Karneval Episode 1 -  (12)

“I only have three choices. Enemy, nobody and prey.”  – Gareki

Summary:

Nai seems to be lost in Karasuna while trying to find his long lost friend, Karoku and at the same time, he let himself be captured by one of the prostitute in the area. Lucky for him, there was a thief, working on his own mission and was saved by this guy. While they were on their way for escape, they ran into people whom they call themselves members of the Circus, the National Defense Organization.

Linzz’s First Impression:

And so it begings! Apparently, there is one reason why Eva couldn’t really take past over ten minutes with this episode was… could have been… the blood. XD But dear, Eva, you are missing it good! D:

And before anything else…

Karneval Episode 1 -  (4)
BRB. LAUGHING.

First of all, the thing that really gotten me into this show is how well the character designs are, in contrast to Majestic Prince. LOL Not to mention those beautifully colored eyes for the main characters are sooo pretty! I do believe that the main attraction for anime characters is their eyes. Weirdly enough, those pastel and neon colors on their eyes really do its match! Their clothes and overall designs were pretty well-made except for the main character, at the moment. I am hoping of seeing him in good shape after all of these commotions were settled. The people from Circus were cool. Really cool. Especially that fighter.

The characters:

Karneval Episode 1 -  (9)Nai – the main protagonist as I can tell is just your ordinary shota that can be attacked for sex anytime – ah sorry – your typical guy in trouble and is also another one of those characters who are prone to trouble. A character that needs someone at his side to stay safe all the time and I guess this is what Karoku has been to him all these time. I can’t help but to think about what he said that his whole body hurts just because Karoku is not around. What is this?! I sense Yaoi here. Although he is some helpless little boy, he possesses a Circus ID which, he said, he got from Karoku. But Gareki seem to doubt Karoku is a member of the Circus or he was just mistaken? Nonetheless, main characters, mostly, have the greatest character development in a show so I am expecting a lot from Nai and expecting him to be a part of Circus and become a badass person one day.

Karneval Episode 1 -  (7)Gareki seems to be just your normal thief who happens to just encounter a really troublesome brat on his way when he was trying to steal stuff from one of the mansions of Karasuna. Since he’s pretty much interested into Nai’s bracelet – the Circus ID. And for some reason, he might know a thing or two about Karoku as well. He knows his things – mechanics is his forte and I love how he dealt with that electric jammer. He seems to be your normal thief, running away from the Securty Force with another mysterious background (seeing that flashback). He also seems to be the perfect guy to be with Nai because he seems to be reliable enough to take care of the boy. And he pretty much reminds me of Haru from Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun.

Karneval Episode 1 -  (32)The Circus babies: Hirato, the Captain of the Second Ship and his Fighter, Tsukumo. Wow. Just… wow. Hirato does magic and Tsukumo has these awesome fighting skills but possesses these kuudere-like expressions except from talking to girls. WOW. They two obviously stole my attention just in the first episode, expected from the National Defense Organization; they are strong, skilled and can do sparkly magic! They can even fly and conceal their presence out on public! Based on their organization name, Circus, one can actually tell just by their clothing that they are members of it. I could have sworn I might die if I knew Tukumo can do some circus-related things while on combat. She is the bomb! As for Hirato, he posssess all the qualities a Captain would need and apparently, these two babies, together, are just so cool in one screenshot.

Karneval Episode 1 -  (29)
This humor.

The Antagonists – I am not sure if they are the antagonists but based on my natural anime show instincts; it is telling me that they are – Palnedo, who was captured during the train jack and the orange-head guy. They seem to have a hate towards Circus and towards Karoku as well.

Karneval Episode 1 -  (40)
Y-YAOI? /O/

The plot – two guys who are on a run with different goals in life then encounters the powerful defense force of the nation while doing so and got themselves into trouble that they had never expected it to be with mysterious background for each and a mysterious guy whom everyone actually goes after for. Sound pretty interesting, right? I’m in it!

Dear show, I would be really happy if Karoku’s side of the story will be shown piece by piece. 😀

Possibility of Blogging: High.

Possibility of Watching: Obvious.

Kaitou’s Impressions

I’d have to agree with Linzz. Nai looks like the type that gets attacked (ALL THE CONNOTATIONS ATTACHED) just for looking like that. Lots of eye candy, but I really hoe they’re not just setting up for a story that doesn’t progress. So far we’ve been introduced to a lot of new characters, and a lot of them are purposefully within one “trope” type or another.

