Lucky Star Weiss Schwarz cards
I know trading cards have been around for a while, but if you were a kid growing up in the 90s or later, you’ve most likely indulged in them somewhat, whether it was Magic the Gathering, Pokemon cards, or just regular cards to collect such as baseball cards. Every major anime and other media franchise, especially those aimed at a younger audience, usually has some kind of trading cards fans can buy. Today I want to share my experiences with trading cards and discuss why they have such appeal, especially in our world that’s vastly becoming more digitized…
I actually got into collecting trading cards early in my childhood, my very first ones being a set of Lion King cards back when I was obsessed with the movie in elementary school. I believe there were a couple of different sets that could be bought and I vaguely recall McDonald’s or Burger King including packs of Lion King cards with kids meals at the time. But unlike later cards I got into, these were strictly cards to collect and not an actual trading card game.
Lion King trading cards
A few years later, when Toy Story was another big Disney hit, I got a set of those cards that were similar to the Lion King cards in that they consisted of chronological events in the story, character cards, and a few other things. After that, the cards I got were few and random – I got some Sonic the Hedgehog cards and even some Beanie Baby cards, but not much else at that point.
Toy Story and Sonic the Hedgehog cards
But again, these were just cards to collect and I wouldn’t discover the fun and money consumption of a trading card game until a while later with…Pokemon of course!
Part of my Pokemon card collection. That whole binder is full by the way :3
As I’ve discussed in other posts before, I was a major Poke-maniac between the years of 1999-2001, and the Pokemon trading cards were a big part of that. I think at one point I had every single Pokemon card that existed during those years and hundreds of extras of common cards shoved away in my closet. But my greatest fun was going to a Pokemon Trading Card Game League at my local mall every Saturday for those three years where I could test my decks against other players and win prizes such as rare promo cards or other Pokemon merchandise. Of course, a lot of the players were younger kids who could barely comprehend the rules and who I easily beat, but there were some older players too who gave me a run for my money. It was a lot of fun and taught me the thrill or trading card games that consist of building your own decks and trying them out against other players while also trying to collect rare cards.
My Pokemon TCG League badges and stamp booklet
In addition to the regular Pokemon trading card game, there was also a series of cards released by Topps that were just for the Pokemon anime. They were just for collection and not for playing but I was into them very much as well.
Trading cards for the Pokemon anime
Also during this time, as Pokemon gradually turned me into an anime fan, I collected a lot of random anime cards that I bought from various stores in my area or online including Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Digimon, Inuyasha, Evangelion and others.
Random anime trading cards I have
While I’m still a big fan of Pokemon today, I stopped collecting the cards in the early 2000s. By that time Pokemon’s popularity wasn’t what it used to be, so the trading card game leagues disappeared from all of my local stores and the friends I used to play with had lost interest, thus I had little incentive to keep it up. But not too long after, I got into another trading card game…Yu-Gi-Oh!
Some of my Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. That binder is also full
After playing the game for the first time at a friend’s house, I enjoyed it and started off my own collection with the beginner sets that were available. But I was always just casually into Yu-Gi-Oh! cards and wasn’t as vehemently into collecting them all like I was with Pokemon; I would just buy booster packs from time to time and play against friends, but I never went to any leagues or tournaments.
Sometime around 2006 I stopped collecting Yu-Gi-Oh! cards as well. Now that I was older I was learning just how expensive collecting cards can be and rarely having anyone to play with didn’t help my enthusiasm either. But not too long after I almost had another trading card game obsession that unfortunately didn’t take off…
Inuyasha trading cards
I’m sure most people who watched Inuyasha on Adult Swim back in its heyday from 2003-2006 didn’t even know it had a trading card game. Inuyasha was my favorite series back then and even I didn’t know it had a card game until I heard about it at Anime Expo 2007 and won a starter deck of trading cards from a raffle there. I was so excited about it and learned all the rules and couldn’t wait to start collecting…only to find out that none of my usual stores that sell trading cards or anime merchandise sold the Inuyasha cards. Maybe I just wasn’t looking in the right places, but not being able to find the cards anywhere, plus the fact that I had no one to play with (I only had cards enough for one deck so I couldn’t even lend a deck to a friend to play against like I did with Yu-Gi-Oh!), made my enthusiasm for the cards quickly fizzle out. It’s a shame that the Inuyasha TCG didn’t get more promotion because it seemed like a fun game for the many English-speaking fans of the anime and manga.
