boehm.dale - 2015-01-09 00:22:31

Karneval has one of the most beautiful artworks I've ever seen, and if I were to talk about how much I love the voice cast I would stay here for hours. The animated version follows up to the original story in the manga, and if you also felt like its end was too abrupt, that's what I would recommend, as a fellow fan of the series. Overall, it was already one of my favorite stories and seeing Yogi and Tsukumo gaining life was already worth the wait. That, and GRANRODEO's opening is also a very good reason to watch it.

qnienow - 2014-09-28 02:18:03

Amazing anime, the art is wonderful, and the characters along with the plot are nicely thought out. This is by far my favorite anime yet!

psimonis - 2014-08-14 23:28:46

One of the flaws of having expectations after reading a synopsis is that sometimes the anime is not nearly as good as you think, for myself this is one of those times. Welcome to Karneval, the anime I had high hopes for but was thanking the heavens I finished without causing major harm to myself or anyone around me by the end.

Story:Karneval is the story of Nai, a boy who is searching for someone who escaped from someone or something as far as he knows because he left a blood trail into the ocean. Unfortunately for him he gets captured and held captive until Gareki, comes to steal stuff and frees him under the promise that he will gain Nai’s bracelet. While under pursuit they run into Circus, a national defense agency, who have powers of sorts and they join them on their adventures to find Nai’s mysterious someone.
Normally how 12 or 13 episode anime work is that the plot has to be so condensed that everything seems rushed or so compact and hard to follow. In the case of Karneval I would say this is the opposite. I was constantly wondering if what they were doing serves the plot or was I watching some filler content. Wanting to find this person named Karoku(the aforementioned mysterious someone) is pretty much the side story since what the members of Circus are doing is going out and killing Varuga, basically monsters created by the organization named Kafka.
Animation & Sound:Note: I am simplifying scoring on these sections.  

1 - if I noticed it was bad
2.5 - if I thought it was fine
5 - if I noticed it was good 

As I am not an expert on animation as a whole I can only give you my overall feelings which is not conducive for a 1-5 scale. I will be scoring the sound in the same way because I am more focused on the story and overall enjoyment in my scoring. 

Characters:
So what I've normally found is that if your story is sort of common then you normally have interesting character to pull the story and that in turn will make the story interesting because those characters are interacting with it. Aside from really one character I found them all to be very dull and boring.

Nai is supposed to be a mysterious being himself, which is revealed I think somewhere in the halfway point but it’s not interesting at all. Maybe they were trying to provide some comic relief with it but to me it seemed like it diluted what little character he had. All of Circus are bland and some of their characters were outright annoying, so that didn’t help my opinion of this anime either.

I don’t want to sound all negative so, Gareki seemed to be who is supposed to be the main character of this show. He was forced to take care of himself, learn skills to survive and he had to shun his only family in order to provide funds for their ailing grandfather etc. etc. Gareki’s story of personal pride, breakdown and then desperation to be able to do something in the grand scheme of things is way more interesting then Nai’s search for Karoku. I have not read the manga though, maybe Nai’s character is better written then animated but I don’t know.

I will concede that perhaps maybe my initial expectations of the show maybe biased my thinking a bit, but everything seemed off from the start.. The only thing that I really liked was the animation, it was very nice looking so if you like to look at pretty art then go for it, otherwise I can't recommend you watch this really.

buckridge.prince - 2013-09-25 12:19:15

An anime with a shocking animation although i find some episode really boring it only has a one or two good scene in it which is the last episode and the Ep 12. Karneval can be a good anime if they just focus on more fighting and less shoujo ai because it really make the viewer ignore the anime atleast thats what ive been seeing and hearing whenn i was still watching karneval.

daniel.alessandra - 2013-08-21 18:38:41

Story

The underlying plot of this series follows Gareki and the members of "Circus" as they help Nai find his friend, Karoku. The journey as they try to track down Nai's missing friend is both lighthearted and somber. However, the anime tried to be much more serious than it actually is – tying in the dark past of some characters and forcing the viewer to sympathize with them.

