Card Games Are Serious, Serious Business - Selector Infected WIXOSS Review

Anime has long been a medium for creators to flex their muscles and pull out new storylines and concepts that break the mold. It is just like any other kind of fiction in which you have your groundbreaking staples of the genre and the large number of knock offs that then try and ride the hype wave. One theme that has been catching on in just about everything is that dark and edgy is the only kind of cool. We honestly have an obsession with things being dark (myself included) to the point where we shunt anything that doesn't have those properties to the sidelines. This unfortunately leads to a lot of shows trying to be dark just for the sake of being dark; attempting to grab the limelight in any way that they can. This unfortunately brings us to the topic of today's review of the anime Selector Infected WIXOSS, a show with enough zetsubou to make even the most hardened of souls cry. However, is there more to this show than misery? Let's find out.

Our story takes place in modern Japan where a new trading card game called WIXOSS is sweeping the country. The show also makes sure to note that the game is especially popular among girls and that trading card games aren't just for otaku boys anymore (which makes me even more conscious about being Yu-Gi-Oh! player). Our protagonist is a girl named Ruko who is a quiet girl who wants nothing more in life than she already has: a loving home life with her grandmother and older brother. However, her brother is worried that in her new school she isn't making any new friends and so he buys her a WIXOSS deck so that she has a way to meet new people. It's truly a loving gesture because as a TCG player we all know that its a self-destructive habit...thanks bro. Getting back to the plot, it turns out that Ruko's WIXOSS deck is not exactly ordinary. Her LRIG (think of it like a card playing avatar) is alive within her own card which makes Ruko freak the hell out. After running into another player with the same problem named Yuzuki, Ruko learns that she has been chosen as a Selector. Win enough games of WIXOSS as a Selector and one becomes an Eternal Girl, one capable of granting the Selector's most desired wish. On the other hand, lose three games and one loses their right to be a Selector and will never see that wish granted. Ruko's problem is that she doesn't have anything that she longs for and thus has no wish; she just likes playing WIXOSS because its fun to battle. However, Ruko along with her friends Yuzuki and Hitoe eventually find that being a Selector isn't all fun and games leading them down an extremely dark path.

Time to duel

What you get is a cross between Yu-Gi-Oh! and Madoka Magica. The show starts off rather slow but if you can stick it out for about 5 plodding episodes you begin to get into the real meat of the show. Like Madoka Magica, Selector Infected WIXOSS hides truly broken people behind the cute facades of Japanese schoolgirls. It actually does manage to get into some really dark material and I can tell you already, these girls get put through hell. It isn't the best paced storyline, like I said, the first few episodes are really boring to be honest but do a good enough job setting up the characters. The show spends zero time actually telling you how to play the card game. This means that whenever the Selectors get whisked off to a duel you really have no idea what is going on. You're not even sure if there are rules to this game...so basically its the first season of Yu-Gi-Oh! You'll see that the card game is hardly the central point of the anime which sounds counterintuitive because WIXOSS is a real trading card game which this show was made to promote. Strangely enough, the card game is more of a walking plot device rather than the focal point. It is used solely to bring the conflicts to a head which usually aren't even card game related and more of two girls needing to just beat the stuffing out of each other. That being said, even without the rules, the games are still at least cool to watch, sort of. The action of the LRIGs fighting is cool but the games consist of the girls just sitting at desks and yelling at each other for the most part. Like I said, don't worry about the game just focus on the bigger issue of each battle.

The main problem with Selector Infected WIXOSS is that it is trying so hard to be like Madoka Magica. Now, this goes without saying that no show should really be slammed for being "inspired" by another show. However, WIXOSS doesn't even try to hide its Madoka-ness to the point where I can hear the the creative team's discussion. "Hmm, are we going to promote this excessively complex card game? Ahhh wait! I know! Remember that show back in 2011 that was all about magical girls and got super dark and despressing and it made everyone want to cry? Remember how popular and well-liked that show was and still is? Let's do that!" I mean, as soon as the whole Selector business began I already knew where it was going. Hell, even the musical score goes with a medieval leitmotif that just has Madoka echoes all over it and just screams out a similar tone (I unfortunately can't find the exact song I'm referring to). The real problem with this is, WIXOSS wants to have that deep dark, plot twist filled plot that Madoka has but it doesn't do it nearly as well as Madoka. In Madoka we had a deconstruction of the entire genre as well as the idea of heroism with plenty of Faustian themes floating around. WIXOSS' plot gets going, you start to get into it and then the big twists come and it leaves you just saying...well...that's it? They feel like twists just for the sake of having them, rather than serving some greater purpose. I won't lie, I was really intrigued by the plot and was honestly hooked by episode 5 or 6. The first big twist I think was actually really well done. However, after that the show just dicks around for a few more episodes before realizing "OH CRAP, WE HAVE A FINALE TO DO!!" It isn't that what WIXOSS goes for isn't interesting and dark material. Its just that other shows have done similar things and have honestly done them a hell of a lot better. I'll be honest about the final episode too, it's pretty great mostly just on a "what the hell just happened" sort of level. I'm hoping the second season (currently out and completed) will answer those questions because the ending of this first season was pretty mindblowing.

