Holy shit, am I actually doing something on this deadass book that isn't a C4 OVA? The answer is yes.

(This will contain spoiler sfor the first episode of Shinemon. I wont make a spoiler alert for the three seasons that came before since no one needs to watch them)

Good afternoon or evening, or even morning because fuck timezones, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Shida, your host for the event and I will presenting my review on the V-Series anime of Vangua-

Hater: But Shida, Shinemon only started last week! 

Even more a reason to do it and give a review on episode one. Anyway, let's set down some ground rules. I'll review a season absed on history, fights, characters, the sets in the real world and some other stuff. I'll also give a rating from 1 to 10 for each season, point out the best and the worst moment about and mention the openings and endings. 

Also yes, there will be one of these for the other Vanguard eras, but if you want a quick hint on it, it's simple. G Era > Everything else. I'm a defender of G until I die. But you're not ehre to see me worship G like a divine god, that's for another chapter. Right now, I'm about to bash and praise the V Series anime like you've never seen before.

Cardfight!! Vanguard (V-Series)

Ok so the first season of the reboot was overall okay. We knew it was going to be based on the manga so we knew how it'd end. Overall, it was just a poor retrain of the first Vanguard season.

It had good moments that are overshadowed by a larger amount of bad moments. I liked the Foo Fighters motto on the preview for Kyou vs Kamui, I liked Kyou, I liked Misaki vs Asak, I liked how Aichi rode Blaster Blade as the sun started rising when he used Exculpate the Blaster and I liked Ren vs Kai. What good thing can I say besides these things? Kamui vs Gouki for Kamui's character development, but that's it. Oh, and I also liked Murakumo. I memed that I'd main it in Standard, I amde the meme real, it still stands as my favourite Accel clan alongside Nova Grappler.

The bad things of this season can start in episode 1. This is a card game anime, you usually wanna have a fight in the first episode of each season, even if it is small or just part of it. And no, Kai vs Morikawa doesnt counts. Speaking of Morikawa, he plays a big part on why I don't like the first season of the reboot.

With Spikes coming after the Q4 set and me not knowing what Imaginary Gifts my main clans (Gear Chronicle, Nubatama and Genesis) would get nor when they'd get support, the Force clan I chose to main was Spikes. Why? I don't a dragon fetish to main Kagero and don't need my avatar to always be standing to main Royal Paladin. So Spikes it was, and how did Spikes start? We got to see two cards to go the damage zone in Kai vs Morikawa, and when Morikawa vs Aichi happened, which in manga was a fight where Morikawa used Spikes, the anime had Morikawa use a super budget Royals. Oh yeah, the Spikes stuff was out already. I'll explain why they did this. You see, after BT01, Royals were one of the weakest clans. OTT was raging giant and Kagero ahd Waterfall in it's prime. Noas were also bad. And how were Spikes? They were good, solid, fantastic. Spikes could destroy Royals with ease, with the greatets of ease. So they boycott Spikes until season 2, where we just see Kamui beating Juggernaunt Maximum.

With my rant about Spikes out of the way, there were alot of other shitty things. The Q4 vs NwO arc wasn't needed, but okay, Kai vs Koutei was a cool fight. But what they did to Leon, oh my god what they did to Leon. They boycotted him so hard that he grew younger. I'm going to be frank with you, I didn't liked Leon during Asia Circuit since he was just being petty, I didn't minded him in Link Joker and in Legion Mate and I only started liking him when he fought Chrono in GIRS CRISIS, but even not liking Leon for the most of it, I know he wasn't this young in the original universe. In Asia Circuit, Aichi had the same age as he did in the first season, and Leon was already older than Aichi in Asia Circuit. But like I said, this arc wasn't very needed, I guess it worked to introduce Aichi's Psyqualia and whatnot. I'll give it the worth it deserves for Kamui vs Gouki, but let's move on.

