Kämpfer

I really love all of the crazy implausible story concepts anime is capable of delivering us. Kämpfer is no exception, as it combines many time honored and tested themes of mahou shoujo-esque transformations, girls fighting each other, gender confusion, and lesbianism. Mix in plenty of service and a clichéd harem of the usual personality types and you have an anime that basically been made a hundred times before. And a lot better too. Even though, I still found myself inexorability drawn to this title because of its fabulous seiyuu cast.

The premise for Kämpfer is a bit unique. While it shares ... many of the same themes as shows like Ikkitousen and Sekirei, Kämpfer deviates by essentially making the male lead one of his own harem by forcing him to transform into a girl in order to participate in the battles. The girls are divided into factions, red and blue, and must battle each other to the death (apparently) at the behest of a mysterious and sinister sounding faction known as the Moderators. From the start we seem to be set for a series chalk full of exciting action and ecchi gender bending comedy. By mid series we have our completed harem all vying for the affections of our clueless nondescript leading man (more on him later). Initially I found Kämpfer had a lot of potential for delivering some interesting action and some really entertaining comedy. Unfortunately it doesn't take too long for things to start to unravel. Mainly because the series makes the mistakes many others have made before, trying to be and do too many things instead of just keeping things simple. It was also a bit creepy the matter-of-fact way the lead accepted his fate of becoming a girl and his constantly flip flopping back and forth between masculinity and femininity. This element always tends to bother me a bit in gender bending stories and its rare that it actually really works.

For a show that appeared to be about action and fighting there is a shocking lack of any real fighting in it. Very little about why the girls are fighting is even explained adequately and the ending to the series is in a word: pathetic. Additionally even the ecchi is inadequate with even the supposed "uncensored" version of the show lacking anything all that arousing. The comedy which at times is pretty good is not good enough, enough of the time to really be very pleasing in that aspect either. While normally I would scoff at the mention of any kind of serious romance or drama coming out of a harem anime, the series does try to deliver some of this as well. Some of it works but the characters are so uninteresting and lifeless that the impact is really lost.

Because of the mediocre nature of all of the shows elements it’s unlikely to appeal to fans of any of these genres. Those who like action or romance will not be satisfied and neither will fans of ecchi since all of the service is pretty tame and pedestrian by current standards. Combining that with the terrible ending that fails to resolve neither the main plot or any of it's subplots and we have almost total across the board fail.

The characters really bare the blunt of the blame for Kämpfer being so uninspired. This is nowhere more evident than with our harems leading man, er woman, Natsuru. Now this is nothing new to anyone who has watched any harems. Typically it’s the girls who always shine brightest in these sorts of shows with the guy being a typically plain and indecisive proxy for the fantasies of the intended, mostly male audience. The only difference here is that the guy is in fact one of the girls too. Though other than being hot and combined the stereotypical guy in a girls body humor there is absolutely nothing interesting about "her" either. Maybe the most memorable thing about Natsuru though is he is without a doubt the most clueless and colossally stupid man in the history of the universe. Really dude, buy a fucking clue! I wanted to reach through the TV and slap him myself. I actually almost felt sorry for those girls.

Speaking of the girls they unfortunately don’t fair much better. They meet all the usual harem standards by combining a tomboyish childhood friend, moe oujosama, tsundere meganekko, and cool aloof student council president. They are about as exciting as their descriptions too. Perhaps the only exception is Akane, the bespectacled tsundere. Though this may only have been because of my affinity for the character type and that she was voiced by Yue Horie then out of any real quality. The supporting cast is equally as clichéd and unmemorable. So much so that I doubt I could even remember any of their names without looking at the cast list first.

The best thing to come out of the cast is clearly the talking stuffed "Entrails Animals" that serve as companions for each of the Kämpfer. The fact that they were all voiced by very well known seiyuu was a big part of it but they were really the only characters who were actually funny. You know a series is in a lot of trouble when the highlight of the show is the preview of the next episode and the summary before the episode starts (all coincidently voiced by these characters). I felt that a huge opportunity was missed in not making these characters more involved in the episodes dialogue and comedy bits. I felt there was a lot of untapped potential left behind.

Artistically Kämpfer is solid but unspectacular. The girls are cute and have nice figures and our leading man is at least somewhat manly in at least appearance. I thought the breasts were pretty silly looking though, a bit too torpedoish looking. Kind of a peeve of mine that if you’re going to show me these girls tits all the time that they don’t even look natural. Even if they are usually obscured by the usual convenient steam and light beams. The action scenes are also not that spectacular either, which is even more disappointing considering how few their actually are.

The voice acting is the best and only real bright spot of the anime. A real all star lineup of acting talent is on display but unfortunately they all had very little to work with. The musical performances were fair. I was a little disappointed at who they actually had perform the OP/ED songs considering the talent they had available.

Overall there is nothing for me to recommend about this anime. It fails as a action, harem, or even ecchi comedy. While it does have its moments at times there is not enough of any one thing to really appeal to fans of any of these genres. Stay clear, you can do a lot better than this one.

Ah, Kampfer. The Anime with big-breasted girls fighting for no reason. Here's what I think after completing Kampfer. I will not write spoilers so don't worry.

Story: 7/10
Story? Hmm. Kampfer actually has no story. It's basically just a guy turning into a girl that goes to a school in which boys and girls are separated. Just throw a few random fights out there, and ta-dah, you get Kampfer. They basically don't know why they're fighting until the very end, in which came out as a sci-fi thing.

Art: 9/10
I loved the art of Kampfer. It was outstanding. The details are very well drawn and animated, and ofcourse, ... the breasts. Perfect 32 dds are perfect. It looked clean, and the fight scenes were also good.

Sound: 7/10
Didn't really stand out that much, but it was still good. You get your typical sound in Kampfer. Nothing really stood out in this one, althought the OP song was very good.

