Weekly Bites reveals: Aqua Force never sealed in reboot, Daiyūsha key art

Image 7: "Unite!! Team Q4"
Mitsusada Kenji, 3rd place in the Asia Circuit and a member of "Voyage," has decided to participate in a shop showdown. On this day, Mitsusada suddenly arrives in Card Capital.

Key artwork of Mitsusada "Koutei" Kenji and Super Dimensional Robo Daiyūsha, used as reference while animating the 2018 Cardfight!! Vanguard anime. Daiyūsha will be facing off against Miwa Taishi's Hero deck in the new series. Daiyūsha is voiced by Inada Tetsu, voice of Shinjо̄ Tetsu.

In this week's anime Question & Answer section, Vangarо̄-kun explains that the Aqua Force clan was never sealed in this new continuity, so Leon's lineage was never destroyed, and so he was never seduced by Void. This time, Leon was able to peacefully grow with his friends as a Vanguard fighter.

Rather than a "remake," the new series is a "Reboot" which explores a "what if" scenario for various characters. Those familiar with the previous series will enjoy both reuniting with the old cast and seeing how they're changed by this "what if."

Monthly Bushiroad leaks: Episodes 7-10 feature NwO vs Q4

Leaks from the July issue of Monthly Bushiroad magazine--out on the 8th--have been sent out by a fan in Japan with an advance copy. So far we have one new Megacolony unit and four new episode summaries. (The issue also includes episode 6 but it was already revealed earlier this week.)

Nasty Smog
"The incarnation of nasal harassment."
CONT [Rearguard Circle]: All of your opponent's units on the same column as this unit cannot intercept.
CONT [Rearguard Circle]: During your opponent's stand phase, all of your opponent's units in the back row of the same column as this unit cannot Stand.

Image 7: "Unite!! Team Q4"
Mitsusada Kenji, 3rd place in the Asia Circuit and a member of "Voyage," has decided to participate in a shop showdown. On this day, Mitsusada suddenly arrives in Card Capital.

Features Mitsusada Kenji versus Miwa Taishi, Dimension Police versus Nova Grappler.

Image 8: "Uproar!! Q4 vs NwO"
A shop showdown with Team Q4 representing Card Capital and Team NwO representing Voyage begins! Gоuki and Nagisa, the former sibling team, stand up to face Team Q4!

Features Daimonji Gouki versus Tokura Misaki, Granblue against Oracle Think Tank.

Image 9: "Kai, defeated!!"
The third round of the shop showdown is the aloof fighter Kai Toshiki against the emperor of the TCG world Mitsusada Kenji. A burning hot fight unfolds between these two incredibly skilled fighters, tearing each other to pieces!!

Features Mitsusada Kenji versus Kai Toshiki, Dimension Police against Kagerо̄.

Image 10: "Aichi's Wind!!"
The Asia Champion Leon proudly challenges Aichi!! Leon feels something he calls 'the wind,' and Aichi is forced to struggle with all his strength...!!

Features Sendо̄ Aichi versus Sо̄ryū Leon, Royal Paladin against Aqua Force.

The episode previews further tease several Dimension Police units we have yet to see from V-EB02:

"Dimensional Robo, Daibattles," "Super Dimensional Robo, Daiyusha," and an unknown third card.

"Masked Police, Grander" can be seen at the right.

Weekly Bites Reveals: Card Shop Voyage and Team NwO

This week's special guests are voice of Tokura Misaki, Kitta Izumi, and Vanguard evangelist Maeda Seiji-sensei.

Weekly Bites episode 3, start! Stand up, Vanguard!

The fourth episode is titled "Misaki's Secret!!"

Episode summary
Card Capital's shop clerk Tokura Misaki takes an interest in Sendou Aichi, who changed greatly through Vanguard even though he lacked fight experience. Accepting Aichi's invitation, Misaki begins her first fight.

This is an early preview of Card Shop Voyage, a large shop that Kamui used to go to. Famous cardfighters like Daimonji Gouki and Mitsusada Kenji attend it, and Vangaro-kun wishes he could go too.

