So, Selector, what even is it? Depending on who you ask it’s either one show with two seasons, or a one season show, Selector Infected with a one season sequel, Selector Spread. Either way it’s also, if you believe it, a card game tie-in anime; it released concurrently with the card game WIXOSS, making the game in the show more or less real, similar to what was done a decade and a half earlier with Yugioh. While WIXOSS never achieved the international success of its predecessor (perhaps because its first western release is scheduled for this November, several years and formats after Selector), it’s very much an actual game and is still going strong.
Especially in the West, game tie-ins are seen sort of as poison when it comes to cinema or shows, what with the stigma around video game movies and the inability of Magic: the Gathering to launch any sort of film endeavor despite over two decades of popularity and several surprisingly good novels and fun comics (and plenty of trash ones too). Even anime isn’t immune. I can’t deny that when a show’s derived from a game, it’s generally working uphill, and that’s with video games that have stories to provide. Some are hits while others… aren’t. The closest famed thing to what WIXOSS was attempting with Selector would, of course, be the Yugioh anime, but while it’s extremely successful and certainly a beloved show I’ve always gotten the impression that it’s loved more for cheesy fun than held up as actual quality storytelling.
Despite this, I was told up and down that Selector was different. It was good on its own. Selector Infected WIXOSS, that’s the tabletop game tie-in that really works as an anime. Well, curiosity got the better of me at last, so it’s time to look at Selector.
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