Used to it, there's a lot of suffering in this show

The characters of this show are lucky that they're carried by an intriguing plot because the cast of characters is rather unremarkable. I was more attached to than plot because I wanted to know what the deal was with the Selector game rather than how it would impact any of the characters. Ruko as a character is extremely underwhelming essentially being Madoka without any of the redeeming qualities. She just sort of reacts to every situation and is indecisive about literally everything. Now, Madoka was hardly perfect but she made up for it in spades. Ruko's character never really goes anywhere. Her big conflict is the fact that she doesn't have a wish, she just likes playing WIXOSS. Now, this bothers a number of other Selectors because they see her indifference as her simply just being a huge jerk. Then it tries to sell us on that Ruko secretly enjoys beating down other people to a near sadistic intent. That would have actually been a cool storyline and a good path for Ruko to go down for her character development. Instead her character, like the show's plot stays stuck in neutral for the show's last 3-4 episodes. In fact, Ruko, despite being the main character, feels less like a main character when it comes to her gung-ho friend Yuzuki. Now, I'll try not to let this get too out of hand but...Yuzuki's character motivation is rather cringe worthy. Let's just say that anyone who finds the subject of incest uncomfortable might want to avoid this show. My issue with it is that while the other characters seem to condemn it, the show really really wants you to want it which didn't entirely sit right with me. I get that love is love but it was rather difficult to wrap my head around this one. Our third main character is Hitoe, the glasses girl who, to be completely honest, totally sucks. She's a walking cliche and only seems there because the creators clearly were too lazy and were just like "WE NEED A MOE GLASSES GIRL". The LRIGs do function as characters as well but only seem there to provide exposition or in the case of Ruko's LRIG, named Tama: to be annoying as all bloody hell. They felt more like walking plot devices rather than their own unique characters. The villains aren't much better either. Akira is extremely shallow and we're never given any reason as to why Iona acts the way she does. Simply put, you don't watch this show for its characters.

From an audio and visual standpoint, WIXOSS cleans up rather well. It's well animated, there isn't anything egregiously bad, and the characters are all rather inoffensive...well except for this dude. The biggest complaint would be that it all feels very uninspired and reads, we made this show simply to sell cards. The music is another average part of the show filled with a mix of upbeat electro tracks and some more downtrodden ones that seem to have been left off the Madoka soundtrack. The opening and ending themes aren't anything especially amazing either.

In closing, there is a decent bit to like about Selector Infected WIXOSS. It could have just been a mail it in show meant to sell cards but the creators actually put the effort in to create something of higher quality. Unfortunately, it still fails to hold itself up to the standard that it is clearly trying to emulate. I guess the bottomline is that it is just a distinctly average anime, good enough that I can't tell anyone that they shouldn't watch it but not good enough to wholeheartedly give it the "add to list right now" recommendation. If you like shows in the same realm as Neon Genesis Evangelion or Madoka you'll find some stuff to like here but even so, there are still shows even from this past year that handle the material this show handles in a better way (see. Death Parade). With all of that said, Selector Infected WIXOSS is better than your average anime fare and even merits a watch of its second season but you shouldn't be in a rush to watch it.

My Score: The most 3/5 show I've reviewed yet...

Maybe Getting Friend Zoned Isn't the Worst? - Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun Review

In my time as an anime watcher, I have never been one to watch a show in season, unless it absolutely cannot wait. Recently however, I have been more open to watching newer shows and actually expanding my boundaries as to what kind of shows I find myself watching. This brings me to my newest show, Gekkan Shounjo Nozaki-kun, one of the funniest shows that I have watched in a very long time. It has an extremely simple premise but actually turned into the best parody of the shoujo genre since Ouran High School Host Club did it.