With that arc out of the way, the AL4 arc starts. Kamui vs Kyou? Loved it. Kyou vs Aichi? Hated it. Kai vs Minami? Loved it for the Minami faces that became emotes and because it started Doggy Minami which stands out as one of the best meme sin this Aichi era. Asaka vs Miwa was alright, Misaki vs Asaka was good, Ren vs Misaki was somehow sadder for Ren than for Misaki because you knew that the anime had to boycott Misaki or else she'd destroy Ren with OTT, Aichi vs Tetsu sucked, I liked Kai vs Ren and Ren vs Aichi was alright, but nowhere near as good as Aichi vs Ren in the end of the first season.

Now, the true final fight of the season, Kai vs Aichi. This was a wreck of a fight. Why? It was the most anticlimatic thing ever. Aichi pulls a heal, Nouvelle negates it, nobody has a reaction, it wasn't worth the wait.

So with the plot of season 1 out of the way, let's talk some minor stuff that I couldn't fit in there. Characters didn't ahd a distinct theme, the same music was always playing. The new sound effects for riding and power rising are nothing like the old ones. This season (and AIchi era as a whole) had some dipping quality when it coems to the animation, it somehow rivals Black Clover when it started.

Let's talk songs. Legendary? Good opening. The endings? Hate them.

As for characters, Ren was a bad villain, he was a bigger threat in the season one of the original anime, Tetsu didn't made a difference, Asaka and Kyou didn't do anything, Aichi was boring, Kaiw as boring, Misaki was boring. Nobody really had a personality in this season.

Best moments: Kamui vs Gouki, Kamui vs Kyou

Worst moments: The Spike Brothers boycotting

Season rating: 5/10 and I'm being nice here.

This season was a waste and a terrible start. While it had good things, it's overshadowed by all the bad things. It's also home to the biggest asspull of Vanguard, which I call Fuckfest Day. On that day, Aichi fights Tetsu while Asaka fight Miwa, then Misaki, then Misaki fights Ren, Ren finds Aichi, Ren fights Kai and then Aichi fights Ren. This all happens in the same day, same afternoon even. And what is the worst part? Call it parts because there's more than one. Aichi didnt' had Exculpate when he fought Tetsu and he didn't buy any new cards until his fight Ren so Exculpate is an ass pull.

Hater: But Shida, what if Aichi never got to Exculpate when he fought Tet-

We don't accept that logic and fuck everyone who thinks that. We also have Ren vs Aichi as a vanilla fight. Their reason to fight is simple:

Ren: Uwu he has psyqualia and took my Kai-kun I need to beat him now uwu

Aichi: He defeated Kai and is the cause of Foo Fighters I ened to win uwu

It's dumb, there's no set up, the first season of the original Aichi era beats this shit easy money. Now let's hop on into Miyaji and see what's cookin' in the High School arc.

Cardfight!! Vanguard (V-Series): High School Arc

Let's get this out of the way, this starts with Aichi becoming the Asia CIrcuit champion out of the blue. There's no set up, there's not hint at this in the previous seaosn, it just happens because it happens in the manga.

Now to speak about good things. This season is a major upgrade from the last one. Why? We have Cardfight Club stuff, we have a prelude to Ibuki, we have pony tail Ren, which I see as one of the better Ren designs, and we have the gold mine of emotes that is Ibuki vs Aichi. Ah, bad animation, you never made me so happy before. This season is also a dollar store version of Link Joker (the season) so I'm going to split the review of this season into two arcs, the Cardfight Club arc and the Invasion arc.

-Cardfight Club Arc

When it comes to Link Joker (the season), I split it into three categories. First, the Cardfight Club arc, which I love. Second, the Fukuhara arc, which I also love. And in third, the Reverse arc, which I don't really enjoy. Why am I mentioning this? Because this season starts off with a reboot of the Cardfight Club arc, though again, it's a dollar store version of it.

I love the concept of the Cradfight Club. I really do. What made me enjoy it so much back in the day was the growth of Naoki as a fighter and his development with other characters, but mainly Shingo. We sorta have this in season in the form of Naoki starting to play the game because of Aichi, joining the club by beating Kourin and then losing to Shingo. Also Shingo plays Nubatama, so he's auto best character. Then Misaki comes around, loses to Kourin and joins the club, they go to Fukuhara and the Vanguard Koshien is mentioned. This also marks the return of Takuto the cunt Tatsunagi, who is basically the gate to another invasion of Earth by units. But fuck Takuto, lets talk about what matters, the return of Ibuki.