Team NwO (Nagisa with Others) is made up of Daimonji Nagisa, her older brother and the Asia Circuit's runner-up Daimonji Gouki, Asia Circuit champion Souryuu Leon, and third-place in the Circuit Mitsusada Kenji. Team NwO will challenge Card Capital in the new anime series.

This a significant divergence from the 2018 anime series' source material, Itou Akira Vanguard manga. In the original manga Kamui's shop was unnamed, and had been overrun by Foo Fighters lead by Yahagi Kyou.

Let's Translate Cardfight!! Vanguard: Lock on Victory!! Part 5: Yuri

Yuri's next.

Boy: Miss, how do you use this card?

Yuri: Well, for that one...

Mitsusada Kenji: Hey, hello! It seems like something's been troubling you for a while now. What is it? ...Vanguard? I see, you're also a Vanguard fighter! Heh, so you just began recently. Do you have a grip on the rules?

Yuri: Koutei, what is it? Oh, who are you?
Kenji: Since you've been teaching kids the rules, thought I should call you over. He just started Vanguard recently.
Yuri: Ah, I see. In that case, I'll test you to see how well you know them.

Yuri: "Sentinel" cards have one of two possible abilities, "Perfect Guard" and what else?
>Quartet Wall
>>Quintet Wall
>Trio Wall

Yuri: That's right! Not bad.

We get a copy of Dimensional Robo, Dailander for answering her quiz correctly. Quintet Walls are one of my favorite impractical card mechanics, because they absolutely ruin Daikaiser's entire very-specific mechanic.

Yuri: Let's put what you've recalled into practice. We'll see if you've mastered both wisdom and power in a real match.
>>Fight
>Don't fight

VS Yuri
Dimension Police

Yuri initially gets gradelocked at zero, so I reset this fight. She has first play this game, and is running an Enigman deck, the classic Dimension Police ride chain. Unfortunately we see the deck's weak points immediately; she fails her initial ride into Enigman Ripple, instead going into the 8k vanilla Karenroid Daisy. Unlike later ride chains, the BT04 version lacks the Forerunner ability, so it gives absolutely no compensation for failing to ride correctly.

Our opening ride isn't much better, but Planet Lancer at least gives us a booster for later.

Yuri doesn't have much of a gameplan to work with. Lining up two vanillas at least guarantees I can't block (18k vs 8k) but I would probably have accepted an unboosted attack regardless, as I need to account for potentially riding Planetal as my first grade 3 and need 2 counterblast for that.

With no grade 3 in sight, it's in my best interest to poke the opponent as much as possible. That may seem like it's wasting Planetal, but should I drive check it I can still intercept with Claudine on Yuri's turn and have an open circle to superior call a grade 3 in. Should I get Ashlei instead, I  have a 17k center and my rearguards can be content to poke Yuri for 5k blocks until it comes time to break ride.

Lo and behold, Planetal in the drive check. We're going with plan A.

Had Yuri damage checked even one trigger, it would put a total stop to all of my remaining attacks this turn, but that doesn't happen and she doesn't opt to block, leaving her at 4 damage to 1 and +0 to +1. Unless she pulls off something drastic, the end of the line is in sight.

Yuri: Behold the power of Team Caesar's empress. Ride!

Enigman Rain is Yuri's original boss card from the first season. If its power is 12000 or greater before it initiates an attack, then it gains the ability to stand one rearguard when its attack hits. Ideally you would combine this with Glory Maker to create a 22000-power center, or use Cosmo Beak to achieve the same with a lesser booster. The ideal target for this play is the grade 3 Miracle Beauty, who stands the rearguard behind her when she stands, but even so these kinds of on-hit strategies are hopelessly dated, even in limit break format.

Oh, now this is just sad. There aren't even any rearguard attacks to bother intercepting--All we need do is take the damage and call over an occupied circle.

Yuri drive checks an Enigman Ripple (her second one) and a Miracle Beauty, while we damage check a draw trigger into this Rachelle.

I ride into Planetal and superior call a copy of it to activate the Toypugals. Enigman Rain is a 10k base, so the remaining Claudine column will require a 15k guard once you factor in the +3 on each unit. I don't want Yuri two-passing my vanguard with a single trigger, so I go ahead and replacing Planet Lancer with Rachelle. It's a loss to me, but it's even more of one for my opponent.

