"I got teammates! And as long as I got them, I ain't never gonna give up! But you wouldn't understand that feeling, huh?!"
"Kamui the Great rides Asura Kaiser!"
"Kamui the Great rides Asura Kaiser!"
Age: 126
Birthday: September 135
Voice Actor(s): Ishikawa Shizuka(Japanese)2, Melissa Dorsey(English)3, O In Seong(Korean)4
Anime Biography: An ambitious cardfighter who regularly takes on opponents several years his senior. Kamui has an intense crush on Aichi's sister, and most of his actions in the series revolve around impressing her. Years ago he was a bullied for being short, but Daimonji Gouki eventually helped pull him out of his depression. As time went on, Kamui learned from Gouki that strength was more than a physical concept. Of Team Q4, Kamui competes with Kai for the top spot as the best raw fighter, but where Kai is cold and emotionally distant, Kamui is ruled by passion and impulsive outbursts.
Spoiler warning: Season 1 details follow.
Kamui's lack of emotional control is what ruins Q4 in their first entry into the national competition. Kamui refuses to tolerate Kai's cold behavior and ruthless concept of Vanguard. Rather than learn to cooperate and accept his teammate's faults, Kamui takes his cards and goes home--abandoning his team when they need him most. With Q4 missing a key member of its lineup, and too focused on getting Kamui back to concentrate on the battles before them, Team Q4 is pushed out of the national tournament by Team Foo Fighter AL4.
Kamui returns afterward, vowing to grow stronger and push his team to the nationals. While locked out of much of the series' continuity, Kamui works together with Misaki to hold back Aichi's PSY Qualia during the second national competition. Ultimately he's able to hold up his end of their plan using Stern Blaukruger's counterblast, but can do nothing for Misaki in her own fight against Team Foo Fighter Brilliant Stars.
In Q4's bout with Team Caesar, Kamui clears the first match against Usui "Gladiator" Gai, earning the veteran fighter's respect. As season 1 nears its climax, Kamui is paired off with Tetsu for the final round between Quadrifoglio and Apex Limited Four.
Although ultimately the loser of the match, Kamui comes away with the moral high ground, leaving Tetsu shaken and uncertain of the decisions he's made. Cheering on his teammates through the finals, Kamui is later present at the award ceremony and eventually joins Team Handsome in the tournament aftermath.
Spoilers end here.
During the Asia Circuit, Kamui is traded back into Q4. Journeying with Aichi to Singapore, he works to stabilize his position as the team's strongest raw fighter, typically plowing through his match before either of his teammates can finish their own.
Spoiler warning: Asia Circuit details follow.
Following the team's collective loss at the Singapore stage, Kamui finds himself defeated in his home country by none other than his opponent from the national finals, Shinjou Tetsu. Taking a hard lesson that no one has stopped developing since the end of that tournament, Kamui develops a gradual rivalry with Tetsu as he takes additional losses to Kai in Seoul and to Shinjou at the team's follow-up training camp. Seeking to surpass his opponents and innovate with a new strategy to adapt to the limit break climate, Kamui starts over at square zero with his original Battleraizer card, building a Raizer Series deck to compete in the new pro scene.
Spoilers end here.
Manga Biography: While still a strong fighter in the manga, Kamui's backstory with Gouki and Team Handsome is not present. Instead, Kamui's original card shop was overtaken by the Foo Fighters, and he was forced out. Kamui eventually swears revenge against them, and works with the other customers of Card Capital to defeat Kyou, the ringleader in dominating his shop.
Universal Notes: Kamui uses the self-important pronoun "ore-sama," a smug and macho way of talking. This is typically translated as "Kamui the Great..." Yahagi Kyou also uses this pronoun, marking him clearly as Kamui's counterpart--ironically, Kamui is the only major cast member to never fight his Foo Fighter equivalent.
