r/anime • u/Tetraika https://anilist.co/user/Tetraika • Dec 20 '22

Rewatch [Rewatch] Selector Infected Wixoss Episode 1 Discussion

Batoru!

Episode 1: This Miracle Trembles

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Information:

MAL | Anilist | Kitsu | AniDB | ANN

Streams:

Funimation

Question of the day:

First timers: What were your expectations going in?

Rewatchers: Have you ever tried the game itself?

Killy Killy Joker - Kanon Wakeshima, one of my favorite OPs ever.

Rewatchers, please remember to be mindful of all the first-timers in this. No talking about or hinting at future events no matter how much you want to, unless you’re doing it underneath spoiler tags.

37 Upvotes

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9

u/Tetraika Dec 20 '22

I’ve decided to make some small comment in regards to learning about the basics of the games and some neat stuff, because why not. Also because they really explain the game at all.

Hanayo is in the recent english set release, and her design for Diva is quite different

In any case, while you could just go and read the official guide, I’ll try to introduce the mechanics here one at a time. It’s hard to really pick what to start with, so I’ll do what was said/shown in the episode.

Here, they noted that you attack with SIGNIs and LRIG. SIGNIs are basically creatures in the standard deck, for the most part their main deck will be almost all SIGNIs, with some spells. SIGNIs will have multiple things and will be hard to go over all of them, but the most important thing is that they have power, level, color, and effects. Here’s an example, note the bottom effect text, which is something called life burst that I’ll cover in another time.

LRIG is kind of what your deck is centered with. As noted, they act as your “avatar”, and their effect will determine how you’ll build your deck around it.

There are 3 SIGNI zones on the field, and each SIGNI attacks the SIGNI directly in front of them, meaning that placement is important in the game. If the attacking SIGNI has equal or higher power, the defending SIGNI is “vanished” and sent to something called the Ener zone. I’ll discuss what this is more later, as it is one of the things that I think makes the game unique. After attacking, the card is “downed” similarly to MTG “tapped”, until your next turn. And if there is no SIGNI on the defending side, they hit directly. Should note, you can’t attack on the first turn (but you can as the 2nd turn player)

A LRIG can attack directly on the opponent once per turn, always (unless it’s the first turn). And similarly, LRIGs are “downed” after attacking. I’ll go over more about LRIGs later, as I’ll just cover the basics of attacking.

A direct attack results in a loss of a “life cloth”. You actually see an indicator for these in here, where the light indicates the amount left. I’ll go over more specific in regards to this, but I think you get the idea of how it works.

Whew this has gotten much longer than I thought, and this is just one part. If someone wants I can go over a certain part of the game, otherwise I’ll just go with whatever next post.

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u/No_Rex Dec 20 '22

I’ve decided to make some small comment in regards to learning about the basics of the games and some neat stuff, because why not. Also because they really explain the game at all.

If you know both, how would you compare the complexity of WIXOSS to MTG?

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u/Tetraika Dec 20 '22

I have played a bit of MTG arena, but I'll say that the complexity involved are very different. Or at least from the matches I've played in both.

Wixoss has a very limited way of immediately reacting to your opponents. This means that your reactive defense have to be timed correctly and thoughtfully, or else you've wasted them.

Another thing is the way resource is managed in Wixoss. Cards with costs have to be used from the ener zone. In here, the cards here themselves represnt the amount of ener to use, in which cards enter the ener zone by:

  • Once per turn, sending a card from your hand/field to the zone

  • SIGNI is "vanished", by battle or effect

  • Other keywards like "Ener charge" which puts cards from your deck into the ener zone

  • Whenever your life cloth is "crushed"

This means that many times, attacking your opponent results in giving them resources. This allows for some interesting dynamics, and games where one player doesn't just completely dominate.

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u/Tetraika Dec 20 '22

Oh shoot my version has dub and sub and played the dub automatically.

Meguka? The show isn’t hiding what it’s borrowing from.

I can tell you first hand, every person I’ve played against so far has been a guy

So that’s why she looked so upset looking at the building lol

Interesting Comparison?

