Hello,
Today we'll talk about the third episode of the summer season 2012 anime series named Campione! that introduces another two characters in the main cast (Liliana and the goddess Athena).
Erica, just like predicted, turned out to be an extremely manipulative girl ending up involving the protagonist in her quest to "save the world" against Athena's prophesied catastrophic rebirth.
While I'm sure she's doing it for the protagonist's sake (she seems to be in love for real till this point), I don't think that qualifies her to involve Japan in a battle between Gods.
Moreover, I'm not sure about what to think about all this prophecy business. Everything seems to shout "Be careful, it's a trap!", especially because the main cast is still incomplete (missing last girl) and because it is too early to introduce the final villain.
I speculate that the final villain is another Campione just like the protagonist and the gods involvement is actually just a "background" behind the real story.
By the way, am I the only one cringing every time they show the opening animation? While the song is decent, I feel that the "narration" at the beginning and some of the scenes are too forced to be enjoyable.
So after watching this episode we get to know that apparently Athena, the goddess of wisdom of the greek mythology, was a cute silver-haired loli that seems to have some relationship with serpents.
At the same time we now know that by kissing you're able to transmit your "kotodama" to the other person to the point of making almost anyone fall unconscious...
No, seriously what's up with this scene? Why using such a cheap plot devices to make people kiss? They even added a justification to use the tongue while kissing!
Leaving aside these "small" details, next episode is going to focus on the final battle against Athena, after which she'll most likely join the main cast as a friendly character.
Why I say that? Well, its pretty much an implied rule of harem anime that any cute girl (even better if loli) end up becoming friendly after the first big battle and I don't think that Campione is an exception.
I'm unsure about what will be the reason for the change of heart, but I suppose they'll try to shift all the hate to some other god/campione who "forced Athena to behave in that way". :P
Concluding, Campione continues to be a very lighthearted harem story reminiscent of other titles like Omamori Himari or Cube X Cursed X Curious.
While I don't dislike this genre, I'm a bit doubtful about the possibilities of this series to become a memorable one.
See you soon,
feal87