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Year: 2012
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Harem, Romance
Episodes: 13
Rating: 3 out of 5
If you could have any ancient god or goddess’ powers, what would you like to have? Would you go for Ra, the Egyptian sun god, involved in the creation, the afterlife, and ruler of the gods? How about Fūjin, the Japanese god of the wind, and one of the eldest Shinto gods? What about Hades, the ancient Greek god, and ruler of the underworld? How about the great Greek goddess Athena, the goddess of wisdom, craft, and war? Would you like the Greek goddess Artemis, goddess of the wilderness, wild animals, virginity, childbirth, and the hunt?
If you wanted those gods or goddess powers, do you think you could defeat them in a battle? If you win, you will have all their capabilities. If you lose, death will surely find you. Would you challenge the god or goddess or decide to run away? Along with winning comes an almost indestructible body and immortality.
Campione! is an anime that explores what happens when one that defeats a rogue god. An anime that shows what really happens when one defeats an almighty god and takes all their powers. An anime that shows the impact of one’s decision to become a Campione, God Slayer.
Overview:
Campione! is the story of Godou Kusanagi. Godou is a retired baseball player who is asked by his grandfather to return a stone tablet to a friend in Sardinia named Lucrezia Zora. While searching in Sardinia for Lucrezia, Godou takes a turn down an alley and runs into a mysterious boy with purple hair and a weird marking on his head. The mysterious boy notices the stone slab and before leaving smiles and then laughs.
While walking down the street, Godou runs into and meets a manipulative sword-wielding blonde vixen named Erica Blandelli. Erica threatens him to turn over the stone tablet or meet his end. Just when Erica is about to take the stone tablet, a giant boar begins to ravage the city. With no other choice, Erica jumps into action to stop the boar. Erica tries her best to stop the boar but to no avail.
Erica explains that the boar belongs to the evil god of war, Verethragna. Godou notices that the war god is the same boy he ran into earlier. After several attempts on his life, Godou and Erika manage to escape and travel to see Lucrezia. Lucrezia, in a very flirtatious way, reveals that the stone tablet is based on the book of Prometheus and to keep the tablet for safekeeping.
The next morning, Godou and Erica encounter another god named Melqart. Godou convinces Melqart to join forces to battle Verethragna, who Melqart dislikes. During the conflict between the gods, Godou uses the tablet to steal Verethragna’s golden sword. With the help of Erica, through a kiss, Godou manages to kill Verethragna and become what is known as a Campione, or god slayer. His duty as a Campione is to fight heretical gods who start changing things to suit themselves at the expense of the people in the area.
The story progresses around Godou and his newly appointed duty as a Campione. Along the way, Godou is introduced to many beautiful and attention-seeking girls, who in their own way, profess their loyalty and commitment to him. Also, along the way, Godou meets other Campiones who have their own agendas while fitting other gods.
Review:
Campione! isn’t a great anime that will knock your socks off, but it is an anime to watch if you have some free time and bored. The anime has a few good things about it but also a few bad things that hold it back. The battle scenes are pretty good, but overall it doesn’t hold weight too much other anime series.
The storyline of this anime is pretty okay but could’ve been better. The whole concept of becoming a Campione is quite interesting. First, the god must be rouge and doing some crazy stuff. No need trying to find Zeus and taking his powers if he is chilling on Mount Olympus and minding his own business. One can’t just kill a god but needs to have extreme knowledge of the god. The only downside is that the story doesn’t explain if this is only for Godou’s case or if it’s a rule for all the Campiones. Even with that, if I ever met a god from any time or religion, who wouldn’t want their powers. Just imagine having the power of Poseidon and controlling the seas or Anubis and controlling the dead or even Thor and controlling the thunder and lightning. There are so many gods to choose from.
The downside of the storyline is it skips too many areas and doesn’t explain anything about some characters. In one episode, we are introduced to a new Campione like nothing happened. We never know how Godou and his harem actually meet the new character. Out of the blue, Godou, and this new character is fishing. You’re sitting there like “Who’s this guy?” Another downside is that the main villain is around all the time but doesn’t become an actual focal point of the story until the last two episodes when everything is going to hell. Even though I know some information about certain gods, I feel like the anime definitely made a lot of this up, but I could be wrong.
Another somewhat positive aspect of the anime is the characters. The anime does a good job of developing the main characters. Godou is a reluctant hero/boy that comes into his own as a strong leader that loves all his girls. Erica is the blonde bombshell and strongest of all the girls. She is skeptical of Godou until he becomes a Campione. When that happens, her entire demeanor changes and becomes very flirtatious and possessive of Godou. She tells everyone that she is her first wife, and he is allowed to have others.
Yuri is a princess shrine maiden. She is quite harsh on Godou the majority of the time, but after rescuing her, she falls in love with him. She is the weakest in terms of fighting but excels in other areas like cooking. Liliana is the Croatian childhood friend of Erica and works for the rival organization that Erica works for. Liliana is an interesting character as she genuinely cares about her figure and always comparing herself to Erica. She is actually pretty proficient with the sword and quite skilled in battle.
Where the anime fails is with secondary characters that have huge roles but manage to make them have very minor roles. One character is Pandora. She is called the mother of all Campiones, but besides that, we really don’t learn much about her. We know that she has a mast amount of powers by creating the Campione. There is also Salvatore Doni. We know he is another Campione but doesn’t really get any background information on him. He pretty much shows up out of the blue and is an annoyance to everyone.
The animation is pretty good in this anime. Overall, it has the same animation as any other anime. What sets it apart is when Godou fights, and he gains the knowledge needed to defeat his opponent. The animation takes a change from its usual self to one of a golden aura. The scene changes to Godou standing in a field surrounded by golden swords. The scene almost makes Godou look like a shining hero. Another animation that is good in the series is when Erica gets trapped in Purgatory. The scene changes to a dark and desolate area with a black mist that gives the sense of it sucking the life out of anything. The animation adds a few appeals to this anime.
Campione! is an okay little anime to watch if you need a good laugh and bored. There are few action scenes, and the anime might not hold your attention. The squabbling between the main female characters is funny, while the fight scenes with the gods are pretty entertaining. Besides those two things, this amine is another to simply forget and move on.