Yuri drops 15k on our vanguard, and I check a draw trigger. I have a choice here; If I think none of the four unknown cards in her hand are 10k shields, then I could try putting the effects on Claudine in hopes of drawing out more guardians. But in light of how Yuri hasn't been calling anything of note, that's probably not the case. So it's better to power up the rearguard Planetal and guarantee that no matter which column she blocks, Yuri will have to drop another 15k.

Yuri takes the first attack and guards the second for another 15k, bringing her down to 3 cards in hand. At this point, she can't even give us limit break or the required guard will jump up another 5k through our rearguard Planetal.

On her turn Yuri uses a Guide Dolphin to give Rain +3k, activating her on-hit skill. But at this point, Yuri's too far gone to recover.

We block the Miracle Beauty's first attack, tank Rain's, and take the last one to reach limit break. Yuri's gameplan becomes redundant when she drive checks a stand trigger, removing the need for Rain's on-hit altogether. Miracle Beauty stands through the trigger, then through her own skill stands the Quilt behind her.

As if things couldn't get worse for Yuri, our fourth check is a draw trigger. In general, draws are better damage checks than they are drive checks, as they add to your hand without contributing the drawback of another 5k in hand.

There's no need to play anything else. Attack with Planetal, limit break, Yuri doesn't have enough shield to block even two attacks.

Yuri: I lost, huh...

750 VP for a win, 50 for limit breaking, and a Guide Dolphin. This fight was little more than turning cards sideways until the opponent stops. In the future I'll be avoiding showing fights like these.

Yuri: I'm shocked! You certainly have good moves. I'll look forward to seeing you grow.

Kenji: I'll have to be careful, too. Let's meet at a tournament next time!

Character: Mitsusada Kenji

"I have powerful subjects. That's right, just like Caesar, the emperor of Rome, I combine them to receive great strength."
"The righteous spirit is everlasting and blazes up even higher! Superior crossride! Ultimate Dimensional Robo, Great Daiyusha!"

Mitsusada Kenji/光定ケンジ

Age: Unconfirmed; attending high school

The national champion from two years ago, and the captain of Team Caesar. Kenji loves Roman history and models himself on Gaius Julius Caesar; it's for this reason that he's called "Koutei," the emperor of Team Caesar. Despite his public persona being based on the late dictator, his references to Caesar more often refer to the entire line of emperors named "Caesar" rather than Julius Caesar himself.

Spoiler warning: Season 1 details follow. 

Kenji is the first person shown to fight Suzugamori Ren, facing him in the final match of the season's first national. 

Kenji is humiliated in the fight, defeated by an opponent that's still at grade 2. Humbled by Ren's Qualia, Koutei takes note of the one other team to score a win against Ren's team, and arranges to meet with them through their manager, Nitta Shin. At this training camp, Teams Caesar and Q4 form a powerful bond, working together to improve their decks in preparation for the second half of the tournament season.

Having made friends with Q4's Kai Toshiki, Kenji makes his following appearance at the next national, where he eventually ends up pitted against Sendou Aichi. Though Kenji quickly recognizes Aichi's Soul Saver Dragon strategy and prepares accordingly to negate it, he isn't able to anticipate Sendou bringing out Alfred Early. Ultimately, Kenji loses the match, and sits out the remainder of the season on the sidelines. 

Spoilers end here. 

During the Asia Circuit chapter, Kenji goes on to participate in Tatsunagi Takuto's VF Circuit, renewing his position as Team Caesar's leader. While they come out as strong players in the Singapore stage, scoring several points toward their overall performance, Kenji's real time to shine is in the Seoul stage.

Spoiler warning: Asia Circuit details follow.

Koutei eventually ends up in a rematch with his old rival Suzugamori Ren, where he demonstrates the skill that earned him his national title by initiating a superior crossride of the Ultimate Dimension Robo, Great Daiyusha while under the effects of their fight's "Stand 3" special rule. By focusing on creating a strong center line in addition to setting up his superior ride sequence, Koutei surpasses Suzugamori with Great Daiyusha's limit break and comes out as the only member of Caesar to win his match against Team NAL4.

