King of Cards, Volume 01

King of Cards #1

by Makoto Tateno

Chronicles the adventures of a schoolgirl named Manami and other players in a trading card game named "Chaos," where the line between real life and fantasy is blurred, and the stakes of the game have significant consequences for everyone involved.

Genres: Manga

208 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1999

About the author

Name (in native language): 立野真琴

Birth Date: March 23

Also writes under the pen-name of Shinjuku Tango.

Makoto Tateno is an extremely prolific mangaka, having created 30+ series of manga in both the shoujo and BL genres. However, she is probably most well known amongst English-speaking audiences for her yaoi series “Yellow,” published by DMP. She debuted in 1986 with the short story "Yuraete Tamago Boys," published by Hana to Yume.

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this a little underwhelming and not too exciting, but then I'm not interested in reading about people playing a card game. The heroine is a pleasant character, not the smartest but a decent person. I like her friendship with her cousin and her positive nature. And I guess the game has some good morals about sportsmanship and what not.

[Skjam! · Rating 2 out of 5]

First-year high school student Manami Minami wants to play the collectible card game “Chaos” with her cousin Tamotsu Kazama, who’s the president of their school’s gaming club. She randomly picks a beginner’s set to purchase–which turns out to be an out of print one with the super rare card Sahgan the Sorcerer. Now she’s constantly facing challenges from more experienced players who want her awesome card!

This shoujo (girl’s) manga is an attempt to cash in on the collectible card game craze. But it’s not based on a real game, which allows the author to just make up the rules as she goes along. Chaos works somewhat on poker rules, where you try to create a hand with the highest value, usually using sets of related cards. Sahgan, in addition to being powerful itself, is also something of a joker card that’s usable with many combinations. Apparently, it also has an ante rule, which makes it easier to get an opponent’s niftiest cards if you win.

There’s three chapters of the storyline in this first issue. Manami goes up against a rich girl who tosses cards that are “weak” in the trash; a boy who loves angels and is bored with always winning but hates to lose; and brothers who use cheap tactics with garbage cards. Manami is more lucky than skilled, having key cards loaned to her by friends, and being inspired by apparently prophetic dreams in which she meet Sahgan himself.

Also in this volume is “Crisis 9”, about a girl who meets up with people she met on an internet bulletin board. Some of them are nice. Unfortunately, there’s also been a rash of animal killings, ramping up from 1 to 8. (Perhaps fortunately, the killer tries to rules lawyer “9”.) The girl has a surprising connection to her dead father that resolves the crisis. It’s a big mood swing from the card games story.

The art is okay, but the characters are pretty stock. There’s not a lot of room for personality growth.

Recommended primarily for card game fans who’d like to see a pretty girl as the main character.

[Reader17 Der · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this series. It is about girl that learns to play a card game with her cousin. She is still in the learning process. They have to get the cards together and when she brought her start pack it has one of the famous and rare cards in it. Everyone see plays against wants to win this card.

[Summer · Rating 5 out of 5]

its ok

[Nina {ᴡᴏʀᴅs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ} · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this! It reminds me of Yu-gi-yoh a little bit actually. Anyway, anything with cards, card competitions, things like this, I love!

[Shinyfox · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars. A quick, fun read but not much different from Yu-Gi-Oh or other card based games.

[TT]

Read it, didn't care for it, dropped the series.