First Impression: Kampfer

Written by Fernando Ramos

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First Impressions Kämpfer By Fernando RamosSeason Premiere: October 01, 2009 Director: Yasuhiro Kuroda Animation Production: Nomad Story Natsuru was a regular high school student until a strange dream finds him speaking to a ‘Harakiri Tiger’ – an adorably morbid doll with its guts hanging out. The tiger declares him to be a Kämpfer – those chosen to fight other Kämpfers in a duel assigned by mystical beings known as Moderators. But there’s one catch: only girls can be Kämpfers and Natsuru happens to be a boy.

Impressions

Going into this show, we were expecting something that would involve a hilarious screaming review. To our surprise, Kämpfer provided some genuine laughs and energy along with its expected fetish parade. Much like the rest of the season is shaping up to be, it’s not high art – just witness the scene where Natsuru has to go to the girl’s bathroom. Do we need to see this stuff? No. Is it funny? Actually, yes.

The story itself is proving to be mostly a vehicle for some cheap gags and having girls in uniforms fight each other. That said, there are some genuine mysteries behind the origins of the Kämpfer duel and we found ourselves unwittingly involved in the character’s personalities. Plus, the action was just furious and plentiful enough to distract from the more unsavory elements.

Summary

It’s boobs-and-weapons fluff to be sure, but reasonably fun even if brings relatively little new to the table.

Raymond Hu | Anime Diet

Reading about the concept I went “uh-oh, I hope not.” Thank God it was not. Of course, being the first episode, I wasn’t too terribly impressed. However, for something that didn’t sound so great, it managed to keep a good pace, having quirky characters, and I could hear the seiyuu working their asses off to make sure this would be a hit.

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