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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Watch | 9 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
 Xenoknight
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[series:2180#2967] |
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A young man's harem guild company gets caught in a unexpected struggle to save the world... If ever there was a notion where a kid's show and a title meant for the seinen crowd were to be combined into one anime, this series would be an example of the result. As if to make matters more unfavorable, the powers that be opted to write and produce one of the most mundane stories one could imagine. I mean come on, it's nearly 2011 here - try something new for heavens sake. This title featured a plethora of boring developments, repetitive family-friendly resolutions, stale music for the most part, lack of action scenes, unforgivable amount of wasted episodes, standard stall tactics, and is responsible for some of the quickest deletes from my computer I've had to perform in quite some time. In all fairness however, the ecchi content was surprising and the pure visuals were quite inspiring among some of it's piers for 2010. The most confusing issue this anime suffered from is the family oriented events, even though it tailored to an adult crowd with plenty of fan-service. Perhaps they tried to attract the normal otaku with the adult content to spike ratings? Who is to say? All I know for sure is that this title had some compelling issues that ruined its chances for a decent score. The story is just far too simple and has been regurgitated in different forms for many years now. I'm not even going to stress it in this review. The characters are one element I can describe in detail, however. The main lead, Leicester (a.k.a. - Lester) came across to me as too timid. As an engineer for the town, this role is form fitting for his personality, as he is always willing to help those in need and fix things on the spot. This helps him in combat as well since his intelligence justifies his prowess in battle and being an engineer, his weapons are flexible and ever-changing. Episode 3's gun-blade-like weapon was nice and its explosive power was fully realized towards the end of the series. His mother, Shelley, looking no younger then her own son, surprisingly enough, can be considered the definition of a ↗MILF for all intents and purposes. Lester is part of the world renowned Oasis guild and is accompanied by a wide assortment of females in the company (with the exception of one other male), hence the harem tendency: Carina - guild company leader with the hots for Lester. Her spell-casting is second to none, but has trouble having to constantly keep the other women off her "would-be" man. Chelsea - a member of the Templar Knights with extraordinary sword skill and has a knack for getting lost even in familiar locations. Agnes - famed puppeteer that doubles as a skilled magic user. She travels the land searching for her lost loved one. Minette - small girl with the heart of an angel. Loves her papa with all her heart and cares deeply for all living things. Her power just may save the world. Nina - the company maid. The Tortilla Company acts as a rival of sorts for Lester's group. The two ladies in charge, Ritos and Salsa, are your source for all things comedic relief. They both also see Lester as the Alpha male and want to eagerly spend "alone time with him". Some of the best moments revolved around them and their pet golem as they would try to flirt with Lester and make his life quite entertaining (for the viewer primarily). Ritos is as conniving as a snake with how she constantly makes fun of her ignorant sister Salsa and loves to put her in ecchi situations. They were this title's saviors for me. I laughed every time they appeared on screen. As for the villains of this title, Avadene (Sugiyama, Noriaki a.k.a. - Sasuke Uchiha from Naruto) and Avril come across as the typical bad-a**es. Being siblings, their strength and speed are unholy and serve the Oasis guild a fine plate of trouble. Of the three most impressive battle scenes, two belong to these deadly siblings. As one can see, the cast of characters is healthy and the elements for entertainment is genuine, but for how much effort (remember my words in my initial impression) the powers that be put into it is a whole other factor that is yet to be seen. I mentioned earlier that this title had one massive flaw - it's contradiction regarding its target audience (adults or kids). Throughout the entire twelve episodes, this is stressed upon and becomes more and more apparent (especially to Lee). For example: in ep 4, we are treated to a bath scene with full frontal where Lester is caught by a female member and they (together) are forced to hide to avoid detection and his presence by the other members. Lester and his "partner" have a moment of full contact with a slight twist of comedy. Later, the girls do their thing with the usual activities well known for anime bathing scenes such as groping and the like (the good stuff). This would translate as entertainment for any adult, correct? On that same note, there are eps where Minette, being a mere child, would be the focus of multiple scenes with finding new friends, helping people around the town and going shopping for the guild. Ep 5 was the exact replica of Sekirei: Kuu’s Day Out with none of the comedy or charm. There are also plenty of family meeting type moments where they all get together and discuss simple things. Anyone who watched this title will instantly know what I'm talking about. I suppose for a child, this title would be fine if they close their eyes and ears at certain moments and for the adults, this title could pass as a fantasy title with a stronger focus on kids. I can easily say female adults would find this title cute and whatnot (from a family point of view), but for most males, this title is straight up conflicting and boring for the most part. FYI - The Lee crack was an inside joke between MayorPaine and myself. One thing that can't be denied is the specs for this title. The animation and art style can be considered a marvel by today's standings. Things to look forward to among other things: uber bright colors, stunning backgrounds/scenery, a strong take regarding attention to detail, and some smooth character designs. Some may say its one of the many strengths with fantasy titles - imagination being such a powerful weapon, while other might say this doesn't count since the real credit goes to fantastic looking realistic titles. Whatever your opinion, I think Campanella certainly delivered in the artistry department. The fight scenes were breath-taking to behold as every detail came to life with every magic explosions, fancy swordsmanship, and uber powerful abilities. The music on the other hand was all situational, which is normally fine, but I simply couldn't care for it no matter how hard I tried. The opening ("Shiawase wa Tsuki Yori Takaku" by Aki Misato) just sucked for lack of better words while being rounded out with the good ending ("Mirai Kaikisen" by Miyuki Hashimoto). All in all, this title was just bad. It suffered from far too many negatives and not enough positives. I truly hated the family-friendly moments, lack of battles (even though it was clearly capable), and amount of wasted episodes. There is simply no point in sugar coating it at this point. It could have have been saved with more focus on the action/story elements and deciding on its target fan-base instead of appealing to both. Alas, that's how the cookie crumbles. It gets a 3 out of 10 with the main reasons for viewing being the healthy cast of characters and world-class visuals. It gets my personal AVOID rating. Watch it if you want to see those incredible visuals and have a good laugh with the Tortilla sisters, but toss/delete it ASAP when completed. I'll recommend titles for the adult audience like Tears to Tiara if you want the true video-game inspired adventures with a much stronger focus on combat and story (one of my favorite titles) and The Familiar of Zero as still one of the most well rounded titles to date with an amazing comedic presence, thrilling action scenes, and top tier harem/ecchi quality spanning multiple seasons (another favorite). You can't go wrong with either one you decide. This marks the end of another mundane anime title. That is until it's resurrected in 3D.... Check out my award list to see some of the best anime titles in the world! Never forget Xenosaga. Last updated Thursday, September 23 2010. Created Thursday, July 22 2010. | ||||||||
| Unevaluated |
 Jan-Chan
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[series:2180#967] | ||||||
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OH PLEASE!!! Gag me with the silver spoon of Happiness!! One boy (a magical engineer type) is fawned over by about a half-dozen cute girls who all titter at the thought of marrying him. And even his mother is an uber-cute MILF type who hangs on to her son a bit more than is proper. And they all live in a magical village of milk and honey..... If you want a fluffy saccharine story of cute girls, magic and a bit of mystery, then this might be your ticket. Last updated Tuesday, July 06 2010. Created Monday, July 05 2010. | ||||||||
Other Sites
| Name | URL |
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| Official Japanese website | http://www.mmv.co.jp/special/campanella/ |