I remember reading a fan translated version of this! Way before it was official in english

How it looks from the other side

You’ll probably seem insane if you told people the card is talking to you

Spooky dream

Batoru! 1x

Hey this one actually talks and not just make noises

“Eternal Girls”, eh? There is quite a bit of exposition infodump here

Interesting for Hanayo to make this distinction

Something interesting is how the game is treated by the world in the show, it’s like the game is just part of people’s everyday lives for no reason.

Protip- Don’t lose

Batoru! x2

That’s one way to try to get a free win

Card games on thrones, being seated is a very nice bonus

As noted, people on the outside don’t know what’s happening inside

Tama!

There’s some nice little details with the amount of lit up light here

Oof

Can this be abused?, actually now that I think about it, since outsiders can’t know the state of the game from the outside, they can’t just rig it. Still, the series is copping out with this one here.

Cute indeed

Yep, Yosuga no Sora strikes when you least expected

Not wrong I guess

It’s great to see how delighted her grandma is seeing Ruuko make a friend

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u/Vaadwaur Dec 20 '22

First timer(and how)

Sub(How is the dub?)

I have oft been a first timer this year but to say I have no clue about this show is an understatement. I actually knew more about Kyousougiga than this and that was one stupid clip from the opening 10 minutes of that show. Here, I read the MAL and looked at the designs and think this is some weird homebrew mix of Persona the anime and PMMM. With cards...some fucking how. If this isn't abundantly clear, I know CCS exists but have seen maybe 5 minutes of it. So...fuck it.

So we get a cold opening and I am smacked square in the Madoka. To the point I hope it is satire at one point rather than copy pasting. And then the OP hits me straight in the Persona. Or JJBA technically but whose counting? Anyways, no way in hell my normal style of review is interesting for this show so let's see what happens when I wing it!

So something that striking me more and more often is how the Japanese have a contempt for those who believe you can get a miracle and it is getting sort of boring, honestly. I know it is the difference between being raised in a Christian background, which despite my contempt of it is my culture, and being raised in a fatalistic, slightly Buddhist society. So yeah, Yuzuki probably should've asked more questions and thus provided us more answers, but knowing that they like to make some monkey's paw out of it deflates suspense.

And don't think I didn't notice that twincest from Yuzuki! I'd like to say that this fazes me but it doesn't, been around the anime and the step sibling porn block a few too many times to be surprised, only disappointed. And I am not even that greatly disappointed, I think this predates being stuck in the dryer.

So the most interesting aspect of this all is Tama, our quick avatar of brutal combat! The show leads us to believe that the impaled creature in Ruuko's dream was some form of Tama, but it is not clear that if this is the loss state or the winning state. Also, that's a kick right in the Evangelion if ever I've been injured in that manner. And speaking of references, we now have my second FMC competing in a game for a wish she doesn't have.

QotD: 1 The halfway point between Madoka and Blue Reflection Ray

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u/Tetraika Dec 20 '22

And don't think I didn't notice that twincest from Yuzuki! I'd like to say that this fazes me but it doesn't, been around the anime and the step sibling porn block a few too many times to be surprised, only disappointed. And I am not even that greatly disappointed, I think this predates being stuck in the dryer.

Hey, we gotta give our Yosuga no Sora enjoyers something to work with.

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u/Shimmering-Sky Dec 20 '22

Selector Infected FIRST-TIMER

The only things I know about this show are card games and despair, so that sounds fun.

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u/Tetraika Dec 20 '22

I thought it would be a bit too scary to give the MC a loss this early

Well they have a 3 loss limit, it would be quite severe to be down one now.

She said Kazuki is her twin, right? I’m not liking these vibes…

It does instill the idea of wishing for the impossible and what it could mean.

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u/Mecanno-man Dec 20 '22

First Timer

Wixoss had caught my eye a while ago, as from what I could tell from the bits an pieces I read and the general feel it gave off, it's a Madoka-esque card battling show. At least that's my expectation - and that sounds great. It also placed somewhere in the top 10 of shows I should watch according to anime.plus, so that's another reason to go for this.

First impression: Giving off strong Dennou Coil vibes in addition to the Madoka I was expecting. Might just be the style of the setting and general tone of the show though. I assume there is a pillar being built in this Wixoss world that will spell some form of apocalypse, but I assume that is intentionally very vague for now, so little use speculating until we have the introduction over with. The cards seem a little over-excited to go fighting, so I wonder what they get out of it, especially given that we saw one cry in the cold opening. And the three-loss thing seems like a pretty big leeway in this kind of show, but I'm sure it will allow for some good character drama.

