tracks for battles which is one thing they do get right.

When it comes to the animation and art, it's like watching Yu-Gi-Oh again (it is a card game anime) with some CG usage for ace cards.

As much as I'm disappointed with this series so far, I still have a sliver hope it can turn itself around with all the random plot points that are not at all explained in these first few episodes. But that might be because I stick to animes of card games I play.

Shadowverse(TV) is a series that seems like it could be at least decent on the surface. For the most part it just reminds me of your average card game anime like Yugioh. That is pretty much the one thing this Anime does well. The voice acting, sound effects, and battles themselves all give you a certain feeling of being a kid again watching Saturday morning cartoons.

Along with following the trend of card game anime you won't find much character depth here. The Main Characters all fulfill some type of archetype and don't really stray from those portrayals. At first it wasn't very bothersome for me ... in the beginning. I was happy to watch Hiro & co explore this new world of Shadowverse. But after awhile the main character Hiro himself become my most disliked protagonist to date right after Ash from Pokémon. Don't worry, I'll explain.

It just seems like every battle ends up being the same. Hiro as the MC must always win, so the writers conjure up all kinds of BS to get him to win usually involving his staple card Ignis Dragon. At first I could stomach it. But then it just kept happening and never seems to stop. And it really grinds my gears when it happens during a good battle that I actually like.

Hiro vs. Alice(EP8) and Hiro vs. Seiya(EP9) are two battles that I actually really enjoyed. I think they both did a good job at giving us an interesting battle to watch. And adding in the spicy character depth I was looking for. But the endings of both were quite frustrating to me. Seiya's battle in particular was what caused me to drop this series.

In summary, I think this series is a pretty average anime. It isn't terrible. But every single character that is not Hiro will miss out on getting the attention and love they deserve because the writers are Hiro simps.