High Card

Episode 10

This anime is only supposed to be one season long, right? If that's the case, I have no real idea where we are going or how High Card plans to wrap everything up. Introducing new plot points, character backstories, and incredibly different motivations in the eleventh hour is generally a bad idea. This is especially a bad sign when your main overarching plot still needs to be resolved. We still know very little about the Klondike family and what exactly their goal is outside of just causing mayhem. We barely understand what an X hand is. We don't know anything about the people who killed Finn's family. I distinctly remember a handful of characters introduced at the show's beginning with some gravitas. But let's not focus on all of that right now and instead completely re-introduced Chris's character using an entirely new character who was never seen before.

This isn't to say that I didn't like Arya and her inclusion in the story. I love her design, her card power is pretty fun, and she presents herself as someone with a lot of life experience. However, these revelations feel like High Card is suddenly interested in telling a completely different story. Chris was barely the show's focus outside of one or two episodes, and now he's turning his back on Finn because he didn't want Finn to know that his dad sacrificed himself to save him? We know Finn isn't dead because I bet Chris gave Finn his card when he pushed him off the train. It's also an interesting coincidence that the card Chris picked up at the end is one his dad used to revive him in the flashback. My guess is Chris plans to collect the right cards to cure his sister's illness by sacrificing himself.

It works as a twist because I legitimately didn't see it coming, but it feels like a different story. Are we going to get an announcement for another season or a longer show with the resolution to this conflict potentially being a step towards the central conflict of confronting the Klondike family? I hope that's the case because otherwise, it feels like High Card realized at the last minute that it only has so many episodes left, and the writer is trying to jam in every single idea he thought of before he runs out of real estate. I hope I'm wrong.

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High Card is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.