Ani-Mayhem was an anime-based collectible card game first released in 1996 in the wake of the CCG boom created by the popularity of Magic: The Gathering. Produced by the merchandising arm of Pioneer Animation (now known as Geneon) and published by Upper Deck, Ani-Mayhem's cards featured images from a variety of anime series and movies. The first two sets were composed of multiple productions such as Tenchi Muyo!, El-Hazard, Project A-ko and Ranma ½, and the third and final set was based entirely on the long-running Dragon Ball Z.
Like most CCGs that were created in the post-Magic boom, Ani-Mayhem's existence was a brief sidenote in the industry. When the first set, commonly known as Set 0, was published, its rulebook was considered uninformative and incomplete. Later printings of the game attempted to fix this by including a more detailed rulebook that fundamentally altered the way the game played. The Dragon Ball Z expansion, which came in starter decks just as the original set did, included a ruleset that rewrote the game for a second time.
Ani-Mayhem! was the first American CCG based on anime properties, but it wasn't the last. After the game was discontinued, CCGs based on individual series such as Pokemon and Dragon Ball eventually entered the North American market, experiencing varying degrees of success.
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