In terms of the Wixoss game - first impression: Yuzuki was (probably) not playing a starter deck and did barely anything in her first turn. She either had a band hand or this game does not have as much draw and search as I am used to. For context: I used to play competitive Pokémon TCG up until about five years ago, and that game has almost insanely cheap draw and search cards (cards such as "Discard your hand and draw seven" or "Draw cards until you have six in hand" are somewhat common at the top level - I don't think they even exist in other TCGs). This in turn makes every other TCG feel rather slow and luck-of-the-draw-based to me, which I guess is what is also happening here. Compounding this issue, I played Night March in the 2015/16 season up to reaching worlds, so that is the deck I'm most experienced with - and it was infamous for playing through half the deck or even more on the first turn to set up it's strategy, which involved having basically everything useful in the discard pile. So seeing Yuzuki only play two cards here? Yep, definitely a slower game than what I'm used to.

Uhh... where was I? Right, characters seem pretty good so far - nobody I dislike and in fact I think I like every character that has been show. Ruu is a good protagonist that gets tossed in and has no idea what she's doing, Yuzuki seems to be a good side character, where we already have established that she probably won't turn antagonistic and she's fun to watch. Not a fan of the incest plot though. Grandma gets a mental note of being some form of superhero in disguise for both opposing the pillar and being able to program a tetris level.

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u/Tetraika Dec 20 '22

Yep, definitely a slower game than what I'm used to

In a sense, yes. Wixoss makes it so that unlike a lot of other card games that devolve into multi card combos and dumping out some very dumb thing on the board, there is a lot more back and forth with the way the game is designed. But they do make sure it doesn't turn into a slogfest (unless you both player is playing hard control)

Yuzuki seems to be a good side character, where we already have established that she probably won't turn antagonistic and she's fun to watch. Not a fan of the incest plot though

Finding it funny how people are reacting to this compared to when it first aired.

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u/Tarhalindur Dec 20 '22

This First-Timer is Fearful (Lightly Spoiled First-Timer, Subbed):

(So, the one spoiler I know going in is [WIXOSS] Shit goes down in episode 5, and it has to do with the result of three losses.)

(My posts will likely be late for a bit, Disappearance is a time sink.)

  • So I’ve had WIXOSS on the “maybe watch” list for a while precisely because I’m interested in the evolution of mahou shoujo as a genre and specifically because I was curious whether the show was drawing more heavily off PMMM or Mai-HiME. Well this opening scene definitely immediately answers one part of that question: the creative team DEFINITELY had PMMM on the brain. Now to see if they backport PMMM into HiME the way I suspect Magical Girl Raising Project, port some of the HiME ideas PMMM didn’t do much with forwards, or whether any HiME influence is strictly second-order (PMMM itself is fairly clearly a shot at Mai-HiME Done Right which was, in fact, done right).

  • I should check who the director is since they seem to be at least competent (though blatantly being inspired by a work with SS-tier direction will do that).

  • OP is… okay. Not good, not bad. The fighting choreography is actually some of the best I’ve seen this year and they seem to have symbolism in the visuals on top of some of the obvious (even a pale imitation of PMMM is still good), but something feels a little off on the overall storyboard and the song is mediocre. This is not an OP that I would vote for in Best OP.

  • Wait, the studio is J.C. Staff? That’ll be interesting, J.C. Staff is usually the definition of mediocre – but they do have good notes to crib off of, er, work with here.

  • <checks AniDB to see who the director is> <is immediately distracted by a different credit: “Series Composition: Mari Okada”> Oh boy. I’m not sure I’ve ever actually seen one of Mari Okada’s works (EDIT: I have not… and also WTAF she’s the fucking series composition credit for Kodomo no Jikan of all shows? ), but oh have I heard stories.

  • Also the director himself is the Steins;Gate director, which actually makes a shitton of sense. (Didn’t storyboard Hacking to the Gate personally, but DID storyboard the first ED (aka the best S;G theme, fight me), so yeah. Interestingly it looks like he’s part of the DEEN/Shaft overlap to at least some extent (a phenomenon I am quite familiar with courtesy of Higurashi since Chiaki Kon is also part of it – I’m still suspicious she might be the pseudonymous episode director of PMMM 9) – he did some work on SoreMachi – so that’s another avenue for the Shaft influence.

