High Card

I personally dont agree with the bad reviews. The story is pretty good so far. Each episode introduces a new character and focuses on each of their own stories which I think is pretty good considering that this only has 12 eps. We get to know a but of every character before rather than a bunch of characters being forced onto us. I also really like the powers each of the characters have since it correlates with their personalities in some way

Story wise, there isnt much plot so far since its more so introduction of each of the characters. But i do like the overall ... plot of cards granting powers since there is so much they can do with this setting.

Ah yes, Kakegurui X Kingsman, who would've thought that the combination of both entities would result in one of the best original anime from this season, that sadly doesn't capture the general audience's attention. And when all hope seemed lost of how everything was going at its ridiculous pace, the upcoming Season 2 announcement straight from AnimeJapan 2023 comes to up the ante, and frankly, I couldn't be more happier that High Card is getting more content to finish up it's supposed "first half" of the story in this season. But let's back things up.

High Card may be an original anime at first sight, but ... it's actually a mixed-media project from the minds of Homura Kawamoto, Hikaru Muno, and TMS Entertainment, with collaboration with anime producer Kadokawa and pachinko/pachislot developer Sammy Corporation. Though you will know that TMS Entertainment is the main studio of backing, one name in particular will stand out. And that person is mangaka Homura Kawamoto, the author of Kakegurui, which if you've seen the MAPPA-produced shows of the TV series comprising 2 seasons back in Summer 2017 and Winter 2019, plus the Kakegurui Twin spin-off that was recently released on Netflix last August, you'll know that Homura Kawamoto is famous (or infamous, rather) for his over-the-top edgy, psychological thriller impulse that the gambling series is known for. And said gambling creator is back again in his new endeavour: the multimedia franchise that is High Card, with the project's focus showcasing the poker motif throughout the series, similar to the gambling theme in Kakegurui, with everything from the title to the names of fictional locations referencing some form of playing card game. And he's not alone, for Hikaru Muno, Kawamoto's brother and author of the Kakegurui LNs, has also joined him in the project, while TMS Entertainment will oversee the project with the illustrator Ebimo, who developed the character designs. And oh my gawd, it looks goddamn nice and striking.

As compared to Kakegurui's school setting where the gambling takes place, High Card takes the typical Japanese school out of context, throws that onto the garbage bin, and injects a world that wherever people go, lives are at stake. That's because the series revolves around a special secret deck of 52 cards called “X-Playing Cards”, held by the mysterious Kingdom of Fourland's royal family. And as discoveries come and go, each card in the deck gives its owner (or “Player”) a very specific superhuman power or ability to whoever uses them. Some cards for example, gives its Player the ability to turn anything he touches into marbles, or extreme luck. And if this reminds you of the Kingsman franchise, then good, it’s supposed to. Kawamoto and Muno put their foot on the forefront that their series is heavily inspired by said movie franchise, with the idea being to create something that would appeal to global audiences. That’s also why they chose to set the series outside of Japan – a globe-trotting series, introducing characters from different cultures.

The lead protagonist of High Card is Finn Oldman, a scrumpy young lad trying to raise funds for his orphanage before their heartless landlord clears them out of the building. Undetermined to have his spirit be broken for the orphaned children, he hitches a ride to the imitation of the Las Vegas casino to steal money from unsuspecting rich people so that he could pay up and make his Sun Fields Orphanage live to see another day. But rather than money, Finn suddenly gets involved in his own thievery that he didn't expect to be larger than life: a playing card that involves not the stake of money, but of lives. And with explosive suddenness, he gets embroiled in the battle over the X-Playing Cards, which the cards were before, stolen not too long ago and scattered across the land. Being armed with this, he becomes affiliated with High Card, the special private intelligence service group tasked by the King of Fourland to recover all 52 cards, while working undercover as salesmen for the luxurious Pinochle car company.

The correlation of both High Card and Kingsman can be defined as such:
Finn Oldman is the Gold Gary "Eggsy" Unwin, a skilled pickpocket with great eyesight and focus allowing him to think multiple steps ahead, wielding the 2 of Spades with the ability of "Neo New Nambu," which summons a loaded Nambu revolver into his hand, and can also summon extra bullets into his free hand.

