

カードファイト!! ヴァンガード overDress
Shy and timid in nature, 15-year-old Yu-yu Kondou is constantly pressured by his wacky sisters to fulfill their unreasonable requests. One day, they force their brother to crossdress for the sake of their own entertainment, prompting him to run away from home. Following a series of unexpected events, Yu-yu encounters Megumi Ookura, a friendly girl who introduces him to Team Blackout—a group of individuals deeply involved in a card game called Cardfight Vanguard. As he increasingly connects with the members of Team Blackout—Danji Momoyama, Zakusa Ishigame, Tomari Seto, and Megumi herself—Yu-yu discovers a whole new and exciting world, one he could have never imagined without the help of his newfound friends. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Shy and timid in nature, 15-year-old Yu-yu Kondou is constantly pressured by his wacky sisters to fulfill their unreasonable requests. One day, they force their brother to crossdress for the sake of their own entertainment, prompting him to run away from home. Following a series of unexpected events, Yu-yu encounters Megumi Ookura, a friendly girl who introduces him to Team Blackout—a group of individuals deeply involved in a card game called Cardfight Vanguard. As he increasingly connects with the members of Team Blackout—Danji Momoyama, Zakusa Ishigame, Tomari Seto, and Megumi herself—Yu-yu discovers a whole new and exciting world, one he could have never imagined without the help of his newfound friends. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
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ralphdro
June 26, 2021
To keep things short: Vanguard overDress is a breath of fresh air injected in a considerably old franchise. As someone who watched and loved the first series back in 2011, and tried some of the subsequent ones, it was really nice to see overDress not following the same old formula. There is no first episode explaining the rules, there is no old characters making cameos, it is all new and it is all different. The biggest difference between this and the older animes ("If" may be an exception here), is that it is not a story ABOUT Vanguard told USING Vanguard. It is a story about thesecharacters and how they grow as people, and they play Vanguard in the process. They basically take all the SoL aspects of the other animes (which are arguably the best part about these for me) and do not rush them in 10 minutes per episode so they can fit a rushed fight in the other half. It is much easier to connect and enjoy their stories beacause of this. You are free to disagree, of course. But at least give them credit for trying. In a industry where it's really easy to just sit and repeat what made success, they took a step froward and tried to reinvent themselves. Regarding the more technical aspects, the anime is pretty decent. With great visuals, specially in the short battle scenes with the "avatars", nice voice acting complementing fun and enjoyable characters, and a decent soundtrack. Now we have to wait for the next season, which will probably finish the story and allow us to be able to give it a fair analysis.
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shadowmellow
July 5, 2021
!!! CAREFUL SOME SPOILERS !!! Vanguard OverDress is a reboot/relaunch of the long running Cardfight Vanguard franchise and now that its first cour has run its course I can safely say I can see where they’re going while also having no idea who this series is for. Story: The story starts with Yuyu, a young teen who is a bit of a pushover who gets introduced to the world of Vanguard and joins a team that meets up in an abandoned amusement park near his town. On the surface its about how Yuyu grows more confident and learns to stand up for himself with the advice and helpof his new friends and Vanguard but I am not 100% sure if that is actually what the story is about. That is largely due the structure and pacing of the story. The first episode introduces us to most of the main characters and while it doesn’t tell us a lot about the cardgame, the amazing animation symbolizing the fight is breathtaking and draws you in. The subsequent episodes continue the narrative, yes, but in the way that they happen chronologically but the events never affecting the story or characters in the long term. The episodes include highlights such as “Megumi thinks Danji is gay for Yuyu”, “Danji wrestles a real life Japanese wrestler” and “Yuyu is sick and sleeps over at Danji’s”. Most of them reveal minor details about the characters and their relationships but overall feel more like time fillers than anything. It’s only halfway through the series where the story finally starts to show itself but it is promptly dropped for a while before being picked up again and rushed through in the last three episodes. Perhaps because the series spend half of its runtime not having a story at all, the stakes for the climax are only set in episode 10 with the story completely losing its grounded tone of just a bunch of friends hanging out and playing cardgames and instead jumping headfirst into the overly serious and dramatic tone of its contemporaries which is jarring for a series that so far tried to be about anything except cardgames. Which is another point that bothers me about OverDress: It is not about Vanguard. It doesn’t even really involve Vanguard. Yes, the game is the reason why Yuyu joins the group but beyond that it has little to do with the actual happenings of the story, they could be playing Bop-It instead for all the impact it had on the story. The characters don’t establish what’s fun about the game or even what they personally like about it, instead just repeating that