User blog:Sensiren/Tropes of CFV

[Taken from: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Anime/CardfightVanguard]
 * The Ace: Kai, Ren.
 * Anime First
 * Apocalypse How: By the Asia-Hen finale, Cray is verging on a Class 6. If it had its way, Void would be on its way to doing the same to Earth.
 * Arc Words: "Image/picture it."
 * Artistic Age: The shop cat is at least 10, Kourin is 15, Gouki is 16, Suiko is 17.
 * Actually, this seems to apply all over the board. Aichi is apparently 15, Kai 17, Kamui 13. All of them look and act around two to three years younger.
 * According to Word Of God, Tetsu is 17/18, but looks like a middle age man, lampshaded by Emi in Episode 78 when she calls him "Ojisan" and towards the end of Asia-Hen with Ali doing the same.
 * Authority Equals Ass Kicking: King of Knights, Alfred can be quite fearsome when he is together with his fellow Paladins.In response to the opponent's remark that Alfred was all alone on the battlefield:Aichi: I have my companions! *Calls forth an army*
 * Awesome, but Impractical: The Megablast abilities in general are this. The effects can be pretty awesome (such as standing all of the player's units or destroying all enemy rearguards), but they require Soulblast 8 (which can be difficult to achieve) and Counterblast 5 (so in most cases the player must not use other counterblast abilities, or has to rely on luck to get a heal trigger). In addition, many of the Megablasts work only if the unit's attack hits, so if the enemy manages to guard the Megablast is useless.
 * Badass Arm Fold: Aichi gets one in Episode 97. Take a look here◊.
 * Badass Boast: Aichi makes a rather dark one to Kyou at the end of Episode 41.Now, picture this. You defeated before an overwhelming force.Misaki: Three attacks? Oh no...I only need one!
 * In Episode 62,
 * Battle Aura: Used both for artistic effect when characters make critical moves, and also as a sign of Psyqualia.
 * Badass Longcoat: Kai in the manga. Ren has one also.
 * Bare Your Midriff: Misaki in the manga and as of episode 26, the anime as well.
 * Beach Episode: Episode 35, 84 and 85.
 * Because Destiny Says So: Morikawa often uses this to justify his losses as a series of ever-more ridiculous twists of fate, such as the planets not being aligned right. In Episode 15, he even goes to the point of calling his horoscope his 'bible'.
 * In Episode 73, a team that consists of fortune tellers appears as Q4's opponents in the Asia Circuit, tells Q4 that they will lose, because destiny says so. They all lose.
 * Berserk Button: Kai practically flips out when he catches Aichi, Kamui and Miwa trying to follow him home. By his standards, anyway. Note that this is pretty much the first time he ever seems genuinely angry and not either faking a mean persona or being bored.
 * That's not much compared to the second episode when he pretty much bites Aichi's head off for having an image of him based on what he was like as a kid.
 * Aichi has one when Ren starts insulting Kai and calling him weak after beating him in a fight the night before. He's doing it to get Aichi's Psyqualia active again. And it works.
 * The above gets used again, but in reverse; Kai snaps at Leon and claims he's insulting Aichi because they were both in some form of fighting alone, but Leon took the offer from Void to work against everyone else. What Kai does is inadvertantly hit Leon's own Berserk Button, who's insulted that he's comparing Leon and Aichi's situations.
 * Be Yourself: The message of Season 1. Psyqualia is shown to completely corrupt those who use it,  both of these users having embraced it to impress Kai, and Kai sees it as a false strength compared to  Aichi's resolve and courage, his true strength which he always had. Aichi's greatest conflict in the latter half of the season is  his struggle between the part of him which wants to embrace Psyqualia, and the part of him which rejects that power. Ultimately he comes to accept both sides as a part of him, symbolically claiming both Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark as his avatars.
 * Big Bad: Ren Suzugamori, for Season 1.
 * Big Fancy HQ: Team Foo Fighter's HQ is huge: several stories high, lots of space, multiple scientists working there, even more players training there, some expensive-looking training equipment... In fact, on the outside it can be mistaken for the HQ of a big corporation.
 * Big Brother Mentor: Kamui first starts referring to Aichi as "onii-san" because he has a crush on Aichi's younger sister Emi, but later he seems to start looking up to Aichi as this, even though he's actually a stronger fighter than him for the majority of the first season.
 * And interestingly, Aichi seems to show a bit of Big Brother Instinct in return when Kamui walks out on the team right before the nationals after a bad disagreement with Kai. After the arc concludes and  Kamui returns to the team, Aichi no longer constantly objects to Kamui calling him "onii-san", which had been something of a Running Gag before. (He could've just been giving in to the inevitable, though.)
 * Bishōnen: Kai, Kenji from Team Caesar, and Ren. Ren especially. Aichi is more of a cute little boy. An entire team of these also makes an appearance, complete with Bishie Sparkle and the name Team Good-looking Men.
 * And then there's the Foo Fighters sub-team, Brilliant Stars, which is full of Bishōnen with obligatory Bishie Sparkle, and even has an accompanying team of fangirls.
 * Black Knight: The Shadow Paladins. Particularly Blaster Dark, given the second opening plays up the contrast between it and Blaster Blade.
 * Blessed with Suck: Misaki has a perfect memory, which as Kamui points out, could help the team analyze their opponents' Decks and prepare counters. Unfortunately, this 'perfect memory' seems so perfect she literally cannot forget anything and the memories even force themselves on her at times, including the traumatic ones involving her parents' deaths. Episode 24 details quite nastily the effect this has on her, culminating in an utter emotional breakdown.Misaki: There are some things I don't want to remember.
 * Book Ends: The first two Triggers Aichi checks in the series are Yggdrasil Maiden Elaine and Bringer of Good Luck, Epona. The last two Triggers he checks in Season 1 are also Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine and Bringer of Good Luck, Epona. Bonus points for checking them under identical circumstances (as his sixth Damage for Elaine, and to break his opponent's guard and win for Epona).
 * Also, the first fight which starts onscreen in the series is Aichi vs. Kai. The last fight of Season 1 is also Aichi vs. Kai.
 * Butt Monkey: Morikawa. He currently has a on-screen win record of near-zero because of his god-awful deck balance. His purpose is currently comic relief mixed with being the opponent of choice for a main to prove themselves. We're provided with a very entertaining sum-up of Morikawa by Misaki in Episode 3 in one subber's translation: 'Noob'.
 * Call Back: Episode 65 has several. Aichi catches a falling Ren, exactly as Kai did in Episode 49's flashback. Majesty Lord Blaster impaling Phantom Blaster Overlord with his sword brings to mind Blaster Blade doing the same to Dragonic Overlord in Episode 2.
 * Calling Your Attacks: Done every so often for significant cards, but an absolutely epic one is done in episode 82, where Koutei superior-crossrides his most powerful unit, Ultimate Dimensional Robo, Great Daiyusha."BURNING JUSTICE SWORD!"
 * The Cameo: The anime has poster cameos of the Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Games in the background in episode 3.
 * Also in Episode 3, the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game poster actually featured official artwork for AIR for some reason, even though AIR isn't geared toward the same audience and doesn't have its own card game.
 * The girls of Tantei Opera Milky Holmes appeared in Episodes 13, 14, 15, 16 and 36, among others.
