Campione!

Godou Kusanagi, a regular high schooler, was tasked by his grandfather with delivering a stone tablet back to a man named Lucrezia Zora. As he travels, he becomes embroiled in the struggle between the Heretic Gods and Erica Blandelli, a self-proclaimed witch. Godou defeats Verethragna, the war god, and earns the epithet "God Slayer" for his efforts in that battle.

Godou now has to deal with a group of heretical gods who change reality to help themselves, often at the expense of those close to them. But the attention of various women comes with being crowned Campione, so after every match, he kisses one of the girls he brings with him.

Campione! Matsurowanu Kamigami to Kamigoroshi no Maou is an anime from the summer of 2012. It aired from July to September and has 13 episodes. This anime was made by Studio Diomedea, which is known for shows like "Domestic Girlfriend," "Aho Girl," and "Beatless."

Campione is the kind of anime where it's easy to form an opinion after watching only a handful of episodes. Those who only go to see the action may be disappointed by this, since it takes away any chance of suspense or significant character growth. The reason for this is that if you aren't enjoying the story and characters at the beginning of an anime, there's not much reason to keep watching because they will only change a little throughout the series. The anime tries to cover up this flaw on multiple occasions, but if you pay attention, you can see Campione's working pattern.

It doesn't help that Campione is dealing with a tired theme found in almost every Ecchi and Harem anime. A little too many times, anime fans have seen the story of a guy who, for no particular reason, is chosen to save the world while surrounded by various girls who are in love with him. So considering that it deals with a theme that has been seen many times in the most unoriginal way possible, Campione does not stand out from any other anime in this genre. Worst of all, it didn't have to be that way.

One of the main elements of Campione is mythology, which is not so present in this genre, and that's why it was the best chance for this anime to stand out. However, the creators did not choose to use this potential, and what's more, there is probably no worse way to depict mythology in anime.

Instead of using many stories and characters from Roman and Greek mythology, the authors used funny versions of them. This killed any chance of a great historical action drama. Although the myths related to the gods are mentioned, they are portrayed superficially, making the gods seem like one-dimensional figures who do things because they can. The only interesting aspect of the story is that Godou must have information about the god to defeat him.

He learns about the gods when he kisses one of the harem girls, which is good for the Ecchi part of the story. But this idea quickly gets boring because instead of a fierce fight to the death, Godou wins by telling his opponent's story. So, the action is put on hold, and you feel like you're being told something from a Wikipedia page. That, combined with the repetitiveness mentioned earlier and too much focus on satisfying Harem fans, makes the anime unwatchable for those who are there for the action.

Unfortunately, the unoriginal story filled with bad action is not the worst part of this anime. The reason for this is that some characters are bad enough to make you forget all their flaws. It doesn't matter if it's the main character, the harem girls, or the villains; there is no solidly written character here.

Each of them, without exception, is a generic person without any uniqueness. Most of these characters don't have much more to offer than what you see in the first few minutes of the show. Starting with a protagonist who is the epitome of all harem stereotypes, including blandness, infatuation with pretty girls, and power-ups that involve some girl contact (in this case a kiss), everything goes from bad to worse.

It would be an understatement to say that the female characters are hard to deal with, mostly because they don't have any personality. They are there for the protagonist to win and for Ecchi fans to be satisfied. They are so boring and predictable that there is never any doubt about who the main character will end up with.

Here we meet the main female character, Erica Blundelli, who loses everything she has been up to this point and falls madly in love with Godou in less than 10 minutes. We can't judge her for that, though, because every girl fell in love with this boring guy in five minutes. Apart from being charmed by the protagonist, the women of the anime Campione’s have nothing to offer, except, of course, fan service.

As for the villains, no matter what you know about the gods outside of this anime, you won't remember them. Campione made them into such simple characters and erased everything we loved about them that sometimes you won't even recognize them. They are simply heretics whom the protagonist defeats with the facts of their lives, and there isn't much satisfaction in watching them lose.

A big problem with the characters is that they don't have any weight or significance. They may have some screen time, but that doesn't change the fact that they appear and disappear as the story suits them, without any explanation. In case a character reappears or is mentioned later in the story, you'll have to go back a few episodes to remember who it is.

Unfortunately, the story about bad characters does not end here because the dialogue in the anime should also be mentioned. The script is generally terrible. The way all the characters speak, along with the content they say, makes you constantly experience secondhand embarrassment. The characters' vocabulary is also limited, and if you're the kind of person who pays attention to that, you'll probably enjoy listening to them for long periods of time.

As for the technical aspects, there is not much to say. Diomedea isn't known for its amazingly animated series, but you can't say that Campione looks bad. The characters look nice, and the only major complaint would be that the same effects are reused and there is little body movement for an action show. Overall, the anime is okay to watch, especially by the standards of older ecchi anime.

The music was okay—nothing special or impressive, but not wrong either. Both the opening and the ending are solid and match the anime.

Campione is not an anime for everyone. Many flaws could be argued about, but this is an anime that has its audience. This is not a series to watch when you want a deep story filled with morally gray characters that you can talk about for hours. Campione is for those who want quick entertainment. This is a story for Ecchi fans who are there for the harem. So even though it has obvious flaws, it's okay enough that it has its own fan base.