Character: 7/10
Typical harem show. Everyone likes the main protagonist. You also get different types of characters, like tsundere, moe, etc, in this show, which is typical. Although you will notice right away who the enemy is going to be, the characters were all good. I mean, a guy turning into a girl? Good, isn't it?

Enjoyment: 7/10
Sure, there were few good episodes in Kampfer, but some were bad, and some were so-so. I did enjoy watching it. Had some good laughs in it.

Overall: 7/10
Althought it was kind of predictable, cliche, and the ending was a turn off, it was still good. If you like Harem, Ecchi, with a little bit of action, then Kampfer is for you!

“That was pretty stupid.” – Sangou Shizuku

Gender bending not your cup of tea? Harem is too redundant in the anime industry lately? Well then perhaps having one more of such show might not hurt too much. As the saying goes “there’s always an exception to everything”, and Kampfer might just be that one exception for you! Blessed with nice animation and huge plot twists (for better or for worse), Kampfer sure surprised many viewers towards the end of the show...in a negative way.

Let us start with something that is very lacking in Kampfer, the plot. Excluding the plot twists that contributed to some much ... needed “excitements”, the story was pretty non-existent. Viewers first find themselves thrown into the mist of a pre-planned battle between the red Kampfers and blue Kampfers, staged by some mysterious force only known as the “moderators”. Part way through the anime, any hint of potential story will be replaced by random fan service. Not only was the ending poorly made, but the lack of conclusion also made Kampfer not very satisfying.

Special emphasis should be placed on Shizuku, the student council president and the only character with a brain in the group of Kampfers. She almost single-handedly saved the character category from total destruction in my eyes. In fact, recently there have been comparisons made between Shizuku and Hitagi Senjougahara (a very well liked character among otaku) from Bakemonogatari due to their tsundere nature. Another note worthy character is Akane. She can be seen as a masochist, but due to her transformation as a Kampfer, one can also argue that she somewhat a tsundere character as well. These two characters showed the most growth and seem to be the most developed out of all the main characters. In fact, they are like two bright candles lit in a dark room.

Although there are some likable characters, the overall characters development/growth for the majority of the casts is very minimal. They start and end the show practically the same way. It seems like they did not learn a single thing during their little “adventure”. What hurts the anime most is perhaps the lack of uniqueness from our gender flopping protagonist. He/she does have the looks, but at the end of show the one that will likely have the most impact on you will not be him/her.

Perhaps I am giving a little too much credit to Nomad, the studio that produced Kampfer, but the designs on the characters (ie. their looks, their facial expressions, their Kampfer transformation, et cetera) were quite nicely animated. The animation quality also seems to be rather consistent (which is always a plus). They could have obviously improved on the details of the characters and the backgrounds, but for an ecchi/harem type show I strongly believe having your “merchandise” (ie. girl) looks good is way more crucial than anything else. And in that respect, Nomad was profoundly efficient.

The sound department in Kampfer is average in many ways. The OP may require some time to get accustom to, but the ED will surely get you hooked. However the BGM within the episodes were nothing outstanding. They may suite certain scene or event relatively well most of the time, but they never gave me the feeling that they are amplifying the scene through my ears. Sometimes BGM can make you feel all hyped up or ready to cry a river, but the music in Kampfer did not deliver to that level.

Kampfer fails as a romance anime. Kampfer fails as an action anime. Kampfer, however, delivers ecchiness and harem in a moderate level. Nothing too extreme and nothing too exciting. Its selling points are without a doubt the good and consistent animation quality, and interesting characters like Shizuku and Akane. Overall depending on what you are seeking for enjoyment, Kampfer can be a great source of entertainment or a total waste of time. Personally I liked Shizuku so much that I can ignore all the glaring faults from the show, but that is just my preference. By the way, did anyone tell you Kampfer is a show for Christmas with a story about Santa Claus?

*edit* 2nd Revision

Kampfer is an anime series I randomly picked while I was a bit bored and it wasn’t half bad. If you like perverted anime series this one might be pretty suitable for you. What I thought it was kind of unique and somewhat interesting was the gender switch that happens to a rather unlucky, ordinary student, as he tries to find out the meaning behind the changes.

Apparently, the reason of the sudden transformation was the existence of the female warriors called Kampfer, as the protagonist was chosen to become one. Although their existence is not really explained, one thing is certain, that these mysterious ... warriors need to fight against each other for absolutely no reason (actually, in the anime it is stated something like : “You are born to fight!”, although apparently no kampfer knows the meaning behind these conflicts).

So, after an amazing start in the first episode, with intense action and pretty promising story, I actually thought that this show had the potential to be an amazing experience, though in the end it hadn’t met my expectations. The show flows at a normal pace, although it has very few intense moments, as it tends to step closer in the slice of life kind of genre following the main character’s life and his interactions with the other kampfer out there.

The story could be promising, but the writers preferred not to concentrate their attention into developing the plot, instead, they decided to mess with new ideas to show in every episode, as the events that happen in the episodes are hardly related to each other. Every episode is some kind of filler, containing ridiculous embarrassing situations that the characters are put in without affecting the plot, though some of them were pretty comical at times. I found the main concept of the gender changing to be a rather good idea, although all the meaningless fights among the kampfer as they seem to be controlled by this entity called “the Moderators” are pretty stupid and ridiculous. Also, there is no apparent villain or evil mind. One thing that just annoyed me was the absolutely lame and unoriginal ending, that probably dropped this show’s score by half, but that may be just my personal opinion.

Although there isn’t much to talk about the plot, the characters are the ones that keep the show alive (mostly). They are indeed unoriginal or just plain, as you can hardly even remember their names, but overall they are not that bad. The main character is pretty dumb, and has absolutely no personality at all, the only thing that you can notice is his obsessive love for one of the female characters and the difficulty in understanding people’s feelings. As his male self, he isn’t really noticeable, but his female self is the one that is in the center of attention almost all the time. Some comical situations may occur, especially when the other students abuse her good looking body. The cast is not that amazing, but you have your creepy set of characters such as a lesbian (unfortunately there is such a thing), a fool-mouthed red haired chick that threatens everyone with her handgun, a rather smart “Prez” that likes teasing the main character, a shy and innocent girl that seems to be in love with the protagonist and so forth. Overall, the characters are not that bad, although they are poorly developed, as I actually had a hard time finding myself a favorite.