 * The Etranger clan appears to consist entirely of characters from other sources cosplaying as Vanguard characters, starting with Blaster Keroro: Keroro cosplaying as Blaster Blade◊. "Etranger" literally translates as "foreigner".
 * Canon Immigrant: Daigo, a character from the Vanguard live-action movie who appears in Episode 83.
 * Can't Catch Up: A lot of emphasis is placed on Aichi and Ren's attempts to try and get good enough at Vanguard for Kai to acknowledge them, and how they are ultimately led to embrace their PSY Qualia to try and get stronger.
 * Caramelldansen Vid: The Cardfight!! Vanguard version can be found Here. There are spoilers in it, but (with the exception of the three knights used in the final fight of the first season) they are about general character development and not plot events.
 * Card Games: Duh.
 * Catch Phrase: "Stand up, my avatar: Blaster Blade!" for Aichi.
 * "Final Turn" for Kai and Ren, and becoming increasingly popular among other characters.
 * "Picture it..." is a recurring catchphrase for the series.
 * Cerebus Syndrome: Let's face it, Ren's arrival more-or-less shook up the formula.  Particularly since the next episode had Misaki's tear-jerking backstory laid bare, and ended with her suffering what can only be described as a breakdown and abandoning Vanguard, seemingly for good.
 * Cerebus Rollercoaster: After the aforementioned, the show goes back to being its normal, quirky self until Q4 lose at the Nationals when things start to get darker again, followed by a Beach Episode, then back to what could be its grimmest episodes with  the Psyqualia incident, culminating in Aichi and Kai's rematch. Immediately afterwards, it shoots back to another lighthearted shop tournament, building up the main team again before flying off the dark end again  with Ren and Kai's match leading into the Q4/AL4 rematch and Ren/Aichi's fight, complete with Mind Rape and ominous background music all over the place.
 * Character Tic: Dr. O has a habit of forming an O symbol with his thumbs and index fingers whenever an "oh" sound appears in his dialogue (which he also emphasises).
 * Chekhov's Gunman: Blaster Blade in his PR card◊. Now check out Blaster Dark◊ who was introduced much later.
 * It should be noted that Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark are two separate individuals, meaning the trope is partially subverted.
 * Although the TCG lore states that Blaster Dark was Blaster Blade's predecessor who failed to activate the weapon named Blaster Blade(the source of Blade's retire skill), and went rogue out of jealousy, getting his power from Blaster Dragon. Now consider that the PR Blaster Blade isn't just unskilled, he's also walking away from his weapon...
 * Child Prodigy: Kamui, kinda.
 * S.I.T Genius.
 * Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Mark-sensei hasn't been seen outside of character montages since the first shop tournament arc. This may have something to do with the appearance of a new character with a very similar voice.
 * Color-Coded Characters: Each member of Team Q4 has a color associated with them, which is reflected in the cover of their Fight Gloves: Aichi is blue, Kai red, Misaki green, Kamui orange.
 * Combining Mecha: The Dimensional Robos. A Shout Out to the Brave Series, there is a combining sequence in episode 82 of Goyusha, Daibattle, Dailander, Daimariner, and Daidragon into Ultimate Dimensional Robo, Great Daiyusha, complete with a reprise of the first episode's opening theme. It is EPIC!
 * Comeback Mechanic: The Counterblast mechanic is designed so that a player who is losing has more currency to spend on special skills that can help them out.
 * Limit Break, introduced in Breaker of Limits, is a more obvious form of this. It grants special abilities so long as the player has at least four (out of six) points of damage.
 * The Corruption: Psyqualia to Aichi and Ren.
 * And Chris. Void to Leon, and tries to be to Aichi.
 * Crippling Overspecialization: Katsumi Morikawa has too many Grade 3s in his deck, to the point where he doesn't have enough Grade 1 or 2 cards to be able to actually play them. He's so obsessed with Grade 3s that he dismisses any lower grade as worthless (despite the fact they may have incredibly useful effects) or will even mulligan a perfectly good hand just to get more Grade 3s. On the one occasion when he was forced to use a normal deck, he beats the pants off everyone present.
 * Crossdressing Voices: Kamui. Takuto.
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: At first, Misaki looks like the type who'll get curbstomped by Aichi since she's never played before. Then she proceeds to crush him, revealing that even though she's never played, she picked up the game rules just by watching from the counter of the card shop.
 * Miwa is more of a straight example.
 * Curb-Stomp Battle: Every single Kai Cardfight after the first. Any game against Morikawa becomes one in short course. This rapidly becomes much less funny in Episode 24 when Misaki beats Aichi this way. It should be awesome. Seriously, it isn't, mainly because of the fact that the viewer can see just how screwed-up Misaki is to the point that she's hearing her dead parents' voices in memory announcing her plays.
 * Ren versus Kenji Mitsusada, at the final fight of the National Championship. Completely one-sided. In fact, we never saw Ren Ride a Grade 3 unit, just the Grade 2 Blaster Dark. Despite that he won with no trouble at all.
 * In episode 49, we learn that after Ren first gained his Psyqualia, he dealt this out to Tetsu, and Kai of all people.
 * Curtains Match the Window: Aichi and Ren.
 * Cute Kitten: The shop kitten (whom the shop owner refers to as the "sub-manager").
 * Ahem, I believe it's "manager".
 * Though the fact it was around when Misaki was around seven or eight may move it out of the 'kitten' age.
 * Dark Is Evil: Team AL4 all run dark-themed Clans, Spike Brothers, Pale Moon, Dark Irregulars and Shadow Paladins. Surprise surprise, they're the villains.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Episode 64 shows that darkness isn't always necessarily evil with a single moment.Aichi: Light isn't the only thing standing beside him. Darkness also stands with the King of Knights. Stand, my avatar! I call... Blaster Dark!
 * Deal with the Devil: While predicting or talking to cards makes you stronger and nearly unbeatable, they also turn the person evil, as seen in Episode 41 where Aichi's personality is seen starting to go down the path of evil.
 * Leon also made one with VOID in order to resurrect Aqua Force.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Misaki.
 * Deconstruction: For once, one that isn't Darker and Edgier.
 * Specifically, as this blog notes, Psyqualia is a very harsh Deconstruction of the concept of 'transformation' in anime and other media. It's very much a Deconstruction of the idea of another self fighting your battles for you, fitting considering what Itou worked on before Vanguard.
 * Department of Redundancy Department: Aichi's Gold Paladin attack and the invocation the comes with it:
 * Break the limit... Limit Break!
 * Digging Yourself Deeper: An example shows in Episode 24. Misaki is having the memories of her parents' deaths come back strongly, and is literally torn between the game and the memories. All the others, bar Shin (who can tell something's wrong), are doing is talking about how her 'perfect memory' will help them win Nationals.
 * Disappeared Dad/Missing Mom when it comes to the parents that are seen, mostly Aichi's Mom, the missing parents aren't so much as referenced in any of the family talk that crops up every once and a while
 * Dissonant Serenity: As Aichi falls further under the influence of Psyqualia, his attitude during battle begins to take this stance. What might be worse is that he gives off both a more confident presence than before, but also a sort of "broken" feeling even though he's now more powerful.
 * Double Standard Abuse: Female on Male: Nagisa's Unrequited Love for Kamui tends to lead to her chasing and tackling him despite his highly vocal protests. This is Played for Laughs.
 * To be fair, theres not really any abuse involved, just annoyance.