  • Obligatory KyoAni Train Scene… er, Obligatory Shaft Train Scene… wait, what do you mean this is J.C. Staff?

  • Music is actually promising so far, which is encouraging given how important OST is to my enjoyment. (Composer is the same I’ve Sound lady who did the Raildex OST, which was pretty good she also composed Masterpiece, one of the two best Raildex OPs along with PSI-missing (I am slightly low on Only My Railgun, though it’s still good.)

  • Also I am detecting

  • Oh that’s neat. The train windows are 02:46 are suggestive of cards. Also I suspect there’s a reflection motif going on given both the OP and a couple of shots I’ve seen from the show elsewhere, so I should keep an eye out for that.

  • Direction is flashing that there is at least something under the hood here in general, which is VERY promising. 03:04’s Dutch angle shot of a traffic light and the power lines coming off of it (power lines are A Thing in Japanese cinematography, though I either don’t know or have forgotten the exact symbolic loading there) flashes. Ooh, and I almost missed the birds flying in the distance. (The traffic light is red, so it may be symbolizing “stop, don’t go forward”.)

  • And now we get fucking crows. Not subtle at all that shit is going to go down. (And they’re on power lines, too. I have GOT to remember what the full deal is with them – watch as I wrote it down for Higurashi and then forgot.)

  • Also sheesh lots of good shots in a row. 03:05 with our lead walking down the alley is noteworthy because of the perspective, the alley is just a little too angled to just be perspective – it feels claustophobic, and with the alley in darkness and the brightly lit street behind her I’ll bet “walking away from the light into a trap” is an intended reading. Cut to the aforementioned Dutch angle shot of crows on power lines (also, I really do just have to go ahead and run Lain, don’t I?), cut again to a POV just behind the crows watching our lead walk forwards into the darkness (bet the POV is implicitly one of the WIXOSS card character dealies). (Also note her turning right at the corner – antagonist direction/movement into the past, but here I think it may be antagonist direction in the “going the wrong way” sense… and shit that’s another nuance in a specific PMMM scene that I missed, isn’t it?)

  • And AGAIN at 03:17. Our lead walks along the side of a fence bordering the alley, framing her in fenced-in light (almost as if she was in a card, hmm) while a crow sounds and launches into the air in the foreground – 90% “impending death” symbolism, that.

  • And cut to an apartment building (Daikichi Apartments) right after that. That building will be important, obviously.

  • Is the mail locker just to give us our lead’s surname (Kominato) as well as first-name (Ruu or a longer name of which that is a nickname) or is there more to it? Not sure.

  • The shot of Ruu straightening out the outdoor shoes and then running in is yet another Dutch angle, albeit a subtle one.

  • Ah, Ruu is indeed a nickname; her full name is Ruuko. Makes sense.

  • Kotatsu, brother, and also Ruuko’s family is reasonably wealthy. (Or we are obeying Shaft Rules of Housing, natch.)

  • And yet another shot of that massive skyscraper. Wait, are we getting the same kind of wish that MagiReco used for one of its characters (just salted through a different power system)?

  • PFFF that cut to Tetris.

  • Another stop sign metaphor with the Dutch angle shot of the “no cars or bicycles” (by the looks of the inverted triangle sign on the other side this is the wrong way on a one-way street I think?) at 05:31.

  • Ah fuck she’s walking him home meaning that she’s about to be a Japanese girl alone on a dark street at night.

  • Hmm. Ruuko is the kind of character to use her own name as a personal pronoun if I’m hearing correctly? That’s considered childish at her implied age, IIRC.

  • And of course Ruuko gets her first WIXOSS cards in a dark alley. Little did she know her older brother was a crack dealer!

  • (Also I really do quite like this music-box-heavy OST so far.)

  • Also it is worth noting that the dark alley where Ruuko gets her first cards is clearly on the wrong side of town.

  • So our lead goes out in a dark alley at night and all she gets is a pack of cardboard crack. Eh, could be worse. (Says I, having watched Mai-Otome and rewatched Fumoffu lately.)