Fan Culture: Due to being locked out of participating in episodes 26 to 32, as well as the general shift in the series' focus over to Kai's past following ride 30, Kamui has earned a reputation for being ignored by the writers. In particular, Kamui has in 58 episodes been given only five fully animated fights, less than any other main character(compare with Aichi's twenty-eight and Kai's nine.)
Decks and Play Style
Kamui favors the Nova Grappler clan, which combines heavy-hitting power house units like Genocide Jack with skills that can stand the rearguard to make multiple attacks. For this reason his primary grade 3 early in the series is Asura Kaiser, but gradually he shifts to favor Mr. Invincible's ability to unflip damage.
Rides 5-34 (37/50 cards)
Grade 0
x3 Battleraizer ST
x2 Shining Lady CT
x3 Lucky Girl ST
x2 Rock the Wall
x2 Round Girl Clara HT
Grade 1
x2 Screamin' and Dancin' Announcer Shout
x2 Queen of Heart
x2 Tough Boy
x2 Claydoll Mechanic
x2 Cray Soldier
Grade 2
x2 Hungry Dumpty
x2 King of Sword
x3 Genocide Jack
Grade 3
x3 Asura Kaiser
x3 Mr. Invincible
x2 Lion Heat
Kamui's second deck shows his preference moving toward the Blau series, and a more stand-heavy build. Omitting certain generic cards possessed by other clans like Shout, Kamui tunes his new deck with the self-standing Death Army series and phases Genocide Jack out slightly in favor of calling Death Metal Droid as a rearguard.
Rides 35-51 (30/50 cards)
Grade 0
x1 Battleraizer ST
x1 Shining Lady CT
x3 Lucky Girl ST
x1 Blaujunger
x1 Cannon Ball ST
x1 Fighting Battleship, Prometheus CT
x1 Round Girl, Clara HT
Grade 1
x1 Queen of Heart
x1 Death Army Guy
x2 Twin Blader
x2 Blaupanzer
x1 Dancing Wolf
x2 Tough Boy
Grade 2
x1 Death Army Lady
x2 King of Sword
x2 Genocide Jack
x2 Blaukruger
x1 Eisenkugel
Grade 3
x2 Asura Kaiser
x1 Stern Blaukruger
x1 Death Metal Droid
In ride 52 Kamui rebuilds his deck along with the rest of Q4. Though this deck is not featured as prominently as his teammates', as a general trend it takes advantage of Nova Grappler's standing abilities and combines them with voluntarily resting rearguards to activate skills. This allows Kamui to make a normal amount of attacks each turn while gaining power through Top Gun and cards through Street Bouncer.
Ride 52-67 (30/50 cards)
Grade 0
x1 Blaujunger
x1 Battleraizer ST
x2 Fighting Battleship, Prometheus CT
x1 Round Girl, Clara HT
x1 Cannon Ball ST
Grade 1
x2 Tough Boy
x2 Blaupanzer
x1 Twin Blader
x2 Death Army Guy
x2 Screamin' and Dancin' Announcer, Shout
Grade 2
x1 Street Bouncer
x1 Death Army Lady
x2 Blaukruger
x3 Genocide Jack
Grade 3
x3 Stern Blaukruger
x1 Death Metal Droid
x1 Top Gun
x3 Asura Kaiser
Kamui's initial deck for the Asia Circuit revolves around the Beast Deity series. Most likely a strategy he learned from Misaki, Kamui uses the series' on-hit skills to stack his deck and search out Azure Dragon copies to fuel its personal blast. Having more in common with his early season 1 decks, this build returns to older Nova Grappler tactics, employing a sixth stand trigger to better support launching repeated full-power attacks.