The art is average, the characters look decent, but occasionally there can be found some animation errors, such as a completely mistaken reflection in a mirror, although they are rather hardly noticeable.

The sound is fair, it is nothing amazing, it is just right, as well as the voice acting which mostly suited the characters.

Despite the many flaws in character and plot development, I found this show quite enjoyable, maybe because I somewhat liked the concept ..I’m not very sure myself.

BOTTOM LINE: If you like ecchi style of anime with nice looking characters (mostly female with huge boobs) with a slice of life touch to it, almost inexistent story, average art, poor character development, you might give Kampfer a try, although don’t watch it if you have high expectations as you will probably be disappointed. Overall it’s a good time killer.

Thank you for reading my first review on MAL, I hope you find it helpful. Although I’ve been really careful while writing this review, I apologize for any potential grammar errors. Stay safe!

Review (after reading manga)

A young male love a girl at his school but doesnt have the guts to ask her out yet so has been keeping it at a friend level, but suddenly hes thrown into a game that can cost him his life but comes with a bonus that can get him closer to the girls of his dreams...

sure this sounds like a million other anime's about guys who cant get their act to gether but whats so wrong with that? i love this kinda storys and as long as theres a twist why would i complain about the same old same old ... build?

If you dont enjoy the anime where guys become girls and try to hook up with their dream girl or where magic thrusts people in to battles they have little to no knowledge of then this isnt for you. But if your anything like me and think its funny to watch some guy make a fool of himself and watch hot chick go at it ripping clothes off and making out then you should enjoy this. :)


First Episode Review (before manga knowledge)


After waking suddenly a young meek boy finds himself in a female body and a stuffed animal starts lecturing him. As with anyone denial is the first response to events the brain just cant wrap its self around. His stuffed tiger explains the basics of his situation with no real detail simply that when his bracelet glows he will turn in to a female and likely run into a fight.

When turned in to Kämpfer deep personality traits are more exaggerated physical ability it increased and you gain a weapon. There are three weapon types mentioned at this point. To keep it simple either your a sword user, a gun user, or like our main character a magic user.

story:8
having to pick based off the first episode i can see it turning into a good story, 2 chicks dig him so far and more are sure to come

art:8
love the school uniforms color is good and frame rate isnt anything to be disappointed about

sound:7
sure good enough guy could be a bit more many but then again it adds to him meek personality almost makes him seem...

character:8
quicky defined in the first episode i already feel like i know them well with the transformations draging out the most deep desires of the kampfer we can see just who's who right off the bat

enjoyment:7
worth the 20 mins so far
and expecting more the first 2 epsisodes make up a nice chunck of the manga so im hoping for some good new action

I still have no idea why I even bothered to finish this anime. The whole thing is just random, boring and full of fanservice. The "story" revolves around Natsuru Seno, a normal boy who wakes up one morning as a girl. We learn through his stuffed tiger that talks (and also has it's stuffed guts hanging out of his stomach) that this change was because he was chosen to be a "Kampfer," a female fighter, and he continues going back and forth between girl and guy to participate in fights with other Kampfer. Why? We are never told. They never give a real reason for ... this. Anyway, it's filled with yuri and awkward moments as the protagonist tries to get his dream girl to fall in love with his male side as more and more girls fall for the female him. The stories tend to fall flat on their face and I ended up shrugging it off as another weird Japan fanservice show. If you like that then by all means watch away. If you actually want a real story, watch something like Blue Exorcist and stay away from this.

After Watching the 11 first episodes.

In short, this series is basicly BUILT on service. In each episode it´s owerflowing. Wich in this case actualy is a good thing. Believe it or not.

Senou Natsuru is a normal boy, he goes to school, has friends (kinda). And has a fairly normal life. Untill the fated day. The day he becomes a Kämpfer, his life is turned as upside down as it´s possible to get it. As Kämpfer, his appearance is changed a lot, he´s completely turned into a female beuty and is forced to fight against other Kämpfers, but for what reason is he fighting?

The story in ... the series is almost non-existent. As this series focus greatly on fanservice. The whole plot of the "Kämpfers" seems as it is created only to have a reason to turn Natsuru into a hot gal. And with twelve episodes, the story doesn´t get much time to expand. Wich is sad, because it realy had potential. But to put that thing aside, the story isn´t realy THAT important in this series. Kämpfer is mainly about enjoyment.

Story: 6/10

The art in the series is verry stylish. Iv´e kinda seen it before, but i like it. The girls are cute, basicly because it´s almost just girls in the entire series, and it is therefore a huge lack of boys. Natsuru and his friend, and some random guys is about the only males in the series. And i feel that Natsuru is the only boy that the character designers put their hearth and soul into creating.

Art: 8/10

The sound is of a pretty good quality. Basicly it´s mostly moaning that is the sound you´ll hear the most, but aside from that, the sound is pretty good. The soundtrack also got to me, and i liked some of the songs wery good. The OP and ED is pretty standard, it´s catchy but it´s not the types of songs that´ll stick to your brains for pretty long.

Sound: 8/10

The characters in Kämpfer is in short terms verry variated. Some of them you like the moment you see them, and the others you´ll detest as soon as you see them. The main characters is well done, but as we don´t get to know them that well during the eleven episodes it gets pretty frustrating at the end when you realice that, that´s it. The main protoganist of the series, Senou Natsuru is probably the one character that you´ll like the most, as he is damn hot in his girl form, and classicly clumsy in he´s a boy.

