Fantasista Doll

This twelve episode anime follows Uzume Uno a girl who is given a rather unusual card game. Using the device that holds the cards she can summon five 'dolls'. These dolls are sentient and inevitably look like girls. Uzume isn't the only person with the cards and she soon finds herself being challenged by others; this leads to battles between her dolls and those of the challenger. We soon learn that these aren't random challenges the mysterious 'Mutual Dream Association Group' is offering to grant any wish to the person who defeats Uzume and takes her cards. When I read the plot synopsis for this film I thought it might just be a device to help sell a card game but now I've seen it I don't think that can be the case; no time is wasted explaining how all the cards work. In many ways this feels more like a magic girl series than one about a game… the dolls certainly act like magic girls. As one would expect from such a series it is really about the development of friendship; both between Uzume and her dolls and between her and other members of the school card club. This isn't a classic series but it was rather fun; the story is enjoyable and the animation is pretty good. There isn't anything here to offend; in fact it feels like it has been toned down at times; the dolls are seen undressed at times but their bodies are just white with no real detail. These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.