it’s fun like a broken record with the viewer having no idea why it would be. The series seems to be so disinterested in the cardgame itself that the first half omits entire sections of a fight or even has episodes where you don’t see a Vanguard field at all. The second half is better about it and sometimes even shows whole cardfights with no cuts but because the viewer is never told the rules about it will probably leave many who didn’t watch the previous seasons or play the game themselves confused. There are many factors that could have let to the, in my opinion, lackluster story structure from the director being new to series directing and Vanguard in general to the attempts at being a “serious” anime going a bit too far to the series being planned with 24 episodes and being paced as such despite the split. Whatever those reasons are, I don’t find the story particularly engaging and having to wait 10 episodes for something resembling a plot to appear is a big ask. 4/10 Art: One of the upsides of this anime. There is a reason Clamp has stood the test of time and their character designs are appealing and probably the best part. That’s not to say that Kinema Citrus is slacking off because the rare moments during cardfights where the feeling actually fighting is illustrated with gorgeously animated sequences of the units physically fighting each other. Outside of these scenes the animation is standard but by no means bad with occasionally surreal directing giving some sequences (mostly cardfights) a dream like feeling to them. Speaking of directing though, the composition and directing the actual cardfights is notably weak, the first half in particular. Besides just skipping phases and sections of the fights, cards sometimes just appear out of nowhere between frames, characters get damaged as the plot demands, the strategies used are flat and uninteresting etc etc. The last part could be in part because the rebooted game the anime is based around very simple as of the time of writing but even though some of the characters’ decks have built in counters to other decks that is hardly utilized within the series. There is one active attempt at a counter made as far as I remember but besides that most fights boil down to the characters brute forcing their way to victory and drawing the exact card they need at the right time. Overall the actual art, animation and direction is fine to good but if you’re a fan of the cardgame and are hoping for fun and exciting fans, you might be disappointed. Because it’s such a niche thing to be bothered about though, I won’t weigh it too much in my score. 8/10 Sound: It’s good. I’m not sure what else to say really cause that’s what it is. Opening and endings are performed by Roselia and Argonavis from Bushiroad’s “BanG Dream!” franchise and while I have no interest in it I have to admit that the songs that have been used in Vanguard so far are absolute bangers. (heheh) I don’t believe the actual OST has been released but from what I heard in the series it gets the job done. It’s appropriately silly, serious and soothing when it needs to be but it never quite stands out on it’s own. It might not stick in your mind but its perfectly serviceable. 8/10 Characters: Oh boy let’s get into this. Overall the characters are fine, serviceable, largely inoffensive but they are also kind of boring in a way. Let’s start with the main protagonist Yuyu. He is mostly a pushover and is mostly dragged around by others, most notably his family and Danji with not a lot of moments where he shows any agency. While the story tells us he becomes more confident as a result of his new hobby and friends, it is not shown very often with Yuyu still being pushed around by the end of the series, if not to the degree as the first episode. He does become more outspoken when it concerns Vanguard with him standing up for his friends in the second to last episode and being less of a nervous wreck but he doesn’t change a whole lot. Next is Megumi who I guess you could call the POV character next to Yuyu. She is probably the character we know the most about in the series with several episodes either dedicated to her background or at least tying into it. Despite having so much focus though she doesn’t seem to have a lot of stuff going on for her. She certainly has personality, being friendly if stubborn and often jumping to conclusions but beyond being friends with Yuyu and having an obvious crush on Danji she hasn’t really contributed to the story a lot. Unlike Yuyu there is no clear character arc for her so far and she doesn’t change by the end of the series except for maybe being a bit less clingy towards Danji. It’s possible that there is more planned for her in the second half but as it stands not a lot going on. Next is Danji, the arguable deuteragonist of the series. Danji is one of the older guys in the group and the leader of their Vanguard team and while he kinda stupid is a very self-assured and confident person. Despite being an overall friendly guy we don’t know a whole lot about him, only that he is friends with Megumi’s older brother, lives in a dump of a place and does odd jobs around town. It’s implied he has a dark troubled past, sometimes disappearing for days on end and meeting mysterious people behind the scenes. On paper he seems like an interesting character, a good contrast to the shy and introverted Yuyu but the way he’s executed is a bit of a problem. His antics and odd jobs while intended to be humorous often come across as plain weird at best and grinding the story to a literal halt at worst. It doesn’t help that the series seems to try really hard to ship Danji with Yuyu with the two of them often blushing around each other