Characters: 8/10

I realy enjoyed watching this series, with good animations, catchy soundtrack and hot girls, what is there not to like? Well there is something, but it´s realy just small stuff. Overall this series is absolute worth watching, if you like fanservice that is. And if you watch it, you´ll probably watch it one or more times just to see the funny scenes one more time. Because the scenes that are funny, realy are hillarious.

Overall: 8/10

Overview:

Today I review Kampfer, perhaps the least original anime ever made! It fails as a romance, it fails as action, it fails as a comedy. Kampfer is entirely comprised of fail! Instead of "Kampfer", which is German for "fighter" , the series should have been called Scheiße !

Remember how in Ranma 1/2 there was a subplot where a boy would turn into a girl and it would create awkward moments of sexual tension and comedy? That was pretty funny in the early 1990s and it felt new at the time. However, like all Rumiko Takahashi series it ran a LONG time and the premise now ... feels worn out and tired. Kampfer takes this tired joke and absolutely beats the shit out of a dead horse! You can't have a fucking comedy series based on a 1 joke premise that isn't even fresh! Why do you think the Geico Cavemen TV show was cancelled in 1 season?

To give Kamper some credit, it doesn't JUST do a horrible job ripping off the humor of Ranma 1/2 and other slapstick harem anime of the 1990s like Love Hina and Tenchi Muyo. Kampfer also decided to be the 8 billionth anime to feature a battle royale tournament in which contestants are forced by some mysterious greater power to battle each other until 1 is left. Each "kampfer" is a girl with magical abilities and each has her own doll. Sort of like Rozen Maiden, the much better show about magic dolls that must battle each other to claim the ultimate prize. This type of anime tends to be really popular, so I suppose you can't blame the Kampfer creator for trying to cash in. Anime like Future Diary, Btooom!, and Fate Stay Night are some of the highest rated and most popular anime on MAL. The first huge problem with Kampfer is that it brings NOTHING new to the audience. It simply uses and abuses popular cliches in order to make a quick buck off Otaku that the Kampfer creator clearly thinks are idiots. The second problem is that it it isn't even an entertaining ripoff or mockbuster! The Asylum movies are better than Kampfer! Probably the most creative thing kampfer did was the obnoxious series of grotesque dolls called the entrails animals. Although, even those just seem like a cheap ripoff of the Garbage Pail Kids from the 1980s!

The art is decent, but nothing great. Kampfer isn't one of those anime that is entertainingly bad due to technical issues like laughably bad animation, a terrible dub, or a horrendous soundtrack. Kampfer is the worst kind of bad. Uninspired and BORING! If Kampfer was entertainingly bad like Angel Cop or Mad Bull 34 it would at least have SOME reason for people to watch it.

Stay away from it!

Although it was fun at some parts, towards its end it becomes simply stupid, a really senselless plot without the grace of being even really funny, unless we consider ecchi bordering hentai funny.

Actually there is no plot, just an excuse to present yuri action and some small fighting scenes without even that much energy. The end itself was totally open and with a really stupid Great Revelation, and nothing is really resolved, and the reaction of the really really baka main protagonist was simply ... stupid.

Say, how much stupid it can get: The villain is using the main male character, does ... not like men and tried to make him kill his friends by controlling his actions, disregarding his will and seeing him as a tool, actually using his feelings towards her to her own wishes...and after the "hero" discovers it he does what? Says he loves her and ... that is that. Conclusion: he free his friends (wana-be lovers) and let the villain escape...

Sheesh....

The only thing really good are the voice actor/actressess who are really First Rate (hard to understand on such a bad production) and the art used which is undeniably beautiful.

A HUGE waste of Hard Drive space and time...


I tried Kämpfer because I read a review saying it was one of the good animes from last year...my my...

I can agree taste in this or that varies, but terribly made productions like this are BAD no matter your tastes.

Kampfer, Kampfer, Kampfer.
A somewhat difficult anime to review.

Despite its shortcomings as an obviously stereotypical ecchi love-comedy jam-packed with your staple assortment of embarrassing, should-be-censored scenes, Kampfer surprisingly hit me with something I wasn't expecting: A cast of characters that are somewhat unique, but most of all, lovable in some way, and a very over-the-top sense of humor.
If you have seen a lot of different love comedies, you will still most likely enjoy this anime, but personally having seen a variety of these types of shows, the humor in Kampfer sometimes literally made me laugh out loud, which is something I do not do so often ... when watching anime alone.

Please note that although I found Kampfer immensely entertaining, its plot hardly differs from that of your average harem: NONEXISTANT. As I was not looking for or expecting a plot in particular, I found no incredible lacks in this department. While there is fanservice, increasingly so over the series, the beginning actually does not have too much, which I found to be refreshing and made the humor the focus as the story wound up.

Which leads me to conclude that although Kampfer is indeed shallow and without a plot, the fact that it offers a humor that makes fun of other ecchi love comedies (maybe not intentionally) is a great added bonus. Also, the harem "mob" of girls is not so mindless that they follow the man for no reason. They each have their own reasons for liking him, and while it may seem shallow at first, some character's love seems to go deeper than your average ecchi love-comedy, which is also nice, seeing as I didn't expect that either :D

It seems I am getting to the conclusion first... Let's jump into the categories, shall we?


STORY: 6/10

A boy named Senou Natsuru one day becomes a Kampfer, which is essentially a battle girl. Everyone must transform to go into their "Kampfer mode" but because Natsuru is a male, he must switch genders when he transforms into his Kampfer form. This creates all sorts of nonsense, as you can imagine. More and more Kampfer show up, and I will be sure to not spoil the rest of this "intricate" plotline.
As I mentioned earlier, the story line is not one of Kampfer's strong assets. If you do end up watching this show, keep very low expectations as far as the story goes. You may end up enjoying the show as much as I did.
By the way, I choose to ignore the ending fight. It really is one of the strangest "wtf" moments I've seen in an anime. You won't like it, I can almost guarantee it.

