And how. No, I don't just mean how the color saturation suddenly appeared. It is the contrast of the last third with the first two that I find shocking. The story was intentionally cretinuous, and to watch seven episodes of it took a major dedication to the beauty of the best-dressed cast of the season, if I may borrow from Evirus.

One notable thing is how these days anime tried everything, there is nothing remaining unchewed. Thus, the TV Tropes website. The way most clever creators react is to declare a parody, that allows to chew it all again, only in ironic way, wink wink wink. Shikufuku no Campanella is not like that, it's entirely earnest and serious about putting every trope we know together. I only see most basic cliches, but the fight of Lester and Deen had at a minimum the mid-boss turning, befriending with starlight breaker, and fighting for villain's soul. Kuro once said that Campanella was better at depicting RPG tropes than bona fide RPG anime (remember Lodoss Wars?). But he did not spell out that Campanella extracts strength from piling tropes sky-high. [1]

I think the biggest thing that cheapened the final resolution was how there was no villain to defeat. It all turned out to be a well-meaning miscalculation by someone who did not account for THE BURNING PASSION, and just had to do with the available tools (a bit like one well-known character in Gurren-Lagann did). At least it was not an evil corporation and greedy capitalists, this time. Of course, everyone would easily find a personal defect to harp upon. There were many.

DUKE PUNCH is going to be my treasured meme from now on.

Liked: Strangely, yes, by the end.
Rewatch: Probably not.

[1] Relentless thinks it was a parody after all, based on specific homages to famous RPGs. Delicious uncertainty!