Lostorage Incited WIXOSS – Anime Series Review

Episodes: 12

Genre(s): Drama

Aired: Oct 2016 – Dec 2016

Also Known As:

Summary: High school student Homura Suzuko has returned to Ikebukuro, the town where she grew up. She treasures her memories of her old friend from when she was little, Morikawa Chinatsu, and she’s excited at the prospect of meeting her again.

But when she gets to school, she finds she has trouble fitting in with the rest of the class.

One day, she decides that if she learns to play the card game WIXOSS, she might be able to make some friends. She stops at a card shop on her way home and buys a deck set. When she takes the set home and opens it, the girl on one of the cards begins to move, and speak.

“Welcome, Selector.”

Humans chosen as Selectors must battle for control of the five coins that hold all their memories. If they can retake all the coins, they win, and can leave the game. But if they lose, as a penalty—

What will become of Suzuko as she’s caught up in this insane game?

And just like Suzuko, Chinatsu finds herself drawn into the game as well…

(Source: Crunchyroll) 

Review: Well, the first thing that comes to mind about this show is the fact that it’s a sequel series of sorts. You can read my thoughts on Selector Infected WIXOSS and Selector Spread WIXOSS on my blog by clicking on the purple links. You don’t have to actually watch the aforementioned series before watching Lostorage, in my opinion, but some characters from the prequels do show up.

This franchise as a whole is different from other card game shows. WIXOSS forgoes actually explaining the rules of the game in order to focus on the characters and their drama. Whether or not you think this show succeeds depends on whether or not you think keeping the viewers in the dark in regards to the card game is worth seeing characters fall into despair and break down. I personally couldn’t get very invested in the battles since the characters would be doing and saying things that flew ove rmy head. The characters also start doing crazy stuff that probably isn’t allowed in the card game, but that’s not really anything new for card games, is it?

Most of the characters alternate between between ineffectual or annoying, but the ones who spread around bad tidings and bad cheer (hey, it’s Christmas over here, so cut me some slack) are pretty good at earning your ire. That’s fine if these hatesinks are the antagonists (since we all want villains we love to hate), but it’s kind of a problem when one of the deuteragonists is being a bitch. I was unsympathetic to and alienated from her cause and actions as she seemed to feel like she was entitled to act like a terrible person. Certain LRIGs also get like awful individuals, as well, and they don’t really get punished for it.

The story as a whole is supposed to be a tragedy, but I found myself unable to feel too terrible about most of the characters as they suffered. Some of them just felt undeveloped and didn’t receive enough screentime, I suppose. That being said, the ones I did grow attached to had horrid things happen to them which actually made me feel bad. So, mission accomplished, J.C. Staff?

Compared to Selector Infected WIXOSS and Selector Spread WIXOSS, the story is considerably tighter with the introduction of a new game with new rules. Now there’s essentially no way to escape this deadly card game whereas players could just sit around and do nothing in the previous seasons. That certainly amps up tension compared to before.

The animation as a whole alternated between being pretty awesome (wow, look at the LRIGs fight while the Selectors basically talk in tongues since I have no idea what they’re saying or doing during Selector battles) or terrible (off-model faces are actually fairly prominent).

The series had big shoes to fill in regards to the OP since Selector Infected WIXOSS and Selector Spread WIXOSS had amazing OPs. I personally feel like the OP as a whole fell behind musically, but I suppose the animation during “Lostorage” (yes, that’s the name of the OP) was pretty decent. I actually the ED more than the OP, which is not how it usually goes in the WIXOSS franchise for me, haha. The instrumental OST had no tracks that stood out for me.

There is definitely quite a lot of subtext in regards to yuri (and male libido since most of the antagonists like innuendos). Chinatsu’s little bad girl act essentially happens because she wanted to monopolize Suzuko, after all. I can kind of understand where she’s coming from, but Chinatsu’s actions still don’t make much sense to me.

Speaking of things that don’t make sense, this series is going to be receiving a second season titled, “Lostorage Conflated WIXOSS.” This isn’t going to work unless they introduce a new group of characters, in my opinion.

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You watch this show if you want tragedy, drama, and characters that make you grit your teeth and tear your hair out for various reasons. You do not watch this show if you feel like getting involved with a card game series where the rules are laid out since the viewers receive minimal explanation. This trend began from Selector Infected WIXOSS and can either be alienating (since you don’t have much of an idea of what’s happening) or refreshing (other card game anime are more like commercials for their respective games while this one isn’t).