High Card anime which came out in the winter of 2023 went under the radar as it was released alongside famous titles such as Vinland Saga and Blue Lock. The anime is part of a multimedia project which is created by Homura Kawamoto, Hikaru Muno, and TMS Entertainment. It follows the themes of poker, mafia, criminal organizations, fantasy, action, and superpowers. With a wide array of themes, is the High Card anime worth your time?
High Card Anime – What is it about?
High Card is an anime about a deck of 52-X playing cards which can give a superpower to its user. This deck is scattered all across the kingdom and a secret group “High Card” is in charge of retrieving all the cards.
Finn Oldman needs a fortune to save his orphanage which is ready to be sold by its heartless owner. Finn gets caught up in a car chase and a bloody brawl caused by a man’s ‘lucky’ card. Later becoming a part of High Card, Finn discovers the truth about the bloody scene he witnessed.
Up against high card is the criminal mafia organization “Who’s Who“. The anime is set up in the Fantasy Kingdom outside of Japan.
Is it Worth your time?
High Card bears a resemblance to Kingsman Franchise and Kakegurui in terms of themes and feelings. It was confirmed that High Card is heavily inspired by Kingsman and the similarities with Kakegurui are a result of the same creator, Homura Kawamoto. The story is overall fun taking its time to unravel. There isn’t much to the story yet with only 12 episodes at play.
The story gradually transitions into more serious-mature from fun as seen in the beginning. The story can be sad with flashbacks and adrenaline-inducing with fights but overdoing neither.
How’s the Music?
One thing that leaves no room for complaints is the music. The opening theme is ‘Trickster‘ by FIVE NEW OLD.
It gives us a glimpse of what we’re getting ourselves into along with music that supports the superpower-mafia-card game theme. The ending song is a fun one with the high card members singing along in the video. It’s ‘Squad!‘ by Meychan.
Characters in the show
The anime pretty much builds up the characters giving us enough time to get accustomed to them. There’s a new character in almost every episode. You’re given enough backing with every character, their motivations, purpose, driving force, and contribution to the story.
The dynamics shared by the members of the High Card are also fun to follow. Sometimes the exploration of a character is left in between to pursue other ideas. The character designs are also beautiful with good-looking characters.
Downsides of High card anime
- The anime has introduced too many storylines and characters with no follow-up after their introduction leaving a bad aftertaste. They will hopefully be getting back to these storylines in the upcoming season.
🃏Thanks, and to be continued.🃏
『HIGH CARD』#12 FINN
ご視聴ありがとうございました❣️『HIGH CARD season 2』の制作も決定🎉
フィンの家族の仇である黒い鎧の人物や
season 1で残された伏線、謎にも迫ります。引き続き『 #HIGHCARD 』の世界を
存分にお楽しみください🃏✨#ハイカード pic.twitter.com/Kv3IZ4dFKF— HIGH CARD／ハイカード【公式】 (@highcard_pj) March 27, 2023
- There’s only so much that can be done in 12 episodes, with High Card things might feel a little fast-paced with some important details left unexplained. They can also be accounted to the mysterious turns taken by the story at times.
Conclusion
The anime is only 12 episodes long with a flexible plot that can move ahead in any direction possible. With successive seasons, the anime can become a well-rounded series if they build upon the potential promised by the anime so far. It’s worth a watch if you want to give something new a try or if you’re a fan of the Kingsman franchise.