 * The Dragon: Tetsu to Ren.
 * Dub Name Change: Team Foo Fighter becomes Team Asteroid in the English language dub, perhaps to avoid affiliation with the american band of the same name.
 * Dude Looks Like a Lady: Aichi is jokingly mistaken as the heroine, not the hero, of the story.
 * And then there's Ren...
 * Drunk on the Dark Side: Aichi became like this starting in episode 41 due to his Psyqualia, until Kai defeated him and snapped him out of it in episode 50. Ren is revealed to have been drunk on Psyqualia for years until his defeat at Aichi's hands in the first season finale.
 * Happens to Christopher Lo and Ren in Asia Circuit Hen after Takuto grants (in Ren's case, re-grants) them Psyqualia. Ren seems perfectly normal after the fight though.
 * Dude, Where's My Respect?: In Season 3. Despite the season opening with a monologue that describes how "card games have become a part of everyday life", no-one in Miyaji High School (with the exception of Shingo) has heard of Vanguard or gives Aichi the respect he probably deserves for being the champion of Asia.
 * Elite Mooks: In the lore for the card game, Kai's Kagero are described as an elite assault unit for the Dragon Empire nation. Note that this perfectly fits how the guy himself is depicted in-show.
 * Epic Fail: Everything Ninja Master M does outside of Vanguard. Note his pathetic smoke bomb and absolute failure at disguising himself as a shop wall.
 * Evil Costume Switch: When Ren becomes corrupted by Psyqualia, he starts wearing a Badass Longcoat and a collar.
 * Evil Counterpart: Blaster Dark to Blaster Blade, Shadow Paladins to the Royal Paladins in general.
 * Evil Sounds Deep: Ren, of course. In the Japanese, his voice is actually high pitched and soft, for extra creepiness.
 * When Aichi is under the influence of Psyqualia, his voice while battling drops an octave and gains a more threatening edge to it.
 * Here is a perfect example
 * Evolving Credits: Starting with episode 92 the OP of the second season changed to show Leon's team in place of the various teams Team Q4 fought previously
 * Fake Memories: Everyone except Aichi in Asia Circuit-Hen.
 * It hasn't been made clear if this is the case, but it's confirmed in Kai and Ren's case. And Takuto appears to have messed with Aichi's memories of Psyqualia as he doesn't seem to recall it or the dangers that come with it.
 * Final Boss Preview: Episode 23, which has Aichi, Misaki and Kamui witnessing Ren defeat one of the PSY trio in a mirror match. It wasn't even close.
 * Five-Man Band: Team Q4.
 * The Hero: Aichi.
 * The Lancer: Kai.
 * The Big Guy: Kamui.
 * The Smart Guy: Misaki.
 * The Chick: Shin, though Aichi has some shades of it too.
 * Foot Focus: The first shot of the first ending.
 * Used to reveal Aichi took up Ultra Rare's invitation to Kai and Ren's fight.
 * Foreshadowing: Quite a few things in essence foreshadow Episode 24's Reveal about Misaki's parents being dead and thus her aversion to Vanguard. First off, in Episode 4, Misaki drops her Deck, which is excused as her 'not being familiar with handling the cards'. Episode 24 supports this point, and elaborates something, the fact that she's also reluctant to get into a Cardfight. There's also the fact that she knows the Oracle Think Tank so well from the start, which at first seems like a trait of her picking up the rules of Vanguard by listening to games, but actually comes from the fact the cards were used by her parents and she spent quite a bit of time as a child going over those cards.
 * Also, if you pay close attention to some of Shin's dialogue earlier, there's a line about him buying outfits for Misaki. At the time, it may seem fairly comedic, but then you realize why he does so, he's Misaki's legal guardian because her parents are dead. The fact that Misaki's parents are never mentioned prior to Episode 24 also counts. Really it's quite clever how the writers seeded these hints in, but kept them seemingly insignificant or Handwaved them in-episode that they only became meaningful once Episode 24 rolled around.
 * In the second opening, at the very end there's a revolving card which changes between Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark, before fading out into Aichi. Not only does this foreshadow his deck change to Shadow Paladins and his subsequent change back to Royal Paladins, but it also foreshadows his use of Blaster Dark in his Royal Paladin deck in the last fight of Season 1.
 * There's plenty of foreshadowing towards Aichi possessing Psyqualia, some even before Ren shows up. In his match with Gouki, he sees his deck glowing and claims to hear a voice,  (as well as one of the glowing bubbles associated with it flashing across the screen). Some interpret his seeing Kai's deck glow in the second episode another signal.
 * Forgotten Phlebotinum: As of the second season, Psyqualia is back, but the three characters most involved with it during the first season - Aichi, Ren, and Kai - seem to have forgotten it existed, with Aichi just letting people use it willy-nilly and Ren bouncing up to Kai and start chirping about how great Psyqualia is. Kai doesn't even appear to care, although it cost him his best friend for a good few years, and nearly lost his another.
 * Oddly enough, when Jun comes back into the picture during the Japan stage of the Circuit, he does remember it (or what little he would have) and the Kai/Aichi fight.
 * Gameplay and Story Segregation: Barkgal is banned as a starting Vanguard in real life following the first Japanese nationals, but that has stopped exactly no one in the anime.
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom: Ren has shown these. And so has Aichi, as it's a sign of Psyqualia.
 * And therefore anyone else with Psyqualia.
 * Goldfish Poop Gang: Kyou and his team seem to be becoming this.
 * Good Is Not Nice: Aichi in Episode 41, who declares the card he'll beat Kyou with and starts putting the guy down without a thought. And his final line just screams this. Though, it's because of his Psyqualia corrupting him.Aichi: *Slasher Smile* Now, picture this. You, defeated before an overwhelming power.
 * Gratuitous English: All over the place. Most of the card names are in English, and the characters also say "Stand up, Vanguard!" and "Stand and draw" and so on during games. Then there's also Kai's (and Ren's, and Misaki's, apparently) Catch Phrase "Final Turn," and Kai and Ren's "stand up THE Vanguard" (probably because it sounds cooler, or whatever).
 * This.
 * DAIGO. Full stop-WISH!
 * Hammerspace: In episode 19 after Nagisa beats Kamui during the regionals, she is somehow wearing a wedding dress. Keep in mind that Nagisa made Kamui "promise" that he would marry her if she beat him....
 * Hellish Pupils: Ren has slits for pupils, while the PSY trio don't have any at all.
 * Heroic BSOD: Episode 24. By the end, Misaki is pretty much staggering away after her cardfight with Aichi, despite the fact she won. It's both shocking and tearjerking to watch.
 * Aichi suffers a particularly brutal one at the hands of Ren after he loses to Tetsu.
 * Hidden Agenda Villain: The PSY trio. We don't know who they are or what they're doing, but they're set-up as the villains. Although, given his mannerisms and all, Ren is looking much more like a villain and it may be that the PSY Trio will fall victim to a case of Gone Horribly Right.
 * Ren himself isn't very forthcoming about what he's actually up to either. Right now we don't know if the apparent villains are up to anything remotely more threatening than becoming the best players of a popular trading card game.
 * Taken Up to Eleven after Episode 50. One of Suiko's comments to Ren implies there's a Bigger Bad Man Behind the Man out there somewhere.
 * Hidden Depths: Kai can cook very well.