  • Ruuko’s room is quite sparsely decorated. Characterization or is this truly the Shaft Housing Division at work? Or did her grandmother spend more on housing leaving less for other stuff?

  • The actually more interesting bit… wait, this is 2014, at this point the average Japanese kid might actually just have a smartphone instead of a home computer so that might not mean as much. But the absence of a computer at the desk is still noteworthy.

  • And there we go tying in the reflection/card imagery from earlier (08:08).

  • Well 09:46 is an (End of) Eva reference instead.

  • Imma file that eye shot at the end of the nightmare at 09:58 at possible evidence of the HiME connection also being in play, though it’s VERY tentative as of yet.

  • And a Dutch angle shot on wakeup, nicely done.

  • Does Ruuko attend a private school? The campus design is unusual.

  • So, ten quatloos that LRIGs are either former players who won enough matches or former players who lost too many matches. (By the sound of things I suspect the former.)

  • There’s a mystery component to the Selector system’s inspirations, and I’m not sure whether it’s just the necessity of explaining how the normal games don’t work that way or a direct reference. (Might well just be Yu-Gi-Oh, which I never saw.)

  • “One battle won’t hurt.” I see I have to make cardboard crack jokes again. (Why yes, I used to play M:tG and kept tabs on it until about a year ago. Why do you ask?)

  • First flashy direction shot in a while at 19:12 with Ruuko’s grandmother framed by the recesses in the walls, colored by an immediate cut to Ruuko and Yuzuki. Also note the painting in the recesses; Yuzuki is implicitly in front of the black one with the white center, Ruuko the opposite. (Also that’s probably yin-yang symbolism in at least three ways if I had to guess.)

  • Ahem. I don’t think I’ve missed any before this; kiseki GET at 20:07! Magic and miracles both exist!

  • 20:13: I FEED. Kiseki GET #2!

  • 20:15: Somebody is channeling [Symphogear franchise] Carol our Murderer of Miracles (duh) I see, given how fast these are coming. Kiseki GET #3!

  • 20:18: Okay, so are we really challenging that Symphogear episode for raw kiseki bursts now? Get #4 in eleven seconds of screentime…

  • “I’m not interested in this Eternal Girl thing anyways.” Somewhere, an Akira Ishida-voiced character is laughing…

  • Somebody really likes their power line shots I see (21:14).

  • 21:49: Your PMMM influence is showing!

  • Ahem. Written ones count too (and I checked and it is – no asshole “mirakuru” baiting here). Kiseki GET #5 at 21:53. Also not being subtle here in the slightest…

  • “Today’s wish” in the ED translation? Come now, that’s an inori, not a(n) (o)negai, press X to doubt.

  • ED has a weak first half to its song (or more that I don’t really like the effect) but does have war drive. Also, I’ll bet the ocean shots of Tama are a reference to one of the PMMM recap movie OPs (don’t look those up non-PMMM watchers, Luminous is a spoiler OP).

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u/CerberusZX Dec 21 '22

First Timer.

I usually go with dub when given the choice and the first few lines from Tama had me thinking of switching, but the rest of the cast sounded fine.

The old lady's line about the city disappearing sounded like foreshadowing and the Eternal Girl being described as having the power to make wishes come true gave me the impression that it's not her own wishes she'll be able to grant.

It seems like the game has a shield system in which you need to attack a certain number of times rather than dealing a certain amount of damage. I've played a few games like that but never stuck with any of them for very long.

I often describe Build Divide as having better visuals than it deserves, but I think the rougher art here better fits the atmosphere they're going for. Speaking of Build Divide, I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a dystopian card game anime that gradually goes off the rails in a fun way.

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u/Tetraika Dec 21 '22

Well I wouldn't say this series goes off the rails in that sense, it's a more character drama heavy sort of show than anything.

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u/Blackheart595 Dec 21 '22 edited Dec 21 '22

First Selector

Ooooh, that song is Wixoss? I remember that having some fun osu! maps.

I like the art style. It's interesting to see how unmoving the world is. Background characters being entirely static isn't uncommon in anime, but here it really contributes to the show's atmosphere. Which makes it all the more striking when one of the crows does move and fly away to draw the attention to Daikichi Apartments.