Animation

The animation is quite flawless, the fight scenes are fluid and the lighting is quite pretty. The character designs are definitely directed towards girls (the guys are gorgeous), but they still fit the characters well.

Sound

The voice actors portrayed their characters perfectly. The music is forgettable, but the opening and ending suits the anime – cheerful and energetic.

Characters

Each character is stereotypical, yet they are still entertaining to watch. Their interactions are cute, funny, and cheerful. Nonetheless, there's barely any development. Unfortunately, only one character has any time to mature.

Enjoyment

This anime is definitely made to enjoy when you have free time. The story tries to be more relevant than it is, but it does have more depth than normal shoujo shows.

Overall, Karneval is above average in animation and enjoyment; but fails in other key elements.

Watch if you enjoy beautifully animated shoujo shows.

phand - 2013-07-27 16:57:45

The art and animation is what really got me into watching this anime. The whole circus theme is what I enjoyed most. The look of the characters, creatures, and graphics are all above average. Sound is okay. The opening and ending themes didn't get me excited for the show. Character is probably where the show falls flat a little. Most characters never get development and stay the same from when you first meet them until the end of the show. Which is a shame considering there are actually some good characters on the show that have an air of mystery around them. The overall story is good but it's not great. There's not much point in judging the story because the story didn't end, but for the purpose of this I'd have to say that there is a plot that doesn't get resolved. The little twist and turns throughout the story and the animation are what made this very enjoyable.

elna.casper - 2013-06-30 16:07:19

Karneval is a shojou anime, boarding on shonen-ai. It follows the adventures of Nai and Garaki and how they got involved with Circus, a secret organization which protects Japan from monsters.

The story is kind of loose. It's mainly about Nai and how he is looking for Karoku, but also about Gareki and how he tries to make himself useful to everyone around him in circus. I say loose because they are not really actively searching for Karoku and a lot of the time they just seem to be roaming around without any real direction of what they are doing. For being an organization that is supposed to take out monsters they don't really seem to care that much about doing their jobs.

Karneval has two true main characters, Nai and Gareki. They are also really the only two characters that get any form of development. Nai is an young innocent boy who has super sensitive hearing (which is not really utilized) who is looking for his friend, Karoku. He runs into Gareki, a cold loner who just seems to be along for the ride (but the reasons why he stays is explained later). He is really the only good character in the show and it would have been a lot more enjoyable if more characters had such development. Nai himself is just annoying, yes, his personality fits his background and character twist (which is IMO incredibly dumb and you'll know why once you get to it), but I'd rather have him be more engaging than more or less fit perfectly into his backstory.

The other characters are mildly entertaining, but don't really get a lot of development. Yogi is probably the most "main" of the side characters, but is really just there for some comic relief. Tsukumo is really there for being the only female in the entire show.

By far the worst thing in the entire show is the dialogue. Now, I watch this subbed like I'm sure most of you do so maybe it's not really that bad, but I am surprised when a character makes a full sentence. Actually, I was not sure if Nai was even able to say more than Karoku and Gareki for a while. Also, Yogi seems to cry through half of his lines, which is not really dialogue, but his voice acting is bad even compared to the rest of this cast which I would say did not do a great job presenting their characters.

If you really like looking at girly boys, that are not traps, then this is a show for you. The art is pretty good too, at least it has a pleasant style that seems to fit the show. However, if you want anything else, even some sort of romance then you are sorely out of luck.

julien.nader - 2013-06-30 15:48:48

This anime series has not left me disappointed! It follows the manga and includes some of the little funny scenes. The atmosphere is simply adorable and light most of the time. However, when the members of Circus have a job to do, the setting changes completely and really grasps it's holders. This was my favorite anime this year and I have to say, I've watched many, I truly don't understand why people seem to not enjoy it more than that.