We get to finally see Ibuki before his redemption in the desert (you thought I was gonna mention the movie? Bold of you) and he's maining 'em Doritos. Overall, I liked Ibuki since his story tied in with Kai and Miwa, and because of his faces. His many, many faces. But he was also unneededly edgy and svreamed alot for no reason. He beats Takuto, the invasion starts, everythign gets thrown into a blazing garbage pile. Sorta.

-Invasion arc

the bets things of this arc are Kai soloing a bunch of Psyqualia zombies, Kamui bringing back Beast Deities and the Fukuahra arc, which is basically one fight.

As for the rest, meh. Naoki entered an existencial crisis because of Kourin, Misaki and Aichi got turned into zombies, Kai got deleted by Ibuki, Ren and Tetsu fucked for to play tag with Rekka, Shingo didnt do anything, Miwa's job was to carry Kai around. I don't like the Reverse arc of the Link Joker season but it was better than this. The whole arc carried a dark, thrilling tone. You never knew when someone could get reversed or not. but I'll dive and bash this arc on another review.

Let's talk songs. I quite enjoyed the opening, liked the ending since it had alot of heart (and good Kourin moments, if you know what I mean ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)) and showed more of the club. Then we had the ending focused on Vanguard boys, which was an auto-skip for me.

Let's talk characters. I liked Naoki les sin this seaosn since we didn't saw his growth and liked Shingo more because he played Nubatama. The way I saw Ren was changed afetr his fight with Asak, which I saw as a emotional development for the two and that me RenSaka canon as all hell. Aichi was bland as usual, Destiny Conductor was edgy without a reason, Rekka and tSuiko were useless, Kai, Miwa and Ibuki were pretty great and Kamui was cool.

Best moments: Ren vs Asaka, Kai vs Ibuki

Worst moments: Most of the Invasion arc

Season rating: 7/10 

I enjoyed this season. It had comedy hidden in little things, like the in Ibuki's gold mine of emotes or the things said in the previews. And I'm very glad that they kept the sailor outfit joke from Link Joker. Props to that. Now lets hop into the most controversional Aichi season... Oh god.

Cardfight!! Vanguard (V Series Anime - Continued)

Look at YGO Vrains. A pretty good season 1 and then a downfall in season 2 that was just sad. That's basically this seaosn, which isn't named Koshien. I'm gonna end the review of this season with the most dumbfound headache of the century.

So, the third and last season of the Aichi era. Dear god this season was a rollercoaster. It started going very high with more Clubs tuff, which I love. We got to see Shingo get a win, the edgelord ERU returned with his Elle Note and Nickelback background theme, we saw more Maki and we finally saw Great Nature in action and holy shit, the council president almost annihilated Misaki. Pretty good stuff. 

After that, we had one of my favourites things ever. An ac dedicated to undo the deleted fighters, We got to see Kyou find fun in Vanguard which, which was all types of wholesome, and Kai try to get his mojo back. And-

Before I move, I will mention that Kai lost to Morikawa. You can say all you want, Morikawa still won and fuck you if you think otherwise, your opinion doesn't matter in this situation. Moving on.

This part was a love letter to G. And I love it. Mamoru is back, Blademaster is back, TRINITY DRAGONA RE BACK AS KIDS AND WE SEE THE ORIGINS OF THEIR NAMES, ITS JUST GOOD.

Easily the best part of the season. Kai also gets Di Endo but come on, it's just another dragon.

After that, we had an arc focusing on Ibuki getting redemption. Vanguard became his cursed, everywhere he went, he had to avoid fighting or restrain himself from deleting people. We got a thing called character devolopment. Leon also showed up and lost like the loser he is, that's all I have to say about him.

