El-Hazard Cards

Japanese Trading Cards

Summary of Set 1: (Features OVA 1)
Released: 1998 by Broccoli Co.
Price per pack: 360 Yen
Cards per pack: 10 cards
Total cards in set: 117
Breakdown of set:
Special Cards: 9
Illustration Cards: 9
Opening Animation Cards: 18
Character Cards: 72
Puzzle Cards: 9 (These nine cards form one large picture)

Summary of Set 2: (Features OVA 2 and First TV series)
Released: 1998 by Broccoli Co.
Price per pack: 360 Yen
Cards per pack: 10
Total cards in set: 117
Breakdown of Set:
Special Cards: 12
Illustration Cards: 6
Opening Animation Cards: 18
Ending Animation Cards: 9
Story Cards: 45
Character Cards: 18
Puzzle Cards: 9 (These nine cards form one large picture)

American Trading Cards

The American Trading Cards were part of promotional offering. The first was a set of 9 cards, which were included with El-Hazard 2 and the Released OVA 1 video cassettes. The 9 cards featured pictures of characters on the front and scenery from El-Hazard on the back.

The second set were foil cards featuring pictures of the different types of Bugrom. These were included with the Wanderers videos in America.

Official Playing Cards

This was a special promotional item offered in the United States from Pioneer. People who bought all four El-Hazard: The Alternative World VHS videos or DVD's and sent in the four cards packaged with each volume could send away for a set of El-Hazard playing cards.

People who have bought anime poker decks before know that while they may have pretty pictures, usually the quality of the card stock, frankly, sucks. They are flimsy, tear easy, and are a pain to shuffle right.

These on the other hand are quite nice. These have an 'Air-Glide Finish.' I don't know what that means, but I can tell you that they FEEL good. They feel like an actual pack of Bicycle playing cards. They shuffle great and the edges have not worn off yet.

The cards are standard poker cards and the number cards are all the usual faire. The entire 56 card set comes in a nice box, which has Ifurita's opening monologue from the first OVA series. All the 'face' cards have pictures of El-Hazard Characters. Here's a summary:

Japanese Phone Cards

Phone cards are very popular in Japan. Phone cards have also been around in America for awhile now too. However, in America, these are often seen as cheap disposal items.

American phone cards usually have a set amount of minutes stored on them to be used toward talk time. A user will call a specific number, enter a code printed on the card, and after being informed of how much talk time they have left, complete their call. When the card is used-up, it is often throw away because it has no real collector value.

In Japan, phone cards are slightly different. Phone cards are actually like ATM or credit cards. Japanese pay phones actually have a slot in which the cards are inserted. However, the principle is the same in that there is a set amount of 'talk-time' stored on the card.

What is different however, from their American counterparts, is that these cards are usually not thrown away but rather kept. Often because they are collectable. The cards will often feature pictures of places, celebrities, and yes even Anime stuff on them. This means that they're kind of like a more expensive kind of trading card.

There are several El-Hazard phone cards that feature El-Hazard and El-Hazard characters. Occasionally these will show up on Ebay or another auction site. They tend to fetch between 5-15 dollars depending on how collectable it is.

There was a special set however that was interesting. AIC commissioned a set of 5 El-Hazard phone cards featuring art by Tsubura Hidetomo (The artist who did the El-Hazard Manga.) These are called 'Premium selection.' All five have black and gold backgrounds and full color art. I do not know what the original asking price was.

Here is a small collection of Japanese Phone Cards:

Ani-Mayhem

During the mid-1990's, America was caught up in a new craze. The craze was that of CCG's (Or Collectible Card Games.) This craze was started by a game called 'Magic: The Gathering' and though has floundered a few times is still actively going strong at the time of this writing.

