There’s a new anime series out that looks to feature some cool classic cars. We haven’t actually seen High Card, but the trailer and opening credits include a healthy dose of automotive mayhem. The plot sounds completely cuckoo-bananas ridiculous, but the star car is apparently a Datsun Fairlady roadster, and plenty of other real-world cars appear throughout.
Look, we’re not even going to try to explain the plot. It apparently takes place in a fictional European kingdom and revolves around agents that gain supernatural powers with the help of magical playing cards. But here’s where it gets really nuts: the shadowy organization’s front is that it’s ostensibly a car company, and all the agents are salespeople. Here’s an excerpt from the official summary:
There is a secret group of players called High Card, who have been directly ordered by the king of Fourland to collect the cards that have been scattered throughout the kingdom, while moonlighting as employees of the luxury car maker Pinochle. Scouted to become the groupʼs fifth member, Finn soon joins the players on a dangerous mission to find these cards. “All you need in life are manners, dignity, and the will to bet on your own life.” However, Whoʼs Who, the rival car maker obsessed with defeating Pinochle, and the Klondikes, the infamous Mafia family, stand in the way of the gang.
There’s not one, but two top secret societies pretending to be a car company as they scour the kingdom for mystical cards. As if running a functioning car company that presumably puts out a product now and then isn’t difficult enough. And the second one is called Who’s Who! I don’t know about you, but I’d definitely buy a car called the Who’s Who 400EX for the badge alone.
Anyway, one of the main good guys drives a blue Datsun roadster, while another team member rocks a Prince Skyline GT. However, High Card seems to take place in modern times as the trailer above opens with a car chase between an Audi RS5 and an ND Mazda Roadster/Miata. It’s a magical world where, according to background cars, Aston Martin DB5s, Dodge Chargers and Skodas can co-exist in the same market.
The Datsun sure takes a beating in another clip, where some Terminator-like bad guy jumps on the hood and nearly crushes the protagonists. From this clip we can see that the Fairlady wears some wheels that resemble RS-Watanabe 8-spokes that are a couple of sizes too big for the 1960s roadster.
The cars also appear as stylized versions in the opening credits, which is neat. Again, we haven’t seen even a full episode so we tell you if it’s good or not. But kids seem to love the card collecting aspect of franchises like Pokemon or YuGiOh, so maybe this will be a runaway hit. And if it gets them interested in some cool vintage cars, then that’s just icing on the cake.