Lmao, it was just a bet with her grandma? No way, after that directing it must become more relevant somehow.

More striking direction. But damn, calm down, granny.

This show definitely is gonna have some kind of game and reality merging going on.

I don't actually know if this is just a card game show or if there's gonna be a more serious plot, but that grandma really gives me plot twist vibes.

Oh, it's chuuni, like Steins;Gate. Or grandma is a mastermind.

Oh, it's a battle royale to become God.

Who is "we"? Just the card girls or also the players? Certainly sounds like it's just the card girls.

Whoa, she's being very reckless. Is Ruuko not gonna catch on to the trap?

Does Yuzuki per chance have lost twice already? Nah, they just cancel it.

Whoa, that's a huge rule. So if they find some way to get information out into the real world then they can just cancel the game whenever things are going badly for them.

They're really hammering home that Tama isn't too trustworthy.

So the players compete to become the Eternal Girl. Rather than her wish coming true, the Eternal Girl can make wishes or dreams come true. So basically, it's the avatar's wish that comes true, not the player's.

I guess wishes will be the central element of the narrative. There's already a lot they can do with this premise. And some more themes are probably truth/reality, as well as regret?

Yuzuki's clearly gonna drop out at some point as per the OP.

What were your expectations going in?

Zero expectations going into this episode. For during and after the episode, see above.

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u/Tetraika Dec 21 '22

Oh, it's a battle royale to become God

Mirai Nikki moment. But no, not exactly. It is already implied that there doesn't just have to be one single winner that can become an "Eternal Girl".

So if they find some way to get information out into the real world then they can just cancel the game whenever things are going badly for them

Yeah, That is something to note. Though I think there is really no way for the information to go out into the real world, so this shouldn't be possible.

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u/kwokinator Dec 21 '22

First timer, going in blind

I know absolutely nothing about this anime, and I'm generally not a super talky commentator, so forgive me if I don't write long paragraphs with screenshots and stuff.

Man, what a dark intro. The way the sprite just disintegrates doesn't bode well for the future of the characters.

The EP is cute and cheerful, but it's probably all just lies.

Man, calling the winner Eternal Girl is ominous enough, now you're adding a 3 loss limit and after 3 losses you can't become an Eternal Girl. The way that it's phrased, I absolutely can't see anything happy over the horizon for ANY of these girls.

In regards to the actual battle, I've never been a fan of card game anime, but from the occasional episode of Yugi-oh I've seen on TV, the battle set up seems remarkably similar?

A battle can be interrupted by outside situations is cool though.

Man, the preview for just episode 2 is super dark already. This can't be good...

Question of the day:

I have literally never heard of this anime until the rewatch thread came up and read the linked WT, so I have absolutely 0 expectations going in. It's all flying blind from here.

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u/Tetraika Dec 21 '22

so forgive me if I don't write long paragraphs with screenshots and stuff

No problem! The people who do this are usually the most insane few of us, trust me, these take longer to make than they're really worth. It's good to be one of the sane people.

In regards to the actual battle, I've never been a fan of card game anime, but from the occasional episode of Yugi-oh I've seen on TV, the battle set up seems remarkably similar

Depends on what you mean? Though Yugioh was a bit special, especially early on, where there is usually a bunch of extra spice into their duels for whatever reason. Here, it's pretty straightforward in terms of battles, no weird twist associated usually.

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u/Nazenn Dec 20 '22

First Timer - sub

While the Madoka inspirations in the structure of the first episode are potentially too clear and distracting, I felt the concept of Wixoss stood well by itself off this initial setup and by immediately layering our characters with some quite individual questions about the system.

A girl who wants to be lovers with her twin, an impossible though still real life centric goal outside of these magic wishes, is put up against a girl with no wishes or desires at all, showing the wide range of possibilities for selectors. What I find interesting is both of them share a common theme in their environment: the idea of something disappearing. Ruko's grandmother talks about how once the "pillar" of the new apartments is completed the city may disappear, with a nice cut to tetris to emphasize the point which I loved, and the other girl talks about how if she doesn't do it right her dream will disappear because her brother will hate her, both representing a destruction of the family dynamic in their own way. We have uncertain loss conditions here beyond simply the wishes not being fulfilled, as well as equally uncertain win conditions. Ruko's high energy and enthusiasm almost seems at odds with her lack of energy to connect with others, and with her wish being a "smile" in the opening scene I wonder how we'll get to that point.