ART: 9/10

This is one thing that I think particularly shines about Kampfer. If you know me, I am very picky on eye styles. Once I saw them, I couldn't get my eyes off them (har dee har har).
All lame jokes aside, I really do love the way everything is animated in this show. The main characters are very well done and never look like they were lazily drawn. There is one exception to this: At times, character's eyes or fingers might look incredibly lopsided or crooked. While this is a shame and looks fairly weird, I found it somewhat rare and passable under the rest of the art, which I very much liked.

SOUND: 7/10

Nothing particularly memorable in this department. The OP and ED were OK, just your standard ecchi love comedy themes. Music during the anime flowed well, but again, was not as memorable as something like that from Clannad. That is a very high standard of comparison, but I did not find Kampfers music bad either. The songs fit the emotions, and did not stick out awkwardly in any place I can remember.

CHARACTER: 9/10

This is where Kampfer elevates itself over other ecchi love-comedies. Most animes with obvious levels of sexual bombardment ignore the character development part of the roadmap. Kampfer manages to delve into the characters more than most ecchi love-comedies, and I found this to be a great change. While it is not much more, it is noticable when compared to other ecchi anime. Please note that the 9/10 rating is in comparison to other character development in the same genre.
Aaand what I just said was partially a lie. The characters are also very lovable. There's a character for everyone to love, and the art combined with the character's personalities makes for a charming anime in this respect.

ENJOYMENT: 10/10

Yes, I shamelessly enjoyed every second of this anime. The ecchi, the characters, the corny not-so-well-thought-out battle scenes, the awkwardness with the "bishoujo" element of this anime, the over-the-top humor... It was all great. And I don't regret a single second of it.

OVERALL: 9/10

Again, this anime will just differ completely depending on who looks at it. With virtually no story, this anime is fairly flat and predictable in its dimensions. If you aren't looking for a good story and just something you can veg out to, this is a great watch. I suggest watching the first 2 episodes, and if you don't like it by then, quit. If you're interested in the genre though, I highly suggest you give it a try.

I can't believe so many people liked this series.

It started off with a good premise: Random girls get superpowers and are forced to fight for unknown reasons.

But then it's like they let a twelve year old boy re-write the story into a male to female bodyswap ecchi comedy with a harem. WTF? Sorry, but no amount of overly-sexualized high school anime girls will make your series "good". And how many times did we have to see Natsuru writhe in agony as a hot girl tried to seduce him? Awww, poor guy! o.O

If the girls had not been so obviously in love with Natsuru ... (they were actually physically fighting over him while he stood there confused!), and if the White Kampfers had shown up earlier (and been an actual threat) then this series might have been good. As it was, they had to make Natsuru an idiot so that it didn't turn into outright Hentai. Not a reasonable character choice! And the sudden "it was aliens" ending was pretty bad, too.

Nice art. Nice premise. Horrible plot. Dumb, dumb main character. I only finished it because it was short.

Kampfer... A series that everybody could've expected to be generic and full of fanservice right from the poster art. And it is exactly that. A show full of nothing but flaming lesbians attempting to battle it out against each other and greater beings called Moderators. Did they actually beat these said Moderators? No. Absolutely not. Barely anything happened, if anything actually did happen.

Story [5]: The story stars Senou Natsuru, your typical loser of a main character who is in love with a girl named Sakura Kaede. One day, Natsuru receives a stuffed doll and magically transforms into a girl. Natsuru then runs into the other ... characters of the show and what actually ensues? Fanservice... some more fanservice... some lesbian antics. That's pretty much all that really happens.

The series promises some kind of plot where Sangou Shizuku, another Kampfer, claims they will fight the Moderators and get to the bottom of this ridiculous Red vs Blue war. Does that actually happen? Not really. The pacing is ridiculously horrible. Most of the episodes just has all these different girls fighting over Natsuru. Only towards the end do we get some minor plot movement... some very minor plot movement. So minor, that the series closes without any real questions answered. Even if it is adapted from an on-going manga, you'd think they'll at least put in some filler ending for closure unless they plan on dealing out a second season, which will probably end just as badly as this.

Art [8]: The only thing this show has going for it is the animation. Adapted from the manga, the character designs are nice to look at but nothing too spectacular. There are plenty of shredded clothing, plenty of bare chests, and plenty of fog covering those bare chests. The show does certainly pull out a few risque moves with all the full frontal censored nudity and groping that goes on throughout the episodes.

Sound [7]: The characters are all voiced by top class seiyuus ranging from Inoue Marina voicing both Natsurus to Horie Yui voicing two completely different and distinct personalities. The soundtrack however, is nothing to rave about. Chippy happy music runs through most of the show. Nothing too serious or dramatic in its pieces.

Characters [6]: Natsuru is dumb. Plain and simple. He is as dense as main characters can be. His head? Hard as a rock. He's busy being infatuated with one girl while completely oblivious to the fact that he has three other girls fawning over him. Mikoto is the generic childhood friend, and Akane is some generic bookworm girl who turns into a mildly hilarious violent psycho gun wielding redhead. Then we have the annoyingly selfish flaming lesbian Kaede. All she does is fawn over female Natsuru constantly and bitches at whoever inches too close to her. The only character really worth mentioning is Shizuku. Not only is she awesomely manipulative, she is one of the few girls in any anime to be bold enough to make moves on the man. Her antics make this show slightly bearable.

Unfortunately, the character development going on this show is pretty much non-existant. Everybody sticks to their archetypes and barely nudges. There's like only one character in whole that develops a bit, but saying anything more would be spoilering. Natsuru is too dense to think of anything by himself, Kaede is too busy being a complete lesbian over female Natsuru, Akane is too busy giggling or shooting stuff, Mikoto is pretty much non-existant, and Shizuku, as awesome as her devious plans are, develops the generic harem love for the main character.