 * Hope Spot: What's that? You've dealt 6 damage to the opponent? Pity that last damage trigger check produced a heal trigger...
 * Subverted much later, when Aichi dealt 2 damage in addition to the 5 damage Team Jurassic has. First check: Heal trigger! Second check: No trigger. I lost.
 * Done quite nastily in Episode 62. After Asaka loses to Misaki, Ren compliments her, making her think that maybe he won't kick her off of AL4. He then proceeds to comment that a loss is a loss, and as such, she's off the team, which completely crushes her.
 * Two very nasty ones in Kai's direction in Episode 58. At the fight' climax, Kai's got all he needs and launches an attack with The End, calling out to Ren in a way not like himself. A drawn-out build-up follows with Ren smiling and the attack playing out. Then Ren's smile quickly changes to s Psychotic Smirk. And Kai knows he's not done. In the next turn, Ren has his counterattack  and hits Kai with Phantom Blaster Overlord at Critical 3; Kai can make it if he pulls 2 Heal Triggers. His second is a Heal. The third? No.
 * Hot Blooded: Kamui, Koutei, Morikawa, and Naoki from the 3rd Season.
 * Icy Blue Eyes: Asaka has these.
 * Aichi also has these while under Psyqualia
 * "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Kai's fights against Aichi in Episodes 49/50 and Ren in Episodes 57/58.
 * Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each episode is called a "ride".
 * Imagine Spot: Emi uses hers to picture Morikawa and his friend as delinquents ready to beat up Aichi.
 * This is also how the series makes up for the lack of holographic devices/supernatural stuff to provide a visual medium. Essentially Aichi imagines his Units facing his opponent's on Planet Cray, and Kai does so as well (he was the one, more or less, who got Aichi into this habit).
 * Kamui gets multiple ones about Emi, such as him teaching her how to play Vanguard and her feeding him. Of course, they never go as planned.
 * Informed Attribute: In Kai's official profile, it's stated he's a skilled player with nationals level ability who could take the pro scene by storm if he wanted to. But from his actual games in Vanguard, those that we've seen fully anyway, he seems to win more by gratuitous Trigger pulling then any real skill. The exemplification of this point is his final turn in Episode 20, where he had a perfectly good play combo which was reasonably complex set up to empower his Vanguard to 16,000 Power... and won by pulling two Triggers in a row. Which he didn't even need. It was even called 'overkill' in-universe.
 * Innocent Blue Eyes: Both Aichi and Emi have them. As do Misaki and the shop cat.
 * Innocent Cohabitation: Episode 3 makes it look like it's this with Emi, and doesn't clarify their relationship up until the very end, when Aichi says that she's his sister.
 * Invincible Hero: Completely subverted. The best way to maintain a high win ratio in Vanguard is to not fight. Averted hard for Aichi, who has only won slightly over half his fights (even less if you count the training camp's half-offscreen half-on matches). Justified in that he's still a newbie at the game. Played irritatingly straight with Kai due to his unbelievable luck at pulling Triggers, his only onscreen losses being to Aichi in Episode 2 (and it's implied he deliberately wasn't playing at full strength) and Ren in episode 58.
 * Ironic Echo: MOVE IT! IF YOU ARE NOT GRADE 3, I HAVE NO USE FOR YOU! NO USE FOR YOU! NO USE FOR YOU! FOR YOU! FOR YOU! YOU! Morikawa: Crap!◊
 * JAM Project: Sings all of the Openings in Season 1 and 2. Even the English one.
 * Jerkass: Ren during Season 1. Also Kyou and anyone under the influence of PS Yqualia.
 * Jerk With A Heart of Gold: On a level, Kai. Kamui to some extent as well, who can get pretty rude towards people he doesn't respect.
 * Kick the Dog: Ren, fullstop. After Aichi's loss to Tetsu, he shows up, initially to talk to Kai, but it quickly turns into the guy pretty much verbally kicking Aichi up and down the street over the loss. And the worst part is, it looks like it's sinking in...MC: Could you say a few words to Cardfighters across the nation?Ren: Everyone was quite strong. *changes to a Slasher Smile* Please continue doing your best at wasting time and effort.MC: And how about a few words to the people you fought against?Ren: There's nothing to say.MC: Then what did you think about the tournament this year?Ren: It was boring.
 * Another case of Kick the Dogs or World:
 * Aichi at the end of Episode 47, Kamui's expression in the next episode certainly carries a heavy hint of 'kicked dog'.
 * Kick the Son of a Bitch: Ren is implied to do so. It's complicated. After Kyou's loss to Kai after the guy had spent pretty much all his screentime being an obnoxious, arrogant brat, it's very implied that Ren does something to him which leaves the guy a trembling, speechless wreck cowering on a bench. And Tetsu later says that Kyou has been sent back to headquarters for 'retraining'.
 * Kicked some more by Tetsu and Asaka: first Tetsu tells him Foo Fighter has no need for losers and revokes his membership, then Asaka tells him he lacks ability and to get out.
 * Kicked even more by Aichi, in episodes 41 and 42.
 * Large Ham: Katsumi Morikawa.
 * Legacy Character: Ninja Master M
 * Light is Good: Aichi's Royal Paladins are the best example, but Misaki's Oracle Think Tank Deck counts too.
 * Light Is Not Good: A member of team Foo Fighter Brilliant Stars, Hiromi, also uses Royal Paladins.
 * Limit Break: Introduced in Asia Circuit-Hen.
 * Limited Wardrobe: Not quite, since everyone changes outfits once summer begins... but they're not seen changing clothes on a day to day basis. May also have to do with School Uniforms are the New Black.
 * As of the second season, most of the main cast changes outfits.
 * The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday: Card Shop PSY.
 * Locked Out of the Loop: Misaki deliberately does this to Kamui about Emi's relationship with Aichi.
 * Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Ren.
 * Lost in Translation: The dub has had to change some of the jokes in order to makes sense to native English speakers. However, the "Make-mi" * joke was ignored completely. *
 * Love at First Sight: Kamui fell in love with Emi.
 * Magical Cards: The cards allow access to another realm from which you can summon the monsters/characters (though you also need a special ability to use the cards in this way).
 * Magical Girl: Top Idol Pacifica looks and acts a bit like one. Also Kirara and Quilt.
 * The Magic Poker Equation: If a character needs to pull a Trigger, they inevitably will.
 * Taken Up to Eleven by Daigo in the live-action. Not only does he topdeck  Majesty Lord Blaster with Sage of Guidance, Zenon's skill, he proceeds to Twin Drive into  not one, but TWO Critical Triggers, letting him take his opponent from two Damage to six.
 * Malaproper: Kamui whenever he tries to use complicated words such as (as Crunchyroll translates it) "lady-cress" *.
 * Meaningful Name: One of the meanings for the kanji for Sendou is 'vanguard'.
 * Team Foo Fighter AL4 may turn out to have one. 'Foo Fighter' was a term used by WWII fighter pilots to refer to what we now call 'UFOs'. Of course, it's also a Punny Name.
 * Ren's surname, Suzugamori, comes from the Suzugamori Execution Grounds in feudal-era Japan.
 * Mind Rape: Ren to Aichi in Episode 64.
 * Void to Aichi in Episode 103; in Kai's words, it's poisoning him. He seems to attract these during final fights of the season.