Chris Redgrave is the Red Harry "Galahad" Hart, a flirty womanizer and skilled driver with a sweet tooth, wielding the 5 of Hearts with the ability of "Calorie's High", allowing him to convert excess calories to heal injuries instantly that would otherwise prove fatal.

Leo Constantine Pinochle is the Navy Blue Chester "Arthur" King, the 14-year-old son of Pinochle's CEO Theodore Constantine Pinochle, being the manager of the Old Maid branch office, with an abrasive demeanor that often grates on his colleagues. However, his position in society and his money puts him at the top of High Card, considering that his father is also the head of High Card, working directly under the King of Fourland. He wields the 7 of Diamonds with the ability of "Never No Dollars", that allows him to instantly swap any amount of money physically nearby for an object of equivalent value. He's constantly tapped together with his butler Bernard Symons: he is Merlin, the administrator for High Card, who does everything from serving tea to servicing cars at Pinochle's Old Maid branch.

Wendy Sato is the Grey Roxanne "Roxy" Morton, the daughter of a master swordsman from the Far East, and the accountant for Pinochle's Old Maid branch office. She wields the Ace of Spades with the ability of "Love and Peace," a large sword with a mind of its own that summons her sadistic side, and goes away once the power is under control.

Vijay Kumar Singh is the Green James "Lancelot" Spencer, the highly intelligent PhD student at the University of Cribbage and the system manager-cum-cook at Pinochle's Old Maid office, with his aloof personality making him difficult to approach people. He wields the 3 of Clubs, with the power "Green Green," allowing him to communicate with nearby plants and control them.

Pinochle has no short of enemies, ranging from threats from rival car company "Who's Who" seeking to crush Pinochle, to the Klondike mafia family who wants the X-Playing cards for their own nefarious ends. And it's people like these that get in their way:

Norman Kingstadt, the flamboyant and charismatic CEO of "Who's Who" in a one-sided rivalry with his childhood friend Theodore. He is aided by Blist Blitz Broadhurst, his personal secretary and bodyguard, who prefers to keep a strictly professional attitude while on the job, constantly reminding the charismatic CEO about pay and labour regulations even as he works to collect X-Playing cards for him. Blist is also a Player, wielding the 10 of Clubs with the ability of "Million Volt," which lets him channel electricity through his body.

Ban Klondike is the Dark antagonist Richmond Valentine, the head of the Klondike mafia family, though he appears to have a softer side when dealing with women and children, seeking the X-Playing cards for his own ends and has a shared history with Theodore and Norman.

Bobby Ball, the one who started the battle of the X-Playing Cards against the unsuspecting Finn. The young and no-nonsense cruelty member of the Klondike family who works under the young executive Tilt servng as a mediating force for inter-family struggles, while managing the search for the X-Playing cards. This information is then disseminated to people like him to acquire them. He wields the 3 of Diamonds with the "Marble Rumble" power that lets him turn anything he grabs into marbles, which he can then use as projectile weapons.

Honestly, the characters are what makes the series interesting, with their different Card abilities, as well as the usual poker sleight of hands that unleash powers beyond imaginability, such as the X-Hand of a deck of 4 cards in all suits to desire the user in granting any wish. And this is more so for Kawamoto, citing that “I want people to like the characters," when he asked what they were most looking forward for audiences to see. “We purposely made loveable characters. I hope that people will also love them like we do.” Muno also agrees in regard, citing that “In High Card, every single character has its meaning, has its job, has its reason to exist in that world. I would like people to find your favorite character. That’s something that we are looking forward to.” Something like Finn's rags-to-riches story of saving his Sun Fields Orphanage, that calculatingly and unconsciously involves the people whom he's close with, like director Lindsey Betz whom took him in when he lost his parents from a very young age from an unknown entity that killed his entire family, only to seek revenge by the way of using High Card as a platform to launch his investigation. Or in Chris's situation, to save a family member, as ought he was did when he was about to experience a near-death situation himself when he was young. The storyline and plot is clearly larger than life than what one would expect, and this being just the beginning to a much sinister story, I'm hoping that whatever Season 2 has in store, it's going to be just as great as how this season laid the foundation for the story to grow and behold.

