Shoujo Kishidan x Knight Tale

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You know the drill, cute girls promoting some sport. But I didn't thought that battles in medieval armor or "Heavy Combat" as it is called could be this enjoyable.

Interesting characters, each with their own backstory, motivation and goals are moving enjoyable story about one ostracized girl wanting to be world's strongest knight. This manga was few times cancelled and eventually ended prematurely, but that's not that bad because it still has a satisfying ending. Whole plot is set in the beatiful art and when I say beatiful, I mean gorgeous. Background is always well drawn and armor doesn't lose quality even when it is in ... distance.

For me it was a pleasant suprise with lot of funny moments, memorable characters and feast for the eyes.

I actually found the manga through reddit, where a certain scene from chapter 1 was being cycled through some of the subreddits I followed. A chivalrous knight doing chivalrous things in a train? I had to check it out.


Story:3
It started out alright, talking about chivalry and bravery using it to motivate the characters and then it sorta became forgotten in favor of some half-assed setting involving what looks like a lesser known order of knights which happens to be the bulk of the obstacles the MC faces. Despite being an ecchi shoujo-ai, the fanservice is weak and the the girls don't actually seem all that ... social, romantic or otherwise. I can't tell what the manga's trying to be. It's not exciting (in any context), it's not funny, and it's not slice of life. Everything feels lukewarm.
The plot doesn't bother to explain why there's a school that exists to train young girls to compete in what essentially comes down to any-Euro-weapon kendo. Mostly, it's just girls flirting (if you can call it that) with each other and making poses. 80% of interactions break down to variations of "Who's the strongest here?" "Let's see you keep up with me." "How did she do that?" and "Who is this girl?". The dialogue doesn't really move the story and at times seems to actually slow a slow story. It's really boring. I'd give it a 4 if it was the average amount of bland, but the writing is bad enough that I could probably enjoy it more by ignoring the text completely.


Art: 4
There's not much to look forward to. The action is minimal, despite the premise. Fight scenes consist of blurred weapons to simulate motion and blurred arrows or oblongs to simulate striking. Despite the characters saying things like "fast!" there's no way to visually differentiate how quickly anyone is moving. On the other hand, the armor does look nice and the character poses do certainly look like the stuff you see in medieval reenactments, though the author admits to being an active member in that community. The author doesn't seem to do much to highlight anything other than the armor so everything else seems really bland in comparison.


Character: 3
So off the bat, you're introduced to this character who's timid, calling herself a 'small animal' all the time and we later find out that the girl is probably a masochist. It's a really annoying combo. The other characters either flirt with their underlings or flaunt their supposed competitive title and/or ranking and achievement just before the generic mysterious and strong MC acts all humble and defeats them pretty much effortlessly and everyone's left wondering who she is. The only people that seem to have a clue are the elites who seem to never get enough of her. I've had buttered toast with more personality than all the characters. It's only been 5 chapters, so the characters might develop become interesting later. As it is now, they're really shallow and generic.


Enjoyment: 2
The story started off sounding like it was going to be one of those cheesy shoujo-ai princess and white knight sort of story. I was convinced that it was going to be about a girl who somehow gets her own personal knight to protect and care for her. Typical fairy tale stuff, but better than whatever the heck this mess is. That first chapter where the MC kicks ass and acts like some kinda ally of justice? A really bad indication of what the rest of the story will be like. The whole 'I'm a knight, of course I have armor, a weapon, and a helmet' thing that looks like it'll be a repeating joke? Haha, nope; not a trace since chapter 2. The circlejerking of the elite and everyone looking down on the MC? Everyone seems to actually like and/or respect the MC despite some of them telling her otherwise. The story also keeps reminding the reader that there's a lot of unseen backstory rather than make an actual effort to move the plot forward. There are so many small things that could have been great for developing a character or the story, but the story throws it away in favor of beating around a bush. It's been a consistent stream of potential good followed by letdowns.


Overall: 3
This manga is pretty much a desperate attempt to combine ecchi and shoujo-ai with a setting that showcases European weapon fights in armor. There's so sense of realism and there doesn't seem to be any supernatural or fantasy elements, which any of these would be the meat and bone of any action manga. All the same, the story couldn't possibly survive without the "action" because of how bland it is. It's like the story doesn't even know what it wants to be. The saddest part is that the bonus page at the end of each chapter is actually more entertaining than the chapter itself, barring chapter 1. It's just the author's note on how medieval combat reenactments work. Avoid this manga for now. Come back when volume 2 is finished. If the story hasn't picked up by then, forget this manga.