 * Aichi himself, of all people, dishes out some to Kyou in Episode 42.
 * Minor Injury Overreaction: May overlap with Shout Out. Morikawa freaks out whenever he takes damage and visibly cringes, in a way that is reminiscent of another card game anime.
 * Mistaken for Gay: Kamui and Aichi in Episode 14 because Kamui Cannot Spit It Out.
 * Mundane Made Awesome: Misaki's finger gun when she uses Eurale.
 * My Name is Not 'Make-mi': "It's Katsumi!"
 * Naïve Newcomer: Kai explains the rules once to Aichi, but we also get another description of the rules for Emi. For the first few episodes, Aichi's opponents continually give him advice on game features such as the mulligan and when you can use Heal Triggers. Misaki is set-up as one, but quickly proves she knows the game better than Aichi.
 * Narrating the Obvious: This happens with great frequency whenever someone takes damage.
 * New Rules as the Plot Demands: Averted. Though the animators do make the occasional screw up with power and shield scores, the characters play true to the real life game and there is exactly one card that exists in the anime that does not in real life. Said card hasn't been seen since Episode 11.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: If Kai hadn't constantly been so distant to and dismissive of Aichi, then Aichi wouldn't have become Drunk on the Dark Side. Kourin calls him out on this.
 * Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: The Grand Blue Clan are zombie pirates with a couple of Lovecraftian influences thrown in and even a reference to Frankenstein.
 * Nonindicative Name: "Katsu" means "victory", not that it helps Katsumi Morikawa, with his zero on-screen win record and firmly cemented spot as the worst player in the anime.
 * The Nose Knows: Team Fragrance can tell people's emotions based upon their scents.
 * Not so Different: Episode 9 has Aichi crippled by nervousness in the shop tournament, and thinking everyone else is perfectly fine. Then he notices Izaki (his opponent) make the same mistake he earlier made and realizes that it's Izaki's first tournament, and the guy's nervous as well. He later notices that Misaki also seems nervous (despite having just curbstomped Morikawa, who exists to be curbstomped).
 * Rather more darkly, thirty-two episodes later, Aichi is becoming very reminiscent of Ren. Same  Psyqualia, and it seems that like Ren,  Aichi is losing himself to the power of  Psyqualia.
 * Episode 48 has Bidou face Aichi; the former is obssessed with being recognized with Ren and jealous that he gave Aichi the Shadow Paladin deck and gets excited when he sees Ren watching his match. Aichi, having gone to the extreme to be noticed by Kai and only succeeded in pushing him away, plays with Bidou's obssession because he has the advantage of  Psyqualia and either doesn't realize or outwardly confess that they're quite similar. He, too, allows himself to be distracted very briefly by the idea of Kai watching him, but disturbingly uses it as a Madness Mantra.
 * Off Model: The size of Ren's hair tends to vary from scene to scene. Admittedly, he has a lot of hair to draw, but still...
 * Oh Crap:
 * Two words: Final Turn.
 * Kamui’s reaction in ep. 7 when he realizes that Kai can use Vortex Dragon’s Soulblast
 * Mr. Invincible, Soul Blast! Aichi: SAY WHAT?! Kamui: With Mr. Invincible's skill, I stand all units!
 * Another Oh Crap used for comedic effect is in Episode 37: Emi: First check! *Critical trigger* I got it, what good luck! Kamui: Bravo! Go ahead, draw one more (critical trigger)! Emi: Second check! *Critical trigger* Look! Two stars! Kamui: C-congrat- *gets hit by Flores [Emi]* ...ulations!
 * Kyou gets this in Episode 41 when Aichi starts to remind him of Ren. Especially when  Aichi calls a second Young Pegasus Knight to replace the defeated first, having predicted that Young Pegasus Knight would be the card he won the game with.
 * All the major characters at the Finals when Aichi plays Blaster Dark, fearing that he'll change under Psyqualia's influence again.
 * Season 1 finale; Ren's Phantom Blaster Overlord is at 28000 power, Aichi throws out a total shield of 35000, which requires two Triggers for Ren to break through. Ren draws a Heal Trigger and gives the boost to Phantom Blaster Overlord, Misaki notes that normally, he would have given it to his Rear-Guard. Kamui catches on what she means - Ren knows he's getting a second Trigger and does. Cue one huge Mass Oh Crap. If not for a Heal Trigger himself, Aichi would have lost there and then.
 * One Steve Limit: Averted with regards to the game. Because the card-pool is so small, currently several characters run the same cards. This is best shown by Episode 6 where Aichi faces another Royal Paladin player, and the first few turns consist of the two playing off the exact same cards.
 * OOC Is Serious Business: In Episode 24, the first clue that Aichi and co get that something is wrong with Misaki is when she doesn't reprimand Kamui and Morikawa for speaking too loudly while she's playing. Unfortunately, they don't take the hint.
 * To say nothing of Aichi's behavior in Episode 41...
 * All the more aggravating in that Kai takes that exact next episode to push the poor guy over the edge BECAUSE his out of character actions reminded him too much of Ren.
 * Our Angels Are Different: Soul Savior Dragon looks very much angelic, though it is referred to by Aichi as a god.
 * The clan Angel Feather is filled with angels who worked as nurses, and some wield gatling guns. Justified since some of them served as security to the medical team on the battlefield.
 * Our Dragons Are Different: Aichi's Soul Saver Dragon looks more like a cross between a knight, a dragon and a (female) angel than a typical dragon. Dragons in general tend to vary according to their clan, with appropriate sub-species.
 * Our Mermaids Are Different: Top Idol Flores is a cross between a mermaid and an idol singer. Arguably the same goes for Top Idol Aqua, maybe for Blazer Pleasures and Girls Rock, Rio looked more like a gill girl than a mermaid. Bermuda Triangle Cadet Caravel seems to be a more usual type of mermaid. All the Bermuda Triangle units are variations on the theme of mermaid pop stars.
 * Paper-Thin Disguise: Aichi more-or-less realizes that Ninja Master M is actually Mr. Mark within five seconds of meeting him. To be fair, the man himself threw out a hint:Ninja Master M: Have you figured out how you would survive? (This is a Call Back to the first episode where Mr. Mark asked Aichi how he'd survive in a given historical period during a history lesson)
 * Kamui, in the first National Tournament, tries to disguise himself with just a pair of glasses and flattening his spiky hair. His disguise was immedately saw through by Eiji and Reiji though.
 * In the Asia Circuit Japan Stage, Team Unknown. While still unknown to the characters in-universe, it's pretty obvious to the audiences.
 * Parental Abandonment: Misaki's parents died in a car crash when she was young, though Shin does act as a Parental Substitute. Aichi's father is neither seen nor mentioned, and neither of Kamui's parents are ever mentioned. Episode 49 reveals that Kai's parents died a few years before the start of the series, which is the reason he left town (he went to live with his uncle's family).
 * Power Glows: Lots of it. Psyqualia activations, units glow whenever another unit boosts them, the circles on a fight table glow whenever a unit is called, and the cards themselves glow when a Trigger is activated. No one seems to think this is unusual.
 * On the Psyqualia front, it goes Up to Eleven in the final fight of Season 1 when both Ren and Aichi are surrounded by a flame-like aura whenever they activate their powers. Similarly, at the tail end of Asia Circuit-Hen with  Leon and Aichi when each are affected by Void's influence.