This is the first time in a long while that Studio Hibari has made a presence in the anime production landscape, the last being Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun a.k.a Clean Freak Aoyama-kun back in 2017, and the years after being co-collaborations for some OVA/ONAs in between. That's because its subsidiaries are the 3DCG studio Larx Entertainment, and the well-known Lerche, which has taken over the studio's productions since 2011. Since then, the main parent studio has had quite the absence for more than a decade since its active years before the 2010s, so for High Card to be its resurgence anime in 6 years, it's great to see what the studio is capable of in pulling off a modern anime after being out for so long. The TL;DR is this: awesome action, great and strong visuals to add to the constant never-ending world-building lore, that it's actually so clean and refined. This will be amplified in Season 2, and I'm looking forward to more consistency that's backed by the cool concept.

The music is even better, I might as well say that it's the highlight of the anime itself. The man, the (not so) myth, the legend that is composer Ryo Takahashi himself, he has done some well-known works like Princess Principal and You-Zitsu a.k.a Classroom of the Elite to name a few. And to say that his music composition here is nothing short of magnificent, is truly an understatement, as next to one of my all-time favourite shows of last year (Healer Girl), High Card is action-packed, pumping beats that help the series truly elevate its high-stakes nature. Also, the OST here, it's my No. 1 top favorite of the season with FIVE NEW OLD's OP "Trickster" and utaite Meychan's ED "Squad!", both songs being absolute, ABSOLUTE hype bangers from Day One they hit the scene. A magnificent, outstanding debut for FIVE NEW OLD and Meychan's 2nd anime theme song (after Estab-Life: Great Escape) being an upbeat, squad-like catchy song that's easily worth the karaoke experience.

All in all, if there was a negative to High Card, it would be how the story was weaved across these 12 episodes, with the uncertainty of an unsure stopping point. This is owed to subpar director Junichi Wada, which other than C2C's SukaSuka back in 2017 (which was a miracle in the area of flukes) hasn't had a hit series, and I'm sincerely hoping that whenever Season 2 rolls around, will his directorialship prowess be finally known if he's still one capable director of trust.

Still though, this is hopium more than copium for me, and until Season 2 comes again in the future, this is yet another sleeper hit that doesn't get enough attention. PLEASE, for the love of God, watch High Card. It's definitely a better Kakegurui if you still feel sucker-punched about said series.

Are you ready? It's Showdown!!

When I looked at this initially, I thought it was a bit of Kingsmen meets Bungou Stray Dogs, and while that’s mostly right, the comparisons don’t do it any favors. It doesn’t have the kinetic action or suave sophistication of Kingsmen, it doesn’t really have the character bonds, development or direction of Bungou, it’s just… there.

The show has a grand total of 5 major characters, spending the vast majority of its time developing two of them: Finn and Chris. That might be fine if Finn wasn’t a bog standard shonen MC that didn’t have anything interesting to him (the best comparison I have is to ... Makoto Edamura, the MC from Great Pretender, who wasn’t great but was carried by a solid cast around him) and Chris wasn’t utterly predictable in virtually everything that counts as character development. There were some nice moments between them, but they were few and far between. The other 3 characters got, at max, a single episode worth of development (one of them didn’t even get that), and then largely vanished into the background until they were useful again.

All of this would still be fine if the side characters or world were interesting, but more strikes against the show, they aren’t. Most of the side characters are either enigmatic, lacking any real development, or just function as stereotypes that either facilitate or hinder the heroes.

As for the world, that’s what brought me to this series and I was hoping for so much more. The entire conceit of the show is that there are cards that grant magic powers that jive with individual users. That mostly stays consistent, and there is some backstory on how they work, albeit one that basically just chalks it up to magic. So far so fine. There’s a hierarchy for the cards that goes from 2 to Ace, and no, that does not stay consistent at all. The central mission of our heroes is to recover the cards for the king for obscure reasons, and there is one major group in conflict with them for even more obscure reasons. That’s fine, it’s not like Bungou spelled out everyone’s motivations in S1, but I just don’t know why I’m invested in these guys. They aren’t that interesting and their overall aims just feel too enigmatic and grand for me to care. There was an episode in the middle of this season where it felt like we were getting some more information, only for it just to be a “evil guy does evil things” moment with no spin out consequences.

