Cardfight! Vanguard is an anime-style card game that exaggerates its content to keep the audience engaged. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing, as many shounen battles also tend to exaggerate. The game is promoted by Bushiroard and is still popular in Japan, following giants such as Pokemon and YuGoiOh.
The story follows the journey of Aichi Sendou, the main protagonist, who is initially shy and awkward but manages to redeem himself and become a "hero" through growth. Aichi gets involved in Vanguard and the game helps him grow emotionally. One interesting aspect of Vanguard is the growth of the protagonists, which continues for a couple of series. They also age until they pass the baton to future generations in other series.
The card game's rules are explained well in the first few episodes, but it may take a couple of episodes to understand the game since it is not immediately simple.
Like other card-themed anime, such as YGO, Vanguard inserts a fantastic element. However, it does so halfway through the series, making the entire first part extremely entertaining since the battles only involve strategy and deck possibilities. This point leads to the second winning factor for the series which makes a great difference in my appreciation and this is the decks used by the protagonists. The decks used in the anime can still be purchased and are 100% faithful to those used, making the product more compelling compared to other similar anime where the protagonist does not have a defined and often sadly too invincible deck.
Aichi loses, a lot!
Aichi Sendou himself is a relatively boring character, and the Japanese dub makes him very corny in his comments or opinions.
Other boring points include the various supporting characters around the main quartet and I am referring to Morikawa and the gang of kids associated with him who follow Team Q4 (this is the name of the four main protagonists), who use and recycle gags and jokes continuously and quickly get tired.
(For example, Morikawa is obsessed with having Grade 3 in his deck - a strategy that makes no sense - and his commentator like "Aichi lost because he doesn't have enough Grade 3" - is mentioned in every episode making the whole thing redundant.)
The first series is a fundamental entry to appreciate the game and what comes next - since it serves as an introduction both to the game, to the protagonists and the "alien" realities.
If you are interested in understanding the game and/or want to play, write to me, and I'll explain everything. Because having removed some hiccups here and there, the CFV Season 1 serves to understand Vanguard's game which is beautiful and underrated.
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