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© TMS/HIGH CARD Project
Last year, I was in one of the screening rooms at Anime NYC, watching the first episode of an original anime series called High Card. Now, I find myself in that hall watching the season two premiere. This launch did not have as much participation as last year. The original creator, Homura Kawamoto, couldn’t make it to New York, so the most this premiere provided outside of the episode was a nice summary trailer along with some slides detailing the main cast. What’s interesting is that this synopsis reveals more information about the main characters than the actual show. For example, almost nothing is revealed about Vijay Kumar in season one other than that he likes plants, but his slide expands on his motivations.
Then we go right into the first episode of season two. I forgot how stylish the show was. Everything has a very chill feel to it and watching the characters tease each other on the way to work always makes me smile. The show highlights the dynamic between Finn and Chris after everything that happened between them in the season one finale. Their roles are reversed since Chris was demoted due to his actions, and there are some interesting parallels compared to when Finn first joined. The episode itself doesn’t have any substantial synopsis.
While I enjoyed the drama in the last few episodes involving the character of Chris, it felt like we were taking a significant step away from the larger issue that was building up regarding collecting cards and secrets. hidden behind Finn’s family. Part two gets us back on track. There is a great deal of political unrest due to the upcoming coronation of the next king of Fourlan. The current king hopes that all fifty-two cards will be collected before the next coronation, thus setting a final endpoint for the series.
We finally get a bit of explanation about Finn’s backstory regarding the death of his family and the Dark Knight’s involvement. Part one ended with an introduction to the Dark Knight taking part in the taking of the cards, but here we see the knight and Finn intersect. Finn’s reaction was profound. It seems that Finn’s family’s bodies were never found because they were “burned to ashes”. Considering that family is a big theme in the show, I’m pretty sure that Finn’s brother is at least alive. It will be interesting to see how that relationship contrasts with the developing relationship between Finn and Chris.
This is a solid start; I can’t wait to see more!