It really doesn’t help that the narrative seems to be running in place. There are few cards collected by the end, the villains don’t seem to care much, the big Chris moment was terribly undercut at the last moment, and it ends on a cliffhanger where Berserker from Fate Zero shows up (I’m only half joking).

Long story short: don’t bother. The series visuals are fine, if a bit off-putting, and they’ve announced a S2, but I’m not planning on watching. It’s a series that played it safe on the narrative and still felt like it missed most of its swings. Consequences just don’t exist for our central cast, which just makes them sacred cows who will survive everything and come back just fine.

Started watching this anime because of the Luck of the Draw stack challenge but finished it because of how fun the anime turned out to be.
For those who love stories about Nakama, superpowers, action, a buddy cop type story and with an overarching mystery this anime is perfect. The first 4 eps are a good introduction to this story and it's characters.It's from Ep 5 the story really kicks in. All the characters in High Card (Finn,Chris,Leo,Vijay and Wendy) really grow on you and the episodes keep things interesting giving us more backstory on the characters and the cards at an even pace. I feel ... like Season 1 is just the beginning and am looking forward to the next season.

Finn and Chris are a nice duo to follow. From Ep 7 we really get to see their friendship blossom and I can't wait to see more of them working together and depending on one another. Becoming 'buddies'
Leo, Wendy and Vijay are also awesome! I wanna know more about them and see all 5 of them actually work as a team in the next season.
The bad guys are menacing and the higher up our team reports to is equally strong and dangerous.
The soundtrack is fun to listen to. Nothing special but good.
I love the art and the colour scheme used. Reminded me of Balance Unlimited. The action sequences too. Very fun to watch.
All in all Recommended!

Honestly a great anime, definitely a good watch if you are into mafia/police, superpower, action anime with a pretty good plot. I feel like this anime deserves more, the story is fairly unique, and so are the reasons for people having powers. The main character's backstory is heartwarming and main character worthy, not too crazy, but mysterious as well, hopefully we get into the mystery of his backstory in the second season which was already confirmed, good enough for us to root for him in his endeavours. The other characters are very likeable, but they did not get enough of a spotlight, would be nice ... if we learned about them a bit more, have their own story and such. The powers in this anime are nicely portrayed, and unique, it's nice that the main character has the weakest power yet is able to use it in a useful way, but I hope there is something more to his power, maybe like how in the card game "president" 2 is the strongest card, and it secretly has a strong power like that. It would be nice if we also get more into Theodore's backstory and why he acts the way he currently is, as well as his majesty, and the origins of the cards.

If you're looking for a new anime, I can recommend "High Card." It's a unique blend of superpowers and poker cards. Which is a refreshing change of pace from typical anime shows.
The protagonist, Finn Oldman, may start as the weakest player with his 2 spades card. But that makes his journey all the more exciting. As the plot progresses, you'll find yourself invested in his story.
While the world-building may be a bit heavy-handed in the first episode, the rest of the season focuses more on the characters and their relationships within the High Card group. And let me tell you, the characters are absolutely charming. ... While the plot may not be the most original, it's still a fun ride watching these people acting as a car dealers as their front.
The animation is top-notch, and the voice acting is fantastic. Plus, the car designs are simply marvelous. And don't even get me started on the opening and ending themes. "Trickster" will have you hyped up for every episode, and "スクワッド！" is a total earworm that you'll find yourself singing along to.
So if you're looking for an anime with vibrant animation, lovable characters, and catchy music, "High Card" is worth a watch. It may not have the best fight scenes, but it has plenty of heart and charm to make up for it. Give it a shot if you have time, though you won't miss much if you don't.

I came into this anime blind without knowing anything about it beforehand. The first ten minutes had me a little bored, but once they switch the story up to Finn's life where he steps into the casino, it starts getting a little interesting. You start by wondering if he's cheating his way to money, then the existence of the high cards gets revealed to you for the first time. That same episode is where all the killings for cards start happening, and oh boy, I was not expecting it. Every episode from then on had me clenching my toes in anticipation, ESPECIALLY towards the end ... of the show.

