「Glühen ~死闘の開幕~」 (Shitou no Kaimaku)
“Glow ~The Fight to the Death Begins~”

Well this episode was a bit of a mixed bag. I’m kind of in limbo about the series as a whole now.

Things pick up from Akane’s gunshot last time, with Natsuru jumping in to save Kaede from getting her head blown off. The school bell chimes shortly afterwards and the Schwert attacks cease; the “mysterious” assailant doesn’t want to be late for class it seems. A more pressing problem comes up though — Kaede wants Natsuru to introduce her to the tall, blue-haired beauty who saved her twice now and on a whim, he actually agrees to do so. On the suggestion of Akane, Natsuru reluctantly tries to make Kaede hate his female self, but finds himself unable to do so when Kaede goes out on a limb and asks “her” out.

Before Natsuru gets a chance to respond to her feelings, Shizuku shows up and attacks him while using Kaede’s well-being to egg him on. With Akane’s help, he’s able to beat the student council president and get her to agree not to involve Kaede anymore. However, Shizuku says she’ll continue to fight other Kampfers in order to figure out the purpose of it all. The next day, Natsuru and Akane learn that Shizuku was able to wipe Kaede’s memories of the incident, but she’s unable to calm the commotion in the school over Natsuru’s female presence. To disperse the rumors going around, Shizuku gets Natsuru to join the classes on the girls’ side of the school.

 

As you may recall, I was concerned about the pacing of the manga and how that would translate to the anime. Well it seems like the producers were thinking the same thing, because they just consolidated A TON of material and plowed right through it. Now I’m concerned about the exact opposite — things are going way too fast. For one, it looks like they completely removed the date that Natsuru and Kaede were supposed to have gone on. I have no idea whether or not they’ll bring it back in some form later on, but I’d imagine they have something planned at the rate they’re going. In addition, the battle between Natsuru/Akane and Shizuku should’ve dragged out a fair bit longer, with the whole sprinkler bit serving a bigger purpose than a mere distraction. That I didn’t mind so much though, because the suspense they were going for in the lengthier version just wasn’t worth the effort.

On the plus side, the comedy I enjoyed from the first episode was still prevalent here. The scene with Akane in Natsuru’s room was a good example of that, in conjunction with all the foul-mouthed stuff that Kampfer Akane spouts out. Mizuki Nana also made her appearance as Shizuku’s Messenger, Kanden Yamaneko, along with the inaugural seiyuu shot to welcome her to the series. Story-wise, they hinted at the idea that all the stuffed animals Kaede gives out end up becoming Messengers. Seeing how early signs indicate this will be a 1 cour series (i.e. 12-13 episodes), I just hope the plot starts coming together around either that or something else.

 

Preview

31 Comments

  1. How long is this goofing off is going to last. I know they have to setup the series & all but they’re going to end up forgetting about the bloody plot, as usual – but the plot ain’t worth shit anyway so oh well. Atleast its funny, I think 😛

    Megas
  2. Wow.. that was fast. Too fast I admit. While it was interesting as a whole, the fact that they could have put in a Natsuru and Sakura date to “lengthen” it a bit.

    I felt that the fight with the President was TOO early and could have saved it for another episode. Again the 12 episode limit has struck again, which I felt in the first episode (it kind of kills the mood).

    But at least they didn’t hold back with the Natsuru and Akane fanservice, which is the initial reason I’m following this series. But I’m still worried with the 12 episode thing (just how much more damage will it wreak *sob*)

    Pappyman
  3. I believe the light novels consist of almost 10 volumes as of now(or something like that).So it wouldn’t be surprising that they can go through so much in just 2 episodes.I think they’re trying to re organize the plot events to make it “better” in a way.

    God~Knows~
  4. God~Knows~:

    I’m hoping that’s the reason why they’re going through this other stuff really quickly. I haven’t read the light novels but I assumed there’d be much more (and much better) content there. Now we just have to see whether or not that material gets used in this anime adaptation. *crosses fingers*

  5. Whoa whoa whoa… they’re RUSHING through. At the end of the second anime episode we have reached the second chapter of manga tankoubon 3!!

    On one hand I regret it. The whole sequence in which Sakura gradually falls for Natsuru/female got axed, and doing so “degrades” Sakura quite a bit. It makes her look much more of a easily-smitten simpleton than she actually is. On the other hand, it’s obvious that they’re trying to reach the later novels with this speed, and that in itself is no bad thing.

    So, it’s a shame that Kämpfer seemingly won’t get 2 seasons. It would have allowed for alot of enjoyable details which had to be omitted here.

    Mentar
  6. I’m seriously confused. There was so much going on in ep 1 and now they stop and are retelling the story ? I’m old and can’t keep up with this sequence jumping thingy. Or was ep 1 a dream and ep is the real plot line. grrrr

    island esper
  7. As a boy, Natsuru looked quite bland, if you ask me.

    But once transformed into a girl (with everyone’s favourite Mahou Shoujo-like transform sequence), Natsuru’s moe is contagious, for me at least.

    Inoue Marina fits perfectly as girl-Natsuru, but her voice as boy-Natsuru is too young and boyish. For male characters, she’s more suited to doing younger shota boys like Wataru in Hayate no Gotoku.

    Kinny Riddle
  8. I agree that Inoue Marina’s male voice is probably better suited for younger guys, but I think of Kanmuri Shigeru from Yakitate!! Japan more so than Wataru when I hear her playing Natsuru. Shigeru’s not quite as young as Wataru, so I’m a little bit more okay with it.

    P.S. I decided to add/update a few screencaps, so you might want to force refresh (Ctrl+F5) your browser. I forgot about the Ayane bikini eyecatch and Natsuru’s baka dance.

  9. Glad some ppl even divine agree with me that Inoue Marina’s male voice is probably better suited for younger guys, now I just need to find ear plug for the voice of those stuff animals then maybe I can enjoy this anime abit.

    Mike
  10. Don’t get me wrong though. I love Marina’s acting so I’d let her practically get away with murder if she chooses to do so. This is just an example of when fandom exceeds rationality.

    The Messengers are all played by pretty notable seiyuus, so I find them fun to watch. Harakiri Tora is the only one I find annoying. He’s played by Nomura Michiko, the voice of Shizuka in Doraemon. I can understand the anime community’s respect for veteran seiyuus, but I would’ve preferred another voice here.

  11. divine, I was aware of Inoue’s role as Kanmuri as well, of course. But Kanmuri is more of the “feminine” pretty boy type, which female seiyuus have no problem doing.

    Male-Natsuru is just too “manly” in appearance for Inoue’s feminine voice. A male seiyuu would have been preferred. But I guess they’re trying to cut costs in hiring a notable male seiyuu (as in Ranma 1/2), and they didn’t want an unknown male seiyuu to be overshadowed by Inoue’s “star power” as well when it comes to organizing otaku-related events.

    Kinny Riddle
  12. This series seems to be getting most of its views based purely on fanservice imho. Most of the humour so far has come from Akane’s sexual misinterpretations and the plot… what plot…
    “Huh? Why are they fighting?”
    “Don’t worry about the details!”

    Flare
  13. Well this episode was a bit of a mixed bag. I’m kind of in limbo about the series as a whole now This means he series will be dissapointing but you have high hopes! try and keep the expectations low this time 😛

    WingZerozxt

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