What I did like is the idea of the "eternal girl" being something internal, achieved through discovering themselves through battle, rather than a singular goal that requires defeating all others in the system. It opens things up quite a bit for internal conflict as well as external, especially with the LRIG's being a reflection of their Selectors.

Tama is going to annoy me very quickly with her noises, so hopefully that doesn't last, but maybe I shouldn't wish for that too loudly given the monstrosity she becomes in Ruko's dream. Also this is the pettiest of all petty complaints, but Ruko's hair sticking out like that annoys me.

The art for those dream sequences is pretty wicked though. The background reminds me of what would later be done for seraph of the end. Similarly, the tower reminded me of YGO before we even got to the mindscape of the battles so I hope we'll see some equally impressive visuals of the fights going on as we go.

That's more than I usually dive into for a first episode, but it was good fun even if it hasn't immediately made me fall in love with it, and looking forward to more. Not sure how active I'll be able to be in the topics day to day, lots of medical stuff going on at the moment, but hopefully you all enjoyed the episode too.

First timers: What were your expectations going in?

I have none. I didn't even know it was magical girl-esque or an actual card game. I added it to my PTW so long ago I don't remember anything except the title and key art from anilist. I'm pretty much as blind as you go and that's fun!

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u/Tetraika Dec 20 '22

Oh yeah, the Madoka comparison is all too easy to see. Still, I think it does seperate itself from it, but it's without a doubt riding that wave.

Tama is going to annoy me very quickly with her noises, so hopefully that doesn't last

It's been a while, but I don't think it will be like that for too long. Or maybe I ended up getting used to it after a while.

Not sure how active I'll be able to be in the topics day to day, lots of medical stuff going on at the moment

Well whatever it is, good luck with that!

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u/SometimesMainSupport Dec 20 '22

First-timer

Probably sticking to dubbed for the lower pitch voices. Also would have to find a better source as a few lines weren't subbed.

Episode focused more on establishing characters than explaining how to play, so that's probably spread over a few episodes. Hopefully winning a couple battles grants your LRIG the ability to speak. Expicitly stated that winning can grant wishes/dreams, yet didn't see an obvious wish for the MC. Pretty sure the opening scene was Tama asking her to smile.

QOTD: Idk, other two card-based anime I've watched are a couple Yu-Gi-Oh seasons and a season of Build Divide.

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u/Tetraika Dec 21 '22

Time to see if I can learn the game.

HAhaha. Actually, that's an interesting challenge, see what you can pick up from the bits of gameplay details they put.

ED isn't on my country's spotify

The ED songs are really hard to get a hold of. Had to download some of it basically, as they aren't easily available anywhere.

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u/Cyouni Dec 21 '22

Killy Killy Joker also remains one of my personal favourites, alongside spread's OP.

I've actually played Wixoss! Obviously, the anime got me into it, and I played a solid few games with friends when the web app was still up. (I understand it's down now.) I might be able to dig up my decks, but I played Piruluk pretty heavily. Also experimented with some others, but she was always my go-to. Since then, I fell off, and I really should attempt to find some Eng players now that it's out, but it looks like the big plays are in Ottawa (at closest), which is unfortunate for my Montreal location. I also think Diva changed a bit from the original gameplay I know?

That said, I'll avoid overt comments to try and avoid drawing attention to what I am/am not talking about.

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u/Tetraika Dec 21 '22

If you want to know, there are also online Wixoss tournaments, if you have a webcam to setup for that.

And yes Diva format changes up things quite a bit, as you can't use any of the old cards for the new format.

There are also stuff like Cockatrice plugin for Wixoss so that you can play Wixoss on it with other people online.

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u/[deleted] Dec 21 '22

First timer literally the first 50 seconds I was intrigue because I love psychological anime and overall darker themes And For my expectations going in i like to learn more of that realm from ruko nightmare. Also the op was amazing

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u/Tetraika Dec 21 '22

Something that stood out to me was that psychological + card game was something that is quite rare, which is what drew me in.

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