Introduction
After discovering that his orphanage was on the brink of closing due to financial stress, Finn, who was living freely on the streets, set out for a casino with the aim of making a fortune. However, nothing could have prepared Finn for the nightmare that was awaiting him. Once there, Finn encountered a car chase and bloody shootout caused by a man's "lucky" card.
Finn will eventually learn what the shootout was about. The world order can be controlled by a set of 52 X-Playing cards with the power to bestow different superhuman powers and abilities to the ones that possess them. With these cards, people can access the hidden power of the "buddy" that can be found within themselves.
There is a secret group of players called High Card, who have been directly ordered by the king of Fourland to collect the cards that have been scattered throughout the kingdom while moonlighting as employees of the luxury carmaker Pinochle. Scouted to become the group's fifth member, Finn soon joins the players on a dangerous mission to find these cards.
"All you need in life are manners, dignity, and the will to bet on your own life."
However, Who's Who, the rival car maker obsessed with defeating Pinochle, and the Klondikes, the infamous Mafia family, stand in the way of the gang. A frenzied battle amongst these card-obsessed players, fueled by justice, desire, and revenge, is about to begin!
Are you ready? It's Showdown!!
(Source: TMS Entertainment)
Audience reviews
15 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
uchu_no_otaku
The story and the whole power concept are really good. I like how the abilities are connected to the cards because it gives the fights a different kind of feeling. It also has this Kingsman vibe for me, with the stylish action, suits, weapons, and all that cool secret organization stuff 😂 It definitely made the show feel more unique.
Tho I did find myself stopping every few days because it didnt really give me that super hooky feeling. I liked the anime, but it wasnt the type where I immediately wanted to watch the next episode. Sometimes I would just leave it for a while and come back later 😂
Because of that, Im probably not jumping straight into Season 2 for now. Maybe Ill get back to it when Im in the mood for it. Still, 8/10 for me. Very good concept and style, I just wish it had t…
Read at the sourceSieirra
I started watching it because my favorite voice actor was somewhere there. Turns out this is a "Cardcaptor Sakura" meet GrandTheft Auto minus the sex - you have magical cards which give special powers, but there's also fighting with various weapons, regular dismemberment, and pools of blood even more often, with car chases. Occasional torture onscreen. LOTS of explosions, shooting, and fire. Zero nudity of any genders, barely 2 kisses across 12 episodes. Bechdel test is passed successfully, more than once.
Hilarious interactions between characters make for light and enjoyable viewing, though. Minimal surprizes as the show does stick with the traditional tropes for anime. I would highly recommend this as a good past-time.
It was the second season, though, which just WRECKED me with the dram…
Read at the sourceflclfanman
If Kingsman and Yu Gi Oh! did the fusion dance.😂
Instead of trading cards, users (or "players") can aquire magical playing cards from a deck that grant them special abilities.
The art design and world building is surprising good and obviously inspired by the Kingsman/UK aesthetic.
The MC is likable, down-on-his-luck type that stumbles into the reality of these cards and a chance of a lifetime. The side characters/cast are well liked and further fleshed out in season 2. No real generic NPCs among them.
The Yu Gi Oh inspired shonen battles are very enjoyable and the stakes feel real. No one has plot armor and the impact of the fights can linger for episodes.
A solid surprise for the season it came out. With Season 2 done, you can binge it to get to a satisfying ending
Read at the sourceScrabers
Storyline 6/10 Music 6/10
Animation 6/10
# Storyline
In passing, we will feel like seeing kingsman in anime form. But the whole story feels average.
The use of 52 cards that have the ability to provide different powers, the background of the modern world with a system of government in the form of kingdoms. A clash behind the shadows between 2, The Pro Royal and the opposition camp, with the aim of collecting all the scattered cards. if we read the synopsis and watch for a while it will feel interesting.
But after a while the story starts to feel slow and boring. the comedy that is included also does not feel funny, drama and serious scenes are bland, as an audience I do not feel the feeling of passion in the case they are handling, all feel bland.
# Animation
The animation is presented q…
Read at the sourceBlazurai
High Card was an anime that a friend and I started over a year ago, and as of 4/22/24, we finally finished it.
In short, it's an anime about gambling. There's 52 special cards that give unique abilities to "players". These players have powers that can be used for good, or for bad. Anyways, the king wants to collect the cards for obvious reasons, and that's what the main force, High Card, is trying to accomplish.
I really like a lot of things about High Card. I think the character design is interesting, to say the least. All of the characters seems to have drip as well. The concept itself, a world where gambling is the true power, is pretty unique and cool. I also think a lot of the powers are out there enough for them to be praised.
The power scaling is also apparent enough for you to…
Read at the sourceBlackBusterMAL
English.
A series with a super interesting concept but that they don't know how to carry, the premise of the series is very good but the truth is when the episodes go by you will realize that it is really not as good as it seems and it is quite boring.
At the beginning they will show you everything and it will entertain you quite a bit but halfway through the series it sort of doesn't find a direction and doesn't know what it wants for its ending, plus the ending isn't what I expected. The ending is not at all interesting in my opinion and I think they could have done it much better for the simple fact that I think it could have ended in these 12 chapters if they had taken more advantage of the time.
Most of these plots to get the cards are episodic, that does not mean that they are bad be…
Read at the sourceLemonadeSamurai
52 cards exist, each and every one of them grants a unique power by it's chosen player two sides fight over it's power. This is the beginning of a new war thats lasted centuries.
