So what is Carnival Phantasm? Looking at the cover is interesting, after all. We see characters from across different Type-Moon works, Tsukihime and Fate. What could possibly bring these two universes together? Why, a comedic parody of course. Yes, that is what Carnival Phantasm is. It is a crossover of various Type-Moon works, whilst mainly being Tsukihime and Fate, their other works such as Melty Blood and Kara no Kyoukai make an appearance. Carnival Phantasm places the characters of these any universes into various comedic situations. Sound interesting? The nature of this anime does go differently to the other types of reviews I have done in the past but let us delve a little deeper.
As with many comedies, the plot is not the main focus of the anime. Carnival Phantasm's plot mostly consists comedic situations that take place in each episode, and various Type-Moon characters are placed in them for comedic results. The plot is fairly simple and does not need much brain power to follow it. It is easy just to tune out and enjoy yourself to the kind of events that the characters find themselves in. I will say though, some of the situations end up being quite hilarious. For example, the premise of the first episode is The Holy Grail War gets turned into a game show. That is only a taste of things to come, with many more bizarre and outlandish situations in the later episodes. Overall, the plot gets the job done, delivering a comedic state of affairs to the viewer, and letting them see how the characters they have become so familiar with deal with what is thrown at them.
All of the characters that appear on Carnival Phantasm are the many characters that appear in the various works of Type-Moon. This includes the universes of Fate, Tsukihime, Kara no Kyoukai and more. We see characters like Saber and Aruceid meet and talk to each other, something only possible in Carnival Phantasm. Having characters from all of these universes is wonderful fanservice done well, for one such as I who is familiar with most of the universes presented in Carnival Phantasm. It was a treat to see them all come together, to make a joyful and light hearted viewing experience. The characters that appear on Carnival Phantasm are just as you know them, some of them having comedic qualities emphasised. An example of this is Rin's tech illiteracy, which is focused upon on one episode. Of course, Saber's gluttony and lion-like nature is in this too. If you are someone who is familiar with the characters that appear in Carnival Phantasm, this will be a treat to see. I only had one personal irk with Carnival Phantasm, which is the lack of representation of Kara no Kyoukai characters,
The art does well to convey the comedic emotion the anime aims to send across to the audience. Character expressions are done well, and they look good too in this art style. Studio Lerche does well to bring to life the many situations the characters come across, making it feel more alive. For an anime created in 2011, the quality was acceptable, and I appreciated what it did for the anime.
The music is pretty catchy and fits well with the overall mood of the anime. The opening is quite memorable, even now, two months later I can still recall it. The opening did well to set the mood of the anime, and to get their viewers ready to experience Carnival Phantasm. The credits too, from what I recall, was pretty good. It fit the theme and did well to end the episodes. Essentially, Uezu Makoto did a good job on the music and overall sound design as the music is pretty catchy, and fits well with the overall mood of the anime.
I have already talked about the comedy in some of the previous segments, but I will go into a little more detail. For what this anime was trying to achieve, it hit the mark. It catered to Type-Moon audiences, making jokes that most fans would understand and enjoy. The situations that the characters find themselves in are stuff that I would have never thought of. Normally, these kinds of situations would feel so odd, so out of place for these kinds of characters, and yet it just works. I would have never imagined it working out, and yet it did. I will not go into too much detail about what these situations are like, that is something you should see for yourself. You are in for a treat. The characters also go really well with the kind of events they find themselves in. Their personalities, albeit slightly changed for comedic purposes, remains largely the same and effectively go well with what takes place. Seeing normally very serious characters pitted in very comedic situations only added to the comedic factor of the anime. The comedy can be a bit cringe inducing at times, but it is not often it is, and can be easily looked over.
Carnival Phantasm is not for everyone, but for those who it is targeted to, it is a treat to see. This is an easy recommendation for a fan of works such as Fate and Tsukihime, and just want to sit down and watch something fun. If you are only a fan of Fate and want to watch this, it may confuse you as Tsukihime makes a lot of appearances in Carnival Phantasm, so you may want to do some reading up on the general idea of what Tsukihime is. To summarise this review:
Overall, I enjoyed Carnival Phantasm. This kind of anime is really not the kind of thing I normally watch, so I had no idea on what to expect. For what this anime tried to achieve, it did well. Still, this is not my typical type of thing, and I enjoy other things more. That is not to discredit Carnival Phantasm, I think many people will enjoy it. I sincerely hope you will. There are also some extra episodes of Carnival Phantasm, so you may want to check those out after finishing it. If you enjoyed Carnival Phantasm, then you may also enjoy reading another comedic parody on Type-Moon, the manga All Around Type-Moon (Kara no Kyoukai makes more of an appearance in this manga). I certainly enjoyed it. Thank you to those who took the time to read this review. I hope you were able to get something out of this review. If you did not like this review, then I apologise for wasting your time.
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