3ET: selector infected WIXOSS

"Um, does anyone know how to play this game?"

Studio: J.C. Staff

Director: Satou Takuya (Steins;Gate, Setokai no Ichizon)

Writer: Okada Mari (Nagi no Asukara, Aquarion EVOL)

Main Cast:

Kakuma Ai as Kominato Ruuko

Sakura Ayane as Kurebayashi Yuuzuki

Akasaki Chinatsu as Aoi Akira

Kayano Ai as Uemura Hitoe

Kuno Misaki as Tama

Character Design: SakaiKyuuta (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Sankarea)

Music: Iuchi Maiko (To Aru Majitsu no Index, Dog Days)

selector infected WIXOSS is about an ordinary girl named Ruuko who lives with her grandmother. To make her less ordinary, Ruuko's brother gives her a deck of the popular card game WIXOSS, and she finds a card that talks back to her and moves. After getting over how incredibly creepy this is, she learns that she got a rare card and can battle to become the "Eternal Girl". Becoming the Eternal Girl would mean she could have any wish she wanted. That is, if she had any wish in the first place. In lieu of having a main character with any sort of agency, the show introduces three other girls who also play the magical card game, because who cares about anyone else, right? Yuuzuki is in love with her twin brother, Akira is a complete sociopath, and Hitoe just wants to make friends. And like that, I've summarized the characters. But, even this threadbare plot with shallow characters could be interesting if it were executed correctly. Yeah, about that.

For a show about magical card battling, I still have no idea how the battles are fought in WIXOSS. This is a major problem, because if I don't know how close one person is to winning, why should I care about any one played card or any one attack? It saps any dramatic tension out of the battles, and since these take up a good chunk of the show, that means I'm completely bored for large chunks of the runtime. I think the girls verbally sniping at each other and narrating the battle is supposed to keep me interested while their magical card familiars fling beams of light across the screen. But, that doesn't really work. The show also spends a lot of time expositing about the card game. So, the fact that I don't know the very basics, like how to win at the game, is inexcusable. 

I wonder what color deck she uses. I also wonder if it matters.

That isn't to say this show does nothing well. It does a passable job at setting up a feeling of foreboding, although it is as subtle as a brick to the forehead. I can even see some character arcs emerging in the first few episodes. Hitoe will likely lose her third magical battle at some point, a condition that boots a girl from ever battling to become the Eternal Girl, but since her wish is to make friends, I think that will still be granted. Yuuzuki's wish of having her brother fall in love with her is likely untenable (are Japanese kids immune to the Westermark effect?), and she knows it. It could be an interesting look at how the Eternal Girl system deals with impossible wishes. I don't give two shits about Akira because she's a horrible person. As for Ruuko, she is beginning to enjoy playing the game, and that could give her something to fight for in the future. But, as of right now, she doesn't.

And in the end, that's not good enough. There just isn't enough that is compelling about selector infected WIXOSS that makes me want to keep watching. I didn't care about any of the girls, nor did I care about their special card avatars. It seems like the avatars exist just to shout encouragements and say the rules of the game. And I couldn't shake the feeling that I watched about two episodes of content in three episodes of runtime. The pace felt like it was plodding along like it had all the time in the world to get to where the plot needed to go. And I don't have time to deal with that, this one is a fail.