Brittany Vincent
December 13, 2015 
The magical girl genre is near and dear to my heart, and I’ve followed it for quite some time. I started with Sailor Moon when I was a child, then I dabbled with Magic Knight Rayearth and cheered on Madoka in the impeccable Puella Magi Madoka Magica, a deconstruction of the tropes I knew and loved growing up. That’s why I was so keen on viewing the first season of the card game-inspired Selector Infected WIXOSS, in all its bizarre glory. Now it’s time for the second season, Selector Spread WIXOSS, to spread its wings and fly, and it’s going to be one heck of a ride.
Wishes Among Girls
WIXOSS is actually short for “Wish Across,” the card game this series is based on. Players are asked to face off against each other with special fighters known as LRIGs. Using special cards, they match up in explosive battles that bring Yu-Gi-Oh! to mind. It’s popular enough to involve players of all walks of life, so when young Ruko Kominato receives a deck from her brother and begins playing, it’s no surprise that she whould be interested. But there’s something weird about her cards. Her LRIG Tama can actually speak to her, and things totally spiral out of control from there.
Ruko’s LRIG Tama began behaving like a child, with short exclamations and repetition of her name, much like a Pokémon. Outside of battle she’s not so threatening, but when in WIXOSS skirmishes she’s a force to be reckoned with. It all seems pretty normal until the show reveals that Ruko is one of five girls chosen to be a Selector, charged with the task of (hopefuly) becoming an eternal girl. When the truth comes out about what happens to Selectors and the wishes that are supposedly granted when they’re successful, things quickly take an extremely dark turn. That’s part of the draw of WIXOSS itself, and that’s only perpetuated with the second season, Selector Spread WIXOSS.
Magical Girl Card Pick-Up
The second season opens with two special LRIGs in the heat of battle, and heads on into Ruko’s life, where the cheery young girl has opened up to accept the brightness of life and seems to approach things with a much more chipper disposition than before. For those who didn’t catch the first season, I won’t spoil what happened to Tama, her LRIG, but she’s currently MIA at the beginning of the season. Ruko misses her dearly, but rest assured, she’ll be seen again soon enough.
Ruko and her friends end up meeting with Chiyori, a young girl seen only once in the first season, after questioning if there are any Selectors around in this time of peace. You have to understand, the events from the first season were quite a doozy. Between not knowing what’s going on with Tama and Iona taking over as Ruko’s LRIG, there’s something sinister about the beginning of Iona’s relationship with Ruko, and it’s easy to see from the start of this second season. The transformation from normal, happy-go-lucky girl to power-hungry card battler is obviously something Iona wants to see, and this season has plenty of that strangeness sprinkled throughout.
The only way to get Tama back, it seems, is to accept Iona as her LRIG, but Ruko pushes back for obvious reasons. The aftermath is more than a little terrifying, but that’s why Selector Spread WIXOSS is such an interesting watch.
The Plight of a Selector
Selector Spread WIXOSS can be seen as a supplemental set of episodes to the original series, drawing from concepts the first season touched upon but didn’t have time to completely build upon. WIXOSS is keen on building a world that seems extremely ominous at first glance, but is in truth hiding some very harrowing secrets. This second season truly shines during some of its darker moments, and from the second episode on it’s chock-full of heart-pounding happenings that belie its adorable look. As moe as the characters themselves are, the psychological tension is ramped up to 11 to offset their looks.
This season focuses more on what causes WIXOSS to be created to begin with, other than the fact that it’s “just a popular card game” like so many of these things start out as in the beginning. Just an innocent card game, right? Absolutely wrong. Selector Spread follows Ruko, Iona, Akira, and Chiyori, who can be a little obnoxious from time to time, but the darkness of Iona evens everything out. The lead antagonist, who won’t be spoiled here, is an interesting case as well, as is the being who ends up inhabiting a certain WIXOSS card we know all too well. It’s chilling stuff, but done in such an intriguing manner that you can’t help but stay glued to your seat.
Looking and Sounding The Part
Selector Spread WIXOSS probably wouldn’t be near the series it is if it weren’t for J.C. Staff’s cheerily moe-styled animation juxtaposed with the darkness of depressing color palettes, unique character designs, and horrific imagery. The final episode of the season has some particularly interesting scenes as well, so you’ve got to keep watching to see what the show is actually capable of.
The music perfectly complements the visuals as well. It’s an interesting set of compositions by Maiko Iuchi, with tense instrumentals and even some dubstep-inspired tunes that feel pleasingly out of place with the animation. The new opening theme, “world’s end, girl’s rondo,” from Kanon Wakeshima is upbeat, though you can tell it’s hiding something decidedly more sinister. Like Madoka before it, the music takes the content that’s there and cranks up its creep factor to 11. Those are some of the components that take a possible lackluster series and elevate it to its true potential.
A Magical Sea Change
If you’re interested in magical girl series with a dark twist, you need to take a look at Selector Spread WIXOSS, but make sure to watch Season 1 first or you’ll feel pretty lost. It combines decadently dark elements, memorable characters, visuals that’ll stick with you, and a vague sense of foreboding that you just don’t see enough of in modern anime, especially those that stick to the moe side of things. If you’re looking for something decidedly different for a sea change, something that delves a little deeper than your average shojo dessert-like confections, start with WIXOSS and go off the deep end to the psychological genre. You’ll wonder where it’s been at all your life.
