So, after four seasons of a great anime about a card game called Cardfight Vanguard, comes this movie. After watching all 4 seasons of CFV, I watched this movie and honestly, this was one of the biggest let-downs I had with any series so far.
But, let's start with the good stuff:
1. Characters - Most of the characters from this movie were taken directly from the series and have complex designs and unique personalities. While very little of it can be fleshed out with a time restriction like in this case, the characters are represented well. There is ofcourse a new character, Ibuki Kouji. His character is well designed (not so much his cards), his backstory well explained and he, as a villain, represents a real threat, which makes him relevant.
2. The ending - If any of the CFV season had at least one thing in common, that would be a satisfying ending. This movie is no exception. While I won't spoil it for now, I'd say that it does redeem the movie a bit.
3. Voice acting - While this is hadrly its own topic since it mostly belongs under characters it might be worth noting that it is on point and well acted.
And that's pretty much all I can come up with for the good stuff. Next comes the stuff that makes me feel that 3 is a very generous score for this movie.
1. The cardfights - Oh wait,... this is wrong,... there are no cardfights! Oh, yeah, that's what I actually meant. "The lack of cardfights" would be more appropriate. This is why people who liked the series might not like the movie. And one of the main reasons I didn't like it. So, what basically happens, CARDFIGHTS GET REPLACED by weak Half-CGI BATTLES, that will make your head spin an make you wonder wtf just happened. Also lots of gore-like stuff, ripping through people's stomacks with one's hand etc. (tons of unneccessary violence, in my oppinion)
So, no points of power, no trigger checks, no clever skills, basically nothing that make vanguard special as a card game. Instead, we get our character's avatars flying around cray clashing weapons and smashing into their enviroment at nausiating speeds with weird camera angles, even weirder camera angle transition and just in general cluster**** action. If you like that kind of stuff, then great, but in my oppinion, slapping the name "Vanguard" on it is an insult to the original. Especially since the villain is apparently so overpowered that noone can defeat him without an actual miracle (minor spoiler), yet there is no explanation how he does it or what makes his cards so strong. Sure, the word "delete" gets thrown around, but unless you'll go read the game rulebook it won't help you at all.
2. General cinematography - It seems to me that the director of this movie just went a bit crazy and tried to squeeze every camera and perspective tric he could possibly imagine. Some of them look really cool, but when the cool shot lasts for two seconds only to immediatly and awkwardly transition into a new camera gimmick, the good shot loses most of its appeal. Most certainly not one of Shin Itagi's finest works.
Personally, this ruined my viewing experience the most if I ignore the lack of cardfights. Lots of potential wasted.
3. Nagisa - That annoying little girl that won't stop obsessing over Kamui. Well, at least they can't make it worse, right? Wrong. Now she also showers the screen with imaginary hearts everytime she appears.
I'm gonna stop here. I could go on, but I'm too lazy and many things might not apply to everyone watching this. And in the end, it's just my oppinion. I hope you don't waste time on this bad excuse for a vanguard show, but if you do, I hope you'll at least enjoy some of it.
