So, High Card, an "anime original". Sort of. It's a proposed mix media project that has, currently, this anime with an original story airing, and a side-story manga that started serialization in August of 2022 (High Card -♢9 No Mercy, in Square Enix's Manga Up!). Though a manga and light novel adaptation have already been announced.
How is the first episode of the anime though? In a word, good, really good. The series takes its inspiration from Poker, and plays with it to produce a Persona-esque combat format, where specific cards from a very special set are able to produce various abilities and powers. It's a really fun approach, and I'd say they make full use of it.
Gambling, risk-taking, it's all a facet of the first episode as we follow a mystery leading to the dispersal of these powerful cards into the world, with the main goal being assumed to be the reclamation of the cards before they can cause too much damage. It sets itself up for a very broad scale, and I think that's a good thing.
However, the overall appeal of High Card is far more narrow. It targets that niche that is inspired by gambling, by the suave men in suits that always have a quip or something witty to say. It aims for the electric feeling of jazz and of a saxophone over an intense car chase, or of the funk of a bass guitar to add swagger, or of gratuitous slow motion and bloody action.
High Card goes all in on a single bet with its first episode: style. It doesn't try to wow with an incredible story, or pull you in with crazy stakes or hints or anything like that. It sucks you in with how it feels to watch. It's sitting in the corner with an expensive suit on and wearing a pair of sunglasses inside. Highly cliché and enough to somewhat get you to roll your eyes maybe, but there's an undeniable air about it, something that makes you want to go over to that corner and find out why it is they called out to you.
And I think that is a pretty great reason to check it out. It doesn't offer any guarantees, it doesn't do anything to prove it has the ability to last through its season. But, it has more than enough to make you want to watch that one episode. Plus, it just looks plain good. Bright and contrasting colors, unique and fitting character designs, and some really solid animation work.
HIGH CARD Anime is All in on 2023 Premiere with Junichi Wada Directing
The cards are officially on the table for the HIGH CARD anime, part of a new poker-themed mixed-media project that was first announced back in June of last year. The latest update has arrived along with a new key visual and English-subtitled promo, lining the series up for a 2023 broadcast premiere in Japan and revealing the main staff that will be bringing the anime to life at Studio Hibari and TMS Entertainment.
— HIGH CARD【2023年アニメ放送決定!】 (@highcard_pj) March 8, 2022
As previously reported, the overall story was created by Homura Kawamoto, the story writer of the gambling-themed manga Kakegurui, Hikaru Muno, the author of the novelizations of Kakegurui and TMS Entertainment.
Junichi Wada (The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan, SAKUGAN) is directing the series, based on scripts by Kenichi Yamashita (D. Gray-man Hallow), Kazuhiko Inukai (Cardfight!! Vanguard) and Shingo Nagai (NEW GAME!). Ebimo's original character designs are being adapted by Nozomi Kawano (RADIANT).
Main cast:
Finn Oldman
VA: Gen Sato (Fumiya Tomozaki in Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki)
Chris Redgrave
VA: Toshiki Masuda (Eijiro Kirishima in My Hero Academia)
Leo Constantine Pinochle
VA: Shun Horie (Kazuya Kinoshita in Rent-a-Girlfriend)
Wendy Sato
VA: Haruka Shiraishi (Asirpa in Golden Kamuy)
Vijay Kumar Singh
VA: Yuichiro Umehara (Goblin Slayer in GOBLIN SLAYER)
There's also a new drama CD on the way. Here's the cover:
Story:
After learning that his orphanage is about to close due to financial problems, Finn Oldman heads to a casino to win a fortune. Once there, Finn gets caught up in an intense chase and gunfight set off by a man's "lucky card." Finn eventually learns that the world order is controlled by whoever holds a deck of 52 X-Playing Cards, which can grant superhuman abilities.