The premise of Highcard is that two groups are fighting over 52 *actually* magical cards that grant unique abilities to those that wield them. These abilities range from conjuring up a gun or sword to literal immortality or turning people into marbles by touch, these cards fetch an extremely high price on the market and those who wield them gain unbelievable powers. However the cards choose the wielder and they cannot be used by just anybody.
The setting is clearly meant to be England but it isn't called that despite having extremely identical architecture, and even depicting the viking invasion of England in…
Read at the sourcegintcki
I came into this anime blind without knowing anything about it beforehand. The first ten minutes had me a little bored, but once they switch the story up to Finn's life where he steps into the casino, it starts getting a little interesting. You start by wondering if he's cheating his way to money, then the existence of the high cards gets revealed to you for the first time. That same episode is where all the killings for cards start happening, and oh boy, I was not expecting it. Every episode from then on had me clenching my toes in anticipation, ESPECIALLY towards the end of the show.
I'm a sucker for action, and if you are too, I cannot recommend this anime more. Chris Redgrave gave me emotional damage by the last episode. One of the most slept-on anime I have ever positively experienc…
Read at the sourcewhiteflame55
When I looked at this initially, I thought it was a bit of Kingsmen meets Bungou Stray Dogs, and while that’s mostly right, the comparisons don’t do it any favors. It doesn’t have the kinetic action or suave sophistication of Kingsmen, it doesn’t really have the character bonds, development or direction of Bungou, it’s just… there.
The show has a grand total of 5 major characters, spending the vast majority of its time developing two of them: Finn and Chris. That might be fine if Finn wasn’t a bog standard shonen MC that didn’t have anything interesting to him (the best comparison I have is to Makoto Edamura, the MC from Great Pretender, who wasn’t great but was carried by a solid cast around him) and Chris wasn’t utterly predictable in virtually everything that counts as character develo…
Read at the sourceDreamshocks
High card - an anime with High potential but a wasted one. I dont know if the pacing is the same as in the manga as i do not read it, however it felt extremely fast paced and dozens of unexplained events happening one after another. The plot left me heavily confused about what is truly happening in this world of High Card, i was so confused that i barely had any desire to finish it, powers are left unexplained, cards are left unexplained, literally nothing is explained in this anime and it feels like everything that happens in the world of high card is highly fantastic.
First what left me so confused is the plot, even after completing the anime i am still a little bit confused about the entire plot, sure it must have some mystery but its rather a mess than a mystery, second - these cards a…
Read at the sourceOkamii_JA
Unfortunately that was kinda below my expectations, I was hyped when they first announced it , I anticipated for some time but I'm just disappointed, the just got I really good intro with some action and mystery moments but after that you gonna feel this show is missing something , it had really good potential but they just ruined but rushing the story and the plot itself can be really superficial like no deep scenario, for example this happened because of that period . Atleast try to make it more interesting , it has some good moment or emotional ones but that was for short time besides that sometimes I feel they just missed the point of anime and they ended talking about other thing that has no connection with the story , and the ending was really avreage with a short cutscene at the end…
Read at the sourceAragane
If you're looking for a new anime, I can recommend "High Card." It's a unique blend of superpowers and poker cards. Which is a refreshing change of pace from typical anime shows.
The protagonist, Finn Oldman, may start as the weakest player with his 2 spades card. But that makes his journey all the more exciting. As the plot progresses, you'll find yourself invested in his story.
While the world-building may be a bit heavy-handed in the first episode, the rest of the season focuses more on the characters and their relationships within the High Card group. And let me tell you, the characters are absolutely charming. While the plot may not be the most original, it's still a fun ride watching these people acting as a car dealers as their front.
The animation is top-notch, and the voice acting…
Read at the sourceAdvancedGP
Honestly a great anime, definitely a good watch if you are into mafia/police, superpower, action anime with a pretty good plot. I feel like this anime deserves more, the story is fairly unique, and so are the reasons for people having powers. The main character's backstory is heartwarming and main character worthy, not too crazy, but mysterious as well, hopefully we get into the mystery of his backstory in the second season which was already confirmed, good enough for us to root for him in his endeavours. The other characters are very likeable, but they did not get enough of a spotlight, would be nice if we learned about them a bit more, have their own story and such. The powers in this anime are nicely portrayed, and unique, it's nice that the main character has the weakest power yet is a…
Read at the sourceSapphiRubyCrys
Started watching this anime because of the Luck of the Draw stack challenge but finished it because of how fun the anime turned out to be.
For those who love stories about Nakama, superpowers, action, a buddy cop type story and with an overarching mystery this anime is perfect. The first 4 eps are a good introduction to this story and it's characters.It's from Ep 5 the story really kicks in. All the characters in High Card (Finn,Chris,Leo,Vijay and Wendy) really grow on you and the episodes keep things interesting giving us more backstory on the characters and the cards at an even pace. I feel like Season 1 is just the beginning and am looking forward to the next season.
Finn and Chris are a nice duo to follow. From Ep 7 we really get to see their friendship blossom and I can't wait to se…
Read at the sourceKANLen09
Ah yes, Kakegurui X Kingsman, who would've thought that the combination of both entities would result in one of the best original anime from this season, that sadly doesn't capture the general audience's attention. And when all hope seemed lost of how everything was going at its ridiculous pace, the upcoming Season 2 announcement straight from AnimeJapan 2023 comes to up the ante, and frankly, I couldn't be more happier that High Card is getting more content to finish up it's supposed "first half" of the story in this season. But let's back things up.
High Card may be an original anime at first sight, but it's actually a mixed-media project from the minds of Homura Kawamoto, Hikaru Muno, and TMS Entertainment, with collaboration with anime producer Kadokawa and pachinko/pachislot develope…
Read at the source