Kämpfer | First Impressions (Episodes 1 & 2)

I never planned to watch this series in the first place, but I was bored and needed something to watch. Slypheristic told me on Twitter that I should watch Kämpfer, so I decided to give the show a cursory look. I still needed to find my guilty pleasure series for this season anyway.

Free fan service is a nice perk for a guy who is also a girl.
So nice that it is enviable.

Let's face it, the premise of this series is probably the dumbest of the season. The main character, Natsuru, is just an average high school boy with a major problem. The problem? He's been chosen to be a Kämpfer, whose sole purpose is to fight other Kämpfer. It gets worse. All Kämpfer must be FEMALE, meaning Natsuru has to transform into a girl in order to use his powers, plus Natsuru has no choice in the matter regarding whether he wants to be a Kämpfer or not. It gets worse. Sakura, his childhood friend and love interest falls for his FEMALE FORM! His school is also separated into a "boys' side" and a "girls' side," which are separated by a Berlin wall of sorts coupled with strict security. The funny thing is, all of this actually manages to WORK, as crazy as that sounds. No, this isn't going to be the best show of the season (more like the trashiest), but for what it's worth, Kämpfer actually manages to be quite entertaining and enjoyable.

Isn't it nice how the sun always seems to 
smile upon on pretty anime girls?

First off, Sakura (above) is voiced by Megumi Nakajima, making her instantly likeable. Secondly, Natsuru's partner Kämpfer Akane is voiced by the ever-endearing Yui Horie, and that's not all. Akane undergoes quite the drastic change when she transforms into her Kämpfer form. Not only does her appearance change, her personality becomes the polar opposite of her human personality. When she is human, Akane is an incredibly shy, glasses-wearing brunette girl who has a humorous fixation on sex. She constantly takes things completely the wrong way when it comes to things Natsuru does and says (though the unabashedly suggestive dialogue doesn't help matters), which almost never fails to induce a good chuckle. In her Kämpfer form, she becomes a foul-mouthed, very aggressive redhead girl who doesn't wear glasses and also loves to fight. (Coincidentally, Kämpfer Akane also looks a lot like Minori from Toradora!, who was also voiced by Yui Horie.) She also never seems to take certain dialogue the wrong way either. Akane is also quite jealous of Sakura, which is much more prevalent in her Kämpfer form.

Akane is quite embarrassed over her Kämpfer form.

With all of this comes the usual hijinks of Natsuru struggling with his female side, and with that comes fan service. Of course, as previously mentioned, Sakura is attracted to female Natsuru, but at first Natsuru has no control over when he transforms, which leads to some funny moments. Another funny thing is how the script pokes fun at many of the voice actresses with lines like: "Shut your trap, you Yui Horie sound-a-like!"

Isn't it also nice how anime girls can conveniently turn

into lesbians, AND have no feelings whatsoever for the
male half when the guy who likes them is also a female?
Oh, happy day!

The Kämpfer fighting Kämpfer plot doesn't make any sense after the first two episodes, and the production values are throwaway, but who honestly cares about that? We get plenty of action with girls fighting other girls, and the yuri subplot with Sakura makes way to plenty of laughs to go along with the other humor and fan service present in this series. Plus, with the Student Council President Shizuku being an enemy "Red Kämpfer" (Akane and Natsuru are both "Blue Kämpfer"), things could really get interesting. Especially with the twist at the end of episode two in which Natsuru is forced to transfer to the female side of the school in order to keep other students from finding out about the Kämpfer. (Rumors had been spreading about Natsuru's female form, you see.)

The face of evil sports white hair in her Kämpfer form.

In all, this series looks to be a keeper. Yes, Kämpfer is definitely stupid and trashy, and plenty of folks are bound to hate this series; but it is entertaining, and that is all that really matters to me. It is pure dumb fun that will definitely keep me coming back for more, and I have no problem with that.

Yup, no problem at all.