[Magnugiga]

Man, it's just like the battle manga with extra pages detailing how the villain and boss characters have power, speed, and endurance stat that triples the protagonists, but it means jack because you can't put number on resolve/determination/hope/friendship/love!

Seriously tho, that kind of stuff is mere fluff for playground debate of hypothetical character battle, or base data in case you want to develop an actual Ryuki tabletop/trading card game with the card merch... come to think of it, did they actually publish some kind of ruleset? Add in a bunch of generic monster cards and something like a field mechanic, and it's something I would've played the hell of.

Anyway, I've watched Ryuki 11-13, which covers Ren's partial amnesia and Tezuka/Raia's entrance. In retrospect, I was kinda surprised that they didn't milk some more comedic stuff from Ren's amnesia (which tend to happen when naturally stoic characters were afflicted with it), but I guess they prefer to focus on shedding light on his backstory and motivation. It's told very well, while they also effectively underlined how Shinji, as clumsy as he is, is the kind of upstanding and sincere guy that you'd want by your side in hard times.

Shiro's plan (or more precisely, the actual logistics of it) may be the weakest part of the show, but I forgot just how effective the build-up to the mystery was. The horror movie vibe came strong again with the foreboding exposition on the 'mysterious incident', and the doomed professor character with such a brutal dying message to Yui (poor girl; it only just struck me how tragic her character really was). Also, those shots of empty car trains! Say what you will about how the visual effects age poorly (Darkwing's appearance in the lab, for instance), but you can't fault Ryuki for lack of atmospheric tension and framing.

Raia's cool. Not one of the most eye-catching design in the roster (very tough competition tho!), but I like the mostly pink color scheme, the card visor position, the distinguishing 'ponytail', and the whip as primary weapon. Final Vent is a bit meh, but Copy Vent is such a fun card. I've actually forgotten a lot about Tezuka's arc (I even misrembered his first name as 'Mizuki' instead of 'Miyuki'), so I'm looking foward to be reacquainted with his character.