I'm a sucker for action, and if you are too, I cannot recommend this anime more. Chris Redgrave gave me emotional damage by the last episode. One of the most slept-on anime I have ever positively experienced. Finn might be on the weak side compared to every other character in the series, but the moments where he does shine with his 2 card are the times where they need a miracle the most. My favorite thing about this anime is how there are unique powers for each card, and each character (including side characters) has a decent amount of depth to them. The middle or near-end of the anime might be its weak point in terms of entertainment, though I had some good laughs. I can't wait for season two!

Hey there! So, let me start with the positives: the character designs in High Card are on point! I mean, you gotta give it to them, they know how to make some good-looking characters. But unfortunately, that's where the good stuff ends. The plot is just meh, and I hate it when action shows have no real rules to the fights - it's like, "Okay, they're fighting, but what's the point? What are the stakes?" And don't even get me started on how nothing much happens. I tried to give it a chance, I really did, but by episode 3 or 4, I was done. ... It's a shame, really, because the art style had so much potential.

High card reminds me a lot of kingsman as I’m other people have noted. I’m all for it personally the card system is a neat power system here look forward to see where the story goes. Finn is an ok protagonist I’m sure I’ll come to love him again seeing alot of kingsman similarities here with egsy with them both being From low income and them being dragged into this secret service but he feels different enough with him being a skilled pick pocket being able to properly plan out his approach shown in the first few moments in episode 1. I am a bit ... disappointed they have just made him a good marksman and have let him into those secret services without any form of training or screening (they did some sort of background check but that’s it) they have just allowed a random civilian in because protagonists. Another thing is that nobody seem address the fact that he’s never handled a gun before but he can just do it perfectly without any problems and it’s just because 2 of spades card. Like it would have been nice to have a small scene of him struggling to reload or just a slight bit of panic when his revolver runs out and him working out how to actually reload a gun. Or him properly figuring out how to hold the gun to compensate for recoil. I understand in retrospect this has no actual effect on the story or the show like I said I’m enjoying it but it’s small things that I’m seeing.

Honestly its not BAD, but its not PERFECT either! It gives "kingsman" movie vibes! If you dont have super high expectations of an anime or just want to watch something cause youre bored, then watch it. So far imo, it gets max 6/10!
Opening and ending songs and animation are good. The overall animation is good but not perfect. The story is good but has its own flaws. (maybe its too soon to judge the whole show)
I dont want to be super negative about it and say that i dont recommend it. People have different tastes, someone might enjoy it more than me. And ... tbh even though its not THAT good, its still kinda interesting to watch! 🤣 i dont know how to express my feeling about it tbh, hence "mixed feelings"( i would definitely change my rating and review if the story get better)
And like some other comments said, episode 3 and how they handled the antagonists was highly questionable ! (I wouldnt even call them antagonists tbh)

Edit after finishing the anime: 7/10 max, imo! I still have mixed feelings! The story is fine (kinda cliché, but fine and interesting enough to watch). The animation is good but i wish it was better!

Unfortunately that was kinda below my expectations, I was hyped when they first announced it , I anticipated for some time but I'm just disappointed, the just got I really good intro with some action and mystery moments but after that you gonna feel this show is missing something , it had really good potential but they just ruined but rushing the story and the plot itself can be really superficial like no deep scenario, for example this happened because of that period . Atleast try to make it more interesting , it has some good moment or emotional ones but that was for short ... time besides that sometimes I feel they just missed the point of anime and they ended talking about other thing that has no connection with the story , and the ending was really avreage with a short cutscene at the end to add more thriller but I guess it is what it is , let's wait for the second season and hope they gonna fill the story with some interesting stuff .

High card - an anime with High potential but a wasted one. I dont know if the pacing is the same as in the manga as i do not read it, however it felt extremely fast paced and dozens of unexplained events happening one after another. The plot left me heavily confused about what is truly happening in this world of High Card, i was so confused that i barely had any desire to finish it, powers are left unexplained, cards are left unexplained, literally nothing is explained in this anime and it feels like everything that happens in the world of high card is ... highly fantastic.
First what left me so confused is the plot, even after completing the anime i am still a little bit confused about the entire plot, sure it must have some mystery but its rather a mess than a mystery, second - these cards are explained to give a certain superpower once they are played but through the entire season i can see how our main character who has the weakest card and is the weakest is jumping left and right, surviving all bullets, firestorms, hazards, jumping off train bridge and etc, is he having a plot armor or is just that all cards give some sort of super flying powers and unpenetretable armor because all of them keep surviving and keep acting like their cards give them superman powers along with the certain power that is explained, seriously this anime lacks logic for me and is highly fanstatic, nothing is properly explained, nothing. I literally felt like wasting my time watching this anime because the plot is extremely confusing and unexplained, this anime should have been an 24 episode cour or its just that the anime is not well made - i dont know as i dont read the manga.
The only good thing about this anime is that its art, music and has decent amount of action, honestly for me going into this anime i was excited as i really liked the idea, definitely High Card is an anime with High Potential but a wasted one for sure. I've always liked such animes with cards, carnivals, circus and musical instrument vibes but this one dissapointed me heavily. Nonetheless i will still watch the 2nd season but this anime as it is now is not worth your time.