What a CCG is exactly is a card game. However, unlike a normal card game, players do not usually have all the cards at their disposal. Instead, players must build decks using cards they own and develop a strategy using those cards to beat their opponent(s) and their deck(s). Cards are sold in decks(Usually called a 'starter') and packs(usually called a 'booster.') However the contents of these packs is random so a player usually does not get the same cards as their friends. Also certain cards are more rare (And usually have more of an effect on the game.) So players are forced to buy pack after pack and trade cards with friends to get cards they desire. That is why they are called 'Collectible.'

Licensed properties such popular TV shows and other pop culture are no stranger to CCG's. There have been card games dedicated to everything from Star Wars to the X-files. From Pro Wrestling to the Lord of the Rings. Many of these games however failed shortly after production because of a crowded marketplace. Only the most unique games, or most popular licenses tend to last very long.

History lesson aside, it should not surprise anyone then that card makers tried to market an Anime related CCG. Those people were Pioneer and Upper Deck and the game was called 'Ani-mayhem.' The game featured cards from many different anime series. The overriding objective was to create a team of anime characters to beat your opponents team of characters to powerful or unique items while overcoming obstacles trying to stop both teams.

The initial set had cards that featured the following anime series: Tenchi Muyou!, El-Hazard, Bubblegum Crisis, and Ranma 1/2.

Shortly after the original set was released, a second set was released featuring new cards and new anime series. The shows featured in this set were: Project A-ko, Ah! My Goddess, Dominion - Tank Police, Phantom Quest Corp., and Armitage III.

The second and final 'expansion' set featured cards all from the first three seasons of Dragonball Z. It was at this period that Ani-mayhem enjoyed a very brief period of popularity.

However, after the Dragonball Z set, no more cards were produced and eventually the game was cancelled. There were probably many reasons why the game failed to catch on. One was that many of the anime series featured were, at the time, not very familiar to the mainstream audience. Another was that most retailers simply didn't carry the game and cards were very hard to get, plus they were expensive compared to similar games. Finally, the rules were quite hard to follow and sometimes even incomprehensible (At my last count, the rule book was rewritten or changed some 4-5 times.)

So as a final memorial to the game that never saw a lot of playtime or even fans, I will present to you all the cards in the game that featured El-Hazard.

Characters

Afura Mann
Alielle (Promo Card)
Chief Servant Londs
Galus (Promo Card)
Katsuhiko Jinnai
Kiriya
Makoto Mizuhara
Miz Mishtal
Mr. Masamichi Fujisawa
Nanami Jinnai
Shayla-Shayla

Locations

Bugrom Homeland
City of Floristica
Crystal Tunnels
Desert of Bleached White Bones
Floristica Marketplace
Floristica Palace (Haven)
Ifurita's Tomb
Mt. Muldoon
Shinonome High School
Spring of Arliman
The Citadel
The Ruined City

Items

Bugrom Big Raid Medal
Dimensional Sleep Chamber
Ifurita's Power Key Staff
Mountain Sign Post
Refreshing Drink
Royal Painting
Soft Bath Towel

Equipment

Attack Pods
Desert Skimmer
Lamp of Fire
Lamp of the Wind
Ring of Water
Royal Flying Barge
Ura, The Armor Cat

Enhancements

Assassin Disguise
Clean Livin'
Fatora Disguise
I'm Buyin'
Jump
Mountain Man
Servant
Interdimensional Telport (Promo Card)

Global

Broken Bonds (Promo Card)
Palace Guard
Relaxing Hot Spring

Flash Effects

Big Sucker Gas Slash
Female Jealousy
Fire Shield
Misdirection
Royal Librarian
Stand Up Straight
Temporal Disturbance
Water Spear
Wrath of the Eye of God

Major Disasters

Big Bug
Deva, The Bugrom Queen
Jinnai's Strike Squad
The Demoness Ifurita

Minor Disasters

Bugrom Bridge Bashers
Bugrom Horder
Bugrom Type 1
Disguise Revealed
Forceful Impact
Kiriya, Phantom Assassin
Nahato, Phantom Prince
Restricted Area

Combat Cards

Hammer
Slam
Shaken Up
Smash
Stomp

Charm Combat Cards