Our next segment covers the world of trading cards.
It All Started with a Ban
The history of trading cards began in the mid 16th Century in Japan by Portuguese traders later being adopted as Hanafuda but the Tokugawa Shogunate quickly banned all foreign influences including the cards themselves creating an underground gambling ring, this didn't lift until the 19th Century when a certain company named Nintendo was allowed to produce and sell them as recreational card games.
Another Win For Pokemon
It wasn't hard to see this coming, after already dominating the handhelds it would then dominate the trading card scene, memories of that elusive Charizard still fill the minds of many of my age group and even now it remains a fixture in tournaments. I no longer own anymore Pokemon cards having since sold them.
Saving the World With a Children's Card Game
Yu-Gi-Oh started as a manga featuring a game obsessed teen with impossible hair possessed by the spirit of an ancient Egyptian gambler turning typical games into games of death, it got pretty dark but one of the many games played was Duel Monsters which when modded to real world rules became an instant hit so Duel Monsters became the main game in Yu-Gi-Oh. It's checkered history under Konami has led to one or two court cases with Upper Deck and 4Kids for better or worst as in the latter case 4Kids went bankrupt. These days the game is doing much better than the anime, the anime seems to experiment with different ways including a school, on motorcycles, in space, whatever Arc-V and Vrains was meant to be. Either way expect more impossible hair. I did own a few decks and again they were sold.
The Not So Subtle Ripoff
Did anyone really care for Duel Masters? From what I can gather it sounds more like a poor mans Magic the Gathering than Yu-Gi-Oh but it really didn't help the franchise that the lead was a spikey haired kid.
The Quite Decent Ripoff
Cardfight Vanguard kind of slotted into some of the void left by Yu-Gi-Oh when the Yu-Gi-Oh anime kinda lost it's luster, in it's place a fresh new card game that manages a decent following and a not too bad anime.
Every Anime Wants a Card Game now
After a while, Anime is now mainstream so how to go forward with cards? Enter Weiß Schwarz.
This card game has you covered on every anime with significant popularity, in fact it's the only reason some of the anime are even popular, looking at you Love Live. It's biggest selling feature is the gorgeous art straight from the anime itself. It's a good seller among collectors.