After that, I didn’t buy any trading cards for years and never thought I’d ever get back into them. Until just a few months ago when I was introduced to one of the most unique, and anime-centered, card game I had ever seen – Weiss Schwarz!
Weiss Schwarz
Weiss Schwarz is a crossover trading card game that uses cards from a variety of anime, manga, visual novels, etc., including Bakemongatari, Madoka, Haruhi, Clannad, Fate/Zero, Shana, Evangelion, and many others (you can see a full list here). What’s special about Weiss Schwarz isn’t just the fact that you can crossover such a variety of series, but also how the game is conducted; unlike other card games, in Weiss Schwarz, the more damage you do to your opponent and the closer you bring them to defeat, the more powered up they become and they can use stronger cards. This “double-edged sword” theme of the game makes it really exciting. Unfortunately the only Weiss Schwarz cards available in English are the starter decks for Madoka and Fate/Zero (and I think one for Disgaea). All the rest are available only in Japanese and the older sets of cards with fewer copies left can be quite expensive. Despite this, I was surprised to find that a store in LA holds Weiss Schwarz tournaments every weekend and I believe Anime Expo always has tournaments as well. Fans simply memorize translations of the cards they use. I’ll definitely check out the tournament at next year’s AX.
Right now I’m working on building a good Haruhi deck XD
So, like I addressed in the very first paragraph of this post, what is it about trading cards that makes them a hit even today when everything is becoming more digitized? Well, like I’ve said before in other posts, even though everything is becoming digital, we’re still physical beings and have a yearning to own physical copies of things we like. Even though any anime can be streamed for free or for very cheap online, people will still buy expensive BD/DVD box sets, just as people will spend $100+ for a set of trading cards instead of playing a less expensive game online. There’s great spiritual comfort and fan dignity in owning and paying a high price for your own physical copies of things you love. As long as that sentiment endures, tradings cards will always find a place among fans. Precisely because everything’s becoming so digital, having a game where you can physical move your playing pieces and you don’t have to look at a screen to play, is now a novelty =)
Oh, trading card games… I used to be into Magic: The Gathering a lot about 5-6 years back. I went to official sealed deck tournaments (where they give you 60 random cards and 3 booster packs, and have to make a deck with that) held here, and even came in 6th on one tournament :) lots of fun! But I did not like the new cards much (after the Scourge theme set). Cards became too powerful and unbalanced for my liking. I still have a lot of cards, but do not play anymore. I agree that there is some magic in collecting physical items. I have them there, and can look at them, touch them, so they are something material. Good to have :)
The other side of those trading card games is that they are very social. You have to get together with friends to play it, so it will be one afternoon of talking with friends, eating, sharing a good time. We tried playing Magic online with a program that had all the available magic cards, so we could make our decks exactly as we had them in real life, and play at any time… It’s not 1/2 as fun as it is meeting in real life. So for me, that social interaction is something that is very important, and cannot be captured online, even with cameras, mics, chat programs, or whatever else you have.
Hum… Now that your brought this up, I should call up my friends and setup a game for next weekend :)
I remember the boys in the lower grades at my middle school always playing Magic the Gathering, but I was already totally into Pokemon at the time ;) I’m sure it’s a fun game seeing how popular it was.
Trading card games are definitely good social events as you have to talk and interact with your opponent, whether they’re a friend of yours or someone you’re meeting for the first time. Playing games online often let you bypass the talking and socializing parts, so it’s not quite the same =/
Oh wow, reading this post really brought back some memories for me. I used to be obsessed with trading card games when I was younger (mostly Yu-Gi-Oh!) along with collecting a few Pokemon cards, even though I never got into the competitive side of the game.When I got up in age I started to appreciate the value of money and therefore stopped buying trading cards all together =P. Although I still own all of my trading cards and often look back at them for nostalgic purposes and there definitely is a certain feeling of pride knowing that you physically own something that you cherish, whether it be an anime BD/DVD series, Trading Cards, etc.
