Weiß Survive

Takeshi was just an ordinary guy until a perfectly innocent study session with Michi - the most beautiful girl in the school - ended up with him being mysteriously transported into the strange dimension known as the Weiss Schwarz Battle Space. Once there, a crazy but enthusiastic old man informs him that he is the chosen warrior and must win a succession of card battles to get back home.

The only problem: he doesn't know how to play! However, with the expert Michi ready to teach him the ins and outs of this bizarre and improbably slapstick card game, Takeshi will learn the ropes and get ready for the card battle of a lifetime. Assuming he survives the training...

(Source: ANN)

Michi Main

Kitta, Izumi Japanese

Takeshi Main

Nakamoto, Nobuhisa Japanese

VS-jii-san Supporting

Operetta Supporting

Joe Supporting

Horie, Kazuma Japanese

Coo Supporting

Suzuki, Yuto Japanese

Cal Supporting

Nanjou, Yoshino Japanese

Shisu Supporting

Miruno, Jun Japanese

Inoue, Tomoyo Producer, Script, Series Composition

Suzuki, Iku Director

Tanaka, Kazuya Sound Director

Yoshioka, Takao Screenplay, Series Composition

Reviews

Jan 27, 2010

Nek0

Recommended

Weiß Survive begins with a boy named Takeshi who sneaks into an old library behind his school to get tutoring from his beautiful childhood friend Michi. To his surprise, Takeshi discovers that not only is Michi smart and beautiful, she is also an expert Weiss Schwarz card player. When Michi makes a wish to find an opponent strong enough to defeat her, Takeshi and she get transported to another dimension called the Weiss Schwarz Battle Space, and the only way they can escape is for Takeshi to become the best Weiss Schwarz player. He battles against a trio of girls and a duo of guys ... (who reminded me of the main characters in Kuroshitsuji).

I had no idea what to expect going into this anime, I didn’t even read the synopsis, but my initial reaction was, “Yes! Finally, an anime that parodies card games like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokémon!” Unfortunately, they didn’t make an allusion to either anime. The only reason I watched Weiß Survive was because people were comparing it to Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu (which I haven’t seen yet) and its 40-minute running time. Each episode is so short (2 1/2 minutes) that there isn’t even an OP or ED theme, which I was disappointed by, because I could only imagine how comical it would’ve been.

Despite the short episode length, I found the characters in this series surprisingly funny, especially the old man. I liked how, in the initial episodes, they broke the fourth wall. Apparently, there are some Persona references, too, but I didn’t recognize any of them, having not played the game.

The animation style pretty is much what you would expect from a concise comedy anime, with the characters going into a cute chibi form during battle; the production values aren’t very high, but it still works for an anime like this.

One interesting fact about the Weiss Schwarz game is that it is indeed a real-life card game that features decks with characters from existing anime, such as Fate/Stay Night, Nanoha, and Lucky Star –– although, we don’t see any of these decks in Weiß Survive’s first season.

If you decide to pass on this series, I can’t say that you’ll be missing anything significant. But if you’re a fan of short series, like I am, and don’t mind Takeshi’s perverted humor, this is a fun comedy to watch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jul 19, 2023

ALEXxAMI

Mixed Feelings

Have you ever encountered a show that was difficult to rate because you didn't know what it was trying to be?

This is what I experienced with Weiss Survive.

As a commercial for the game Weiss Schwarz (which I love), it does a solid job of making you want to play the game. It isn't a Yu-Gi-Oh! quality story, but given that the entire "series" lasts 30 minutes that isn't surprising.

As an instructional video for the game, it fails miserably. They try to stick to the real rules somewhat, but they do such a horrible job of explaining what's happening that I'd be even ... more lost than I was when I started playing. Using Yu-Gi-Oh! as a reference, the best card game shows tweak the rules to make a children's game epic; this show just leaves rules out.

As an anime, it's...fine? I laughed quite a bit from the references to other shows and other gags, but most of the jokes are repeated in all 16 episodes and by the end just aren't funny anymore. I found it to have the right amount of ecchi (if such a thing exists).

Overall, I give this a 6/10. There are far worse ways to kill half an hour.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Nov 19, 2013

Asfaria

Not Recommended

Weiss Survive is a short anime about a card game by the same name. The male protagonist, Takeshi, is introduced to this game by his popular female study buddy, Michi. Michi loves playing Weiss Survive, but she is tired of being so strong at the card game that she easily defeats all of her opponents. Shortly after stating this fact to Takeshi, the two of them are sucked into another dimension. Takeshi ends up all alone in a mysterious area surrounded by several doors. He goes through one trying to find Michi, but instead ends up finding a bizarre old man. This old man tells ... him that he is the Chosen One and that he must learn to play Weiss Survive and win against several other players in order to return home. Michi soon shows up to teach Takeshi how to play the game and the two of them work together from there in order to turn Takeshi into a true master at the card game.

Takeshi is your typical protagonist who only succeeds and is only even in this situation in the first place due to sheer dumb luck. He's very perverted and tends to caught up in staring at Michi with the old man on many occasions which all lead to him being kicked by her. Michi is your typical tsundere lead who beats up Takeshi many times and is used for plenty of fanservice along with the other minor female characters.

As for the card game itself, it makes absolutely no sense. They never say what the rules are (well they do, but they literally fastforward through it). Basically, there are no rules. None. It makes the original Yugioh anime seem chock-full of rules by comparison. They just send out as many cards each turn as they need to and combine them in whatever ways they want to destroy the other person's cards and get to Level 4 to win. The cards all look exactly like the person playing them except they have different costumes which vary from a shrine maiden to a blatant Persona reference.

The animation is extremely cheap. I can't even count on both hands how many times shots were used multiple times (just the sequence of Michi kicking Takeshi is used more than a handful of times in the first episode or two alone). The character designs aren't bad but they are just used to fit into a clear archetype. Still, it was interesting to see a character included who looked like he fit more into a shoujo anime than this shounen one. The soundtrack is completely unnoticeable, and the show has no OPs or EDs because of it's short length.

This is just a goofy anime. The plot is centered around a ruleless card game combined with some fanservice, a few occasions where the 4th wall was broken, a couple references to other anime, and a typical lucky pervert/tsundere combo at the lead. It's just a short 40 or so minute long anime that you can use to kill some time and nothing more.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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	Poll: Weiß Survive Episode 16 Discussion dbaranyi - Sep 27, 2009	17 replies	by bushman66 »» Oct 7, 5:35 PM
	Poll: Weiß Survive Episode 3 Discussion dbaranyi - Jun 21, 2009	19 replies	by bushman66 »» Oct 7, 11:12 AM
	Poll: Weiß Survive Episode 2 Discussion dbaranyi - Jun 14, 2009	15 replies	by bushman66 »» Oct 7, 11:11 AM
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	Poll: Weiß Survive Episode 4 Discussion throwaway513846 - Jul 4, 2009	18 replies	by removed-user »» Feb 8, 2021 9:54 AM

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