Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry

Sometimes, one aspect of a show can save it from pure mediocrity. It may not try to propel it into the status of "classic" or "greatness," as there are still other aspects that are either okay or bad, but it can still garner some admiration for trying. Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry has the distinction of being one of these shows. As much as my expectations were shrouded in apathy when I started, by the time I was halfway through Rakudai, that apathy dissipated from just one aspect of it that kept me coming back.

The aspect I'm talking about in Rakudai is how the show managed ... to form what could have been a generic romantic comedy plot and woven it into something unique, both in tone and writing. The plot involves our two main heroes, Ikki and Stella, who slowly develop a bond at the show's beginning after they are forced to share a room at a knight academy. It starts like your generic romance where the girl acts tsundere towards the male lead, with your standard cliches involving humorous ecchi moments. At that point, it's just okay, but then around the middle-end of the show, it starts to morph into something very remarkable. We see our couple begin to act like a real couple would behave once they confessed their love towards one another, where they would constantly argue and share their feelings through physical or verbal needs. It was a breath of fresh air to see something I hadn't seen in a while: a loving couple in a harem.

Too bad everything else about the plot couldn't quite follow up on how great the relationship building was for Ikki and Stella. It isn't just because it is something we have seen before, the "set in an academy holding a fighting competition that our protagonist participates," but also because everything feels so superficial and bland from how it is structured. It's almost as if the writers didn't know what to do to make this scenario more interesting, so they tried to create subplots involving other characters that felt one-note and not thought out well enough. Whenever there was a match between two characters, I felt complete apathy from the whole experience of how badly they built up the plot for me to feel any tension in the outcome. It does not help the fact that the action sequences are nothing to write at home about; it's not anything terrible, just average to my eyes.

While the action is not groundbreaking, that has nothing to do with the art and animation quality. I have to admit that the character designs are nice and colorful. From the beautiful red hair of Stella that gives a devilish/cuteness aura around her that matches her personality to the supple bodies of all the girls, the art design makes a ton of effort to create a nice distinct look for Rakudai. Even though the animation is not always on point, it is good enough to warrant a passing mark to make a decent framework for the action sequences, despite my under-enthused mood.

As I said, Ikki and Stella are the hallmark of Rakudai and made me keep coming back to the show every week. However, the other characters don't necessarily have a similar response to me. Most of them range from mediocre to forgettable spectrum of quality characters. Shizuku is one example that felt like it was tossed on the wayside in favor of Stella. While that does make sense since Stella is the main girl, they still touted Shizuku as a love rival, but they don't follow up on her much once Stella becomes Ikki's girl. Again, it might seem logical in that respect; however, they still attempt to give Shizuku a much-needed pivotal moment near the end, but by the time I get to that point, I completely forgot what the point of her character was. So I was quick to show no interest in anything she did until the end, just like the rest of the other cast.

This is an ecchi anime as well, so don't be alarmed for those who are still worried about Rakudai steeping closer to generic territory. While most of the ecchi fanservice involves our main heroine Stella, that is all the woman you need to tickle your ecchi bone, fellas. I found it quite enjoyable to see a girl like Stella, a tsundere at heart, starting to open up, as she and Ikki start forming a romance, to him as a naughty girl. You often see girls like this in hentai saying something this straightforward. Not even in the raunchiest ecchi anime, you often hear something as blunt as that. Besides the typical washing the protagonist back scenario, some of the ecchi moments are borderline heartwarming as they involve a romantic connection between the two main leads. It adds a new flavor to the ecchi mix that made me hope for more in the coming episodes.

Oddly enough, despite many of the issues I've had with Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry, I still thought it was a decent anime to see. I guess you could chalk it up as I so highly regard the relationship plot arc that its flaws aren't huge as they would have been if the Stella and Ikki relationship arc was not as strong. At its worst, it isn't very impressive. At its best, it's good. It's an above-average middle-of-the-road show that will enlighten some and detract others. I want more girls like Stella-chan to exist in the anime spectrum. Please?