 * The Power of Friendship: A running theme in the series, and the main theme of Aichi's Royal Paladin deck.
 * Pragmatic Translation: The Genocide Jack card was renamed "Brutal" Jack in the dub, since the dub likely doesn't to look like it's promoting genocide * . This is normal for card games.
 * In one episode, Vortex Dragon's attack is renamed from 'Burning Hell' to 'Cataclysm'. The English TCG card sticks with Burning Hell. In a later episodes, Phantom Blaster Dragon's 'Damned Charging Lance' becomes 'Corrupted Charging Lance'.
 * Preemptive Shut Up: Kamui to Morikawa after Kamui gets yet another phrase wrong.
 * Product Placement: This, being an anime to advertise the card games, have real life booster packs' names popping out once in a while. Often by a character that says "My deck had been strengthened by cards from [Insert booster pack name here]!"
 * Not to mentioned several posters in Card Capital.
 * To go with the above, one of the posters in the earlier episodes is a rather blatent advertisement for the first Aichi and Kai Trial Decks - both characters are on the fricking poster!
 * In EP 52, the Manager pulls out a parcel that revealed the booster packs "Twin Swords Awakening." The final episode of the first season borrows this title and showcases its poster unit Majesty Lord Blaster.
 * In EP 106, there is an advertisement about Ultra Rare's latest album "Endless Fighter", which is also the ending song of the season.
 * Psychic Powers: Psyqualia. It allows the user to foresee and control the events of a Cardfight. It also lets the user make their opponent feel like they're really being attacked. Tends to come with  a nasty case of Drunk on the Dark Side.
 * Though, as explained in episode 64, the ability's true nature is that it  synchronizes the user with the Planet Cray, allowing users to act as the "vanguard" of the armies fighting there.
 * At the end of episode 65,  Aichi loses this ability, with the implication that its purpose had been fulfilled. There's no word yet, however, on whether or not this also applies to  Ren, though it's implied.
 * Guess what's back in Asia-Hen. Takuto's seems to have the ability to hand out Psyqualia, restoring Aichi's, Ren's and dragging in Christopher. Leon also has Psyqualia, though he obtained it through Void. It's not clear if anyone has it after Asia-Hen's finale.
 * Psychotic Smirk: Ren uses these pretty often, when he doesn't go for a straight-up Slasher Smile.
 * Pyrrhic Victory: Aichi may have won against Kyou, but he lost Kai after the regionals in Episode 42.
 * Also, Kenji in episode 82. He finally manages to beat Ren, only to learn the rest of his team lost.
 * Red Baron: From Team FFAL4, Asaka is known as "Assassin" and Tetsu is known as "General". And from Team Caesar, Gai is called "Gladiator", Yuri is the "Empress", and Kenji is called "Emperor" (Koutei). Kenji is also called Koutei as a regular nickname. (It's an alternate reading of the kanji for his name.)
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: Zig-zagged, Kamui has red eyes, but while an arrogant brat at times is by no means evil, while Ren, who is the Big Bad of Season 1, also has red eyes.
 * On the cover of the fifth manga volumne, Aichi's eyes are red. The chapters it contains has his fights with both Ren and Kai  (in which they all have Psyqualia).
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni:
 * Hot Blooded Kamui and The Stoic Kai have this dynamic. In episode 26, this culminates in an angry outburst from Kamui, who quits Team Q4 for the remainder of the tournament because he can't stand to fight alongside Kai anymore.
 * Card Shop PSY has the energetic, outspoken Rekka ("blazing flame") and the calm, patient Suiko ("water tiger"). They're Colour Coded Characters.
 * Miwa and Kai, very much so.
 * Red Shirt: Wearing black Fight Gloves is a good general indication that you won't be lasting long. Made especially clear with Yahagi Kyou as he is the only Foo Fighter to lose a match. Subverted by Jurassic Army who quickly established themselves as the series' Badass Normal team.
 * Red String of Fate: Played with in-universe: In episode 21 Nagisa throws and ties an actual red string on Kamui's pinky (despite the two being on opposite sides of the playfield), and then declares she loves him. Kamui is... not thrilled by the obvious implications.
 * Refuge in Audacity: Miwa gets the underground fighters to lay off Kai by saying that Kai's father is a police commissioner, his mother is a Chief Justice, he's the grandson of the prime minister, and between karate and judo, he's at 15th dan.
 * Relative Error: Kamui first thought that Emi and Aichi were dating and the next day challenged the latter in order to get his "Goddess" (Emi).
 * The Rival: Kai, but with a unique spin in that he's the one who teaches Aichi how to play.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something / Warrior King: King of Knights, Alfred.
 * Save Both Worlds: What Takuto aims to do and why he started the Vanguard Circuit, then using his power to drag them all to Cray so they can stop Void.
 * Say My Name: "KAAAIIIIIIIII!" Ren, episode 57 flashback.
 * Kai yelling out to Aichi from the stands in Episode 64 to stop Psyqualia taking over him.
 * And Aichi more than returns the favour in Episode 102.
 * Scary Shiny Glasses: The shop owner makes use of this.
 * His eyes are 'finally' shown in a blink-and-you-miss-it moment in Episode 18, and another - just as brief - moment in ep. 22. And then a rather longer one in Episode 24. There's a reason for that.
 * School Uniforms are the New Black: Pretty much played straight at first, but subverted when everyone gets new casual outfits for the summer.
 * Sempai Kouhai: Team Caesar seems to take this approach with Team Q4, going so far as to invite them to the Caesar Vanguard Training Camp.
 * Serious Business: Card games, what else?
 * Averted too, to some extent. When it comes down to it, Cardfight Vanguard is really just about kids playing a card game casually, without worrying about the fate of the world or monsters that actually exist and can hurt players.
 * The Underground Fights seem to ooze this though.
 * If Kyou's flashback is any indication, cardfights are this for team Foo Fighter.
 * For Yuri of Team Caesar, creating a firm image of victory is this.
 * She's Not My Girlfriend: Although, "she" * would disagree.
 * Shrinking Violet: Aichi is a male example.
 * Shout Out: Many.My heart is burning! It screams out "Let me join the Cardfight Club!" Gaze upon! My lethal! My invincible! My miraculous BREAK RIDE!!! Discharging Dragon!
 * The Royal Paladins and Gold Paladins are a clear shout out to Arthurian and British heroes. Just to name a few obvious ones:
 * King of Knights, Alfred (King Arthur and Alfred the Great.)
 * Knight of Solitude, Gancelot (Sir Lancelot.)
 * Knight of Silence, Gallatin (Sir Gawain, whose sword was named Galatine.)
 * Knight of Godspeed, Galahad (Sir Galahad himself.)
 * Knight of Loyalty, Bedivere (Sir Bedivere.)
 * Knight of Convenant, Bors (Sir Bors.)
 * Knight of Steel Blade, Caradoc (Sir Caradoc.)
 * Knight of Blue Flames, Dinas (Sir Dinadan.)
 * Knight of Friendship, Kay (Sir Kay.)
 * Knight of Determination, Lamorak (Sir Lamorak.)
 * Knight of Twin Swords, Marhaus (Sir Marhaus.)
 * Swordsman of Flames/Explosive Flames, Palamedes (Sir Palamedes.)
 * Knight of Harp, Tristan (Sir Tristan.)
 * Knight of Elegant Skill, Gareth (Sir Gareth.)
