Cardfight!! Vanguard episodes

Aichi's match against Gouki begins. Aichi remembers Gouki as a formidable opponent, and realizes that he cannot stay the same as before if he wishes to win. Using a combination of the skills of Barcgal and Knight of the Future Llew, he Rides Blaster Blade from the deck, surprising Gouki. With both sides getting a Heal Trigger and staying at nearly the same amount of damage, it becomes an intense fight. Gouki Superior Rides Spirit Exceed from the Drop Zone and prepares for a full frontal assault.

The fight between Aichi and Gouki continues. Aichi blocks Gouki's attack, and counterattacks with Alfred, bringing Gouki to five damage. However, Gouki replaces his Vanguard with King of the Demonic Seas, Basskirk, who uses eight cards from the Soul and five cards from the Damage Zone, to instantly revive as many Granblue units from the Drop Zone as possible! Though Aichi perfectly defends during that turn, he realizes that he must finish it immediately. A strange blue light emerges from his deck, which Kai notices. Aichi draws into one of the new cards that he had acquired, which he had put in his deck despite Kamui's advice. He rides Soul Saver Dragon, the powerful God of the Royal Paladin knights, and activates its skill to power up his rear-guard units. Though it seems like Gouki will make it past, Aichi Drive Checks a Stand Trigger, and finishes the game with a brutal attack. With Aichi's win over Gouki, Team Q4 wins the regional tournament and is therefore eligible to enter the national tournament. At the awards ceremony, Ultra Rare congratulates Q4 for their victory, and Suiko invites Aichi to visit PSY once more.

Aichi, Kamui and Misaki visit Card Shop PSY after Suiko's invitation. They meet an aloof red-haired stranger with a peculiar attitude. However, once the Ultra Rare group arrives, they learn that he is none other than Ren Suzugamori, the winner of the previous national tournament! Kourin and Ren engage in a Cardfight, both using the exact same deck structure, and Aichi, who had been beaten by Kourin before, watches in amazement as Ren easily controls the match. Strangely using the same speech patterns that Kai does during his matches, Ren uses a seemingly simple Grade 1 card called Blazer Idols to finish the game. However, what are these visions that Aichi has of the planet Cray, when Ren is about to make his move...?

To prepare for the national tournaments, worried about Cardfighters on Ren's level, Aichi and Misaki engage in a fight. However, memories of her tragic past surface in Misaki's mind, causing her to break down. Though she dominates the match by preventing Aichi's strategy from taking effect until it is too late, and finishing him off by means of a Critical Trigger, she abandons the team directly afterwards, claiming to be unable to fight any longer. Stunned, Aichi and Kamui try to discover what they have done wrong...

Emi visits Card Capital, worrying about the depressed Aichi. She encounters Misaki, who claims not to know anything - but the manager pushes the two into a cardfight using the new trial decks that just arrived. Going along for Emi's sake, Misaki uses the new Nova Grappler deck, whereas Emi uses the Oracle Think Tank one. Already having memorized all effects of the cards with her perfect memory, Misaki easily defeats Emi, but in doing so, she remembers the fun that Vanguard used to be for both her and her parents, and realizes that they would not want her to feel sad about the game. Receiving a key from her uncle to unlock the box with the deck her parents made for her, she rejoins Team Q4 to Aichi and Kamui's joy, who feel terrible about what had happened, and easily beats every regular customer of the shop.

Team Q4 arrives at the site of the national tournament grounds and meets Team Caesar, composed of Kenji "Koutei" Matsusada and the siblings Gai and Yuri Usui, who were the last national tournament's finalists and previous winners. Everything seems to be going well, but due to Kai's increasingly arrogant and insulting attitude, Kamui decides he can no longer work with him and abandons the team. Aichi attempts to go after him, but is reminded that if he also leaves, Team Q4 will be unable to participate in the tournament and will therefore be disqualified. With some advice from Kenji, Aichi decides to win the preliminary rounds and earn Q4 a spot in the finals, so Kamui can return.

The national tournament preliminary rounds begin! After an explanation of the tournament rules by Ultra Rare, Team Q4 discovers that they are put in the same block as Team Foo Fighter Apex Limited Four, Ren Suzugamori's team and previous winners. To his great surprise, Aichi discovers that Kai not only personally knows one of AL4's members, but is also acquainted with Ren. They are soon forced to forget about AL4, though, since the first round begins and pits them against Team Jurassic Army, a group of militaristic Cardfighters using the brutal Tachikaze clan. Aichi takes the first match against Gunji, and though he allows himself to take damage and use the skill of Blaster Blade effectively, he is cornered by the Tachikaze ace, Tyrant, Deathrex...

