Redundancy Review: Day 63, “Let It All Out”

(for context on what this series is, please see my Day 1 post here: Redundancy Review: Day 1, “A New Beginning” – Rosalia’s Rambles)

Good morning sobbers and weepers, welcome to Day 63 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

Last night I had a good long cry, lasting about three-quarters of an hour, and it was really needed. For some reason (possibly estrogen-related), my emotions flared up and I found myself wanting to cry over seemingly nothing, the main trigger point that finally set it all off being a Youtube short of a cute guinea pig wheeking loudly – animal videos tend to set my emotions off regardless, but very rarely do they make me want to cry.

And I just… let it all out. First time in a long while that I have had a good cry, and even though I am paying for it this morning, it was something I needed.

Part of the reason is definitely lingering anxiety around the convention I am going to soon. It has been almost six years since my last convention experience and I am feeling exceptionally nervous about both putting myself out there, cosplaying properly for the first time in a good few years, and trying to make friends/be social within a community I have been a quiet participant in for many years.

Additionally, despite the fact I feel I am starting to heal from my redundancy, there is still some lingering trauma from everything that went down that seemed to be gnawing at the back of my mind during my emotional moment.

I keep telling myself that I am still here, despite everything I have gone through and continue to go through, holding on to my continued existence as a reminder that I am extremely lucky in a very unkind world. My brother once told me that I “had the confidence to sail into the storm, and you have what it takes to make it out of it” – he specifically said that in reference to the fact I came out as trans, but it is something that sticks with me all the same.

It is hard to exist as a trans person in today’s world full stop, but there is a certain pain that comes from being a trans person in the UK, especially when a supposedly left-wing government got voted in on the promise of “do not be as shit as the Tories” have specifically shat on me and people like me harder than they ever did.

But I will make an effort to still be here, and still be myself.

I will not be erased.

I will not be silent.

Death before detransition.

I still have stories to tell, and even if it is taking a long-ass time to tell them, they will be told. Both for myself, and for whoever needs them.

Feels kind of weird to pivot from such an absolute statement into the positivity of Hololive Tuesday, but… Happy Hololive Tuesday everyone! I am extremely excited for today’s review as it combines my love of VTubers and my love of card games as I review the Tokino Sora and AZKi Starter Deck for the Official Hololive Card Game English release.

I bought two starter decks, one from TokyoToys in Glasgow when I visited, and another from The Gamers’ Emporium in Swansea on delivery, the latter of which was nice enough to send me a tournament promo pack as part of my order, thanks for that!

I have laid out the majority of the contents on the included paper playmat, but to give a rundown, here is everything that is included in the box:

• Two “oshi Holomem” cards in the form of Tokino Sora and AZKi
• One 50-card preconstructed main deck
• One 20-card preconstructed “cheer” deck, consisting of white and green cheers
• 1 quick manual rules sheet
• 1 paper playmat with marked zones for cards
• 1 cardboard sheet containing a selection of damage counters and a “SP Oshi Skill” counter

The box’s contents allow you to take everything out and play right away, with a surprisingly smooth first time play experience when following the included quick manual. 

When my partner and I did a starting game both using the product we only had to clarify one rule using a Youtube video, after which the flow of the game became rather clear to us – though this comes with a small disclaimer that I have been playing card games regularly for around a decade now, meaning I can adapt to new games easier than most.

For a brief explainer of how the game works:

• You have your “oshi Holomem” who acts as the face of the deck, determining your health and carrying two special abilities: one you can use once each turn, and one that can be used once per game
• You have a deck made up of “Debut”, “1st”, “2nd”, and “Spot” holomems along with support cards.
• “Debut” holomems act like Basic Pokemon from the Pokemon TCG, being able to be placed directly on your “stage”, or bench to further borrow Pokemon terminology
• Whilst on your bench, you can place down “1st” or “2nd” holomems to “bloom”/evolve your holomems into more powerful cards
• “Cheers” act similarly to energy in Pokemon, being attached to your holomems as part of a “cheer phase” and being used to activate “Arts”/moves
• You have a “center position” holomem who stays on the field until destroyed or swapped out, and a “collab position” holomem who stays on the field for a turn before returning to the bench to “rest”
• The game ends when a player’s life is reduced to zero, when a player has no holomems on their stage, or if they cannot draw a card from their deck due to it being empty

A lot of standard TCG rules and terminology, but given a Hololive flavour. I often describe it as Magic: the Gathering Commander format crossed over with Pokemon, which is possibly why I enjoyed it so much. The game definitely takes some amount of time to play through one round, which is why the current official tournament format is only Best-of-1.

The card quality is fantastic, feeling solidly constructed especially compared to how modern Magic cards currently feel, with the included oshi holomem cards having texture applied to their foils, a common technique in most card games but a very pleasant inclusion for a starter product.

I also have to admit that whilst I own significantly superior playmats that I will likely be using in future; I definitely have a soft spot for the included paper playmat. It reminds me too much of the old paper playmat you would get in old Yu-Gi-Oh starter products and tickles a nostalgic part of my brain in a weird way.

As mentioned, the quick manual was actually rather intuitive for doing a first game, my only issue coming in the form of the explanation of the cheer phase. In the manual it reads:

“Turn the top card of the cheer deck face up, and send it to your holomem on stage.”

This reads pretty simply, but it caused the issue for myself and my partner to only initially send cheers to our centre position holomem until we looked up a video to check another rule where the person’s explanation of the cheer phase made it clear a cheer can be set to any holomem on stage, front position or back position. 

A very minor gripe that might not affect a majority of players, but I would prefer the wording to be something like:

“Turn the top card of the cheer deck face up, and send it to any holomem on stage (front position or back position)”

For a little bit of easier reading.

However, I find myself already in love and simultaneously anticipating & dreading when the next couple of sets are localised, knowing full well I have yet another card game I am going to become obsessed with.

Well, considering that the next in-universe Magic: the Gathering set isn’t until 2026 now, maybe that is not such a bad thing.

The starter deck was well worth the money in both instances, and if my brief review has made you interested in playing it, I definitely recommend picking it up.

Three pages and 1000+ words, oh yeah, I am thinking I might be back! Thank you for reading today’s card game edition of the Redundancy Review, please continue to stay cool and hydrated wherever you are along with not letting the world get you down too much.

For more information on the Official Hololive Card Game, visit the website here: hololive OFFICIAL CARD GAME｜hololive production