2 screenshot limit

Using Anna’s tip about using buying CMX manga cheaply, I went ahead and bought all of the released volumes of King of Cards. I have really been enjoying this series much more than I had ever thought I would.

What makes this series for me is how Tateno is able to keep up the emotional level high despite the predictability of the actual card games. Whereas a shounen game manga would focus on the main character reaching the pinnacle of the game, the heroine Manami is trying to navigate the emotional obstacle course that playing the game has brought to her life.

If you’re only aware of Tateno’s art through her BL manga, her style doesn’t stray too far away from that in King of Cards as well. I mean, I’m not complaining since all of the male characters are pretty. You have the good boy-next-door in Tamotsu, the stoic one in Tojo, the cute younger boy in Hikami, and the quintessential bad boy in Araki. (And mild spoiler — most of them find themselves being attracted to Manami…)

Having never played an actual RPG card game, I am ignorant on how closely Tateno’s representation of the game and its players are to ‘real’ players. I am awestruck with the amount of research that the author has integrated into the game itself. I think that’s one of the main reasons why I am amused even with the card battles in this series — they’re often ensconced in a mini-story of their own, with appropriate explanations of the cards themselves and their respective mythologies. Sometimes the mash-up of the various stories are weird, but I respect Tateno for making it work.

I’m late getting on the Tateno fan bandwagon, but this title is making sure that I’ll be on the lookout for more of her works, especially the shoujo titles.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 6th, 2009 at 4:24 pm and is filed under cmx, manga & manhwa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.