Gunji brutally corners Aichi with the speed and power of his Tachikaze deck, bringing the score to 5-3 in Gunji's favor. To make a reversal, Aichi rides his new ace card, Soul Saver Dragon. Managing to get a Critical trigger, it looks like the match has been decided, but luck favors Gunji, who gets a last-minute Heal Trigger and survives, winning on the next turn. The next match features Misaki who, despite cleverly using the attribute of Silent Tom to cripple her opponent's ability to guard, is also defeated in the exact same manner. With their first match ending in a brutal defeat, Team Q4 cannot afford to lose again.

Team Q4's second match against Team Muscle Brain begins. Team Muscle Brain believes that training the body will result in a better mind, and thus practices brutal fighting prowess. However, when Kai steps up to the first match, he is able to annihilate his opponent easily by Superior Riding Blazing Flare Dragon. Misaki takes the second match, using a new line of cards located in the deck that was given to her by her parents before their death. Though she can't seem to get a Grade 3 in hand, using the effects of her units she Superior Rides Goddess of the Full Moon Tsukuyomi. Using skills that allow her to draw, she increases her hand to the point where she comfortably blocks her opponent's desperate move, and finishes the game. There is no time to celebrate, though, as the next match is versus Team AL4, the strongest team.

Team Q4's final fight in the preliminary rounds, which they cannot afford to lose, begins. Kai takes the stage first, against AL4 member "Crusher" Kyou Yahagi, who potently uses a Spike Brothers deck. Kai rides Dragonic Overlord and activates its skill, but Kyou blocks it, pushing Kai on the defensive. However, Kai recovers his momentum with a Heal Trigger, allowing him to reclaim three unflipped damage. He uses Overlord's effect once more, annihilating Kyou's defense and claiming victory. An observing Ren claims the result was not unexpected and grins madly, while Kyou runs off in panic.

Though Kai won the first match of the team battle, Misaki is challenged by Asaka Narumi, known as the "Assassin". Asaka skillfully uses a Pale Moon deck, and though Misaki tries to fight by reading her opponent's moves, Asaka plans further ahead and cripples Misaki's strategy while preparing her field. Using an unavoidable three-pronged attack pattern coupled with a Draw Trigger, Asaka delivers the final blow to Misaki. This leaves both teams with a single match won, and it is up to Aichi to determine Q4's fate against Tetsu, the General of AL4. Tetsu, using a Dark Irregulars deck, deals 3 damage to Aichi in his very first turn - however, Aichi has a plan.

The match between Aichi and Tetsu continues while an anxious Kamui watches. Confronted by Nagisa, Gouki and Emi, who learned of the situation via Team Caesar, Kamui is motivated to support Aichi. Aichi begins to make a comeback by shutting down his opponent's offense and evening out the damage with a heal trigger, but Tetsu rides Demon World Marquis Amon, and with a Critical Trigger, pushes Aichi down to five damage. Aichi gains a vision of the Royal Paladin knights joined together, and draws and rides Soul Saver Dragon, whose effect is used to power up all his units. Regardless, Tetsu manages to block, and during his next turn rides Still Vampyr. That card has a deadly effect that replaces the opponent's Vanguard with another Rear-Guard, thus Aichi is forced to ride the Grade 0 Future Knight, Llew. In this weakened form, he is unable to withstand Tetsu's attack and suffers a terrible defeat. It seems as if all hope is not lost, as Jurassic Army loses to Muscle Brain and a 3-way tie is formed. Through a final judges' call based on overall performance, Ultra Rare announces that Jurassic Army is the team that progress. Ren meets up with Q4 and tries to get Kai to rejoin his team, but Kai refuses him, and Ren blames Aichi for Q4's failure.

Team Q4 gathers at Card Capital to watch the national tournament finals. Due to various delays, they only manage to catch the very last match, where Ren, leader of Foo Fighter AL4, faces of against Kenji, leader of Team Caesar. Even though Kenji appears to put up a good fight, Aichi sees right through Ren's power. Ren quickly decides to take the battle a little more seriously, and rides Blaster Dark, a black version of Blaster Blade. In a couple of turns, he completely annihilates Kenji, and AL4 are crowned the national champions. In an attempt to cheer Q4 up, Shin arranges for a beach trip, but Aichi is too demotivated for it. Miwa manages to convince Kai to speak to Aichi. Kai's words give Aichi the motivation to continue playing. Fired up, Q4 requests a special training session from Shin.

