Campione! #01 — HORSE POWER!

June 28th, 2012

 

What is it with this year and magic horses?

Pre-air special. Actual broadcast doesn’t begin until July 6th (Fridays).

Impressions:

Let’s start with what this show did great. It has some really nice CG cars. They didn’t look bad at all. Sure, they’re still CG cars, but compared to the blocky abysmal affairs usually found in anime, these are the top of the heap. Now with that out of the way, let’s move on to just about everything else. Exposition, exposition, exposition, and exposition. It actually almost looked like it was starting promisingly. Well, not the start start, which was the usual bland couple minutes of a protagonist mentally narrating his life story, but then someone pulled a knife on him right before a giant pig stomped on the city. Both things usually indicative of a step in the right direction. Not so much this time as the production was maybe a little above average, but no discernable effort was really put into these ‘action’ scenes. The direction was also a little questionable. I have no idea how Godou got from the street to a fourth floor balcony in the space of a single screen transition. Or what he was even doing in some random building. It wasn’t even the same one Erica was on. I’m also not entirely sure why Erica is so shiny either. I imagine that she’s covered in a thin film of crisco. Or she’s really really greasy. What happens in Italy, etc.

Unfortunately, the most animated bit of the whole thing was her generic sword summoning before it cut back to Stupid for exposition, followed by more exposition, followed by yet more exposition plus lingerie, then drunky time, then more lingerie. Actually, drunky time was easily the highlight of the episode. Erica ranting at and trying to abuse a metal mask was oddly kind of charming. She isn’t too bad a character either, quickly appreciating Stupid when he tried to do something noble before the MCness kicked in and she had to go tongue-spelunking for his true power, which ended up being a rain of CG swords and the most hilariously overblown narration imaginable. The things these protagonists keep in their mouths… I have no idea where that came from either. It was almost like the last minute of the episode suddenly became a parody.

So, *shrug*. It’s generic as all hell, not particularly well made, and what should be an exciting first episode designed to hook the audience is instead packed to the gills with unneeded exposition. Giant monsters. Evil gods. There. QED. Anyway, it’s not the most compelling of starts and doesn’t really give much of a reason to be particularly excited for more. Then again, this is the only (new) Friday show, and only Friday show period besides Accel World. Maybe if future episodes are just 15 minutes of Erica getting drunk and ranting at things…

   

Posted in Campione | 15 Comments »

15 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • Wilfriback says:

    If you want to know something, the pulled out a ZnT on the third novel on this episode.

    “What is it with this year and magic horses?”
    Tari Tari also features… Guess what? HORSES!!!!

  • Jack says:

    PONIES!!!!11!1

    http://i.imgur.com/oXbAp.jpg

    I’m so there. I sense Japan attempting to bandwagon here.

    • Jack says:

      Before I get flamed…I know, I know…Japan does everything first. Relax…Focus only on your breathing…

  • Kunagisa says:

    Don’t even lie, that narration+BGM were awesome.

    Figures that all the novel readers have their panties in a bunch cause they sped through the whole thing, and aroduc still complains about too much exposition ( ´_ゝ`)

    Well episode 1 was actually interesting enough for me to stick around for a few more despite the rather deep coloring (and I was heavily warned against reading the novel).

  • Kadi says:

    As one of those novel readers I was shocked when I heard “Vol 3 in one episode” and saw some screencaps, but… throwing all logic and knowledge about the series overboard, I actually enjoyed half of it (the half with a drunk Erica). BGM was decent most of the time, the narrator, Erica’s beam-sword and the whole boar-fight not so much, agreed.

    Random piece of background information: The golden sword needs knowledge about the god it shall counteract. There is teaching magic to take care of that, but *later* Godou will be more or less magic-immune, like all godslayers. The only way around it is “pouring the magic directly into the body”… Smooching time. I guess they didn’t want to overwhelm the viewers with such details? Well, the whole scene doesn’t make sense anyway, so w/e.

    (Also, I can wholeheartedly recommend reading the novels if you like harems. It’s better than, say, Highschool DxD or Hagure Yuusha)

    • Wilfriback says:

      HH DxD and Campione are good on their own ways, they are the same group yet a different path ahead.

  • The Phantom says:

    Haven’t seen the episode yet, but the pics reminded me, slightly, vaguely, legend of the legendary heroes.

    That alone pretty much ensures me watching the whole season.

  • marko says:

    Atleast the female lead got some boobs… that’s something new right?

  • ewan says:

    Ok, I’ve watch this. As an LN reader I’m utterly dissapointed in the first episode. It’s like zero no tsukaima in the whole new level!

    PROS:
    Yeah, she has big breasts (atleast they got that right…)
    Good CG cars(gotta agree with that aroduc, they look pretty good)
    THAT’S ALL

    CONS:
    Inconsistent animation(wth is wrong with godou’s face?)
    Unecessary narration(whats the purpose of it if you cant understand some mythical jargons?)
    Shitty direction(seriously, even i’m confused!)
    bullcrap scriptwriting and pacing(Slapping a WHOLE volume in my face in the first episode and removing most parts is breaking my heart)

    VERDICT: dropped in the septic tank

  • tylon says:

    I am fine as long as Athena has appeared… kawaii cooldere that pack a punch…

  • NightShadow2239 says:

    It seems that Chris is hopping shows. She and her magical horse of course.

  • anoon says:

    Hang on, if this show has “above-average” production, then I’ve been watching shows that have an average budget of 11.00 USD per episode.

  • Grahf says:

    “Maybe if future episodes are just 15 minutes of Erica getting drunk and ranting at things…”

    Well, erica will be dominant in the most of conversations in the future.