Out with the casual play, and into the real foot of the drama, at least for the continuation of High Card, the creation and next succession from Kakegurui mangaka Homura Kawamoto, Mikaru Kuno and TMS Entertainment's evolution of bringing the poker play into a global stage.
With Season 1, it serves as the establishment of a poker-playing world: bound by the entire stack of 52 X-Playing Cards which all has a different power used for the gains of anyone who picks it up, it certainly is a wild goose chase for trying to be pseudo-Kingsman trying to accomplish the task of capturing all the Cards. That is only the first step, and the second with all characters left, right and center doing their ultimate best at achieving their plans within the organizations that they serve for: High Card under Pinochle, their next competitive rival Who's Who, and the mafia organization of the Klondike Family.
Season 2 here, continues that trend by going back in time to the real plot of how these X-Playing Cards were formulated, and how through the Kingdom of Fourland, these Cards have gone out of control through sheer greed and temptation of its powers, and connect a world where the Cards signify peace and harmony, or a pure monocle of destruction.
And the main person most affected by this is Finn Oldman, who is now Chris Redgrave's superior (because of his attempt to play an X-Hand of 5 cards to save his sister, only to fail and be demoted from his position), on figuring out his real past since he was an orphan living in the Sun Fields Orphanage. This however, involves a very highly sought afer X-Playing Card: the King of Spades, "San Galgano" a.k.a the Black Knight, which is in direct relation with Finn's past, and the family that the entity destroyed from his childhood, enough to sworn High Card's newcomer for revenge. The Card, residing at Tilt, the young executive of the Klondike Family, is a very powerful tool that works a ton for the user, but its consequence outweigh the benefits as he/she becomes the aforementioned Black Knight, who will take full control of the user with its own consciousness and motives. And as it turns out, the plot of Finn and San Galgano takes precedence for the 2nd half of the series, all while changes within the royal family of Fourland are experiencing shake-ups of their own, as well as the police force with Greg Young and Sugar Peace, not to mention the continued rivalry of Pinochle and Klondike for the Cards. It's quite a mess that stems from time millennia of the creation of the X-Playing Cards, with all of its issues brought forth since the very beginning of the series. This journey, unlike the glitz and glamour of Season 1, will be a harsh reality to face for Season 2 with its change of tone.
Speaking of tones, everything has remained the same thus far, from Studio Hibari's production to the music. The tonal changes also reflect on the OP/ED theme songs, of which Five New Old is back with another OP song, a subtle one to reflect the darkness of the 2nd half, though it's decent at best and quite different from its banger Season 1 counterpart. Raon's melancholic ED song this time is also fine, though I can't quite find myself clicking with it unfortunately.
With the serious tones, High Card experiences yet another low, not just in retention rates, but also the shift in story elements (which proves essential from Season 1's setup) which is understandable and yet not all too difficult to be cognizant of it's part in the big storyline. I feel that this could've been better if some rational choices were done, but it is what it is, and for an alter-Kakegurui with the same high-stakes game, it's fine as an overall product.
Still, High Card is and will still remain as an underappreciated show, and I quite honestly...don't mind that at all, when all is said and done.