and Danji often acting like he’s courting Yuyu and even impressing and meeting his family out of nowhere to “get to know them if they’re going to spend more time together from now on”. Need I remind you that Yuyu is 15 years old and Danji, while we don’t know how old he is exactly, is confirmed to be an adult man. Even if we give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he’s around 19 like Tohya and Zakusa, it’s still kinda weird and I prefer if the series just stopped doing gay jokes about them. Last is Tohya. Oh? You didn’t know Tohya was a main character? Well I don’t think the writers did either because despite featuring quite heavily in the opening and appearing at the end of episode 1, Tohya only features in 4 of the 12 episodes, getting properly introduced in episode 6 to the disappear until episode 10. To be fair, we do learn quite a lot about him when he’s actually onscreen, he is an academic prodigy with his whole life laid out before him and many expectations put on him by his family and teachers with Vanguard being his only outlet to have fun. He is obviously conflicted about his love for the game and his obligations to his family and he is the only character who I actually buy liking the game. His only goal is to win against Danji once and then quit playing but after losing to Yuyu becomes obsessed with wining to the point of, let me check my notes… becoming an antagonist with no regard for the human cost. Yeah, it kinda comes out of the blue with only minor scenes in previous episodes implying that anything is going on with him at all. It’s heavily hinted he is being manipulated by the true antagonists and by the end of the series Danji beats some sense into him but there is not a lot of resolution for his arc whatever it was about. Don’t get too obsessed with winning? Don’t take the game too seriously? But all the other characters take it seriously too, some even acting like someone died because their banner gets burned so what degree of seriousness is good and what is bad? I have no idea what his arc was about but either way it wasn’t good. Besides the main characters most of the supporting cast is very one note and gimmicky. Tomari is a cop but also likes to pretend she’s a wrestling announcer during cardfights. Zakusa is an artist but also kind of feral. Yuyu’s family is absolutely terrible. They work and don’t become too grating but they also clash against the more serious last few episodes. Overall the characters have potential but they range from not having a lot going on to dear god what were they thinking. 4/10 Enjoyment: Not fun. That might be because I’m a fan of the cardgame and as I already noted Vanguard doesn’t really play much of a part or even appear much in this series but I didn’t have a lot of fun, no. Even ignoring the lack of cardfights and focusing just on story and characters I can’t say I enjoyed the experience. While I find Yuyu cute and enjoy characters like Megumi, Tomari and Tohya, I really couldn’t stand Danji and his antics. Considering a lot of the show being about Danji however I couldn’t enjoy large parts of it by proxy. The episodes I liked the most were the ones where he just didn’t appear or play a big role but those tended to not drive the plot forward so it was a bit of a double edged sword. 3/10 Overall: For my overall score, I have to take a step back for a second. I’m obviously biased in my opinion. I got into Vanguard in 2015 right in the Vanguard G era which I argue is overall the best Cardgame anime of all time (I don’t take criticism 5Ds fans). I enjoy the fights, the nitty gritty strategising, the deck building and figuring out ways to counter an opponent with the tools available. I’m really into Vanguard the cardgame and not just Vanguard the anime which makes it obvious I wouldn’t like a show that didn’t focus on it. Still, I don’t think my opinion should be dismissed because of it. If you’ve read this far and think I’m someone who’s just salty that a show they liked changed then you’ve obviously not actually absorbed the things I’ve written. While I am a Vanguard fan, I’m an anime and fan of stories first and I think I’ve made my case elaborating the problems I have with this show. I don’t know who this show is even for, really. Vanguard fans will be put off by the first 5 episodes seemingly not caring about the game while new viewers are probably put off by the later episodes focusing on a game that was never explained to them. If you remove the cardgame aspect of the show though the show has nothing to stand out while still leaving a lackluster story with poor pacing and characters that are likeable but not remarkable. And that’s the most I can really say about this series overall. Not remarkable. There is nothing here you can’t get in other better shows. If you want to watch a show about a shy character learning to become more confident with the power of friendship then you can choose any of the coming of age anime out there. If you want an actual cardgame anime, you also have your pick though I reiterate that Vanguard G is the best one out there. If you want both of those? Well, maybe try watching the original Vanguard or even the 2018 reboot. You will have a much better time than with this show. 4/10
zenkai97
August 19, 2021
