HIGH CARD

Warning, there might be some light spoilers.

Homura Kawamoto striked again! This time, his love for suits and cards gets a fresh new twist: a deck of 52 cards that give special powers to gifted people. And no, this time there are no psycho girls that enjoy gambling, it's less weird.
First, let's talk about the world building: i really enjoyed the London vibes that the city gives, from old cars to tailored suits, which were clearly inspired by The Kingsmen franchise. This first season takes its time to develop as much as it can, some episodes are slower, with lot of narration and explanations about the cards, the powers and their history, sometimes there's little to no battle and some action scenes are even skipped, which is kinda weird in a spy/ action anime.

Now let's talk about the characters. I believe there are too many of them, like i was hoping they were being shown for just episode, like Chelsea or the bitchy policewoman, which i hope gets some sort of development in the future, otherwise she could be literally just a comedy relief, which doesn't belong to such a story. As far as the Pinochle team, all of them works beside the green guy, but we can wait for his redemption arc since a lot of time is spent for all the others. Chris, Finn, Leo and Wendy are well written: they are all complex characters, and their weaknesses are something that make them relatable and enjoyable. Finn, even though is considered the weakest because of his card is always trying his best, and he's also the one that will most likely have a huge power spike in the next episodes. Chris is the romantic killer, hiding his worries behind a smile, Leo is the leader but seem to not agree with the boss, and Wendy is the OP character that has yet to find a balance.
As far as the bad guys, we only had a few chances to see them, this first part focuses on the gathering of the cards, but at least the final episodes have some decent battles, also showing some high-level cards (which also seem to be pretty unbalanced, like the woman that had a J could just pull things to her?? What kind of power is that? The gravity goth lady could literraly move everything everywhere).

High Card has some potential, it reminded me of Bongou Stray Dogs: the first season was a bit slow, with lots of characters, and the protagonist is sometimes a side character. This time i didn't particularly enjoy the change of tones, that went darker for a few episodes, but at least the comedy is kept for some situations and not spat everywhere. You could say it's in between. I hope good things are coming, this was pretty much my favourite new Anime this winter, it's worth a shot. Best thing? The ending. It's the definition of "vibe", with all the characters singing together while driving.