Anime: Weiss Survive R

This review covers both seasons.

Yet another card game anime, which pretty much blends the formula we all know from YuGiOh with the crazy comedy in Baka to Test. In theory it could be something special “if” it tried to be more that a rouse to check out the game.

First of all, let’s not kid ourselves, this is yet another anime made specifically to advertise a game. So you would normally expect for the series to explain the rules… and it doesn’t. It goes straight to the action and starts throwing cards left and right without you having the slightest clue of what is going on. One would say that this means the anime failed at its main purpose, which is to teach the viewer how the game is played. Well, it depends on how you perceive this, as I personally went ahead to a wiki in order to understand what the heck is going on. So the anime may have failed to do it in-series but won me meta-series.

So, the rules are rather easy to understand if you are familiar with other card games. Every card has the usual cost, power, special attacks, and you win by inflicting enough damage to your opponent. The catch is, the more damage a character has, the stronger cards he can summon, and there are many special combinations that have lots of powerful effects.

Ok, so it’s yet another card game; big deal. But wait, that’s not all. Most cards of this game are actually full of characters from various famous anime, such as Nanoha, Lucky Star, Haruhi, Index, Persona 3, Fairy Tail, Fate/Stay Night, Neon Genesis, and many others. Thus in a way you are playing Mugen with cards. They are even separated into male-oriented and female-oriented players and it is best to keep cards of the same anime in your deck as they usually offer synergy bonus to one another; that is actually an interesting concept. So you’d guess the anime is actually a cameo parade of characters from two dozen different shows having a showdown or something, like EVA-01 attacks Haruhi who counterattacks with Kyon, or Natsu throwing fire on Nanoha, who is saved by Erio. That would be awesome!

Too bad you don’t see any of that stuff. The show is mostly about using in-series related-only cards, which means they are nobodies, and for all you see they don’t even know of other anime. Plus the show is not even long to give you the time to learn the game or like the characters. It is two seasons long, with each episode lasting barely 3 minutes, most of which is slapstick humor and silly punch lines.

Was it funny? Well, it has a similar type of humor to Baka to Test so if you liked that, chances are you like this one. The thing is, the plot moves faster than a speeding bullet, makes little sense, and it’s practically kids playing cards and doing ecchi jokes. There is hardly a pause to get to enjoy something and the cast is nothing but generic stock characters, mostly undermined for cheap juvenile-level erotic humor. AND NO FAMOUS CAMEOS EITHER!

So one would wonder, what does this anime actually offer other than short skits of hit-or-miss humor? It is not teaching you the game, it does not give you the time to like the characters, it DOESN’T have famous characters from other shows, it doesn’t last for long and the story is barely there. In fact, one would wonder if this is nothing but vulgar erotic humor with some cards somewhere in there just for kicks. So no, I don’t like nor do I recommend this anime to anyone. The humor is too juvenile, it lacks characterization, story, plot, duration and above all, NO CAMEOS! It is a cheap production made for quick bucks with zero repeat value or memorability.

Now where is my Xenosaga deck?

And now for some excused scorings.
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