Q4 has gone to the beach in order to train at Vanguard - though a lot of its supporters, such as Katsumi, seem to have other priorities. The team meets up with Team Caesar, who set up the training camp, and they quickly engage in cardfights. Surprising everyone, Kai actually defeats Kenji, and the two engage in an elaborate discussion about strategies and tactics. In the meantime, Aichi loses to Yuri five times in a row. Yuri requests to see Aichi's deck, and once she does acknowledges that it's a good deck, but with a weak unifying victory strategy. Aichi thinks about her words as everyone prepares curry for dinner, and while everyone else sleeps, he begins working on his deck.

Aichi sleeps late and is thus the last to get up. Kai and Kenji have woken up before everyone else and are already engaged in Cardfighting. They have leftover curry for breakfast, while Aichi reports the unfortunate results of his deck editing session. They go to the beach, where Aichi, Katsumi and Yūta are put under a special training regimine by Kamui, which culminates in them imagining themselves as valiant Vanguards on Cray. Shin presents Q4 with a briefcase full of rare cards, which they used to build up their decks. Aichi's Royal Paladins speak to him in his mind, and he reconstructs his deck without realizing it. Yuri challenges Aichi to a rematch, and Aichi skillfully uses the effects of Hi-Dog Breeder Akane and Pongal to get Soul Saver Dragon in his hand, before Katsumi interrupts the match. The team finally leaves the training camp, satisfied with the experience they have gathered.

Miwa spys on Kai who has begun fighting in underground fights in order to find stronger opponents. Underground Cardfights usually result in the loss of cards, and players do not abide by the rules that ensure fair play in a Cardfight. When Miwa discovers that Kai is searching for Jun, the King of Underground Fights, he goes looking for him. He confronts Jun, and is captured. Jun and Kai then have a Cardfight with Miwa and Kai's freedom at stake. Jun uses a Dark Irregulars deck against Kai, and puts up a fierce fight by making use of his cards' abilities. At the end, he attempts to use his ace, Edel Rose, and her critical strike ability to finish off Kai, but is prevented by the complete defense of Kai's Wyvern Guard, Barri. Kai and Miwa leave, with Miwa figuring out that he had been used by Kai to draw Jun out.

A tournament is being held again at Card Capital, but it is now a team fight due to the large number of participants. Team Q4 fights and moves all the way up to the final round, with Kai not participating in the team fight. Q4 discovers their opponent to be Team Overthrow which consists of Miwa, Yūta, and Katsumi, who is dressed up as Ninja Master M, since the costume was donated to him by M, since he decided to not participate in tournaments anymore. In the first round, Katsumi faces Misaki and completely loses due to his deck being full of grade 3s. The second round features Kamui and Degozaru's secret weapon, Princess Maiden, who is actually Emi, who wanted to participate in the tournament. Because of Kamui being unwilling to give his all against Emi, she defeats him using her Bermuda Triangle/Oracle Think Tank deck. Now it is Aichi's turn, and his opponent is none other than Miwa!

The fight between Miwa and Aichi begins. Miwa, who surprisingly uses a Kagero deck like Kai, forces Aichi into a corner by using powerful retiring strategies, and even though Aichi manages a powerful attack using two Pongal and Young Pegasus Knight, and then Solitary Knight, Gancelot as well as Soul Saver Dragon, Miwa blocks his efforts, and calls Dragonic Overlord, activating its Eternal Flame. Though Miwa gloats with 'Final Turn', Aichi blocks his attack, and then places down Flash Shield, Iseult to neutralize Overlord's hit. He proceeds to win the game using Soul Saver Dragon - however, Kai is informed by Miwa that Aichi hears the call of card spirits, which greatly worries him.

The regionals commence once again, with Team Q4 and Team Handsome competing. Battles rage as Team Handsome advances to the next round. Team Q4's first opponent, though, is Team Fragrance, a dangerous group whose members claim to be able to sense their opponent's feelings by their scent. Aichi displays extraordinary positiveness by claiming the first spot for Q4, and proceeds to the fighting arena.

Aichi trusts the voice of his cards, riding Solitary Knight, Gancelot and calling King of Knights, Alfred to the Rear-Guard circle. His opponent uses an Oracle Think Tank deck. Though his first Counter Blast with Gancelot is thwarted by Chocolat, he tries again during the next turn, and scores an unexpected Critical trigger, winning the match. Misaki proceeds to win the second fight with a clever combination of Oracle Guardian Red-Eye and Goddess of the Full Moon Tsukuyomi. Team Q4 also advances, but Aichi seems exhausted from his previous fight and collapses, unable to continue. The next fights are conducted without his presence, and Kamui and Kai easily dominate their opponents, allowing Q4 to move once more to the very last round, where they hope to face Team Handsome. However, Gouki and the others are defeated by a mysterious team called Avengers, whose leader is revealed to be none other than "Crusher" Kyou Yahagi, seeking revenge against Kai...