But then it began... The Koshien... Jesus christ, the season went under a train with the Koshien. Everything was so bad. This was the shittiest thing on the reboot. Animation? I don't even remember it. Kai vs Aichi? Worthless. Ren vs Aichi? Worthless. Misaki vs Asaka? What Misaki vs Asaka? They took the important key to Misaki's growth, Tsukuyomi, and tossed it into the trash. We didnt even got a full fight. In fact, alot of the fights in this arc were cut away. Mamoru vs Ibuki? This fight should have been sued to set their friendship for G but it was wasted. WASTED I SAY! And then the final fight of the Koshien, Ibuki vs Naoki. I don't care that this is important to Naoki, this fight wasn't worthy of being the final fight. It was garbage. 

Some positives of the Koshien: Morikawa wins against Naoki so a win for Spikes and Eru vs Minami was a fucking meme. 

As for songs... The opening had a good start, I didn't cared for the endings, moving on. Although I'll say this, the ending for the last episode was very sweet and I liked it alot.

Characters: Mamoru was new but was wasted as a Kai dick sucker, the rest of the cast pretty abd for the most part. Trinity Dragon, Kyou and Morikawa were the greatest characters, this is an absolute fact.

Best moments: The whole Prelude to the Koshien

Worst moments: The Koshien itself

Season rating: 8/10

Hater: But Shida you said-

For more that I bash this season, it had one of the most important things. A love letter to G. And me loving G the way I do, that makes this season great. But now let's jump a decade into the past as we look into the greatest Vanguard season ever since G ended.

Cardfight!! Vanguard: Shinemon

*Shinemon theme starts playing*

So, we're finally here. Shinemon. One episode into the season and it beats the Aichi era and defines Shin has a protag better than Aichi and most YGO protags. But let's first look back at the time when it was announced.

First thing I see is Shin with Assistacat in his hair. I go "Hey, this looks pretty cool.". And then I saw her... I saw her... Mikuru Shindou... SHINDOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU YES YES YES YES YES YES!

AND THEN I SAW MARK AND RIVE! MARK AND FUCKING RIVE! NUBATAMA BECOEMS A PROTAG CLAN AND CHRONO'S DAD IS RELEVANT WHILE NOT BEING IN THE DESERT! YES YES YES!

YOU KNOW WHAT ALSO MADE THINGS BETTER?!

KANZAKI IS BACK! KANZAKI IS FUCKING BACK! WEAKNESS IS A SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!

Basically, I was pretty hype for this season. A Makoto-looking reject with the same last name as a guy in the 3DS games showed up to play AF, Rive got an upgrade and started playing the God Hand for Novas (because fuck Tachikaze, it sucks), Mark is still booming his Nubatama that has tokens that intercept and Shin is playing Genesis. Genesis. So we have Genesis and Nubatama, two of my overall main clans, and Nova Grappler, one of my favourite Accel clans. Everything was coming together. We also saw the antagonists. Esuka looked cute, her butler existed because of course she has a butler, the red haired dude was angry at life and the girl was forgetable but is gonna use Arboros. Esuka's last name is Hibino, the same last name as the guy who got Diffridden by Gastille in G. I never thought much of her until later, but let's wait for that. In additon, we got the Dragon Empire branch manager, Ruuga, who was the one who got Diffridden by Valeos, and the main man KANZAKI back. And GC was announced to be getting a set alongside two other mystery clans in February. This set can go two ways. It either is a set with GC, RP and Genesis as a celebration fo the three protags (Chrono, Aichi and now Shin) or can have GC, NN and RP and be the Try3 set, which means G returns, which means Shida gets even happier. Im expecting a Try3 set so that I cna flex on the GC haters, spit on them and rub all the salt in their open wounds. 

And then Shinemon started, a few days ago...

I, for once, like the opening and ending, but I miss an opening made by a guy. Bring back Mamoru Miyano, bring back JAM Project, bring back the goodness from years ago.

Also the opening only featured two clans, Genesis and Nubatama, extra points for that.

But then the anime started and oh god...

Oh god...

OH GOD YES! THIS SHOW IS THE GREATEST VANGUARD SEASON EVER SINCE AGES AGO!

I love Shinemon. I love Shin, I love Mark, I love Rive, I love Mikuru, I love Assistacat and I love Esuka. I love Esuka alot. Episode 1 and we got these things:

-Backstory to Assistacat
-The start of Ninja Master M
-Jealous Mikuru for Shin
-Shin falling over Esuka and starting a harem
-ESUKA 

Let's talk about characters.

