25 minSeason 1 • Episode 12
LatestNatsuru wakes up on Christmas Eve morning to find out that he and his messenger, Disemboweled Tiger, have swapped bodies!
Natsuru is selected to be a Kampfer, a mystical fighter who has to fight other Kampfers. The catch is that all Kampfers are female, and Natsuru is male... at least he was! Worse, Natusru's best friend turns out to have a crush on his new body.
Production
Unhinged mascot designs that are nightmare fuel.
Writing
Self-aware satire of magical girl tropes.
Marina Inoue
Natsuru Senō (voice)
Yui Horie
Akane Mishima (voice)
Nana Mizuki
Electrocuted Wildcat (voice)
Yukari Tamura
Black Seppuku Rabbit (voice)
Eri Nakao
Sayaka Nakao (voice)
Junko Minagawa
Hitomi Minagawa (voice)
Kana Asumi
Mikoto Kondō (voice)
Kana Ueda
Rika Ueda (voice)
Kaori Nazuka
Shizuku Sangō (voice)
Kenji Utsumi
Burnt Alive Lion (voice)
Kotomi Yamakawa
Ryouka Yamakawa (voice)
Mamiko Noto
Strangled Stray Dog (voice)
Megumi Nakajima
Kaede Sakura (voice)
Shiori Mikami
Masumi Nishino (voice)
Yoshihisa Kawahara
Mikihito Higashida (voice)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The light novel author Toshihiko Tsukiji originally pitched Kämpfer as a serious battle series before editors pushed for more comedy and fanservice elements.
Kämpfer arrived at peak 2000s 'gender bender' anime trend, riding the wave of Ranma ½ nostalgia while pioneering the now-ubiquitous 'boy becomes cute magical girl' subgenre that later exploded with series like Magical Girl Ore.
JP
