Episode 1 – “My Shadowverse Begins Here!” – April 2, 2022
Episode Summary
Shadowverse is a digital card game beloved by all. It incorporates quick thinking, strategy, and heart. And several years before our story, seven Shadowverse players were instrumental in saving the world from destruction.
Light Tenryu is your average second-year middle schooler who just transferred to Shadowverse College, where young hopefuls train to become Shadowverse professionals. However, Light has never played the game before. His enrollment at Shadowverse College came about after a “chance” meeting with Wolfram Zerga, the founder of the school and a member of the elite Seven Shadows.
In his first class, Light meets Subaru Makabe, who guides our hero around the campus. On the tour, Subaru explains that students who are serious about becoming pros will join one of the seven Shadowverse Clubs:
- First Reaper
- Third Feather
- Fourth Wind
- Fifth Sword
- Sixth Magic
(Due to recent events, the other two clubs are no longer around.)
Although Subaru tries to explain the merits of each club, Light has already made up his mind. Early in the day, he met a club member passing out flyers hoping to gain recruits. In what seemed like an off-hand remark, Light had actually promised to join. Since Light will fulfill a promise no matter what, he heads off to the clubroom for Seventh Flame.
Upon learning of Light’s intentions, Subaru tries to warn his new friend that Seventh Flame has nearly become defunct. Undaunted, Light arrives at the clubroom where the member he ran into earlier, Itsuki Mitsutagawa, is packing everything away.
Echoing Subaru, Itsuki appreciates Light’s offer to join, but the infamous president of First Reaper, Haruma Hazeura, had beaten Seventh Flame so severely that he had forced the club’s closure. It is all over if Itsuki doesn’t find five new members within the next week.
Light smiles and says that he will ensure to meet that requirement, starting with himself and Subaru. And if necessary, Light will defeat Haruma in a Shadowverse battle.
Episode Impressions
For the record, and I can’t stress this enough, I was flabbergasted upon learning of Shadowverse Flame’s production.
The first Shadowverse was not only a terrible show, but it was also a huge slap in the face to the Shadowverse community. It turned into a whole thing here on Anime Hajime, so I suggest catching yourself up on it all.
Therefore, my hopes are not high for this show, and I am not sure how long we will need to stick with it (the original ran for fifty episodes).
Right off the bat, it would appear Flame has, like its predecessor, completely missed the heart of the actual game. But I wasn’t expecting anything more; thus, comparing the two every week will probably prove pointless. Still, there is one “interesting” difference between the two shows:
Shadowverse tried capitalizing on Yu-Gi-Oh twenty years after the fact. Shadowverse Flame looks as though it will be doing the same – but with Digimon. What in the living hell is a DigiFriend? People of the Shadowverse gaming community, is that a thing?
With all that said, all I really have at the moment are bad feelings about what is to come; this series didn’t poop its pants right out the gate. Plus, Light is already proving to be a more tolerable protagonist than a certain other person whose name I hope I will never have to utter again.
The fact that I am not already despising Shadowverse Flame is better than I could have guessed. But we most likely have a long way to go.