Grade: B-

Hey guys,
like always this is going to be a pro-con-review.
I will use few spoilers and keep things general but on point.

;;;WHO MIGHT LIKE THIS SHOW?;;;
This anime has an almost identical setting to Gakusen Toshi Asterisk. So if you like Asterisk you probably like this show as well. Though Rakudai Kishi got a darker and more depressing atmosphere especially towards the end.
Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry should be popular with people being favorable towards:
swords/magic/action/romance("progressing relationship")/harem/school/ecchi

;;;NOTABLE THINGS ABOUT THE PLOT;;;
- The plot is pretty much generic being centered around Ikki Kurogane also being called the "worst one" who is actually a real monster (cause hes such a ... hard worker on his training) despite having no magic ability which is an "unsightly" thing in his society.
- The romantic relationship develops which I call a big plus no matter the direction

;;;MY OPINION;;;
ALL characters in this anime are generic. It's pretty much the same with the story which basicly consists of Ikki always having to overcome some hardship laid out by his cruel and unfair past. Thus he coincidentally expands his harem for which he actually got no need cause he got Stella.
The characters sometimes lean into the melodramatic but sometimes they get into REALLY depressing situations which mostly find their ends in somebody shouting something embarrasing to help the character in need. I actually hate that stuff.
Even though the characters are all static character types and very generic they are still detailed and sooometimes deviate from their stereotype. Being overused does really not imply being bad.
Despite having so much generic stuff Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry is still capable of captivating you. The tension is real. The art is nice. The music fits. The fights got style and action. The romantic relationship is not completly new but definetly not overused and it feels nice.
And I must say that the last two episodes really got to me and were worth the depressing athmosphere which they conveyed.
I overall enjoyed the show.


;;;TO-SUM-IT-UP;;;
If you can take the melodrama, appreciate the few lovely details which lift the anime above average and you enjoy progressing relationships then you will alltogether have spent a really good time with the anime. Althought its far from perfect its at least above average.

If you've come this far I thank you for taking your time to read and you are welcome to tell me your opinion.

Plot armor: A tale of the worst anime should be the name for this anime.Never in my life have I seen an anime that uses the plot armor as much as this stupid crap. From the start to the end, Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry was a torturing experience for me.

While the animation and the fight scenes were good ,the anime has many mediocre story arc that do not capture the audience interest at all. Story’s dull and boring that it can put any insomniac person to sleep. There is no build-up in the romance and no development in chemistry between the mc and heroine.

The characters ... are bad as fuck. The main character is called the “worst one” yet his overpowered as fuck . In the anime, the reason he is strong is because he is hardworking but if you ask me, that reason is a shitty excuse to say that he has the biggest “plot armor” in anime history, bigger than kirito or Donald Trump ones. You can put this “worst one” mc against Thanos while the mc is blindfolded and he would still win due to the power of friendship , love and hard-work.

The main heroine is the most tsundere character I have ever seen , she is better than asuna in being a tsundere and has minimal character development. The side characters are a bunch of forgettable wankers.

The sound in this anime is decent. Even though OP and ED is bad , the voice actors did a good job in it. I sure as hell did not enjoy this anime at all, even watching Donald Trump daily White House News Conference on the coronavirus is more enjoyable than this crap.

Story- 4
Art- 8
Sound- 6
Character- 3
Enjoyment - 3

Cliches in anime are something are commonly used for the sole purpose of pushing along the plot using an easy and well known way. Things like the token meeting of the tsundere, the general overpoweredness of our main character, etc. And so, we have "A Tale of the Worst One", a show that does a rather decent job at not following the herd. (And that is a good thing.)

Story: Kurogane Ikki is known as the "Worst One", a noble knight (aka a person who wields a magical blade) who is Ranked F. A student that is so bad that he had ... to be held back for a year and is considered as the worst student in the entire school since he performs simply the worst. (They really bully in the fact that he's the worst.) One day however, he, by the laws of anime, is roomed up with the new student, an A-class rank who is also a princess, might I add, named Stella Vermillion, and sees her undressing, ladadadada (we've been over this in several hundred other series'), then...says that he'll strip so she doesn't feel like the only one embarrassed in the room. Huh. Well that's a new one.

