Future Card Buddyfight is a brilliant TCG anime that never takes itself too seriously. I find this show a lovable mesh of Pokemon meets Cardfight!! Vanguard.
STORY:
In contrast to other card-based animes, the characters can actually "fight" in the battles instead of only shouting commands. The characters keep one partner only (exception: Gao), so no time-consuming episodes of them trying to fill their fighting rosters.
FCBF constantly uses the word "buddy" in any sentence possible. This could potentially annoy you (along with Gao's victory one-liners), or it might make you laugh at the sheer cheesiness. In my case, it made me try to count all the 'buddies' used in one episode.
This is a kid's anime so it's lighthearted, but the battles can become dark when the (dun dun) dark cores arrive. One of the characters has a dead brother who is fondly mentioned as well.
There are few fillers in this anime unless you count the two cliché tournament arcs.
CHARACTERS:
I think this is one of the few animes where I liked all the characters and their magical creature friends. My favorite characters were Zanya, Gao, Jin, Asmodai, and Noburu. My least liked would be Tetsuya who is annoying for the entire first season. Still, I found his character evolving from the annoying dance guy entertaining and sad. You can honestly sympathize with any of these characters!
There is a serious lack of female characters and only four to five girls buddyfight in the show.
The show slowly introduces its main characters and lesser ones appear often. FCBF never forgets its side characters because ALL the characters have a purpose. At some point, they reappear and contribute to the plot usually in a “Gao gains a new friend/foe" way. This characteristic of FCBF has me eager for its sequel! I can't wait to see them expand my favorites' story-lines even more.
Concerning Gao Mikado, our main character, he is an actually intelligent lead. He is childish and eats a lot, like so many leads before him. He understands when the villain or one of the antagonists is trying to hurt him and OUTSMARTS them... By buddyfighing! Well, this is a TCG show! Some may find him too perfect due to his many wins and use of OP moves, whether you like or dislike him for that is up to you. Personally, I find it different having a character who is ungodly good the first time he plays a game. Almost every TCG or shounen anime has its main lead start out losing before becoming the best in the game. FCBF sets that trope ablaze and stomps and spits on it. You can argue other characters get more development than lovable Gao.
SOUND:
I have seen the dub version, and I can say they did an excellent job casting!
Bushiroad is well-known (or notorious) for reusing its actors. You will recognize their voices in more than one role. I feel like one VA played at least five different characters!
All of the voices sound professional and unique. I enjoy three characters' voices in particular: Kyoya, Shido, and Genma. Although, all of the voices are satisfactory to my humble ears you could be disappointed by where the directors assigned them. Genma and Rouga, middle school students, have the voice of grown men. Another character, Zanya, who has an actual boy voicing him, takes time to like. Initially, his voice was too amateurish. Zanya is considered the cool character, but his VA tried too hard to achieve that effect. I began to like his voice as the episodes progressed though. I think Zanya's VA really grew with his role until his voice became comfortable. His voice shines in the hilarious moments when Zanya freaks out!
Kyoya's voice is my absolute favorite! His voice is angelic. It's like beauty in the form of sound. Ha!
MUSIC:
I LOVE the soundtrack! As soon as it is released, I am adding it to my music library.
The music is rock-based and uses ample guitar solos. They also have some songs with electric bagpipes and organs! So cool! All of the music is not upbeat, there are even slow songs where piano is used.
The theme song is catchy! It is one of those “either you love or you hate it” type of things. I don't think it has a neutral ground.
The ending theme (Season One) is horrendous. It is just bad. I thought it was too cutesy and had a bad melody. You will have to skip past it or suffer for 20+ episodes. However, the second and third ending themes are wonderful! They could fall under the “too cutesy” trope, but unlike the first, I don't find them grating.
The BGM works well to convey any of the scene's feelings. 10 out of 10!
ART:
I love the style and the character designs. Gao's design has a lot going on because he's extra special!
OVERALL:
Please watch this anime! I love spending Friday nights or Saturday mornings watching FCBF. All of the episodes are on Youtube, so go binge-watch it!
“Can YOU open a buddy rare card?”