On that note, the ships are sailing in all directions. XD

The Circus is alluded to, and since Nai can’t even tell whether Karuko was dead (does he know what the concept of “dead” is?), but if all Gareki wants is the ID, then what value does the ID actually hold? The circus seems rather active beyond an actual location, so I suppose it is an organization.
The animation is really damn pretty. The colour choices and the character designs really work together to make great scenes, but if they don’t pump more substance into the anime, all we’re going to get is a joyride of colour and hot bishies.

Everything else is “eh,” so I might not be following this show too seriously. Definitely worth for not being a moe-moe fest (unless you count Nai), but not compelling enough to leave you hanging for the next episode.

This Post Has 10 Comments

  1. Eva

    I rewatched it this afternoon. It wasn’t the blood (there were hardly any to begin with) it was the crackling bones CRINGES OH GOD, IT IS STILL RINGING IN MY EARS /SOBS IT WAS HORRIBLE. IT MADE ME SICK /cannot stand cracking bones SHUDDERS It was probably a bad idea to watch it at 6:30am the minute after I woke up… ahahahaha /fail

    Once I got past that yes, it was very good I enjoyed it a lot and you can be sure that I’ll be watching this. I really like the vibrant colors and the characters. Tsukumo is awesome <3 I’m going to step aside for blogging this one since I have a few titles I’m interested in covering for Fridays already.

    1. Linzz

      I actually remembered that one specific episode form Robotics; Notes because of your comment. XDDD

  2. Cielo

    Blood? LOL, for me Karneval is more to comedy rather than action.
    I once mistook this series as yaoi because in the earlier scenes of the manga Nai looks like an (very uke-ish) adult rather than innocent young boy, though I still can’t say for sure that this series wouldn’t lead to yaoi =D

    1. Eva

      Yeah same here. XD I heard there isn’t any yaoi, but more bromance- but you know animes, they just LOVE appealing to that audience.

      1. Linzz

        Fanservice that hints bromance is more attactive than any fanservice there are.

  3. BNV

    I loved the premiere.
    I read the manga, but the anime studio really hit us hard how scary the long armed lady was when she devoured the security guard. The sound effects made me see a horror movie going on. I was thinking “Holy s**t.”
    I found Ono Daisuke’s role as hirato hilarious. When he kicked Gareki, to say to Gareki, “You should have told me that you weren’t with their group.” Ha!
    The animation and music were amazing. The character’s clothes especially Nai’s eyes– were beautiful! Regarding the music, it had a circus-esque feel. Also Miyano voicing as Yogi was God sent. I can’t wait to see Yogi-bear! * * (’3′)/ * *

    1. Linzz

      Even if her arms are not THAT long, she still made my lips twitch when she first tilted her head like that. HAHA I guess it’s really good to see series gets an anime adaptation because you get to see it move and get to hear good SFX at the same time.

  4. lilgamergal

    gareki is like haru in a way :3 i was laughing at the beginning, ahh nai xD i didnt find the crackling bones or horrorish sound effects scary (youll be surprised at what mirai nikki, elfin lied and higurashi does to you lol) and eyes are i think the most important thing in a anime chara (since it shows their emotions mainly)i cant wait for next episode (‘specially yogi, i wanna see how he is like)

    1. Linzz

      I’ve seen Elfen Lied and to be honest, the sound effects on that series weren’t really as effective compared to anime these days and maybe because of two reasons: 1. Elfen Lied is EXPECTED to at least have those horror-themed sound effects because of the obvious genre and 2. Elfen Lied is an old anime show which has a least effective SFX compared to anime these days.

      Since Circus is not about horror/gore/etc, getting those SFX just in the first episode was unexpected. Same goes to Robotics; Notes (if you have seen the anime, there’s this one episode that used the crackling of bones SFX too which made everyone seriously horror-ed).

      Yes on Yogi!!! D8

    2. Eva

      I’m one of those people who has absolute no tolerance for horror/gore/an abundance of blood/cracking+snapping bones SFX. It would plague my mind all day and night varying from three days to a month. Even gory mangas scare the life out of me. OTL||||

      But yeah as Linzz pointed out: I knew this wasn’t a horror/gore story, I read a bit of the manga- so the SFX caught me off guard, big time.

      TTwTT;;;; Shame really that I can’t handle these things because usually the gorey/bloody/horror titles are really good shows and I’m missing out on them /sobs

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