Shin is a madlad of a protag. He wants to protect Card Capital because his sister and brother-in-law (I presuming Misaki's mom is his sister due to their talk and because if it was the other way around, then Misaki would be Misaki Nitta, not Misaki Tokura) passed away. And it's not easy for him. He has to balance defending Card Capital with going to school and being with Miskai, who's in the hospital after the trauma of the accident. And he also has to live in a tent inside Card Capital. And the moment he is face to face with Master Ninja M, who he assuems stole Mark's deck and playing style, you see how much he wants to defend the store. Also he was dumb for not seeing it was mark right off the back since for crying out loud, have you seen Mark's goatee? He could have stabbed Brandt to death with that thing. And when Tatsuya, the AF kid, sees the photo of Shin with Misaki's parents, Shin plays it off as soemthing that isn't improtant because he sees no need to drag other people into the personal drama that is behind defending Card Capital. Shin is a great character and beats V Aichi easy money. He's also a madlad for using catnip to create an army of cats to fight Esuka. It's basically like Pewdiepie creating an army of PeePeePooPoos to fight the Wither. Brilliant.

Mark is a sweatheart. He's the greatest best friend an anime protagonist could have. He accepted to fight his best friend because he cared for his future. And he plays Nubatama the right away, a.k.a the weeb way. Yes, that's how you play Nubatama, most player do not accept to bring out their inner Naruto Runner and that is why Nubatama doesn't tops much. The one time one of us let out the inner Naruto Runner, Bushi striked our Hokages and went into the banlist with a heavy hit, that's the true story. ALSO WHAT IS THAT HAIR KNOT?! I LEGIT TRIED TO COPY IT AND I CAN'T LMAO. Guess I don't know enough about the Sengoku period. And the prelude to Master Ninja M is also pretty dope. He made the helmet for cosplaying. A true man of culture.

Now I'd talk about Rive but all he did was say he has to go to work and call Shinemon a Lemon. But that's actually pretty good. Why? I did the math and by now, Rive is already a married man. He hasn't started Team Nippon yet, which means he also isn't working on the Stride Gate by now (I know, different universes, but I need something to say). He has a wife at home, and in a few years of even months, Chrono is gonna be born.

Moving on to Tatsuya... Okay look, right now, you aren't supposed to remmeber his name, but soon, he'll become the Koichi of the show, I just know it.

Mikuru was lovely. Her pount when Shin fell over Esuka was adorable, she's the true twinkie that must be protected on this show. And it's good to see how she was before Rive pulled a Jotaro and was never present in his son's life for years to come.

But now, the good sauce. Esuka Hibino, president of Esuka, a card shop chainw ith the goal of getting 1327 shops. I think that number has some hidden meaning, but I don't have anything to theorize upon. Now, before the anime started, we got news she had been an idol. And then, when we get to the anime, we get Tatsuya talking how Esuka and ahd been a swimsuit idol...

*Gasm emotes intensify*

LOOK AT ALL OF THIS ESUKA GOODNESS!

Good lord in the heavens, you made our prayers come true. Can I get an Amen?

I also like Esuka's VA quite alot, I think it fits her like a glove. 

Shinemon  is a genius show with just one episode, to quote what someone said, "5 minutes in and we already have a harem". And no, I don't like it just because of Esuka or because of my two main clans being used by the best friend duo of the season. I like Shinemon since it takes risks you wouldn't see in the Aichi era, since we can see things from a whole new perspective. But if Shin does get a harem, :lawless: I'm fine with it.

Good moments of episode one: Everything

Bad moments of episode one: Nothing

Episode rating: 10/10

Am I fanboying? Yes I am and no, I don't care about it. You got issues with it? Then fuck off and and go read something else.

And that is all for this review. Join me next time as we look into the original Vanguard universe, a time of national tournaments, pretentiously edgy Aichi, Spectral Duke, pretentiously edgy Leon, the Cardfight Club, the trash that is the Reverse arc and whatever we call Legion Mate at this point.

Thansk for reading and I'll see you later, bye bye!