In essence, Rakudai Kishi is a show that follows your traditional tournament anime format. The goal of the series is for Ikki, our main protagonist, that he is not the worst one, and does so by entering the national noble knights tournament, the "Seven Star Battle Festival", an even where each school sends in six students to participate; Ikki spends the entire show pretty much vying for one of these spots. For the most part, that's our show. But that's not what makes Rakudai better as a series.

What really makes this show is the fact that it doesn't fully rely on average tropes in order to make up episode to episode. The most notable example of this is the romance that goes on in this show. Romance in anime is generally either rushed to the point it makes no sense, or so dreadfully slow that you'd die before they even think about the thought of them being a couple. Rakudai not only makes its main couple a definite fact, but it builds upon that. Not as smoothly as it could've might I add, but it's not done in a way that feels completely out of place, and I like that.

And so, with all of that being said, what is there wrong with the story if there're so many good things about it? Well, my dear readers, one word can fully answer all of your questions. Pacing. (Pacing seems to be Silver Link's issue this season, as all of its shows have this kind of problem.) Rakudai Kishi is a series that has a relatively good chunk of explanation or text behind it in order to explain how our protagonist does things in battle; that is not an anime's best friend. Because of this, a lot of the technical parts of the show essentially get ousted to the point that what is happening on screen doesn't make sense, or at the very least, complete sense. Not only that, but some rather important fights as well as some other key parts of the series aren't animated so there's a little bit of a disjointedness that they never really cover up. Some parts don't go together as well as they should've, and that's the biggest shame of this adaptaion.

All in all, the story of Rakudai Kishi is solid, as we not only get one that breaks a couple trope breaking, but also one that has some decent storytelling. However, because of the show's tendency to rush, it wasn't as great as I would've hoped and is honestly a bit of a disappointment seeing as how the other forms of the story are well received.

Overview:
+ Decent story
+ Trope breaking scenes
- Pacing issues create a whole host of other problems like missing story, rushed and/or missing explanations, and loss of key parts.)

Characters: Similar to its story, the cast for Rakudai Kishi does a fairly good job at breaking those lovely...lovely character tropes that we all know and love... (I mean, everyone just loves a good tsundere, right? ...Right?)

Up first, we have Kurogane Ikki, the Worst One, as we're repeatedly reminded throughout the entire show without end. (Seriously though, we get it.) Even with all of this repeated abuse, Ikki remains as a strong and determined person who chooses actions rather than words, spending the entire series trying to prove to everyone that he's not the worst one by showing everyone his battle prowess and his ability to defeat enemies regardless of his limited abilities, which really shows a lot about his character. He's a more relatable character that I feel makes the show better. But, because of all of the shortcuts Silver Link took, we don't really get the full story.

Then we have his partner, Stella Vermillion, the crown princess of the Vermillion kingdom, and the supposed 'token tsundere' of the series. As the main female protagonist, Stella is the character that spends most of her time with Ikki and becomes closer to him as a result. With this, we get a more natural progression (albeit a little rough due to the pacing) of a relationship between the two that eventually equates to something more and something that feels more genuine since the relationship between the two intertwines with the series. Stella, like Ikki, feels more real as a character, but because of the lack of certain points, doesn't come out as well as she should've.

As for other characters, we have Ikki's brocon imouto, Shizuku, her roommate Alice who is a guy who basically identifies as a female (not that there's anything wrong with that), Ikki's various opponents throughout the shows (some of which DON'T GET SHOWN! ):< ), the anemic teacher, the principal, etc. For the most part, most of these characters serve as plot progression or help to explain what is going on, save for Shizuku and Alice who bear more importance to plot as they are main characters that add a lot more to the story. Not as much as they should've, but they do.

Overview:
+ Good main characters and development
- Side characters don't really have much importance to them
- Pacing affected the impact of some characters and their importance

Art: The art for Rakudai Kishi is something of an interesting thing to tackle. For the most part, the show is done in this light color palette that is rather standard in terms of quality. Its fight scenes are rather fluidly done and they look nice, but there really isn't much to say because it's not fantastical in any way except for a few choice scenes.