 * Fortitude Knight, Lucan (Sir Lucan.)
 * Wonds that blow through the plains/Precipice Whirlwind/Battlefield Storm, Sagramore (Sir Sagramore.)
 * Knight of Fury, Agravain (Sir Agravain.)
 * White Dragon Knight, Pendragon (King Arthur)
 * Photon Archer, Griflet (Sir Griflet.)
 * White Hare in the Moon's Shadow, Pellinore (Sir Pellinore.)
 * Knight of Passion, Bagdemagus (Sir Bagdemagus.)
 * As opposed to the Royal Paladins, the Shadow Paladins derive their names from Irish/Welsh/Celtic/Scottish mythologies.
 * The Oracle Think Tanks have some Japanese deities within their top ranks. So far, Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi and Susanoo have been featured. Oracle Guardians Nike, Gemini, and Apollon are references to Greek Mythology.
 * The Battle Sisters have their names derived from food, especially pastries.
 * The Dimension Police are straight shout outs to the super robot and super sentai genres, complete with a giant hot blooded super robot as their ace!
 * Said super robot, especially with its new Transformation Sequence in episode 82, is very reminiscent of the transformation sequences in the Brave Series, especially Final Fusion.
 * The Enigmen are shout outs to Elemental Hero Neos, which are shout outs to Ultraman.
 * During the Hong Kong semi-finals, Misaki tells Kamui to believe in her because she believes in him.
 * This one. Domon Kasshu will be proud of you, Naoki.
 * Slasher Smile: Ren can pull one off like the best of them.
 * He's got competition in Leon, whose get quite disturbing.
 * As of Episode 41, Aichi is managing to pull off a pretty menacing one too.
 * In episode 63, Ren takes this Up to Eleven, nearly to the point of Nightmare Face.
 * Slouch of Villainy: Has Ren ever even been seen sitting upright in a chair?
 * So Last Season: Soul Saver Dragon's Holy Charging Roar, which won the Regionals for Team Q4, fails to  defeat Tetsu and in fact the damage Aichi does deal only ends up setting up for Tetsu's game-ending Megablast with Stil Vampir.
 * Spoiler Opening: The first opening shows a lot of characters that appear later in the series. Some appear relatively early (Kamui in Episode 5 and the PSY trio in Episode 6) while others appear (much) later (Gouki and co do not appear until Episode 14, after the Shop Tournament ends, while Ren Suzugamori appears first in Episode 23, after the Regionals end). Averted with the second opening.
 * The English dub uses the third ending in place of the first one. The one that shows clips of all the fights from up to the first regional arc.
 * Status Quo Is God: In episode 51, Morikawa receives a well-balanced deck when he forgets his own, and wins every fight he's in. Then at the end of episode 52,  he "powers it up" with a bunch of Grade 3's, and goes back to always losing immediately.
 * Stealth Insult: Ren Suzugamori's dialog consists of either this or just flat out insults.
 * The Stoic: Kai.
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: Mr. Mark in Episode 11, when asked about the bag he's carrying:Mr. Mark: T-this? Nothing important. It's definitely not a ninja costume!
 * Take a Third Option: When Aichi is faced with decision of whether or not to accept Psyqualia and the personality that comes with it, he finally decides instead  that he can accept both sides of himself, without rejecting either Psyqualia or the part of himself that wants to fight without it. This leads to  his riding of Majesty Lord Blaster and ultimate victory over Ren.
 * Tears of Joy: Kamui, when Team Q4 finally wins the national championship. May or may not count as Manly Tears.
 * Tempting Fate:
 * "As long as he doesn’t get a trigger" and similar lines. Often followed by an Oh Crap when the other player gets the trigger he needs.
 * There’s also Kamui’s decision in Episode 37 to not guard against Emi’s attack. Brilliant decision, as shown by one of the Oh Crap examples above.
 * The Reveal: In Episode 64 of Season 1, after numerous foreshadowing and wild mass guesses, Planet Cray is revealed to be actually exist, and the role of PSYQualia is to connect the fighters to the units and events that is really happening in Cray.
 * In Episode 99, it was revealed that the mysterious force that was invading Cray is VOID. And Takuto's plan is to use the VF Circuit to find strong fighters to fight them.
 * The Worf Effect: Kai's role in the show seems to have crystallised into "that guy who never loses, except to the Big Bad of the season".
 * Misaki is the designated punching bag of Team Q4. Though the show emphasises the advantage of her photographic memory, it also notes that she is the least experienced and least enthusiastic member of the team.
 * Even moreso are Team Caesar. They're set up as world-class players, but almost all of their wins are off-screen.
 * Theme Tune Cameo: An instrumental version of Diamond Star (the 1st ending) can be heard once Team Q4 arrives at the training camp.
 * The second ending, "Smash Up" plays during the tournament montage in episode 39.
 * The second opening, "Believe in my existence", plays during Kai's Final Turn against Aichi in episode 50.
 * Twice in episode 65. "Believe in my existence" plays during the conclusion of Aichi's fight with Ren, and "Diamond Star" plays at the very end of the episode.
 * In Episode 82, the first opening, Vanguard plays during Koutei's Final Turn. It's very appropriate.
 * And again in Episode 86 when he does it again.
 * Episode 103 sees the return of Believe In My Existence when Aichi plays Blaster Blade Spirit and pushes Leon to 5 Damage.
 * Limit Break makes it a complete set for the Openings in 104.
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Phantom Blaster Dragon is made out of this. It'll be truly epic overkill if two critical triggers are drawn aside from activating Counterblast twice (49000 and 5 damage). The same can be made of Gancelot, Aleph, Galahad and Edel Rose.
 * Taken to another level with Vajra Thunder Emperor, Indra. It gets a Critical 6 when you have another 3 units of the same name in your Rear Guard and gets a double Critical Trigger. All in the cost of Counter-Blast 1.
 * This trope basically works every time a player gets a double Critical Trigger when your opponent is at 5 damage.
 * They're Called Personal Issues For a Reason: This is pretty much Kai's response to Aichi, Miwa and Kamui following him to find out where he lives and what caused his personality to change.
 * Those Two Guys: Morikawa and Izaki. Reiji and Eiji, who have little purpose outside cheering on Kamui.
 * This Loser Is You: In Episode 32 after Aichi loses his round, and knocking Team Q4 out of the tournament (for real), Ren proceeds to rub it in has face. Furthermore, the next episode has the team only able to watch as Team AL4 completely pulverizes the competition and not surprisingly win the Nationals.
 * Took a Level in Badass: Aichi due to his Psyqualia in Episode 41.
 * In episode 51 Morikawa of all people. He forgot his deck the day of the free-for-all shop tournament and Shin loaned him a structure deck. He spends the rest of the episode curbstomping people  while moaning about how the deck ony has one Grade 3 unit. It doesn't last, though...
 * As of his victories against Koutei in episode 56 and Ren in episode 65, Aichi is officially Badass even without Psyqualia.
 * In Episode 82, Kenji, no, Daiyusha finally took a level in badass by showing up in its ULTIMATE FORM and wins against Ren.
 * Tournament Arc: Five in the first season: the Card Capital shop tournament, the regional tournament, the Nationals, the second Regionals (the second shop tournament was just a brief prelude to the Regionals) and the second Nationals. The second season was basically one big tournament arc - the Vanguard Fight Circuit - divided in four parts: Singapore Stage, Seoul Stage, Hong Kong Stage and Japan Stage.