High Card's story is about a standard 52 deck set of cards containing magical powers. Once you gather all 7 Dragon Balls, you will have your wish--whoops, wrong show. Seriously, though, the story is just too generic for me to care about it.

There was a lot going for it. The animation and art style is quite nice. Some fights are just done off screen, but the fighting scenes that the show decides to animate aren't bad at all. The colors, cuts, and choreography are all definitely above average. This show was not lacking in budget. The protagonist is charming. He's got a super ... boring backstory about being poor and resorting to crime to make ends meet, but his personality really shines through his actions in the first episode. He's a decent guy, but willing to take risks when opportunity strikes. The pilot episode, other than the beginning--which was just useless flavor text--really caught my attention and introduces the world and main character in a bombastic sequence of events. Then there's the 52 cards. Each card contains different strengths, weaknesses, and a unique ability. The show really could have been cooking up anything. A battle royale consisting of all 52 card holders or really just different card holding organizations vying for cards in an everlasting power struggle of turf wars. I had high hopes.

Instead, you got "good guy organization" vs "bad guy organization." What's even the point of watching something like this? I don't care what the demographic is meant for or the fact that it's graphic sometimes, it's a fucking shounen show. The protagonist just gets thrown into a random "good guy organization" and the rest of the plot is just "good guys" vs blatantly bad guys that kill people. So original. Even the likes of characters like Chris aren't that bad, but they just get completely ruined by the story direction. Like haha, Finn is a good guy. Don't believe me? Watch him save a stranger to prove his good-heartedness. Aren't you glad he's a good guy that has superpowers than the bad gang guy that has superpowers that kills people for fun and ruin peoples' lives? Then there's Leo Constantine. Isn't it super cool that he's got daddy issues and how he doesn't care that his father ruins other people's lives by gouging small business with a complete monopoly in his industry while probably openly "lobbying" government officials? I completely made up the last part of course, but it's true that episode 3 talks about his father gouging small businesses, and how Leo states that "only the strong survive." Using a hyperbole as an example, doesn't that mean he tacitly agrees that strong people should be able to kill weak people, like the bad gang people? Isn't it funny that the small business owners that got bankrupt eventually are colored as super bad, maniacal guys that murder and kidnap and then the good guys are part of the rich organization? Wow, such a coincidence. I looked up Pinochle to see if it was an actual company and it was sponsoring this show, but no, it's fictional. Considering how Finn comes from a poor background, I was expecting him to be a lot more empathetic and question his loyalties or something, but nah, he's just happy to serve.

Anyways, regardless of my rant, this show really is just a generic shounen trope-filled show of a mess. Everything about it is pretty good, but the fact that the show is "good guys" vs "bad guys" is super cringe.

English.
A series with a super interesting concept but that they don't know how to carry, the premise of the series is very good but the truth is when the episodes go by you will realize that it is really not as good as it seems and it is quite boring.
At the beginning they will show you everything and it will entertain you quite a bit but halfway through the series it sort of doesn't find a direction and doesn't know what it wants for its ending, plus the ending isn't what I expected. The ending is not at all interesting in my opinion and I ... think they could have done it much better for the simple fact that I think it could have ended in these 12 chapters if they had taken more advantage of the time.
Most of these plots to get the cards are episodic, that does not mean that they are bad because at all but the truth is they are not as interesting as you imagine, only half of the series or well of the season tries to have these cards but The other half are plots to find out who these characters are but I didn't find it the most interesting, in truth their past is super generic and not at all interesting in my opinion.
Look, my problem is that for me it was very boring, it's not bad, I think the animation is good and the characters may interest some, but for me that wasn't the case and I didn't like this series very much.