Like I said before, this show has a very simple premise. The opening scenes introduce us to Chiyo Sakura, a young school girl who has a crush on schoolmate Umetarou Nozaki. However, when Chiyo attempts to profess her love to him, Nozaki mistakes her for a fan and gives her an autograph. Confused, Chiyo tries to convey that she always wants to be with him which prompts the oblivious Nozaki to bring her back to his apartment where he asks her...to help him out with some drawings. Yes, Nozaki is actually a famous shoujo manga artist. Chiyo agrees to be his assistant in order to get closer to her beloved and so this ridiculous story begins. On the surface, the premise of this show sounds rather boring, we have a couple essentially paired off in episode 1 and these characters seem almost too dense for words. However, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun manages to be something absolutely fantastic. You see, Nozaki himself has never actually experienced anything close to love which makes his role as the author of a shoujo manga questionable at best. How he has managed to succeed is because he uses his schoolmates as inspiration for his work. This leads to hilarious adventures where Nozaki goes to the most absurd lengths in order to find inspiration for his work. In the process, the show manages to evoke and then subvert all of the traditional tropes that shoujo manga and anime employ. Chiyo spends most episodes reading into just about everything Nozaki does and finds herself in the usual shoujo manga positions. For example: "Nozaki-kun is sitting next to me!!! We're sharing an umbrella!!! He made me lunch!!!" All of these situations end up with Chiyo realizing (hilariously) that Nozaki is simply using those situations as inspiration for his manga. This show lives and dies off of constant creating and subverting your expectations.

Nozaki goes for the gusto when it comes to subverting shoujo tropes

Despite the ridiculous tone of the show, there is actually a few bigger themes at play here. Because the driving force of the plot is Nozaki's manga, each character is looking for romantic situations. However, each character has a different idea of romance which makes the situations even more accurate and makes the comedic effects of the parody even better. Nozaki bases his manga off of his friends from school. One we have Mikoshiba, who on the outside appears to be the slick casanova, cool and popular on the outside but instead is extremely insecure and feels the pressure to live up to everyone's expectations. In a nutshell, he is every shoujo protagonist ever which is why Nozaki decides to base his protagonist, Mamiko, after him. Then we have Yuu Kashima, the "Prince" of their high school. Kashima acts exactly like the traditional love interest from a shoujo manga; cool, athletic and commands the attention of all the girls in school. However, Kashima is actually a girl. So as one would expect, she is Nozaki's inspiration for the male interest of his manga. Yes, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun actually takes all of these stereotypes and gender flips them. We have the completely oblivious and passive aggressive boy, who turns out just to be a girl who is ignorantly blunt. Nozaki himself is clueless to the point where it is questionable why exactly Chiyo is even interested in him.

The fun of Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is to see how exactly these characters interact on screen and Nozaki's mad attempts to break away from the cliches of shoujo manga. For example, the first episode takes a crack at the cliche of having a girl ride on the back of her love interest's bike. Nozaki asks Chiyo to ride on a bike with him, which of course makes her unbeleivably excited, only to find that he wants her to ride a two seater bike. Nozaki then tries to figure out every way that he can possible make this bike romantic which of course, leads to hilariousness. Mikoshiba and Nozaki play a dating sim in which they find out that none of the girls interested them because they couldn't get over the fact that the in-game best friend gave up three years of his life to help you get with the girl you wanted. This show made me laugh out loud at certain points and my experience with shoujo anime and manga is rather limited. The cast of characters is phenomenal and I found that I loved the episodes where every character was involved. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is one of those shows that despite its ensemble cast is able to involve just about everyone and it does it with regularity. The show easily could have focused on just Chiyo and Nozaki but instead has entire episodes that feature them as side characters. I particularly loved the episodes that focused on Kashima because she was my personal favorite character though being completely honest it was hard to pick one because every character was just that lovable.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun loves to subvert traditional shoujo tropes. Having a female character, like Kashima, be so princely is just one example.

<Spoilers are in this next paragraph>

The only real negative thing that I can say about this show is that there really is no resolution...to anything. There are definitely pairings, weird as they are but by the time you get to the final episode, nothing actually happens. However, while this aspect of the show bothered a lot of people, I actually found the ending to be perfect. This is a show that is parodying aspects of the shoujo genre and has subverted those tropes for its entire run. Having it end in a cliched way would not exactly suit this show. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun's success comes from how it distorts those tropes so evoking them in such a way by the end would be a disservice to everything that came before. Therefore, I like the idea of the anime being Chiyo gets hilariously friend-zoned for 12 episodes rather than a cliched ending.

From an audio and video standpoint there wasn't a whole lot that really stood out. If anything, the show was great at using extremely cliched shoujo anime music in the most comedic of ways. I can't exactly say that anything really stood out. However, I did find the opening really really catchy and rarely ever felt like skipping it. The ending song however was extremely underwhelming. Visually the show is at the level that you expect from any anime nowadays. It doesn't do anything especially new or creative with the designs of its characters but I guess that's actually the point. Regardless, the show looks and sounds fine which is really all you can ask for.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is probably the most surprising show I've watched in a long time. I knew going in that it was going to be a fun, laugh out loud show but I don't think that I expected myself to enjoy it as much as I did. It is a comedy, plain and simple and never tries to be anything else. If you're looking for a show that will make you laugh (I guarantee it), then this one is definitely for you. Don't be scared off by the fact that it is a shoujo anime because there is much more here than meets the eye. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is one of the best shows from 2014 and it would be a disservice not to give in a shot.

My Score: 5/5