The BEST episodes directed by Shigetaka Ikeda
#1 - Hero`s Challenge
Cardfight!! Vanguard - Season 2 - Episode 17
Team Q4 watches the final round of the Seoul Stage, which pits Team New AL4 against Team Caesar. The special rule for all of the fights in this round is that only 3 rear-guard units are allowed to stand at the beginning of each turn, thus limiting overall attacking power. The matchups are Kai vs. Gai, Asaka vs. Yuri, and Ren vs. Kenji, with Ren deciding to borrow Tetsu's Dark Irregulars deck for his match. Ren and Kenji exhibit world-class play as Ren builds up his soul to power up both his vanguard Blade Wing Reijy and rear-guard units. Ren tries to attack Kenji's rear-guards to hinder his upcoming strategy, but Kenji successfully protects them. Kenji then declares "Final Turn", moves his Dimensional Robo rear-guards to the soul, and superior crossrides his new key card, Ultimate Dimensional Robo, Great Daiyusha. This tactic dubbed as the "Dictator Super Combination" and Great Daiyusha's Limit Break raise its power to unprecedented heights, and along with getting a draw trigger, Kenji finally fulfills his goal of defeating Ren. However, the celebration is cut short when he learns that Yuri and Gai have lost their matches, meaning that Team New AL4 wins the Seoul Stage by a score of 2-1. Before New AL4 is transported to the next round, Kai informally tells Aichi and Q4 how they must get stronger if they hope to ever cross paths with him again.
#2 - A New Brilliance!
Cardfight!! Vanguard - Season 2 - Episode 33
Yuri's Battle Sisters deal major damage to Misaki, giving her the lead 1-5. Misaki strikes back by riding her new ace card, Goddess of the Sun, Amaterasu. Yuri tries to guard her attack, putting Misaki in the same situation as the last time they fought each other. Misaki decides to take a chance, which pays off when she drive checks a critical and heal trigger, and evens out the damage 4-4. Thanks to Amaterasu and its Limit Break, Misaki ultimately wins. Meanwhile, Kamui continues his battle with Joker X, who rides No Life King, Death Anchor. Kamui defends himself against its terrifying skill with a lot of his cards. On the following turn, Kamui crossrides Illuminal Dragon and activates its Limit Break to stand his remaining units, thus forcing X to not guard against his attack. Kamui defeats Joker X without ever learning his true identity. Winning every match they had, Q4 is crowned the victor of the Japan Stage. After the awards ceremony, Q4 is led to a room where Takuto Tatsunagi explains everything. Expanding on what he previously said to Aichi, a mysterious force has invaded the planet Cray and captured the leaders (Blaster Blade, Blaster Dark, and Dragonic Overlord) of the united clans. The abduction of those three affected the human world by wiping their respective clans from existence. Nevertheless, through the VF Circuit, Takuto has gathered the winners (SIT Genius, New AL4, Dreadnought, and now Q4) of each stage to become the new vanguards for the clans of Cray and lead them in the battle against the mysterious enemy. Takuto transports everyone to a unique dimension that leads to Cray, where they all advance to the "True Final Stage". However, Team Dreadnought stands in their way, with Leon saying that he is the only one needed.
#3 - Feelings Towards Foo Fighter
Cardfight!! Vanguard - Season 1 - Episode 61
Misaki draws upon her memory power as she battles Asaka in this second-round revenge match.
#4 - Betting on the Goddess!
Cardfight!! Vanguard - Season 2 - Episode 9
Team Q4's 3rd round match begins; their opponents are revealed to be against Chris, Ali, and Lee - Team SIT Genius. Lee Shenlon is shown having great pride, and he declares he is the only one who can defeat Chris. Meanwhile, Ali promises to defeat Kamui and steal Emi from his heart forever. Ali seems to have the advantage as Kamui is given a quick 5 damage to Ali's 3. Misaki gives Lee 3 damage and then attacks the rearguard, fearing Lee might have the power of Limit Break. That move is made void though as Lee plays a card that will give him one additional damage for a full turn, thus giving him the power to gain Limit Break.