I will admit that I may rate this anime too high but I really like this season of Vanguard. It's meant to go on a different direction of the previous season and it really shows. It's meant to be more character heavy and it really shows. Sure there were filler episodes and some odd stuff but it's all meant for us to know the characters and lead up to the heavy stuff that may occur in season 2. Now for what people complain about in terms of the anime being a card game anime. I felt that they did a good job at visually showing howsome of the decks work. Sure they are pretty fast and things can be confusing but it's a huge example of show don't tell. Like when we see Tomari take cards away from her opponent's field with a cage, it's meant to show her prison gimmick of her deck. While I understand the grievances of everybody, I thought they did a decent job. They mostly do this because the anime is meant to appeal to a general audience. Not everyone is going to understand how the game works. While the OG series does get people learning, Overdress is meant to invite people before new fans get into the game. I mostly got a friend who was not into card game anime to watch just for that one awesome but funny moment in episode 12 or the apex of card gaming. If you seen it, you know what I am talking about. Not explaining it due to spoilers. Now for the good stuff, the characters. The way they interact, the situations they get into, and what we learn about them is great. I especially love Danji for his Big Brother vibe while being a bit goofy which helps him be a bit dynamic. And the whole thing is pretty down to Earth with some relatable problems (to an extent). You got to give it to Overdress to not relying on the supernatural to have a story. Not only that, we do see the protagonist having to train and learn how to play the game while being a part of a community that help him out. So he's not just good on the get go and I hope to see him get better. Overall, I felt the hate in Overdress is unwarranted and I felt most of the flaws can be expanded on in season 2 or there is a legit reason to them.
Ghrln
September 13, 2023
Section 1: Which audience is this show for? It is a great show if you do not care about Vanguard the card game. As someone who does not know a single thing about Vanguard and has a very small diminishing interest in card games in general, I found the show to be amazing at times and standard in some of the weaker episodes. It is not a show about Vanguard but about the people who play Vanguard. There's a huge distinction there and the show appropriately structures around that. In the first episode, there is simply 0 explanation about the card game itself. Though slightlyconfusing, I later realized it does not matter at all. The card game is just a dressing for some conflict and the real heart of the show is the relationships between people. This becomes even more apparent in season 2 but let's save this for the review for season 2. Now, does understanding the mechanics of the game enhance the narrative? Yes, I would say so. However, anyone who knows and likes Vanguard probably expects the show to be more focused on the games and its not. So its a null point. Section 2: Positive Portrayals of Femininity in Male Characters There's something distinctly different about this show versus other card games and just shounen genre in general. The show isn't afraid to show femininity in its male characters and I mean this in the utmost positive way. First, Yuuyu (the protagnoist) crossdresses in multiple episodes and no one acts like that's weird. Sure, his friends might tease him but no one says anything like "he shouldn't do that" or "that's weird" etc. This is a breath of fresh air. Yuuyu seems very secure in his gender and in the later seasons he doesn't really mind the cross dressing as much. There's another character that has to cross dress because plot (lol) and he doesn't even mind it that much either. (NOTE: Some animes nowadays have something similar but the crossdressing is sort of only justified because you/characters are attracted to them and not because crossdressing itself is okay.) Another thing that I want to note is that affection between male characters (especially between the protagonist and other male characters) is extremely heart-warming. Usually, in any media, affection between men is relegated to sort of semi-competitive, too cool to express their true feelings type of way. I quite frankly find it disturbing that we see this trope over again over again. Not being able to express affection in a direct, caring way is bad. Many find this to be masculine but I think it's very sad. The show is very direct with affection and love between all characters, regardless of gender. I adore that. Now if this doesn't immediately convince you to watch the show, I would say skip Vanguard: overDress. Section 3: Story There's nothing too complicated and nothing too offensive (with the exception of the creeper that sorta touches Yuuyu inappropriately). I would say the story is majorly incomprehensible most of the time. I find it hard to follow why things are happening in the way it is but at the end of the day it does not matter. You sorta just have to go along with it. I started doing that in the first few minutes of the first episode and it has drastically improved my enjoyed of the show. Think about it like it is a slice of life show with disconnected stories all happening in an episode format. Despite not making sense most of the time, the characters really drive the show forward and you care when the emotional highs hit. Section 4: Characters I find this to be the best part of the show. A lot of them are really likeable and quirky in their own ways. I'm fairly bad with names but i was able to remember most of the cast by a few episodes in. Danji's the unpredictable leader with a heart of gold. Really love him and when his backstory gets told in season 2 I really started feeling for the guy. Conclusion: Overall, i would recommend it to people but I hope I made it clear which audience this show is for. If you fall into this demographic you will definitely love it.
