Tai Chi Chasers

Tai Chi Chasers is really an extended commercial designed to sell trading cards. While similar series have their share of hot headed protagonists Tai Chi Chasers takes the cake with annoying lead characters. Although Rai (Bella Hudson) loses his mother, his home, and his semblance of a normal life in the first episode it's hard to feel any sort of sympathy for him as he is constantly yelling and arguing with his newfound teammates and putting them down or mocking them. Rai's teammates are often helping him out, saving him, or making excuses to keep him in their group by blaming themselves, but he still continues with his admonishments.

In addition to the main character's faults, the tai chi cards themselves are uninspiring. The cards each have a special power that is initiated using a cell phone-esque "activator." Each card is listed with stats and are not much different from attack cards that one might find in a Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokemon card deck. The biggest difference in this series is the retention of the Korean names for the cards and the direct violence that is perpetrated between opponents. There are no cute pokemon or card summoned monsters to absorb attacks here. Rai and his teammates experience each attack directly. There are also moments when the cards seem to have their own motivations and provide assistance to the characters without being activated as if they had their own consciousness. Rather than being inspired, these moments often feel like a cop out designed to make the cards more appealing and marketable as the characters don't really do anything themselves to cause these miraculous things to happen.