#5 - Raid! Legendary Armada
Cardfight!! Vanguard - Season 2 - Episode 25
Q4's Aichi and Kamui face off against Leon and Sharlene of Dreadnought in the finals of the Hong Kong Stage. Remembering Leon's fight with Daigo, Aichi and Kamui do their best to minimize the damage taken from Dreadnought's multi-attacking Aqua Force units. Although Aichi deals damage to Leon, he is unaffected by his attacks. Then, Aichi asks Leon what he means whenever he refers to the "wind". It is then revealed that Leon's "wind" is actually the power of Psyqualia. In a Psyqualia-induced vision, Leon tells Aichi a tale from long ago about a conflict between the many clans on the planet Cray. This war was eventually resolved by the appearance of the dominating Aqua Force armada. In the human world, the Souryu family had control over the Aqua Force which was used to hold power over the seven seas. However, for unknown reasons, the Aqua Force clan disappeared, and so did the Souryu family's power. The last remaining Souryu members foretold a prophecy of a child who would be "embraced by the wind" and restore the family name and the Aqua Force clan to their former glory; Leon believes that child is himself. In a flash, Aichi is shown a vision of two Blue Storm Dragon, Maelstroms, which Leon claims to be his "whirlwind" image of victory. Back to the tag fight, Leon rides one Maelstrom and activates its Limit Break. But Aichi uses a perfect guard to block its attack and safely makes it to his next turn. Does Aichi have the same kind of resolve that Leon has, willing to use Psyqualia to win?
#6 - Idol Fight
Cardfight!! Vanguard - Season 3 - Episode 11
Rekka, the third member of Miyaji middle school's Cardfight Circle, enters the clubroom and is followed by Kourin. After Shingo informs Naoki on who Rekka is, she then challenges Aichi to a Vanguard fight. As the two battle, Rekka shows off her charm as an idol, which infatuates Shingo into becoming her fan. Rekka uses the various effects of her Celestial-themed Angel Feather deck to move cards in and out of her damage zone to her advantage. She gets a copy of Solidify Celestial, Zerachiel into her damage zone which, via the Limit Break of her vanguard Zerachiel, empowers all of her Celestial Angel Feather units. However, Aichi withstands Rekka's assault and uses his Gancelot/Alfred Limit Break Ride combo while also superior calling Blaster Blade Liberator from the soul to finish the game and defeat her. Afterwards, the two clubs give their thanks to each other before Shingo offers to become a member of Rekka's fan club.
#7 - Challenger Naoki
Cardfight!! Vanguard - Season 3 - Episode 18
The members of the Miyaji Cardfight Club draw lots to decide who will play against the Fukuhara Vanguard Club in the final round of the Kanto regional qualifier. Naoki is selected to be first, Kourin is second, and Aichi is third. After some pre-fight conversations between Miyaji and Fukuhara, the two teams send their fighters for the first game. Naoki once again fights against Suiko. Unlike what happened in their previous encounter, Naoki chooses to not preemptively use the Limit Break of Armor Break Dragon in order to maintain the cards in his hand. He survives Suiko's Break Ride combo attack, but he is left in a tough situation and begins to question himself. With some encouragement from Aichi, Naoki trusts his instincts and activates Armor Break Dragon's Limit Break, climactically winning the game and putting Miyaji up 1-0. For the second game, Miyaji's Kourin will face Fukuhara's Asaka.
#8 - High School of the Heat
Nyaruko: Crawling with Love! - Season 2 - Episode 9
"Yasaka Household, I have returned!" Kuuko's cousin, Kuune, seems rather mad that she had been left alone for so long. Once Mahiro and the others get to school, there is a strange aura surrounding it. Their classmates have fallen under a mass hypnosis and human-shaped flames attack the group. At this rate, the Earth is in danger! Is this the work of Kuune, or...
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#9 - Activate! Limit Break!