Enjoyment/Overall [6/5]: Shizuku pretty much makes the show watchable. Other than that, it's just a complete waste of time to watch the girls constantly bicker over each other like little girls over their favorite Barbie doll. The show's pacing is so terrible that the actual plot ends prematurely and the last episode ends up being a completely useless filler episode about body switching. Even if they ended it on an open note so they can continue onto a second season, that will probably fail just as much as the first season.

* this review is in my perspective, things may seem better/worse in others opinions. *

Kämpfer is a anime thats really based on echhi, And i recomend to not watch it if you dislike echhi. Eventough the rest seems good to you, like super powers and action. This anime is based on a percentage system what it will show.

50% echhi and romance
25% superpower and action
25% comedy.

Make sure the look at these numbers because thats what you will get watching this anime.

... recap (what's the story about,) -SPOILER FREE-

Natsuru is a normal student at a school thats split up in two sides, boys side and girls side. When he wakes up the next morning he has a bracelet thats blue, and he is a girl. A stuffed tiger wich support him with being a kämpfer tells him that he became a girl because all kämfers are girl, and he has to slay the red side because he is blue side. He finds out that there are 3 tipes of kämpfers. Shooters, mages, fighters. He is the mage. he randomly transforms to a girl and has to survive against the other kämfers.

That's pretty much all i can say without spoiling.

Story:
The story is bad because there is no story, everything will be explained it later episodes so it's kinda hard to say if there even is a story. What seems like the story is kinda shitty, lack of explaination and its not really exciting.

Art:
The art is not really bad but it could be way better. the background are worked out badly and moving is kinda the same move its not really anything special happends. But altough is decent and it's not a thing to be hated.

Sound:
The sound is kinda the same story as the art. Things that are not directly linked to the thing thats happening falls of or is faded away. Eventough things like songs troughout voices and things that are directly attached to the things that are happening are good.

Character:
The characters are made shitty. Only the main characters are fine with design and voice. But the main characters are worked out so well its kinda lifting up the bad character work on the side characters that are bad.

Enjoyment:
This is where i look at first when watching an anime, is it fun to watch or not.
Because the main reason you watch anime is for fun. i think this anime was extremly nice in terms of enjoyment. I liked it a lot and give it a nice mark. But this is for everyone really personal.

Overall:
i would say that Kämpfer is a great echhi anime, in terms of action i would say it is not what makes this anime good. Eventough the story and art/sound isn't that great i think that the fun you'll have is more of value then anything else. That's why this anime deserves a:

7/10
* this review is in my perspective, things may seem better/worse in others opinions.*

Addressing this first: Series is brain bashingly filled with way over useful amount of service. If you cannot handle any, or over good amount... You may get brain death from Anime.

Consult to manga in that case.

I am still confused why I am so compelled on series, yet, it just must be some field that interests. Only thing I could say is "Strange thing, that Kämpfer..."

There is good amount of comedy, voice acting is good, art is nice to watch... (yes, TOO nice animators...) Now said, it is not for everyone.

For me, interesting and different Gender bend is fun. And if it can raise REALLY good ... question, it has some merit to it - question being "Is lesbian lesbian if other of the lesbian pair is not in fact a lesbian girl but straight man?" - Yeah, I am still thinking of it.

If you are not looking at anime with serious face on, want some random laughs and something quite different in similar pack, There is love, there is girl in man, fould mouthed aggressive tsundere inside shy adorable small girl, There is friend inside enemy (friendenmy?) - There is straight love in Yuri love, and small disturbing talking stuffed animal dolls with guts spilled.

How can you NOT find it somewhat wrapped, warped, and somehow forcing you to see what is going to happen next?

This show is made of fail.

let's see:

* a rich source of raw narm for very crude handling of a delicate subject. I really did want them to do a better job.
* near zero action, not what it says on the tin. the first chapters were better, it went downhill from there.
* way too much fanservice. goes over the line. see also next item.
* the near sexual harassment of natsuru becomes a very serious squick.
* last chapters dropped what little LGBT friendliness this show had.
* Perhaps i'd be more appreciative of the ending if the above was different.
* not to mention total disregard for manga ... canon.

redeeming qualities - high visual and audible quality. not enough to warrant a good show though.

overall, this gets a 3 from me.

Oh Lord, where should I begin. Kämpfer is probably the strangest anime I've watched this summer. Let's just say this isn't your average harem, unless you even consider this a harem at all. Boy wakes up one day to find he's transformed into a girl, stuffed lion with intestines falling out tells him that he's a Kämpfer and has powers now, that's only the beginning of the weirdness. He somehow get's transferred into the girls only part of the school, and to make it better, I'm pretty convinced everyone in that school might be a lesbian. Why, you ask? They're all trying to "get to ... know her". And when I say that, watch episode 3 and you'll catch my drift. On top of that, she gets attacked constantly by other Kämpfers, so that pretty much ties it all up.

Story... what can I say, there isn't really a story at all. I mean, it all revolves around the fact that he can transform into a girl. I think the last 3 episodes are when the slightest bit of a story even occurs.

Artwork... Like most animes I guess, now a days, the newer animes all seem to look the same to me. For those of you who watch a bunch of that kind of animes, you know what I mean.

Sound was probably the best thing in the show. I liked the voice actors and actresses in the show, liked them from previous shows before this one, and they are kind of what made me continue watching the show. If they hadn't gotten good actors, I might have stopped watching halfway through. MIGHT have, depends on who the other voice actors would have been.

Characters are somewhat unique in their own way. I mean, the main character is the only person I know who can transform into a girl and back to a boy. Him and the chick from Ranma 1/2. Other characters were all fairly similar to those I've seen in other animes, and the fricking intestine animals were just too annoying. I literally wanted to punch my TV whenever they opened their mouths.

I enjoyed most of it, there were some parts where I was like "OK what did I just watch?" (again, referring to episode 3), but it was an interesting show overall. I know a lot of people who gave this like 9's and 10's, and there are plenty of people at my school who loved it, but this is all my opinion. If you don't like my opinion, go with others. Hopefully this review helped some of you.

Kampfer, well......

