Kämpfer

Plot

Natsuru Senō attends a high school that separates boys from girls and has a crush on school beauty Kaede Sakura, who collects Entrail Animals—stuffed animals styled in brutal ways of dying. One day, Natsuru discovers he has turned into a girl. His stuffed tiger Harakiri Tora awakens and tells him he has been chosen as a Kämpfer, a female fighter who must fight other Kämpfer not on her team, as indicated by a colored Bracelet of Oath. Natsuru attracts the attention of several girls at school who are also Kämpfer: shy bookworm Akane Mishima, who transforms into a gunslinging loudmouth; beautiful but scheming student council president Shizuku Sangō; and later his childhood friend Mikoto Kondō. Natsuru can sometimes change back to a boy, but his emotions might trigger transformation, forcing him to live as both a male and female student with the same name while keeping his identity secret. Sakura is strongly attracted to Natsuru's female form and seems tied to the Kämpfer's formation. Later stories involve fights with other Kämpfer groups. Originally divided into Red and Blue factions, the White Kämpfer form after a truce between elements of the Red and Blue.

Characters

Natsuru Senō is a male second-year student at Seitetsu High School with a crush on Kaede Sakura. At the story's start, he finds himself turned into a girl and learns he has been selected as a Kämpfer, gaining magical abilities like launching fireballs. In his female form, his hair is longer and tied in a ponytail. After a confrontation with Shizuku reveals his transformed state to the entire school, Natsuru is officially enrolled as a girl under the same name, quickly becoming one of the school's top beauties alongside Kaede and Shizuku.

Kaede Sakura is a childhood friend and crush of Shizuku, and also one of the Three Beauties of Seitetsu. She owns a vast collection of stuffed Entrails Animal dolls and enjoys giving them to her friends; recipients of these dolls often end up becoming Kämpfers. After being rescued from an attack by Kämpfer Akane early in the series, Kaede grows infatuated with Natsuru in his female form. She fights against the combined Red and Blue Kämpfer forces using a katana and a Beretta 93R, and she has a strong preference for female-female romance.

Akane Mishima is a bespectacled honor student who works in the school library and is a friend of Natsuru. Like him, she is a Blue Kämpfer. Normally shy and quiet, she becomes aggressive, foul-mouthed, violent, and quick to shoot when transformed. As a Gewehr-type Kämpfer, she wields a black Springfield M1911A1 .45 pistol and seems to be ambidextrous. Over time, she develops romantic feelings for Natsuru.

Shizuku Sangō is the Student Council President and another of the Three Beauties of Seitetsu. She is a model student with perfect attendance, known for her calm and confident manner, which Natsuru sometimes views as cold and calculating. As a Red Kämpfer, she initially opposes him. She is a Schwert-type fighter who uses two short swords connected by a chain. Her personal goal is to uncover why Kämpfers are forced to battle one another, and she also has feelings for Natsuru.

Media

The Kämpfer light novel series, penned by Toshihiko Tsukiji with artwork by Senmu, ran under Media Factory's MF Bunko J label. A total of 15 volumes were published from November 24, 2006, to March 25, 2010. Twelve of these form the main storyline, while the other three are collections of short stories. A manga version, also written by Tsukiji and drawn by Yu Tachibana, started in the April 2008 issue of Monthly Comic Alive. Its first collected volume came out on October 23, 2008, and ten volumes were released in all, with the final one arriving on July 23, 2013. Studio Nomad produced a 12-episode anime adaptation, directed by Yasuhiro Kuroda and scripted by Kazuyuki Fudeyasu. It broadcast on TBS from October 2 to December 17, 2009. Minami Kuribayashi performed the opening theme "Unreal Paradise," while Marina Inoue and Megumi Nakajima sang the ending theme "One Way Ryō Omoi." In North America, Sentai Filmworks holds the license, releasing the full series on January 18, 2011. Two extra episodes were shown at a special event at Odaiba Cinema Mediage in Tokyo on March 6, 2011, though only one of them later aired on TBS on April 8, 2011. Sentai Filmworks put out a Blu-ray version with an English dub on May 28, 2019.

Reception

Theron Martin of Anime News Network called the series a 'spiritual descendant' of Maze: The Mega-Burst Space and Ranma ½, featuring characters who regularly switch genders, but described it as a 'harem comedy.' He argued that the action-oriented and harem-oriented elements are not balanced, with the harem comedy stronger, and said the 'perverse and sometimes twisted sense of humor' works best. He noted that while there is fan service, it is 'fairly tame by recent standards,' and said the music score has 'fun little themes' but the plot 'is a mess.'