Español.
Una serie con un concepto super interesante pero que no saben llevar, la premisa de la serie es muy buena pero la verdad cuando van pasando los episodios te vas a dar cuenta de que en verdad no es tan buena como lo parece y es bastante aburrida.
Al principio te mostraran todo y te entretendrá bastante pero a la mitad de la serie como que no encuentra un rumbo y no sabe que es lo que quiere para su final, ademas que el final no es lo que esperaba. El final no es nada interesante a mi parecer y creo que pudieron hacerlo mucho mejor por el simple hecho que pienso que pudo haber terminado en estos 12 capitulo si hubieran aprovechado mas el tiempo.
La mayoría de estas tramas de conseguir las cartas son episódicas, eso no quiere decir que sean malas porque para nada pero la verdad no son tan interesantes como se imaginan, solo la mitad de la serie o bueno de la temporada trata de tener estas cartas pero la otra mistad son tramas para saber quienes son estos personajes pero a mi no me pareció lo mas interesante, en verdad su pasado es super genérico y nada interesante a mi parecer.
Miren mi problema radica que para mi fue muy aburrida, no es mala creo que la animación esta bien y los personajes pueden llegar a interesarles a algunos pero para mi no fue el caso y no me gusto mucho esta serie.

High Card was an anime that a friend and I started over a year ago, and as of 4/22/24, we finally finished it.

In short, it's an anime about gambling. There's 52 special cards that give unique abilities to "players". These players have powers that can be used for good, or for bad. Anyways, the king wants to collect the cards for obvious reasons, and that's what the main force, High Card, is trying to accomplish.

I really like a lot of things about High Card. I think the character design is interesting, to say the least. All of the characters seems to have drip as ... well. The concept itself, a world where gambling is the true power, is pretty unique and cool. I also think a lot of the powers are out there enough for them to be praised.

The power scaling is also apparent enough for you to realize who is stronger than who with each number relatively reflecting how strong someone is. Someone with a 2 (like the main character) doesn't get anything too powerful, but someone with an ace gets something crazy. (but there's a drawback, cause yk, it's an ace. They have double purposes as a 1 and a 10)

Where High Card falls apart for me is the writing. While the first few episodes were good, the more the anime dragged on, the worse it became. There are a plentiful amount of plot holes and issue with this anime where it simply becomes laughable for me. (and the friend I watched this with, hence why we put it off for so long.) Admittedly, they were sort of negligible at first, with it being something to just point and laugh at. However, there's one specific instance that is something that isn't ignorable, and that is how terrible the season's ending is.

Without going into too much detail, the ending stinks, and does not set up High Card at all for a second season. (Yet, for some reason, got one unexpectedly fast. I don't know how. It was somehow announced in the last episode and already came out and has finished of this review.) The ending has a very common trope of everyone just forgetting what happened and everything going back to normal. It makes absolutely no sense, especially considering one of the twists at the end. This is something that has absolutely affected my score of High Card negatively.

Anyways, with that out of the way, it's time to wrap this review up.

Would I recommend High Card?
I mean, if you have nothing better to watch. It had a lot of potential at the start and was something magical. It fell off hard though. If you can push past the subpar writing, sure; give it a watch I guess! If you can't though, don't watch it.

Would I tune in for a season 2?
I mean, it depends on what my friend thinks. I don't think I'll be watching the season two in my spare time, but if him and I get together again to watch it, sure.

Overall score:
6.4/10

52 cards exist, each and every one of them grants a unique power by it's chosen player two sides fight over it's power. This is the beginning of a new war thats lasted centuries.

The premise of Highcard is that two groups are fighting over 52 *actually* magical cards that grant unique abilities to those that wield them. These abilities range from conjuring up a gun or sword to literal immortality or turning people into marbles by touch, these cards fetch an extremely high price on the market and those who wield them gain unbelievable powers. However the cards choose the wielder and they cannot ... be used by just anybody.

The setting is clearly meant to be England but it isn't called that despite having extremely identical architecture, and even depicting the viking invasion of England in a re-telling of the country's origin and westminster abbey even being shown at one point. The show takes place in what appears to be London but it isn't called such. The land is called Fourland and its divided into 4 parts.