Just when i start to type my comment on this anime, i still thinking like: what does Kampfer really attach to me? The gender-swapping? The seiyuu? maybe the odd but interesting story element in it? And ya, i have a good sense of why it might attach to the other guys mostly: Service.Service.Service.Service.Service.Service.Service. (just follow the Service tone form Hayate 2nd Season episode 0 OVA).

Even i don't know why, but i just give what i think of it so far. (It will be update when is over)

Kampfer from what i say did have to do service. But here is the basis:

In one morning, Senou ... Natsuru (a guy) discover that he has become a she by some cute but has it stomach cut out talking tiger doll and told her (him) that she (he) is a Kampfer, a magical girl who has to fight on something. It still haven't reveal what it is but maybe later. As soon she finally revert back to him, he was throw into a sudden battle/meeting Mishima Akane, his later allies; but end up his childhood friend he like, Sakura Kaede, is in love in his female self.

Overall, the episode i see so far where i like to call 'random service' plot. The anime or the director doesn't take the plot seriously, just give us random stuff; but only have a small portion of Kampfer plot. Nothing new or anything big to scope out the real thing. Oh ya, speaking the real thing; you get to see Natsuru getting her (him) self to be like some kind of service tool on the series and to other character.

All the character here i would say useless. Natsuru is a guys and he (she) is helpless with a bunch of girls around him, and they happen (smartly) to use him (her) popular to earn $$$. Akane suppose to help him but couldn't help herself and might be like him (her). And Kaicho-san (Sangou Shizuku), enough flirting with Natsuru or other and start tell us what going on and what you know.

For what i have write and think of the episode i watch so far, this is more like a yuri anime! X_X

Sure, the animation is well done, and the color in the anime is bright color. This was one of the place Kampfer have won.

The other were the seiyuu. Inoue Marina, Horie Yui, Nakajima Megumi, Noto Mamiko, Mizuki Nana, Tamura Yukari and to name a few. All top notch seiyuu doing kawaii voices on 'kawaii' anime, with service. Another won by Kampfer.

And the funny thing is that they even throw themselve in it, mostly by name but Tamura Yukari-san happen to throw her image in it on episode 1, in anime style. Again, they won.

(The other seiyuu that also throw her image in it from what i heard are a seiyuu voice Shizuka on Doraemon, don't who that is but she is old and voice the tiger in this anime.)

The OP of the anime just doesn't not suit my taste, but ED does suit my taste with the closing done by none the other Inoue Marina and Nakajima Megumi.

Well that how it is so far, even there is still a lot of bad point on it, but it just keeps me watching! (Maybe i am the type of guy who want to finish to the end) I write a full review on this anime when is over, and hopefully they will able to live up everyone (not everyone) expectation.

This part is what people usually read expecting you to tell watch it or not worth it but that's impossible. People have different tastes. Kampfer is full of fan service. If you want an anime where you get to see cute, big breasted girls fight for no particular reason then go ahead and watch kampfer. If you want to see a harem where everybody likes the boy and seduce him 24/7 then go ahead. If you are looking for an anime with a good plot, good action and good romance, please reconsider if you decide to watch it.

Story:
There is absolutely nothing to it. If I ... could change the title I would name it "The Life Of Natsuru Senou". At first you could tolerate it. Tolerate seeing girls fight with each other for no particular reason but then a few episodes through and you are wondering, "What the hell?". It makes no sense at all! Though there are some clues that tell you that there is something a lot more deep to the girls fighting each other but then there is nothing.
Backing up my previous statement on changing the title to "The Life Of Natsuru Senou". There isn't decent romance in it but most of the time when the girls are not fighting they are seducing Natsuru. That's where it was enjoyable. Seeing big breasted girls fighting over a boy. XD!
So we have established that the plot is only about a boy getting seduce by cute girls(Oh! He can change into a girl for some reason they never cared to mention) but there is actually no romance and there is mindless fighting.

Art:
This is one good point in this anime. The quality is fantastic and the art is outstanding. It's enjoyable to watch. I didn't really look out for animation but I just know that the characters are well drawn.

Sound:
The sound is fair. it is not corny but not particularly excellent.

Character:
Maybe they had too many characters but you never really saw them to the fullest. The main character was like an insignificant toy(then again there would be cute girls without him). You didn't see much of the other characters either.

Enjoyment:
Finally, it was very enjoyable. There were laughs. The art was good. Just another typical harem that hardly makes sense.

Natsuru is a normal high school boy, aside from the fact that one day he wakes up as a big-breasted girl. An Entrails Animal in the shape of a plush tiger with its intestines hanging out, named Harakiri Tora (Disemboweled Tiger), informs Natsuru that he has become a Kämpfer and must now fight against other Kämpfers for what initially seems like no reason.

The first episode starts off with a bang; Kämpfer seems like a nice comedy/action series with a little bit of gender bending and even a love story between Natsuru and a soft-spoken girl named Kaede tossed in.

Everything great about this series quickly degenerates, ... though, so soon as episode 3, when it becomes a yuri love-fest –– male Natsuru, trapped in his female Kämpfer body, stuck between it all.

And that basically sums up most of the series. Kämpfer, to some fans’ delight, started out looking like another Sekirei, but instead resorted to perverted jokes and fan service à la Rosario + Vampire.

Story
-----------------------
Kämpfer, for the most part, has no story, unless you count the yuri love triangle –– er, square –– that persists every episode, which the anime makes no attempt to underplay. What few battle scenes there are only last a minute at most and are definitely not worth the weeks of waiting that it took to get there. I’m glad I held out and marathoned the last 5 episodes. In my opinion, the most interesting twist occurs at episode 7. Unfortunately, the series ended quite open-endedly, which only hints that we’re doomed to get a second season.