A secret group of players called the High Card was commissioned directly by the King of Fourland to collect these cards, which are scattered throughout the kingdom. They also work under the guise of employees at the luxury car manufacturer Pinochle. Now chosen as the fifth member of the party, Finn is about to embark with the rest of the group on a dangerous mission in search of these powerful cards…
Via Comic Natalie, Official Twitter
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Joseph Luster is the Games and Web editor at Otaku USA Magazine. You can read his comics at subhumanzoids. Follow him on Twitter @Moldilox.
So, admittedly, not as action packed and cool an episode as the first, but super interesting for two main reasons. Kingsman and Cards.
So let's look at that first one, Kingsman. I'm fairly certain the majority of people out there know of the Kingsman movies (which were originally comics). They know of the sort of rough around the edges underdog being picked up by a suave and sensible mentor to help with some top-secret spy stuff. They know of the Kingsman suit store, of the classic spy tropes. They know of that bar/pub scene in the first movie.
A lot of it is in this High Card episode. Of course, they can't give it all direct and literal references, but stuff like Wizardsman really makes the comparison clear as day.
Anyways, the cards. This episode confirms it. They all have "themes". We sort of knew with the diamonds, but it could have been a simple coincidence. Today though, we got another heart card so can properly confirm (you can cheat if you use the opening). So, what are the "themes"? Well, we know 3 of the 4 themes for sure. The heart suit is constitutional, or "enhancement", cards. Chris' 5 of Hearts is effectively immortality, and the bad guy's 3 of Hearts this episode was Rocking Rock which made his body super strong and durable. So how about diamonds, which we already know of? Well, now that we know how broad the themes can be, I would assume diamonds to be able to exert control over reality. Lucky Lunchman and his ability to effectively gamble and luck out on existence, and Bobby Ball's ability to turn people into marbles. Additionally, because of this theme, we can assume the talk about human combustion is another diamond suits player. Regardless, moving on, thanks to the opening, we know of the suit (and ability) of Wendy's card. She possesses a spade, and is able to create a katana (or potentially more specifically a Nodachi given the size), and has leather gauntlets instead of gloves. This means that the spade suit is used for weapons, though I would assume with a twist given what we know of Finn's two of spades. This leaves Clubs as the most unknown, the only person possessing one being Vijay (thanks to the opening). Vijay's clubs makes use of vines-slash-nature, but since we don't have any other one to compare to, it's hard to give an answer as to what the theme of clubs may be.
More in terms of the abstract of the episode, I really enjoyed the direction of it. They continue to provide a wide range of style that really sells the appeal of the series. It's got swagger, it's got a strong sense of self, and above all it sells the personality of each character. They keep shots wide with several characters, they have plenty of low angle shots to sell the scale and grandeur of them, and the list continues. The lighting and overall color palette of the series helps a great deal with it though, it provides a great deal of contrast and allows them to go all out with the feel of certain scenes.
As a side note I love this one, because the little tea filter or whatever it is (sorry, not well versed in tea stuff!), is symbolism for the filter through which the cards select the player, and that last little drop is the example of the bad players that would abuse the cards slipping through.
I think my point's been made, so moving on. The last little bit I'll speak about is the exposition. It's always great when there's a character that genuinely doesn't know of the comings and goings of what's behind the curtain, and they don't miss a beat in capitalizing on that to explain things and sell us on Finn. We learn a great deal about the X-Playing Cards, and about the nature of the world. They give some hints as to how the cards might choose their players but there's nothing set in stone. And lastly, I really enjoyed seeing Finn's mentor/adoptive father Lindsey again this episode. I believe it's really important to include those characters when possible within stories like this, particularly when it's a foundational aspect of a character like Finn. The whole piece about choices and decisions with this episode, due to Lindsey's involvement, was really solid.
So, not quite the first episode by any means, but it makes the most of the typical cadence and flow of a fresh series as it goes through the motions of explanations and recruitment. Looking forward to what they do with the next episode now that the playing field has opened!