Tazberry
July 21, 2021
I've never watched any Cardfight Vanguard series and wasn't really going into this expecting anything amazing but this surprised me a lot in various aspects. I realized right away that the animation was familiar and after a quick search I found out that Clamp designed the characters, a big plus as a Clamp fan. The animation overall was really good, not just the character designs but the movement, facial expressions, and the backgrounds as well were amazing with the detail. Another aspect I really liked was the score, especially later on when Danji bought a music CD and the music changed to classical lullaby. It allfelt very natural and suited the scenes very well. Music is one thing that can make or break a show and this anime did a very good job. Like I mentioned, I've never been interested in anime about card games so I never bothered to watch anything like Cardfight Vanguard, but this show kept my attention throughout all 12 episodes. I would say this is because it doesn't focus on just the card game, if it did then I would've probably dropped it instantly. There are no long drawn out scenes (like in some sports anime) where the characters constantly talk to themselves about their card, their opponents cards, or what plans they have to win. Although I'm not familiar with the series, this decision felt as if it's partially for the sake of old time viewers that know about the game already. It gives the illusion that the viewer could be a veteran looking at the new generation of players trying out a fun card game. There are some introductions to the cards, and at the end of every episode a character will explain about a featured card. It doesn't go too in depth though, which I appreciate. It feels like both newbie card players and veterans alike can enjoy this anime this way. My favorite aspect of this show is the characters. Each episode takes its time to introduce us to the characters, it shows their personality, their habits, thoughts, pasts, etc. Because I personally don't care about the whole 'card game' plot I really loved that the characters were well built. Of course I don't like every character but it's interesting learning more about them and being able to see them in a new light. I particularly love Yuyu, he's an amazing protagonist in my opinion because of one very large reason. This is the fact that from the very beginning he was never an independent and bull-headed typical protag, but rather he's a caring person (quite the pushover actually) that treasures relationships most. I really love that his love for his friends isn't outshined by his love for playing the cardfight game. Many protags too often get too caught up in the flow, they're too obsessed with winning or being the strongest or whatever. Yuyu cares about what's really important, which is to have fun with friends, and this isn't care isn't tossed aside later in the story. He isn't forced to 'grow as a character' through hardship and by being defeated, that just makes him suffer, what makes him grow is the support he gets from the friends he made from being introduced through the card game, both through playing the game and from outside interactions. I also love Tohru and Danji for two similar reasons, they are both older and veterans of the game (probably similar to a lot of viewers), but they both have a complicated relationship with the game itself. They both are aware that they are getting older and such a game isn't typically played by older people. One maintains his love for the game but chooses to distance himself from it, although never cutting it off fully he knows that this game isn't what he really needs in life. The other can't accept that he's playing a 'game' at such an old age and tries to twist his worldview to make the game fit into his life, ultimately leading him to make bad choices and ignore his original love for the game. They are both interesting in how they view the game and how they choose to interact with it and others through playing. The ending was quite dramatic but I'm hoping for a second season, this anime was very enjoyable.
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