Plot: Team Q4 is breaking apart after Misaki quits. Her trauma involving her parents’ death is too much for her to bear when playing the game. Aichi and Kamui feel awful for how they spoke to her about her eidetic memory given the circumstances. And Kai couldn’t care less. After seeing Aichi so withdrawn, Emi heads to Card Capitol to see if she can figure out what’s wrong with him. While there, Shin nudges Misaki into having a Cardfight with Emi using the new constructed decks that arrived at the shop. What looks like a simple match on the outside has a profound effect on Misaki.
Breakdown: After last episode, I was very impressed with how emotional this series could get. And I got even more impressed with this episode. This episode also didn’t make me cry, but it got me even closer than the previous episode did.
What’s incredibly interesting is that, on the outside, not much is happening. Emi and Misaki are having a very simple match in the store to try out some new cards and give Emi more practice. However, Misaki takes note of Emi just having fun learning and playing the game, adoring the cute new cards she’s playing with and admiring Misaki’s skills. It reminds her of the happier times she had with her parents and how much they loved Vanguard. They even used to play against each other all the time.
It was always about the fun of the game for them, and they wanted to pass on that enjoyment and passion to Misaki. They’d never want her love of the game or her happy memories of them to be destroyed after they were gone. Misaki comes to the realization that she’s been explicitly focused on the bad memories related to the game. She couldn’t not think of the accident and her parents’ death when she played before, but now she’s determined to keep the happy memories in mind and enjoy playing the game her parents loved, both for herself and in their memory.
Her father constructed a deck for her before he died, and she kept it in a treasure box, but she hadn’t opened it after their death. She tearfully asks Shin to help her find the key so she can get the deck out, and he happily reveals that he’s had it the entire time and was waiting for her to ask for it.
I found this to be the perfect method of helping Misaki through this. So many times characters in shows are pushed to get over their traumas or they need to put in some massive emotional moment or speech. But just having a simple Cardfight with Emi was perfect. Emi is a stand-in for Misaki as a child, and she can easily see the pure fun and excitement of learning the game through her, even calling cards by simpler names instead of proper ones sometimes. Bear in mind, Emi’s not even aware of the situation with Misaki and yet she’s critical in recentering her view on the game.
Misaki does a good job trying to keep her emotions in check the entire time, but then the dam breaks in the end. The don’t go overboard with the drama, either, but they manage to keep the emotion of the moment very strong. Carol-Anne Day’s voice acting here was great the entire episode, but it shined here. And the fact that she was able to shift from this more emotional tone back to her more monotone no-nonsense voice immediately after was skillful.
No hate against them, but I also greatly appreciated that Kamui and Aichi weren’t here for most of the episode. I like Emi quite a bit, and I feel like the vibe of the episode would have been tainted a little by their presence. At least Kamui anyway. Aichi would probably be respectful and just watch. But still I liked it better with just Emi and Misaki.
I actually did like their brief scenes in this episode, for what it’s worth. They were bummed about Misaki quitting, but they were more concerned about her than they were the team.
Oh, and we even got an explanation as to why Misaki wasn’t in the regional tournament (and maybe an explanation as to why her problem with the game in relation to her parents’ death kinda came out of nowhere.) The regional tournament took place on the anniversary of her parents’ death. Now I feel like a bit of an ass for being rude to her character about it. Apologies, Misaki.
Kai’s an ass in this episode, though. And I quote, “If she’s going to use a car accident as an excuse for her own weakness, then we don’t need her.” Fuck you, too, Kai.
Really great episode. I figure this series probably won’t have a lot of emotional storylines like this, but since it handled this particularly well, it gives me higher hopes for more complex storylines in the future – emotional, action, or otherwise.
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