Cardfight!! Vanguard - Season 2 - Episode 2
Depressed about losing his Royal Paladin deck, Aichi meets Kai. He learns that not only has Kai's deck been changed to a Narukami deck, but also that Kai has no memory of using a Kagero deck or of Aichi using Royal Paladins. To find some answers, the two have a cardfight. As Aichi struggles to get comfortable with his new Gold Paladin deck, Kai slowly realizes that something is off. Getting his memory back, Kai nonetheless chooses to continue using his current deck, but Aichi is conflicted about using his. Kai tells Aichi that he is bound by his own limits by not wanting to use Gold Paladins and that he needs to break through them. To prove his point, Kai rides Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion, declares "Final Turn", and performs Limit Break, an ability that activates when a player has 4 or more damage. With Vermillion's Limit Break, Kai attacks all of Aichi's front-row units in one strike and wins as a result. After the battle, Aichi and Kai watch a commercial advertising the Vanguard Fight Circuit, a worldwide invitational tournament which is sponsored by Takuto Tatsunagi, the young boy that Aichi met before and the one responsible for the phenomena of changing their decks. To use the VF Circuit as a way to reach Takuto, Aichi and Kai go their separate paths. When Aichi goes to Card Capital, he is surprised to learn that Team Q4 has received an invitation to the VF Circuit.
#10 - Targeted Idol
Cardfight!! Vanguard - Season 3 - Episode 3
Aichi's Cardfight Club is attracting attention all around the school as male classmates (who are mostly interested in being with Kourin) have him teach them the rules of Vanguard and again attempt to play against Kourin in order to be inducted to the club but to no avail. Additionally, the female students gossip about a rumor that claims Aichi only started the club to get close to Kourin, which makes Misaki worry. Aichi tries to ask Misaki to join the club, but she declines because of her job at Card Capital. Kourin gets an unsettling feeling that there is someone watching her, with Naoki suspecting that it could be a stalker. Naoki eventually confronts the stalker who turns out to be a classmate, Shingo Komoi. Naoki threatens to beat him up, but Shingo suggests to settle things with a cardfight instead. Despite modifying his Narukami deck, Naoki's inexperience at Vanguard causes him to struggle against Shingo's Murakumo deck. After some taunting from Shingo, he reveals that the one who he has been watching is not Kourin, but it is actually Aichi, who he highly admires. Shingo defeats Naoki, who recommends for him to become a member of the Cardfight Club. Aichi and Kourin let Shingo join, thus bringing the total members to four. Unbeknownst to Aichi and his friends, another student observes them from afar and then walks away with the intention of reporting the Cardfight Club's disruptive behavior to the student council president...
#11 - Attack on Evil Deity
Nyaruko: Crawling with Love! - Season 2 - Episode 1
The deities of the Chutlhu mythos who live in ordinary high school student Yasaka Mahiro's home - Nyarko the Nyarlathotepian, Kuuko the Cthughan, and Hasuta the Hasturian - are enjoying the wonders of Earth entertainment yet again. They drag Mahiro along as they indulge in video games, shopping, cosplay, and more...
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#12 - She Attacks
The Pet Girl of Sakurasou - Season 1 - Episode 7
While Sorata waits to receive the results from the gaming competition, his little sister Yūko comes to visit him and becomes jealous when she sees how close he is to Mashiro and Nanami. The three of them go on a 'date' with Sorata while they all vie for his attention. After the date, Mashiro and Yūko get lost but Mashiro proclaims her faith in Sorata and he soon finds them. As she leaves, Yūko announces her plan to attend Sorata's high school the next year. Meanwhile, Misaki attends driving school.
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#13 - Like a Close Encounter of the Third Kind
Nyaruko: Crawling with Love! - Season 1 - Episode 1
One night, Yasaka Mahiro finds himself under attack from a mysterious monster. In his moment of need, a silver-haired, green-eyed girl appears. "I'm the chaos that always crawls up to you with a smile, Nyarlathotep." Identifying herself as the deity from the Cthulu Mythos, she claims to have come to protect Mahiro. However, she tricks Mahiro into leaving his home, goes shopping at anime shops, and in general mixes business with her personal affairs. Meanwhile, they are assaulted by another mysterious monster. Why do these monsters keep attacking Mahiro.
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#14 - Visitor Arc III
The Irregular at Magic High School - Season 2 - Episode 3
The vampire that attacked Leo was a demon called a "parasite." The Saegusa and Jumonji families decide to join forces to solve this case. Mikihiko and Erika search for the parasite to get revenge for Leo, and they confront a mysterious masked magician.
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