Cardfight!! Vanguard

Kids from all over town converge to play Vanguard, a card game that seems to be the biggest thing going around. A timid boy, Aichi Sendō, has a rare card, the Blaster Blade, which makes him a target for Katsumi Morikawa, a player who wants to use Aichi's card to get revenge on another player, Toshiki Kai. After school, Morikawa and his buddy Yūta Izaki steal Aichi's Blaster Blade from him. Aichi runs to a card shop called Card Capital to find that Morikawa lost it in a bet against Kai. It is then that Aichi and Kai meet and play a round of Vanguard with Blaster Blade as the prize. Before the match, Kai gives Aichi Blaster Blade in the hopes of him using it effectively against him. During the course of the match, Kai teaches Aichi the rules of playing Vanguard. As the fight goes on, Aichi reveals that he has met Kai before when summoning his ace, Blaster Blade, which Kai gave to him long ago, stating that it was because of him that he wants to learn more about Vanguard.

After Aichi plays Blaster Blade, he and Kai recall their first meeting. Back then, after seeing a young Aichi beaten up, the young Kai cheered him up by giving him Blaster Blade, and he told Aichi to imagine himself as a strong warrior like the card. With that in mind, Aichi got absorbed into Vanguard, creating his own deck in the hopes of playing against Kai, who had already moved away by then. Back to the game, Aichi deals a bit of damage to Kai, who retaliates with his ace card, Dragonic Overlord. It wipes out Aichi's units and greatly damages him. All seems lost until Aichi draws a "Heal Trigger", which allows Aichi to stay in the game for one last turn. Aichi launches a final attack with Blaster Blade, which breaks through Kai's defenses and deals one more point of damage to Kai, thus giving Aichi the win. A day later, Aichi revisits the card shop. Despite thinking that Kai would not show up after being defeated, Aichi is glad to see that Kai returns.

Aichi's little sister, Emi, is worried by Aichi's different behavior as of late. After school, Emi sees Aichi with Morikawa and Izaki, who want him to go with them to the Card Capital. However, Emi misinterprets the situation as Aichi hanging with the wrong crowd. Concerned for her brother, she secretly follows the trio to the Card Capital. There, Emi is astounded by all the people in the shop, icluding Aichi, Morikawa, and Izaki, playing Vanguard. It is then that the card shop's manager, Shin Nitta, appears and introduces Emi to the world of trading card games. Emi and Shin then observe a cardfight between Aichi and Morikawa. The battle ends with Aichi winning without taking any damage. Watching Aichi play, Emi sees how much her big brother has changed because of Vanguard. And so, she has become supportive of Aichi playing the game.