Particularly in the OP and the second to last episode, Rakudai employs a black and white scheme reminiscent of old gangster films in a vintage filter that actually looked rather cool.

Overview:
+ Cool Vintage style (Even if only for one episode)
+/- Relatively average artstyle.

Sound: The soundtrack for Rakudai Kishi is peculiar, to put it mildly. The OP, known as "Identity" is a very fast-paced and action heavy music that has an oddly Spanish feel to it? (Iunno. It sounds a bit like Flamenco to me.) It's a good OP, but for me, it doesn't really fit the series or the themes that Rakudai is trying to express. Same for the ED, but the ED just sounds melancholy and uninteresting.

Overview:
+ Good OP
- Kind of meh ED
- The music doesn't fit with the show

Personal Enjoyment: Rakudai Kishi is one of the shows that I was excited for in the Fall 2015 season. I read the manga and heard good things about the original LN, and I was hopeful of this adaptation that would come. But in the end, we got something that was more based-on rather than adaptation.

Did I enjoy this series?

Admittedly, I still did liked this adaptation. Forgetting all of the flaws, it was something that still was the series in a nutshell, focusing all of the more important parts of the series and not really the specifics.

What didn't I like about the series?

Mostly, what angers me is the fact that the lack of proper pacing and explanation really brought the series down. There's a lot of detail that is just absent and as a result, a lot of things felt a little disjointed and to a new viewer, could be confusing. This might not seem like a big issue, but the written formats of this series are vastly different both in story and character to this anime.

Would I recommend this anime?

If you do know what happens in Rakudai, I would not recommend watching because they are missing a lot of things and some important fights/details are missing so...it might not be as enjoyable. (I know I was upset when the cat girl didn't get her time in the spotlight.) But if you haven't, then give it a shot. It's a good series, but personally, I would say that this adaptation doesn't do it the justice that it deserves.

I don't usually watch these types of anime because they seem so generic and unoriginal and comparable with any other action/ecchi/school anime that exists, and there are A LOT. And this is because these types of shows don’t focus on a particular target market but have a bit of everything. Some people watch it for the romance, some for the battle scenes and others for the psychological battles and etc. And the real challenge of the show is how to find the right balance between romance and action so that the people who came for the romance scenes still watch when there's fighting going on ... and vice versa, which I think "Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry" manages to pull off fairly well compared to other shows of its kind.

I personally enjoyed the romance scenes a bit more than the action scenes because I felt that the fight scenes weren’t animated as well as the romance scenes. A personal pet peeve of mine is when there is too much talking going on during fight scenes in anime explaining everything that’s happening and Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry has a lot of this. It’s fine once in a while to explain fight scenes but when most of the fights are literally people talking and explaining the fights instead of properly showing and animating the fights, it seems really cheap and unenjoyable for people who came to watch the action scenes.

The story? You probably know the story by now; chances are that if you pull out any other anime with a magic school setting you'll actually get something very similar. But just because the show has a generic story, doesn’t mean it can’t be told very well, and as long as you’re someone who doesn’t mind all the tropes like tsundere, imouto, or overpowered gary stu MC’s with ridiculous plot armor, then you’ll probably enjoy the show.

If there’s another reason to watch the show, it’s the opening. Some people overlook openings because they really have nothing to do with the actual show but a good opening sequence like this one can really make a show more enjoyable watching and also entice people to watch it.

Character development is something I wish I’d have seen more of in this anime. There are SO MANY characters which they dump in the show literally just to create a trope and then disappear having almost no impact on the show. And with a show that already has a generic setting, it’s a bit disappointing that they don’t flesh out the characters a bit more so that they have more of an impact to the viewers.

Overall I found Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry fairly decent, it’s better than most generic harem-ish anime with magic school settings but it’s still just a generic harem-ish anime with a magic school setting.

Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry is one of the most mixed experiences I've ever had in regards to anime and manga. Nothing about it is particularly great, in fact, I'd argue that most of its traits place it below average. Hell, the only reason I started the series was because I saw the opening on YouTube and thought it would be some kind of badass, gritty Western with samurai cowboys (The opening had a twangy, catchy tune and there were swords and the word "cavalry" was in the title. Don't judge me.) Yet, I found myself enjoying the show greatly, ... despite the fact that it pretty much sucks. Is this one of those mythical "guilty pleasures" I've heard about? The answer is no, this anime won its favor with me on its own merits, but I don't think I would ever be able to reccomend this show to anyone looking for a good anime.
Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry's main claim to fame is its romance. If you ask any fan of the show why you should watch it, they'll tell you "Its not a harem anime, its an actual romance!" and that will be it. I'm going to be brutally honest here, the romance of RKnC sucks, but those people do have a point. The chemistry between the leads (Ikki and Stella) is noteworthy, and there are some really realistic and sweet scenes between the two ("Why are we arguing?" "I don't know!"), but one of the key aspects of a good romance is actually having good characters. The characters in Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry are garbage. As a result of the characters being awful, the romance really doesn't hold any weight and can't technically be called good. That being said, the dialogue between Stella and Ikki is very enjoyable and is definitely the best thing this anime has going for it.
When I said that the characters were awful, I wasn't joking. Seriously, the leads consist of Ikki (Cliche harem protagonist who's saving grace is the fact that he isn't in a harem. He's also really overpowered despite being built up as weakling who sucks at magic.) and Stella (Starts out as nothing more than a tsunedere bitch, but loses those tsunedere qualities by the halfway point of the show. After aformentioned halfway point, she essentially has no standout character qualities to speak of. Tsunedere bitch > no standout qualities.). What's really sad is that the cast of side characters are all just as generic and, in some cases, outright disgusting. Shizuku, Ikki's little sister, is a white haired loli who wants to fuck her big bro. Classy. What's worse is that the anime tries to explain this disgusting behaviour through this big, tragic backstory of how she always looked up to her brother and just wanted to help him with his problems. The only thing worse than pedophilia is self-hating pedophilia that tries to justify its own perversion. Embrace the fuckery, damnit! Oh, and theres also a tranny named Alice who's somewhat of a sassy gay(?) mentor figure to Shizuku and others. Out of all the side characters in the series, the only one that I really liked was the final villain, Todo. She was this badass chick who was also really likeable and charismatic. On top of that, there writer(s) goes out the way to place parallels between Toda and Ikki. I honestly felt like she would have made a better protagonist than Ikki.
The plot is awful as well. Threats are hyped up (student council is an example of this) and then totally disregarded. There's also this big subplot at the end of the series involving a hearing that doesn't make any sense whatsoever (Why the hell did Ikki go to the hearing and let himself be tortured? He literally did nothing wrong and had no reason, psychological or legal, to go. Kissing a rich, talented girl is not illegal last time I checked. So contrived.).
So why do I like this series? Like I said, the romantic dialogue was good and realistic and Todo was beastly. Also, while the romantic plot is bad and the characters suck, the romance progresses at a pace that is pleasing, fulfilling, and unique. Also, the soundtrack (particularly dat opening) was fairly good.
All in all, Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry is a shitty series with some really fun aspects. I wouldn't reccomend it to anybody other than an experience fan of LN adaptations.
This is Horatio_Nelson, signing out.

Welcome to Robert's Too Late Reviews! Dub version as usual. Today's title is interesting in it's fairly aggressive attempts to seemingly be a middling series. Now many people consider a '6' to be an abysmal score, but by label it is 'fine'. This series isn't bad, its just mediocre, and comes across bland and stereotypical. Let's go ahead!

Story: 6
The biggest problem for the story from my side of things is that it seems to take titles, say such as Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero, and use their formulas with only minor tweaking. It's like the writers said 'hey lets make a ultra powerful main character ... that is humble instead of being full of himself' and ran with it. The title of the series is incredibly misleading, I believe. A 'failed knight', the 'story of the worst one' just really doesn't apply, even though they beat us over the head with this plot point continuously for the entire run.