Btw I saw some Digimon trading cards among your collection! That was my absolute favorite as a kid, I only own a couple of cards but I still have most of the old digivices and even a d3 which a friend gave to me =)
Yeah, I’m a bit of a packrat and save just about all my childhood goodies that I have at least a little sentiment left for, and my trading cards are definitely part of that XD But because I had more Pokemon cards than I could ever have a use for (tons of copies of common ones of course), over the years I’ve given a lot of them away to children, including neighbors and kids at the school I used to work at.
I loved Digimon when I was younger and I still like it a lot =) (the original three series at least). I wasn’t nearly as obsessed with it as I was with Pokemon though and only collected some Digimon merchandise such as those cards and a few toys and plushies.
Haha I remember I had a few Pokemon cards I got from watching Pokemon movies. About a decade ago my friends and I were really into Yugioh and hence I have a deck or 2 of YGO cards (though not sure how many are actually real hahaha). I never actually played with them though, we just collected for the prettiness. None of us could really figure out the rules based on the TV series because there was so much deux ex machina going on all the time. Good memories though!
I remember getting all those promo Pokemon cards for going to see the movies in theaters =) Good times. I also got YGO promo cards for going to see the (terribly mediocre) YGO movie when it came out in the US.
Heh, how I learned to play the YGO card game was simply by reading the rule booklet that came with the starter decks I bought =P But I guess if you only bought booster packs, you wouldn’t get the rule book and would have to learn the rules elsewhere (online maybe?) I also had a GameBoyAdvance game of the YGO card game so I learned some rules and strategies from there too.
I recently got back into the Pokemon TCG. I still don’t know how to play the game, but for the time being, I enjoy looking at the shiny cards :3, as well as my oversized Dialga card.
You never learned how to play the actual game? It’s actually pretty easy compared to YGO and others I’ve played. You can read the rules here if you’re interested. Some things have changed since I used to play but not too much ^^
If you saw in the photo I have of my Pokemon cards, you can see the oversized card I have of Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. Didn’t know they made one for Dialga too :3
Believe it or not, I have collected Pokemon cards when I started getting into it back in the 90s. I still have these cards along with some Japanese ones. I don’t do so anymore as I only focus on the games only. In addition, my sister used to collect Duel Monster cards (Yu-gi-oh), but she lost interest.
I have some Pokemon and YGO cards in Japanese too. Unfortunately back then I didn’t know how to read any Japanese at all XD
I still own a few Pokemon decks kept safely in a drawer – the times of middle school where I could actually play those with some friends are long gone. but I’m not throwing them away. Not only are they pretty – but the act of assembling an TCG deck is an act of self-expression, just like writing a story or the like. You have relatively limited resources to choose from, but your thoughts and choices can still be found in the cards.
I only ever held one Yu-Gi-Oh card in my life, but I played various emulated games of the series on a PC (those that actually followed the rules), which was a fun experience.
I doubt I’ll be giving away most of my Pokemon cards anytime soon either. Lots of memories associated with them, plus I do manage to find a friend once in a while who wants to play the game =)
I played the YGO card game on my GameBoyAdvance a lot more than I actually played in real life XD The great thing about playing the game online or in a video game is that you don’t have to spend tons of money to get the cards you need =P
Oh man, I was pretty into the Pokemon cards too. I’ve got a whole big binder full of them as well. And I’ve been tempted to try and go back to them many times. Funny thing is, I’ve never actually played with my cards. I only collected them because I found the pictures were really pretty. xD I knew how to play thanks to the TCG GBC game and looking up the information, but there weren’t any tournaments where I lived.
I’ve got a few random Pokemon and Sailor Moon anime cards as well, a few Digimon cards too. But outside of Pokemon, none of the other collectible cards really garbed me. Then again, I’ve been a big Poke-fan from all the way since Pokemon Blue, so maybe that’s why.
Pokemon cards are still pretty popular among kids nowadays, which I’m glad to see ^_^ When I used to work with kids at my old job, I would often give them some of my old cards for prizes. They didn’t know how to play the game though and would just make up their own rules XD Of course there’s a ton of new cards now for all the new pokemon and I know some of the rules have changed over the years too.
