Selector Infected WIXOSS: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Selector Infected WIXOSS: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 15, 2015

As the father of two boys, I lived through what seemed like years of both Magic and Yu-Gi-Oh “battles”, with dozens of (at times ludicrously high priced) cards spread all over the floor and various youngish tots performing all sorts of convoluted moves which they insisted were part of some overarching strategy which would, ultimately, guarantee them world domination. One of the interesting if tangential things about these card games is that they actually involve kids sitting down and playing with each other face to face, rather than existing in a virtual world courtesy of gaming platforms or online computer offerings. That social aspect is one of the motivating factors behind the setup for Selector Infected WIXOSS, an anime which posits a bunch of girls who are more or less obsessed with the titular card battling game of WIXOSS. Ruko Kominato is a sweet, fairly introspective, girl who has recently moved in with her grandmother and (occasionally at least) her older brother, a move which has left the lass “unaffiliated” at school, a loner in a world where many of the more popular girls are already well ensconced in the WIXOSS universe. Ruko’s grandmother is worried about her charge, wanting the little girl to make friends and acclimate herself as well as possible to her new environment. Ruko’s brother Ayumu Kominato notices how worried their grandmother is, and suggests to Ruko that she try as hard as possible to make friends, providing her with a WIXOSS deck in order to facilitate that attempt. Ruko is more than a bit surprised, then, that in examining her deck she comes to the amazing realization that a so-called LRIG character card’s illustration of a fairy like sprite seems to be alive. That character, whom Ruko soon names Tama, becomes Ruko’s avatar during gameplay, and in fact Ruko soon learns that WIXOSS is not “just” a card game, but a whole alternate reality of sorts, kind of like a portal that offers a virtual universe kind of akin to ideas that are prevalent in such other anime as Sword Art Online: Box Set I or .hack//Quantum OVA.

While the card playing conceit ties the film to any number of other anime, Selector Infected WIXOSS also starts trafficking in some more traditional “magical girl” tropes as found in such redolent works as Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Box Set Volume 1, especially with regard to one of the plot points where “special” WIXOSS players, called Selectors, battle each other for the chance to make a wish come true. They’re also limited as to the number of defeats they can weather before tragedy (or at least the denial of their membership in the WIXOSS sorority) strikes. It’s probably no big surprise that Ruko herself is soon identified as a Selector, an identification based at least in part on the very fact that Tama is bouncing around making a lot of noise “inside” Ruko’s LRIG card.

Once a quintet of Selectors have been introduced, the show settles down into something of a formula, with various battles ensuing as the combatants try to get to the point where their wishes can be granted. It’s nothing earth shaking, but Selector Infected WIXOSS manages to create a sweet natured ambience where, for example, Ruko’s desire to belong chafes against her “role” as a Selector. There’s therefore a kind of interesting dialectic set up between the idea of wanting to be someone’s friend and also knowing that they need to be vanquished within the world of WIXOSS.

What’s kind of odd about Selector Infected WIXOSS is how cavalier the show is about its titular card game. Very little about the mechanics of the game is ever explained, and in fact in Ruko’s first battle, the fact that she knows absolutely nothing about how to play is a salient plot point. That’s fine for a character new to an enterprise, but some viewers might be wishing for a little more information about the game, especially since it’s such an integral part of the storyline.

While there’s a somewhat derivative feeling about Selector Infected WIXOSS, and certainly a rote structure to many of the episodes, the shōnen aspects detailing the interrelationships between Ruko and the other Selectors (as well as other schoolgirls) are actually quite enjoyable if accepted on their own small scale terms. The show may not in fact be quite as magical as some of the girls involved, but it manages to create a decently enjoyable spell that actually becomes more involving as the show progresses.

Selector Infected WIXOSS: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Selector Infected WIXOSS is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This recent vintage series often looks nicely vivid in high definition, especially with regard to some of its more abstract sequences, typically done during WIXOSS matches. In some of these sequences, some really deeply burnished reds and purples wash across the screen and provide a lot of visual pop. The more traditional "every day" aspects of the series tend to be a bit more pedestrian looking, though line detail is generally sharp and well defined. This is another anime where the brightness at least occasionally seems artificially boosted, though some of this can be attributed to the series' tendency to tweak the imagery at times to indicate things like flashbacks.

Selector Infected WIXOSS: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Perhaps surprisingly, Selector Infected WIXOSS does not include a surround iteration in its English dub, providing more or less identical Dolby TrueHD 2.0 mixes for both the original Japanese language version and the FUNimation dub. This is perhaps a little unfortunate, given some of the bombastic sound effects that occasionally attend the series, but it's perhaps done at least in part with a recognition that some of the most compelling aspects of the series are the quieter dialogue moments between the Selectors rather than the knock down, drag out battles. Prioritization is fine and despite not having a dedicated low end channel, the lower frequencies on these tracks are relatively full sounding.

Selector Infected WIXOSS: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One:

• Episode 1 Commentary features Christopher Bevins, Monica Rial, Lindsay Seidel and Tia Ballard.

Disc Two:

• Episode 12 Commentary features Christopher Bevins, Jamie Markey, Apphia Yu and Micah Solusod.


• Textless Opening Song "killy killy JOKER" (1080p; 1:32)


• Textless Closing Song "realize-yume no matsu basho-" (1080p; 1:32)


• U.S. Trailer (1080p; 1:07)

Selector Infected WIXOSS: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Selector Infected WIXOSS has a winning heroine in Ruko, and some of her angst as she attempts to wend her way through both her "real" life and her role as a Selector provides this series with most of its emotional connection, even while other aspects of the show seem awfully derivative and rote feeling. The series actually becomes more involving as it moves along, introducing some interesting stories for supporting characters if never venturing all that far from a "battle of the week" structure. Technical merits are generally very good and taken as a whole Selector Infected WIXOSS comes Recommended.