Saturday, October 1, 2011

Character: Morikawa Katsumi

"I attack with tinkling, twinkling Gold Rutile!"


Morikawa Katsumi/森川カツミ 
Age: 14/15 (Approximately) 
Voice Actor(s): Sugiyama Noriaki(Japanese)1, Lucas Gilbertson(English)2
Anime Biography: The self-professed strongest fighter in Card Capital. He starts the series off by stealing Aichi's Blaster Blade and betting it in a fight with Kai, attempting to use the rare card to beat him. While Morikawa is initially just a bully, he gradually shifts his attitude to becoming Aichi's friend.

Katsumi accompanies Team Q4 to the regional and national competitions, but rather than participating sits on the sidelines and acts as a cheerleader. Late in the series he participates in the second and third shop tournaments. His character seems to have been retired as of season 2, being left behind at Card Capital while Q4 travels to the Asia Circuit. 

Manga Biography: Having a similar personality in the manga, Katsumi fills the same role in stealing Blaster Blade. Here he is a member of Hitsue Junior High's CF Vanguard Research Club, sponsored by Mr. Mark, but his overall role is reduced, as after the chapter in which the club is introduced Morikawa is not seen again. 

Universal Notes: His given name comes from 勝つ "katsu," meaning victory. It's intended to be ironic. 

Fan Culture: Morikawa tends to attract the most dislike as a character, being seen as obnoxious and as a joke that has overstayed its welcome by the western fanbase. He has a small following on pixiv derived from how lethal he turned out to be with a constructed deck, but outside of this he lacks the redeeming qualities that have endeared the rest of the cast to fans. 

Decks and Play Style
While his favorite card is Juggernaut Maximum, Morikawa's deck has no set clan. His overall strategy is to fill it with powerful grade 3 units. Naturally, this causes him massive problems in successfully riding from one grade to the next, boosting his cards' power, and activating triggers. Morikawa overall is the worst cardfighter in the entire series run, being effectively the same after over 60 episodes of presence in the series and more than 20 consecutive losses.

Rides 1-85: Super-Strong Deck (28/50 cards) 
Grade 0 
x1 Lizard Runner Undeux (FVG)
x1 Dragon Dancer Monica DT 
x2 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT 
x1 Lizard Soldier Ganlu ST 
Grade 1 
 x2 Embodiment of Armor, Bahr  
Grade 2 
x1 Dragon Knight Nehalem  
x1 Blaster Blade (Temporarily)
Grade 3 
x2 Juggernaut Maximum 
 x2 Demon Eater 
x2 Tyrant Death Rex 
x4 Stealth Dragon Void Master 
x3 Demonic Dragon Berserker Yaksha 
x3 Monster Frank 
x1 Hell Spider 
x2 Asura Kaiser

It's demonstrated in rides 51 and 52 that Morikawa is a good strategist, but only when given a deck that is itself already good; Morikawa's obsession with grade 3s proves his greatest weakness to be deckbuilding. For the duration of those rides, he borrows a Nova Grappler trial deck, at which time he becomes undefeatable until he actually buys the deck and decides to "tune it up," integrating the cards into his old grade 3 base.

Rides 51-52: Golden Mecha Soldier (20/50 cards)
Grade 0
x2 Battleraizer ST
x1 Cannon Ball ST
x1 Round Girl, Clara HT
x1 Shining Lady CT
Grade 1
x2 Oasis Girl
x1 Battering Minotaur
x1 Screamin' and Dancin' Announcer, Shout
x2 Queen of Heart
x1 Tough Boy
Grade 2
x2 Super Electromagnetic Being Storm
x2 NGM Prototype
x1 King of Sword 
Grade 3 
x1 Death Metal Droid
x1 Mr. Invincible
x1 Gold Rutile 

Rides 85-Current: Superest-Strong Deck (30/50 cards) 
Grade 0
x1 Turboraizer ST (FVG)

x1 Dragon Dancer Monica DT 
x2 Embodiment of Spear, Tahr CT 
x1 Lizard Soldier Ganlu ST 
Grade 1 
x2 Embodiment of Armor, Bahr  
Grade 2 
x1 Dragon Knight Nehalem 

x2 Super Electromagnetic Being, Storm

Grade 3 
x2 Juggernaut Maximum 
x2 Demon Eater 
x2 Tyrant Death Rex 
x4 Stealth Dragon Void Master 
x3 Demonic Dragon Berserker Yaksha 
x3 Monster Frank 
x1 Hell Spider 
x2 Asura Kaiser
x1 Gold Rutile

Unlike in the anime, Morikawa's manga self does not run a grade 3-centered deck, but instead a Spike Brothers-Tachikaze mix.

Chapter 1-Current: General Blast (9/50 cards)
Grade 1
x1 Wonder Boy
x1 Gyro Slinger
Grade 2
x1 Spike Bouncer
x1 Blaster Blade (Temporarily)
Grade 3
x1 Savage King
x1 General Seifried
x1 Unite Attacker
x2 Juggernaut Maximum

Citations and External Links
1. "Cardfight!! Vanguard (TV)." Anime News Network. ANN, 8 June 2012. Web. 8 June 2012. <http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=11763>.
2. Beveridge, Chris. "‘Cardfight! Vanguard’ Anime Gets English Language Dub, YouTube Distribution ." The Fandom Post. The Fandom Post, 4 June 2012. Web. 8 June 2012. <http://www.fandompost.com/2012/06/04/cardfight-vanguard-anime-gets-english-language-dub-youtube-distribution/>.