Following the events in Seoul however, Koutei chooses to retire from the competitive scene to attend school at the Singapore Institute of Technology, the same school as Team SIT Genius members Christopher Lo, Lee Hsien Loong and Fajr Ali. Although saddened by having to leave his team behind right in the middle of the Circuit, and plagued by the question of whether he even has a future at SIT while trying to compete with such young prodigies, Koutei chooses to make the trip regardless, vowing to not participate in any tournaments until his graduation.
Spoilers end here.

SDRD Biography: According to Bushiroad's April 1st website, in the Super Dimension Robo Daiyusha spinoff anime, Kenji's father commands the Earth Defense Organization "Caesar." Mitsusada is a first-year highschool student at Jigen High¹, who loves robots and is obsessed with model kits. Yuri and Gai are his friends from childhood, and Ren recently transferred into his school. He originally mistook the robot Daiyuusha for a fragment of a falling space shuttle, and was saved by it from the Shadow Paladins at the eleventh hour by the Dimensional Robo. He later persuaded Daiyuusha to join his father's group. Kenji has an inner sense of justice that his new robot friend leads him to discover.

Universal Notes: Koutei's surname, Mitsusada, is written using the kanji 光定. Because Japan's writing system was adopted out of China's, kanji have two readings, the Chinese reading and the Japanese reading. As Yuri explained in ride 26, the Chinese reading of Mitsusada is "Koutei" meaning "Emperor." 

Interestingly, the animation for his Great Daiyusha combination sequence shows Goyusha emerging from Daiyusha after purging his original armor components, suggesting it to be a new configuration rather than an add-on to Daiyusha itself.

Decks and Playstyle

Koutei uses a Dimension Police deck, which initially has Workerpod Saturday as its starter. By ride 56 however, he has switched over to Enigman Flow, using the Enigmen line of cards to maintain a combination of grade security and hand advantage. His deck builds up toward Enigman Storm, which like Daiyusha before it, gains an extra critical when other units' skills are used to power it up in preparation for an attack.

As a finishing move, Koutei brings out Commander Laurel, using the grade 1's skill to rest 4 units and stand his vanguard for an additional twin drive. The attack that follows is very nearly unstoppable.

Rides 33-82: Koutei (30/50 cards)

Grade 0

x3 Workerpod Saturday (FVG: Ride 33)

x1 Enigman Flow (FVG: Present)

x1 Justice Cobalt CT

x2 Guide Dolphin ST

x2 Cosmo Fang ST

Grade 1

x1 Karenloid Daisy

x3 Diamond Ace

x1 Glory Maker

x2 Enigman Ripple

x1 Cosmo Roar

x1 Commander Laurel

Grade 2

x1 Masked Police, Grander

x1 Twin Order

x2 Enigman Wave

x1 Platinum Ace

x2 Cosmo Beak

Grade 3

x1 Super Dimensional Robo, Daiyusha

x1 Enigman Shine

x3 Enigman Storm

Kenji's second deck makes use of the combining Dimensional Robo units, patterned after the anime super robot boom, and off of the Brave series in particular. Accordingly, he uses the deck's skills to bring together three vehicle units with his first vanguard Goyusha at the center, creating the deck's GaoGaiGar analogue, Ultimate Dimensional Robo, Great Daiyusha. Like his previous deck, this one focuses on creating a powerful vanguard, utilizing the Dimensional Robo soul skills to create an unstoppable center line.

Rides 82-Current: Dictator Super Combination: Burning Justice Sword! (25/50 cards)
Grade 0
x1 Dimensional Robo, Goyusha
x1 Justice Cobalt CT
x2 Justice Rose HT 
x2 Army Penguin DT
x2 Dimensional Robo, Daibattles CT
Grade 1
x2 Dimensional Robo, Daimariner
x2 Dimensional Robo, Dailander
x2 Speedstar 
x1 Diamond Ace
x1 Glory Maker
Grade 2
x2 Cosmo Beak
x1 Dimensional Robo, Daidragon
x1 Cosmic Rider
Grade 3
x3 Super Dimensional Robo, Daiyusha
x2 Ultimate Dimensional Robo, Great Daiyusha

1. "Jigen" can mean "Dimension."