 * True Companions: Team Q4, eventually.
 * Up to Eleven: ULTIMATE BREAK!
 * Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Kai and Misaki. Not to mention  Ren Suzugamori. and  Leon Soryuu
 * The Underground Player Is A Cheating Bastard: Subverted. The underground player cheated a couple of times (drawing from underneath and having extra cards), but Kai beats him and he mentioned that after.
 * Unexpected Character: Ride 50's key card came completely out of left field, seeing as it was supposed to be a manga exclusive; "Together with the knights, open a path...and look upon the young king! Ride the Vanguard! Alfred Early!"
 * Unfortunate Name: Toilette.
 * Unstoppable Rage: At the end of Episode 24's Cardfight, Misaki is more-or-less suffering a complete breakdown due to be flooded with memories of her dead parents, and seems to go into this state, seeming more aggressive than before. Naturally, the moment is heralded by a Critical Trigger making itself known for her final blow.
 * Villainous Breakdown: Kyou in Episodes 30 and 42. Ren in Episode 65 after Aichi uses Majesty Lord Blaster and claims to accept him.Ren: I don't want your acceptance! Go ahead and reject me! I don't accept anyone, either!
 * In the live-action, after losing to Daigo, Teru's mentor runs out of the building in tears while shrieking like a lunatic. Considering how bizarrely unlikely his loss actually was, it's almost understandable.
 * Although he's not exactly a villain, [Psy]Aichi's breakdown in his match against Kai is quite a bit like Kyou and Ren's.
 * Warrior Therapist: Kai is this to Aichi and Ren. In the latter case, it doesn't work, and the task falls to Aichi.
 * We Can Rule Together: Gouki offers Kamui a place on his team. Ren does the same to Kai.
 * Wham Episode: Episode 32. Aichi loses and Team Q4 are out of the Nationals.
 * Followed immediately again in 33. We get the first view of Blaster Dark, the Shadow Archetype to Blaster Blade, in Ren's first true fight. Demoralized by how powerful he is and his personal loss, Aichi falls into despair, and Kai barely pulls him out. Shaken by these events, Shin enrolls Q4 in a training camp to fight on even footing with AL4 in the future.
 * Episode 41 seems to be shaping up to be one too, judging by the fandom's reactions. Turns out Aichi's Psyqualia is corrupting up much faster than anyone expected....
 * Episode 42 is now the Wham Moment: "No, Aichi Sendou, you have gotten weaker."
 * Episode 49. The destined fight between Aichi and Kai begins, with Kai using Aichi's former Royal Paladin deck, and we finally get Kai's backstory.
 * Episode 64. We finally learn more about the person the PSY trio is working for. It turns out to be an entity from Cray (which in turn confirms Cray as a real place) and “borrows” Rekka’s body to watch the fight between Ren and Aichi (the effect is similar to when someone is using Psyqualia, just not as dark). We learn what is going on on Cray and that users of Psyqualia actually sinchronyze with Cray (something that was only hinted at in previous episodes). And in addition to all that, Aichi uses Psyqualia again and calls Blaster Dark, to everyone’s shock.
 * Episode 66, the first episode of Asia Circuit. It ends with Aichi's deck either transformed or stolen, and the Royal and Shadow Paladins, as well as Kagerou clan, erased from living memory. No one can recall them except Aichi. Made all the worse since this episode effectively eliminated the card that symbolically tied Aichi and Kai together.
 * Episode 75, the return of PSYQualia.
 * Episode 82. Koutei and Ren's fight in the final of the Seoul Stage.
 * Episode 90. Leon's backstory is revealed, and at the end of the episode, Aichi willingly activates his Psyqualia to fight against Leon's wind.
 * Episode 98: Takuto sends Teams Q4, New AL 4, Dreadnought and SIT Genius to Cray in order to become leaders who can unite the Clans against the Mysterious Force. And then Leon declares that he is the only one who can lead Cray, standing against the others.
 * Episode 102: Kai faces Leon and both show off new Crossride units, the sheer power going into the fight is enough to give both Aichi and Ren headaches. Leon beats Kai, who apologizes for not being any help to Aichi before he, Ren and Asaka are returned to Earth, leaving Aichi and Leon as the only Psyqualia users left on Cray to fight.
 * Episode 103: Leon and Aichi's fight. The sky above Cray starts to crack to put apply more pressure at that Void's about to break through to Earth. Void begins to poison Aichi, causing him to hallucinate and then collapse. He's revived by Blaster Blade Spirit, which he plays and puts Leon at 5 Damage. Then Leon crossride Glory Maelstrom.
 * Wham Line: Delivered by Aichi in episode 43: "I'll keep you company. This is my Shadow Paladins' first battle."Leon:  I'm afraid that Royal Paladin, Kagero and Shadow Paladin won't be coming back. Ever...
 * Suiko delivers an absolute shocker in Episode 50: "You should give your gratitude to him."
 * Episode 63, Ren gives what could easily be the two most horrifying lines of the series to Aichi. "As long as I have this power, I can do what I want with you". (Inwardly) 'It's boring to just humiliate you, I think I'll transform you into the very thing you hate the most'. The preview for 64 really doesn't help the unsettling feeling.
 * Episode 75
 * Chris: This is the image of my victory. This is the power of PSYQualia!
 * Morikawa defeating Aichi, Izaki, Miwa and almost everyone in the shop, with just an unmodified Trial Deck.
 * From Episode 99:
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Kourin delivers one to Kai in episode 44 over his role in Aichi developing Psyqualia and subsequent abandonment of him.
 * When She Smiles: Misaki in 29. And especially Kai in the first season's finale◊.
 * And we get, perhaps, Ren's only non Slasher Smile -esque real smile in the same episode after the final match.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: Kyou. Kinda.
 * White Knight: Aichi's Deck-Type, Royal Paladin, is this, mostly.
 * The Wise King: From Alfred - Early's flavor text, it can be reasonably assumed that this is King of Knights, Alfred's character.
 * Yin Yang Bomb: Majesty Lord Blaster, which Aichi uses to defeat Ren. It can only reach its full power by using both Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark together.
 * Yin Yang Clash: Ren delivers an ominous speech describing this just before riding Blaster Dark for the first time, though he appears to favor the darkness over the light.Ren: Where there is light, there is darkness. That is one of a pair of truths. And light can only be swallowed up by darkness. That is a truth too.
 * You Can't Fight Fate: Ren and Aichi's belief and the reason for their absolute confidence when channeling Psyqualia. However, as Aichi points out, this doesn't apply when fighting another Psyqualia user.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Aichi, of course, and Asaka. Misaki has lilac hair, while Shin has green hair.
 * Your Mind Makes It Real: One of Ren's lines in Episode 63 after he sends Aichi to Cray to be attacked by Blaster Dark strongly implies this.Ren: It feels like I actually just swung a sword. *Slasher Smile*
 * The fact that Aichi obviously feels a degree of pain after being attacked by Blaster Dark, and then again by Phantom Blaster Dragon, backs it up
 * In the manga, the Fight Gloves produce the same effect and losers appears to be drained of their strength after the match. Throw Psyqualia into the mix and you've got main characters constantly collapsing during and after their fights.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Asaka is a Grade B.