The main guy is an utter badass, and demonstrates this early on, even if we're repeatedly told he's terrible. Thing is, he's not cocky about it, but is very unassuming and down-to-earth. This does not stop him from whipping the living shit out of every opponent he faces, pretty completely. He pretty much stays undefeated in every fight for the entire series. Yeah there's some close calls, but hey, gotta have *some* story tension, right? Even though he's constantly called weak, at one point in the series he runs a sword fighting training class that is insanely popular, with tons of students calling him master and recognizing his true skill levels.

The motivation behind this nice guy is a bit weak, and only partially touched on as the show comes to its conclusion, that being a distant father who expects him to fail and doesn't believe in him at all. This is almost another stereotypical trait, except that it is not really explored or fleshed out. The main guy's little sister has a much more convincing case of angst against their father than the main guy ever could dream of. The main guy is like a Boy Scout with a sword. He just merrily goes along his way helping his friends because they need help, and working hard to be a proper knight because that's what good guys do; they work hard to be good guys. Then at the end they throw in a little of 'maybe dad's an asshole' and leave it at that.

The main guy of course wants to get into the national tournament of knights because of course he does. This isn't any different from a million other anime titles, hell I mean the Love Live! girls wanted to get into the national competition too, ya know? Very predictable and average, as there's really no surprises along the way. There's a moderate twist towards the end, but it has no real effect on the main guy's efforts overall, and is kind of clumsily done. It still comes down to fighting sanctioned matches against other student opponents and when his sword comes out, asses are kicked in short order.

There is also a stumbling romance presented between the worst ultra badass and a foreign princess, but that stalls and sputters too. They go from sharing a kiss at one point to stumbling around being embarrassed to be close to each other for an inordinate amount of time afterwards. Usually when kisses are welcomed and enjoyed, they lead to more kissing, even if they are stolen in fleeting moments of privacy. These two seem to try to go with the cutesy act and it just makes the whole thing seem forced and uninteresting. They sputter around from kissing and giggling for 3 or 4 episodes to suddenly shooting forward to a full nude scene complete with propositions and everything, (guess how our noble knight responds?) and then right back to middle-school level shyness.

The only romantic tension that comes into play, outside their own immaturity, is that little sister is a total brocon, and is constantly trying to stake a romantic claim on main guy. Now this is anime, so it's totally possible for incest level shit to go down, but that would have added some flavor to the proceedings, so it was not to be. Instead sister is a light romantic foil for the main couple to prod them onto further (in)action. Just rather yawn inducing most of the time.

Now, wait a minute. I said the rating scale has a '6' at 'fine' right? The show isn't bad, not overly so, it's just completely predictable and just flat average. It's not to say there wasn't cool moments, it's just that those moments don't pull the series up from its foundation much at all. You can still pretty well guess everything that's going to go down for the whole shebang by episode 4 or 5, most likely, especially if you have much experience with these types of titles.

The fights are often pretty nice, and even though we know our badass main is going to win, they still often take an interesting route to get there, that is to say, the setup of the fight and the powers deployed, especially by main guy's foes. The only issue is, predictably, when the chips are down, main guy breaks out the super defense moves, then the super asskicking moves, and poof, opponent is finished.

Again, it's not a waste of time, but if you've seen other sword based shows such as the aforementioned Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero, or even SAO and Inuyasha, you've seen a lot of what is offered here. This is a perhaps a good series to kind of introduce a viewer to the overall concept, but when you've seen the tropes before, they do tend to stick out some.

Art: 7
I actually liked the art pretty well. The fights are pretty cool, and have some neat effects. I would have liked to see more of main girl's fire powers, and perhaps even some of the other students' abilities. We're limited in the amount of fights possible, as this is a short season, 12 episode run. On top of this, not all fights happen in the school ranking match for the national competition, so we do get some variety in background locations though not much.

Otherwise it looks pretty acceptable, cute girl is cute, hottie girl is drawn appropriately attractive, and even main guy looks pretty well done.