A little story about Weiß Schwarz in the U.S.A. …
The guy who runs http://www.animecubed.com/billy/ has the American distribution rights for Weiß Schwarz. He also owns an anime/gaming store, and in the spring of 2011, he contacted the Weiß Schwarz card company to ask if he could sell their cards (he was a big fan). They told him that he couldn’t sell them since they did not have an American distributor, but if he wanted to, he could BE the distributor (and thus distribute to his store as well). He did a promotion on the Billy vs. Snakeman website to get the start-up funds for the distribution, where you could contribute some money and in return you’d get a bunch of goodies, including a booster set of Weiß Schwarz cards and a hand-drawn-by-him sketch of one of BvS’s characters (which are all based on anime characters from many, many series … much like the idea behind Weiß Schwarz, in fact). The promotion went over crazy well – he ended up getting much more money than he was hoping for. In fact, so many people signed up for the promotion that he’s STILL drawing the sketches a year and a half later.
The upshot is that Weiß Schwarz is now a lot more available in the U.S. It’s been a while since I checked into how the distribution’s been going, but last I checked, the card company had been reprinting their card sets for U.S. distribution, which means that we’ve had access to fresh copies of the old, rare sets that people in Japan can’t even get without paying an arm and a leg. Also, as those reprinted sets have become available in the U.S., they’ve been coming with translations that have been designed so that you can print them, cut them out, and slip them into the card sleeves over the cards without covering up the pictures. So, you don’t have to memorize translations anymore, at least for the sets that have been released so far in the U.S.
Thanks for sharing that story about Weiss Schwarz =) I didn’t know that. As far as I know, pretty much the only place to get the cards in the US is online and the only kinds of stores that sell them, from what I’ve seen at least, are Japan-based stores that sell other anime, light novel, etc., character goods and that ship to the US of course. Like I said in the post, the only English releases of the cards have been the trial decks for Madoka, Fate/Zero, and Disgaea. The site that makes those unofficial translations you can slip into your card sleeves is called Heart of the Cards, a site dedicated to Weiss Schwarz. I really hope more of the cards get official English releases, but I doubt Bushiroad would make enough money from such releases for it to be worth their while.
Ah yes! The Heart of the Cards website is actually the website for the American distributor. (And thanks for the link … I’d lost it at some point, and couldn’t remember it!) As such, those card sleeve inserts are actually official translations, approved by Bushiroad. If you go to the “Where to Buy” link, the first store (Hammergirl Anime in New York) is the BvS guy’s store. Last I’d checked that site, Hammergirl was the only store in the U.S. selling the cards … I’m glad to see that a couple more stores have started carrying them.
I agree that it’s probably not likely we’ll get more cards with English text on them. Then again, you never know; they’re already reprinting cards and translating them into English for the card inserts, so it might not be that much more work to just print the cards in English.
Cool, thanks for that additional info ;) I did look at the Hammergirl site when I found Heart of the Cards. Unfortunately the only cards I’m currently looking for is the Haruhi booster box and the only site that has it listed is this site called Playmoya. I added my email for their option of “email me when it’s back in stock” and they actually did a while ago but I didn’t have the money for it at the time. And when I finally did have the money, it was sold out again XP I hope they get it back in stock again but I’m not holding my breath.
Ahh my bread butter. I’ve played them all. Weiss Schwarz is one of my newest interests. I think the marketing idea is great, especially with signed actors for the cards. The realize of the English versions are slowly coming out, but they look to be successful as I know many people picking up the game. I wonder how the Japanese cards with be used in America with the new English cards (will they be legal to use?). Anyway with $150 price tags, my favorite Anime not being realized in English yet, and the possibility that they Japanese cards will no longer be tournament legal I have been staying out of investing in this game. Once Log Horizon comes out though I’m sure that’ll change (FYI I noticed that you have not yet seen Log Horizon and suggest you give it a shot if you can afford the time), but for now I’ll stick with Bushiroad’s money maker Vanguard. Consequently those games help each other out because both are played at the same events and made by the same company. Vanguard’s resent increase in popularity has surely helped Weiss’ as well. Releasing a boat load of SAO products don’t hurt either ;).