Ride 68-85 (31/50 cards)
Grade 0
x1 Beast Deity, White Tiger (FVG)
x1 Fighting Battleship, Prometheus CT
x2 Red Card Dealer ST
x2 Round Girl, Clara HT
x2 Battleraizer ST
Grade 1
x3 Screamin' and Dancin' Announcer, Shout
x2 Almighty Reporter
x1 Twin Blader
x2 Tough Boy
x2 Death Army Guy
Grade 2
x2 Genocide Jack
x2 Beast Deity, Black Tortoise
x2 Marvelous Hani
Grade 3
x2 Asura Kaiser
x2 Moai the Great
x3 Beast Deity, Azure Dragon
Kamui's second Circuit deck follows through on his return to old tactics, working from the ground up with Battleraizer to perfect the Raizer series line into a new, power gain-focused build that benefits from having other units out. Bringing him closer in line with his manga counterpart, Kamui takes advantage of his counterblast no longer being reserved for Azure Dragon's persona blast in order to make use of older cards he once avoided like Kirara.
Rides 85-95 (25/50 cards)
Grade 0
x1 Battleraizer ST (FVG)
x2 Fighting Battleship, Prometheus CT
x2 Turboraizer ST
x1 The Gong DT
Grade 1
x2 Raizer Custom
x1 Twin Blader
x2 The Screamin' and Dancin' Announcer, Shout
x2 Tough Boy
Grade 2
x4 Hi-Powered Raizer Custom
x1 Magician Girl, Kirara
x3 Street Bouncer
Grade 3
x2 Perfect Raizer
x1 Moai the Great
x1 Mr. Invincible
Kamui's final deck of the Circuit chapter develops the Beast Deity play style that he started the season out with into a deck based around Illuminal Dragon, Azure Dragon's crossride. This gives the deck a strong endgame that it previously lacked, standing his rearguards with Illuminal's autoskill to subvert the typical problem of Azure's being nullified by the opponent's defenses. The addition of Blank Marsh and Golden Anglet helps this, as Blank Marsh can stand his Beast Deity rearguards just like White Tiger, and Anglet gains power from being standed; when multiple stand skills are combined, Anglet becomes capable of independent attacks that place serious pressure on the opponent.
Rides 95-104 (28/50 cards)
Grade 0
x1 Beast Deity, White Tiger (FVG)
x2 The Gong DT
x1 Cannon Ball ST
x2 Battleraizer ST
x1 Wall Boy HT
Grade 1
x1 Tough Boy
x4 Beast Deity, Blank Marsh
x2 Burstraizer
Grade 2
x2 King of Sword
x2 Street Bouncer
x2 Genocide Jack
x2 Beast Deity, Golden Anglet
Grade 3
x3 Beast Deity, Azure Dragon
x2 Super Beast Deity, Illuminal Dragon
x1 Beast Deity, Yamatano Drake
Like his anime counterpart, Kamui's manga deck is a Nova Grappler build. Here it's built around the Raizer series, which gain power based on the additional Raizers present on the field or in the soul. This deck also features an alternative heal trigger to his anime incarnation, while having missing the emphasis on unflipping counterblast.
Chapter 2-Current (6/50 cards)
Grade 0
x1 Battleraizer ST (FVG)
x1 Wall Boy HT
Grade 1
x1 Raizer Custom
Grade 2
x1 High-Powered Raizer Custom
x1 King of Sword
Grade 3
x1 Perfect Raizer
Citations and External Links
1. "葛木カムイ." KeroKero Ace Vol. 45 1 Sept. 2011: 10-11. Print.
2. Cardfight!! Vanguard Ride 1. Crunchyroll, 2011. Web. 14 Mar. 2012.
3. "Cardfight!! Vanguard English Version - NicoNico Channel." NicoNico Channel. NicoNico Douga, 11 Mar. 2012. Web. 14 Mar. 2012. <http://ch.nicovideo.jp/channel/vanguard-dub>.
4. "Kamui Katsuragi." MyAnimeList. CraveOnline Media, LLC., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2012. <myanimelist.net/character/39594/Kamui_Katsuragi>.
5. "Character birthdays." KeroKero Ace Vol. 50 1 Mar. 2012. Print.
6. Cardfight!! Vanguard Asia Circuit Hen Ride 70. YouTube, 2012. Web. 3 June 2012.
