High Card is a mishmash of production companies, creators, producers and multimedia. It comes from the author of a series (Kakegurui) I really kind of disliked. It doesn’t have any obviously exceptional names in the staff last. But somehow in the end it’s pretty good, in a “turn off your logic circuits and enjoy the ride” sort of way. Much more enjoyable than Buddy Daddies, anyway.

I draw that comparison because both of them are broadly going for a sort of Hollywood caper flick tinged with graphic violence vibe, but the similarities really end there. I think the balance is much better with High Card – it has none of the cognitive dissonance brought on by the trivialization of murder that you see in that other series. Mind you this one is built around one of the oldest cliches around – teenager turns to crime to save his orphanage. But it moves past that pretty quickly and embraces the lunacy.

The fantasy angle here comes from a deck of cards that all have some sort of mystical power they bestow on their holders – good luck, healing, et al. The cold open set piece establishes a political angle, where two kingdoms at war seek possession of the cards. The story eventually finds its way to a hilariously overproduced anime take on Las Vegas, “Bell Land“, with the protagonist Finn aiming to use his own card to break the bank at the tables. The problem is that he has no idea what those cards actually are.

Finn gets caught up in the orbit of another card holder, an oji-san who turns out to be less lucky than he imagines, and the two rival agents (one of them undercover as casino security) chasing the cards. I like the idea of these guys heading to anime Vegas on the assumption that’s where card holders will eventually be drawn. Much violence ensues, and it’s surprisingly impressive in its execution – the CGI is modestly employed and well-integrated, and the animation and choreography quite snappy.

I have no idea whether the actual plot or any of the characters has legs here, but for one episode at least High Card works quite well. It has a sense of style and wit, which are pretty much essential for this sort of story, and the premise is interesting enough to at least have me curious to see where it’s headed. I’m not even ready to put High Card in the bubble yet, but it wasn’t even on my radar before BluBlu asked about it in the Season Preview comments, so anything I get out of it is a bonus.