The hero of our story is a boy named Finn who is dragged into this war after he is found to possess one of these cards, the two groups fighting over these cards are the Klondike Mafia whom seek to use its power for their own personal use, and the Penochie motor company who seek to collect the cards and return them to the royal family who has protected them for generations.

Highcard is the name of the group that works within Penochie to collect the cards comprised of 5 individuals:

Finn: the 17 year old orphan pickpocket who wields the power of gun and can shoot in a perfect straight line

Chris: a man whom is immortal thanks to his card

Vijay: an Indian looking man who can utilize the power of growing vines or plants from anywhere

Wendy: a Japanese looking woman who possesses a cursed sword

Leo: the leader of the group who can turn money into anything of its value. (Like $2 into a can of coke)

The boss of the Pinoche group is named Theodore whose power is undisclosed along with several other members.

The Klondike mafia is led by a man named Ban Klondike who has too many characters to list and to avoid spoilers.

There's also the police force and several other characters but I won't discuss them once again for spoilers sake.

The anime itself is REALLY interesting and I found myself binge watching all 12 episodes in 1 night. However by episode 10 I felt letdown as they re-used the same cards and characters.

The humor is present thoughout although I never found myself laughing out loud, there's still a chuckle especially one scene on the last episode.

The animation is VERY high quality and breathtaking at times. It's done by Studio Hibari who isn't well known but also did Cutscenes for Persona 4, but the animation really is incredible and colorful with tons of fluidity and realistic visuals.

The sound is SUB only as there is no dub available which is a shame because the obviously English speaking Japanese is odd but the voice acting is good. The most notable VA is Daisuke Ono who voiced Jotaro in JJBA voicing Theodore. Jazz music plays thoughout the episodes and is often used in tense moments.

As far as content warning: there is cursing, violence + excessive gore but no nudity but suggestive sexual language is used.

Overall Highcard is a really solid anime that more people need to be aware of. It has very intense and fun to watch battle sequences and the mystery of the cards keeps the watcher in suspense. The only complaint is that the show feels like it drags on later and some episodes are weaker then others.

But I definitely recommend Highcard if you liked JoJo's bizarre adventures (Golden Wind specifically) or something like Fate/Zero. It's very similar to those.

If you Like These You'll Probably Like This Show: Bungou Stray Dogs, Baccano, or Karneval(This last one is more just general character pacing rather than actual genre similarity)

Stay Away if you Don't Like: Ambiguous Morals in MCs, Mafia/Government/Spy related content, Action-Focused Show, Fast Pacing

I genuinely think that this anime is a good time. :) The premise is fun and the show takes it's time easing you into it, avoiding an expo dump, but the power system is easy to understand and not laden with bullshit and excessive complexity. Also, considering that this isn't from a big studio, the animation is fantastic! Makes the ... action bits really fun and exciting to watch!

Even though this feels mainly action-driven, kind of like a spy-flick rather than anything super-heavy, there are some emotional beats with back stories from different characters that I assume will be paid off later on as we're still on episode 5. This is not a super realistic/gritty story, though, so do not expect any of the characters to be dealing with any truly serious trauma on-screen in a drawn out manner. Many gruesome things are a bit glazed over for the protagonist, half because he really isn't as affected by it due to his personality, and also because the show is more focused on moving the plot forward than dwelling on what's happened previously.

It's a bit unfortunate that some of the cases that the MC goes through don't have many long-lasting implications, as his character growth is not the main focus of the first half of this show. They kind of hint that his moral ambiguity is something that needs to change in the first episode or two, but it's not talked about after that. There's an episodic dynamic to High Card that makes flipping focus to different characters fairly common, though they usually do not resolve or achieve a lot of progress by the end of the episode.

If you're someone that's super into character-driven shows, this is not it. But it's a cute action flick that's fairly good-looking and has an interesting world. Rating may change depending on how the show resolves...

Also, the TONE CHANGES DRASTICALLY AT EPISODE 5 AND BECOMES MUCH DARKER AND MORE VIOLENT: If you're squeamish about gore, I do not recommend watching from 5 onwards. (If you get the reference, it feels a bit Chainsaw Man-esque)