Art
-----------------------
The art quality from Kämpfer is inconsistent from time to time. The animation can be sharp and glowly during the more dramatic and intense scenes –– I especially like the depth of field effect when a character is near the foreground –– while sometimes there are obvious mistakes in subtle places that people too focused on the fan service may not notice. For example, in one infamous scene, a chair in the bathroom has no reflection in the mirror. These failures in quality control may come as no surprise, though, since this anime is produced by Nomad, who got caught putting six fingers on Suigintou in Rozen Maiden.

Sound
-----------------------
The sound was okay at best and annoying at worst. Natsuru’s male voice was especially ear-wrenching –– makes sense, since he is voiced by female voice actress Marina Inoue (also known for Chiri Kitsu in Zetsubou Sensei). I’ll admit, though, that Natsuru in female form sounded really cute. You may be ecstatic to hear that Kämpfer hosts a plethora of talented voice actresses, mainly coming in the form of the small Entrails Animals. We have the voice actresses of Kotomi Ichinose and Mei Sunohara from Clannad, and my personal favorite, Yui Horie, plays the role of Natsuru’s friend, Akane Mishima. It’s just too bad that all that talent had to go to waste on a series that most people won’t care about a year from now. The OP and ED theme are pretty good, assuming you like bubbly J-pop music. I found the ED theme quite addicting.

Character
-----------------------
The characters in Kämpfer are blatantly generic; you would almost think the producers did it on purpose. Akane is a shy and cute meganekko who transforms into a sour-mouthed Kämpfer with no sympathy whatsoever. Shizuku Sangou is president of the Student Council and, despite her harsh demeanor, has deep passion for Natsuru. Kaede Sakura is the most annoying, in my opinion. I hated her from beginning to end. It’s her selfish personality that really bothered me. She only likes the female version of Natsuru, despite male Natsuru’s love for her. Natsuru’s expressions are cute and funny when he’s a Kämpfer, although he still gets embarrassed a lot, even in his male form.

Enjoyment
-----------------------
You’re enjoyment will depend on how much you like gender bending, fan service, and especially yuri. There is a lot of kissing and groping in this anime, but not so much that it would be considered borderline hentai like Kanokon. If you’re looking for action in this series, you’re going to be quite frustrated by the lack of it. I guess the only way you could enjoy this show is if you have a tolerance for the all the awkward situations Natsuru falls in with his female friends and classmates flocking to get their hands on his/her busty body. I’ll give you a fair warning and say that Kämpfer comes no where near the quality of Rozen Maiden –– one of Nomad’s other anime. In fact, I would say I liked Kämpfer only slightly better than Akikan! because of its gender bendingness.

Overall
-----------------------
Kämpfer doesn’t break any molds or tries to reinvent the genre. Sure, a guy stuck in a girl’s body is an interesting scenario, but the anime fails to do anything with it, besides having other females literally fight over him…I mean, her. The Entrails Animals were humorous, arguably more than their Kämpers, but we don’t get much of an insight into their personality –– aside from a few one-liners –– until the final episode, which has no relevance to the rest of the series. Kämpfer isn’t necessarily an awful series –– it’s definitely unique from the other forgetful ecchi series out there. The reason it fails is because the first two episodes promise so much potential, but the series totally ends up denying the audience’s expectations, in the end. Kämpfer brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “Don’t judge an anime by its first episode.”

Kampfer: The story of a boy who discovers he has gained the ability to transform into a fireball-throwing female warrior.

I didn't expect anything from the first episode to be honest. I was ready for a poor anime from the start. Thankfully, it managed to improve a little bit in my eyes before it wrapped up at episode 11 (12? Don't ask...).

Story-It has an interesting premise: random people with bizarre bracelets have the power to transform into either sword-flinging, gun-slinging or fireball-blasting amazons. These amazons, split up into the classic Red vs. Blue style team battle, are fighting for unknown reasons, only by the whim of ... mysterious figures known as "Moderators."

Unfortunately, it doesn't really fulfill that idea. Only a few action scenes, and they tend to be short-lived. There really isn't an epic fight that managed to grab my attention throughout the whole show. Also, it seemed that this story was only an excuse for the excessive ecchi elements of this show: nothing better than a bunch of large-chest women duking it out in school uniforms.

A bigger point of the story are the romantic elements, although these weren't exactly spectacular either. Without revealing anything in the show, there was very little development in whatever psuedo-relationship this show tried to pull, and most of these relationships again seemed to be excuses for more ecchi content by appealing to numerous interests.

This show also doesn't do a good job of wrapping up details. At least right now it appears unlikely that there will be a second season, and if so Kampfer failed to address many of the questions I had for it.

So, overall the story seemed original, but it wasn't very well executed.

Art & Sound-Visually pleasing. There is nothing outstanding or groundbreaking, but there's nothing to complain about. Soundwise, they did a decent job too, a little bit more than I expected.

Character-Some of the characters in this anime do have their good points. One warrior upon transformation completely flips, which I found amusing watching the contrast and wondering if it really was the same person. It was also good fun to watch the main star's issues as he tried to adjust to having a woman's body.

It doesn't get better than that for the humans, however. All the rest of them are actually quite shallow with very little personality. Sure, they all have their "role," but they go no further. They all have a very clear objective from start to finish, and nothing's changing anytime soon. There are a couple of personality shifts, but they are hardly interesting.

There's another set of characters that are probably the biggest reason I kept watching this: each of these warriors get an animal doll with some sort of physical obscenity; usually it's the intestines sticking out. These things are animated, however, and they do not take this whole Red vs. Blue thing seriously at all. They were tons of fun in my opinion, and they managed to make the show a lot better.

Enjoyment-Alright, with all the crud I said about this show, I admit I didn't hate every single minute of it. I was disappointed as I learned that it was not going uphill, but at the same time it wasn't all downhill either. I had fun watching this.

Overall-I doubt I'll be watching this again, and I don't think I'll be bothered by looking for the second season. I probably won't recommend this to anyone I know.

This show is good for the ecchi, and it does have its moments. But overall this is something I won't be remembering.

6/10-Fair