CLAMP x Kinema Citrus! A new trend in card game anime, "Cardfight! Vanguard overDress" by a writer who loves CLAMP!

The first episode of the TV anime "Cardfight! Vanguard overDress," scheduled to air in April 2021, was distributed on YouTube on March 24, and has become a hot topic of conversation.

Vanguard" on YouTube on March 2021, and it has become a topic of conversation. Vanguard," we asked writer Kiri Nakazato, who is well versed in anime and 2.5-dimensional idols, to talk about the history of the work and the staff involved.

(*Honorifics are omitted in this article. (*Titles are abbreviated in this article.)

There is a secret smell in the amusement park at night.

The first story of the TV anime "Cardfight! Vanguard overDress", which will be broadcast on TV Tokyo from April 3, 2021, was distributed on YouTube Vanguard Channel in advance. CLAMP is in charge of character design and drafting, and the animation is produced by Kinema Citrus, a name that stands out for its different tastes from the previous "Vanguard" series.

When one thinks of CLAMP and cards, "Card Captor Sakura" comes to mind, and when one thinks of CLAMP and kids' hobbies, "ANGELIC LAYER" comes to mind, but when one looks at the "Vanguard" side of things, this is a very unusual choice.

Cardfight! Vanguard" is a trading card game (TCG) released by Bushiroad in 2011, and is still one of the most popular TCG titles produced in Japan. The TV anime "Cardfight! Vanguard" began airing in January 2011, and has become a long-running series that has been running for 10 years, which is quite unusual in these days when most TV anime are aired in one or two-cour series.

Such TV anime "Cardfight! Vanguard" has been rebooted once in 2018. The main character and historical setting remain the same, and the story begins with the encounter of Aichi and his friends in junior high school. Based on the comic book version created by Akira Ito, the reboot offers a nostalgic yet new story for old fans and a new encounter with "Vanguard" for the younger generation.

Rebooting is a royal approach for a work that has a large target audience of kids. How to introduce a title to new fans is a major challenge for any title, and rebooting a story that brings new fans together is one of the best ways to do it. I personally understood that "Vanguard" chose to start the story once again as a great standard.

That is why I was intrigued by Vanguard's new challenge to use CLAMP as the character designer and to use the unfamiliar word "overdress" in the title.

What in the world are they trying to start? What is about to begin?

At the beginning of the first episode, the scene of the Chikando family enjoying breakfast in the morning sun is close to the familiar "Vanguard" taste. However, it is the main character, the boy Yuyu Chikagami, who is laboriously frying an egg, and his three beautiful sisters who are sitting around the table together. The three sisters are seated at the table together. The mysterious promise made on the table is to dress Yuyu up in women's clothing ......, and I felt that this was very CLAMP-esque. The motif of sparkling girls with strong wills and kind-hearted boys is familiar to fans of CLAMP's works. The somewhat neutral protagonist Yuyu is played by Shota Aoi.

The opening theme is "Bandolier! unit "Roselia" as the artist for the opening theme, which is a familiar promotional technique for Bushiroad's works. The first time such a unit was used as an artist beyond the framework of the work was in 2012, when "Card Fight! Vanguard" x Milky Holmes in 2012. While there are many bands in "Bandolieri! has many bands, the use of Roselia, the blue rose, also shows the colors that the work is aiming for. As a side note, when I saw the name "Project Cooperation: Yoshiro Kataoka" in the opening staff roll, I had high hopes for the 2.5-dimensional stage (Mr. Kataoka is a legend in the 2.5-dimensional stage world, having launched the musical "The Prince of Tennis" and many other productions).

After the opening scene, Yuyu runs away from home dressed as a woman and is being aggressively picked up by a beautiful, headstrong girl named Megumi Okura, who rescues him. Unable to tell Yuyu that he is actually a man, Megumi tells him that she wants to invite him to a nighttime amusement park where they hang out.

It is an abandoned amusement park, Wander Hill, which is rumored to be haunted or a hangout for delinquents. The amusement park is a different world that is the closest to everyday life, and at night, especially when it is in ruins, it shows a different face from normal times. On the stage above the merry-go-round, which is decorated with glittering lights that are out of place in an abandoned park, card battles - Vanguard fights - are held every night with the "Team" sign on their backs.

Under the watchful eye of countless "eyes" and spotlights, today's match is between Danji Momoyama, a strong, big, gentle man who is like Megumi's older brother, and Touya Ebata, a confident challenger. Touya, armed with calculated logic, has the upper hand, but soon he begins to feel a strange sensation as if reality is being invaded by the world of the "Vanguard" competition...

The depiction of battles that border between reality and fantasy is a specialty of Kinema Citrus, the production company responsible for "Girls' Revue: Revue Starlight. The "Magic Knight Rayearth" is no exception, and CLAMP is known for the Tokyo Tower, and the Tokyo Tower is known for "Revue Starlight". Revue Starlight," which depicts the auditions of stage girls as sword fights on various gimmick stages, and "Cardfight! Vanguard overDress," which depicts the auditions of stage girls as sword fights on a stage of various gimmicks. The director and series writer of this work (jointly with Natsuko Takahashi) is Ken Mori, who also worked as animation director on episodes 10 and 11 of the TV anime "Revue Starlight.

Those familiar with Bushiroad's lineage may also be interested in Mori's career as deputy director of the TV anime "Nekaze Kairiku Bushiroad" (2013) and others. Bushiroad" is a monumental work that was once unfinished, but Bushiroad was determined to complete it and put it in the name of the company. It is a little romantic that the person who worked on that work would work on the "10 years and beyond" of the signature work that is the pillar of Bushiroad.

I digress for a moment, but what Yuyu saw at the abandoned amusement park at night was the strong, broad back of Danzi, who was exposing herself to pain in a fair manner and knocking down her opponents with her burning fighting spirit and determination. The story of Yuyu, who is as beautiful and gentle as a girl, but weak against pushiness, and who yearns for Danzi's back and his passionate Vanguard fights, came very naturally to me.

The first episode of "Cardfight! Vanguard overDress," many people may imagine the presence of adult anime fans and female viewers behind the camera. However, it is a privilege of youth to yearn for the secretive world of adults. When I was a child, I remember longing for the gentle yet sorrowful human relationships and somewhat aesthetic atmosphere of beautiful characters in CLAMP works such as "Seiden - RG VEDA" and "Tokyo Babylon. Above all, the boy who wants to change and yearns for the strength of his convictions is a universal motif in shonen manga.

Having seen the first episode, it is not yet certain how the work will turn out and how it will land. However, I feel that the "resolve" of the title, which is the orthodoxy of domestic card game anime, to break new ground has been strongly conveyed.

The world of card battles and fascinating characters are yet to be seen. We will keep our eyes on this new trend of card game battle anime that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and genders.

(Text by Kiri Nakazato)

Cardfight! Vanguard overDress

＜Broadcast Information
Vanguard overDress will begin airing on April 3 on six TV Tokyo-affiliated stations.
Vanguard Channel on YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, U-NEXT, d-Anime Store, etc.

＜Staff
Original story: Bushiroad/Akira Ito
Executive Producer/Developer : Takaaki Kitani
・Director : Ken Mori
Character design draft：CLAMP
・Character design/ Chief Animation Director：Hiroyuki Saita
・Animation Production：Kinema Citrus, Gifu Animation, STUDIOJEMI

Voice Actors: Shota Aoi, Tomoki Ono, Yuma Uchida, Amane Shindo, Masahiro Ito, Hikaru Tono, Shuta Morishima, Yuki Nakajima