Story:

9/10

When Gareki, the 15 year old boy, finds the little boy called Nai, he's truly stunned by his behaviors. After a long chain of even that happened due to him attempting to steal good from the rich, he's left in a situation that he'd never think possible at first. He's now involved with the organization run by the government, Circus.

I find it's truly one of a kind. Despite it being a shonen according to my standards (includes quite a few fighting scenes. I know it's not noted in it's genres),it's really unique do to it's very colorful aspects and incredibly adorable animals and mascots. I believe this story is targeted for a more feminine audience, but both genders would really enjoy this story-line. I love a story that uses lots of emotions and back-story to deepen them. It adds dept and really reaches out to the reader in order for them to get attached to the characters and their problems. This is truly a beautiful one. Despite all this, there are some arcs that are confusing at first, but don't fail to capture the watcher's interest.

Animation:

10/10

Wow, the fluent movements displayed during the fights really captivated me. I'm not one who pays very much attention to such moments in anime, but these ones really got me glued to the screen. The scenes and locations were incredibly designed and seemed very serene. Gorgeous in ever aspect possible.

The one thing that REALLY got me loving this series is the amount of colors used in this anime. It's like the animators used rainbows and splashed them all over, without creating a clash of colors. It truly amazes me on how they used these to create such individual aspects to the story. I love, love, love this with all my heart.

Sound

7/10

This is probably the thing I pay the least attention too, since it wasn't as pertinent as the others. It was still good, but nothing as amazing as it's different aspects. It was quite standard most of the time, as you'd expect with any other anime. The one thing that helped me rise it from standard to higher is the fact each individual creature made a different sound when walking. It made them all feel unique in their own little way.

Character

10/10

This is my FAVORITE. I mean, who can dislike characters who are strong, yet adorable? I don't think someone can truly deny how cute Nai is. Their appearance was all different, making sure the watchers wouldn't get them confused with others since there's a large amount of characters. (Trust me, this has happened before. Don't laugh...) They were all unique personality wise, all with traits that would make them irresistible, depending on what the watchers are looking for in characters. And girls, if you're looking for a series with LOTS and LOTS of bishies, this is the ONE.

The one thing I also expect to have in a good anime is characters with a good back-story. This is the case with this one, as they really reach out for the emotions of it's viewers. I mentioned this earlier, so I won't state the same once again. They aren't terribly long, which makes them enjoyable. More is also revealed in the manga, for those who wish to continue to story.

Enjoyment

9/10

As a giggling little girl like me, I adore anything that's bright and cute. That's just what I'm obsessed over. I'm also a big fan of shonen-ai and some of the behaviors displayed in this show could imply such feelings, but is NOT cannon. Thus, this really pushed me to have immediate interest in this show.

The story was very light most of the times, making this 13 episode series seem like it was way to short. The story was unique in every way, and this is not your typical anime. Sometimes, the story can take a completely different turn that you never thought imaginable. It's unpredictable and that's why I love it. Even some of the littlest of details will make you do a double-take. It made me laugh very often, something I truly needed lately.

The reason why I gave it a 9 is that there was a few moments where I was like "Why the heck did they do that?". Not being the good type either. Some actions are uncalled for and leave you marked and irked for a little while. But hey, it didn't ruin the show at all for me.

Overall

9/10

Truly one of my favs of all time actually. Between the light and fluffy story and awesome characters, I don't know what I truly enjoyed most of this anime. If you're the type of person who doesn't get attached to characters, I don't recommend this show, you'll probably end up not liking it. But hey, who knows? You might just end up being glued to it, like I was.

Every week, I was thrilled on the next episode to release. The graphics in it were gorgeous, so don't worry about it's physical quality. It's super enjoyable!

I don't understand why people seem to shrug every time I mention this anime. I don't know what there ISN'T to love about it. But to each his own is my motto.

RECOMMEND! :D