Sound: 7
The sound is fairly good, though we have an obvious problem from the start: nice main guy sounds like a boring, well, nice guy. He's never overly worked up, but never disinterested either. He's pretty flat and even, which in this case doesn't work to his advantage, as the rollercoaster of emotions we're to believe he goes through doesn't really reflect in his voice much at all. He's pretty unflappable even when the situation calls for his flaps to be fluttering a great deal.

The other voice work is acceptable, the main girl is a little loud at times, but isn't screeching like we get pretty often from the character that's lovey-dovey with the main. The little sister is played really well, having an appropriate edge to her voice when the situation calls for it. The gay guy is handled acceptably to me (we'll talk more in character section on this) without being overly wrought.

The battle sounds are well done, not surprisingly. The clashes and clangs and magical effects are all just how and where they are supposed to be, and add to the battle atmosphere nicely. The background music is perfectly acceptable and also works well. The themes are pretty nice, actually. I found the opener pretty enjoyable, and the closer has a nice 'warrior' feel to it.

Character: 6
We've already pounded repeatedly on the main guy's failing, in being immensely overpowered for his humble attitude, and for being such a supposedly 'failed' and 'worst' knight. He's just bland overall, and lacking in real charm. He does what nice guys do, and really never deviates from that course. On top of this, the writing never really puts him in any situations to test his demure ways. He lives with the main girl and love interest, and they basically never throw them into any compromising situations, a bit cliche in itself, but could have been a nice change of pace for the characters. I mean, c'mon he lives with his girlfriend, and there's never any embarrassing mix ups or even any steamy situations because Mr. Nice Guy's intentions are too pure for that, even when she seems to be throwing herself at him.

The main girl is the stereotypical powerful redhead, who has a bit of a sassy attitude. Never seen that one before huh? Overall she's not too overplayed, just also predictable in many ways. She's a little disappointing in that she's part of the almost childish romance subplot. She is forceful and headstrong in pretty much every other way, but isn't all that interested in taking the lead from the main guy, who clearly isn't going to bust a move on her first. She's just the cliched strong willed and strongly powered redhead love interest.

The little sister falls flat on the brocon thing, but does a good job at pulling the emotional strings in regards to her family situation. She would have been much better off without the brother-lust and purely as a character devoted to her family (or her brother at least). Otherwise she's pretty spot on acceptable.

The gay guy might be seen as a little offensive to more sensitive viewers, but I found him pretty well done. He acts as an emotional support for the main characters, especially the little sister. Now he's fairly stereotypical in his speech, and that might irk some of you. He often calls people 'honey' and refers to himself as a female, and has a slight lisp about him, but he's played off pretty evenly by his voice actor (Chris Patton, who's works I really enjoy) and isn't over the top. I have known many gay men through work, friends, and family and I've seen far more flamboyant personalities than what is portrayed in this series. Because of my real world experience, I didn't find this character to be offensive. I do, however, wish we'd gotten to see him really throw down and fight though.

The opposing characters and random others that pop up are pretty well done and not overpowering or completely underwhelming either. The tough guy that needs his ass whipped is cool, the lost girl who needs help regaining her true path is awesome, and student council president, while incredibly powerful, isn't the cliched bitch we see so often.

Enjoyment: 6
I know I seem to be pounding hard on this show, but it's really not that bad. If you're new to this kind of fantasy action stuff, and enjoy it, you'll likely really like this anime. For those of you that have a little experience, you might really enjoy yourself too, just know that the main guy isn't as nuanced as other mains in other shows. He's not an idiot like Issei from HS DXD or constantly showing off like Akatsuki of Rogue Hero, or mostly angry like Inuyasha. He's just a nice guy, and deserves credit for that, just it doesn't mesh as well against his abilities to decimate his opponents as other personality traits would.

Best Girl: Ayase, the lost girl who must find her way again and reclaim her family's honor. She's got an awesome look to her, and a great magical power. She even comes close to rivaling the main guy in her sword work. On top of this, she has a mysterious air about her, and so she gets my vote for sure.

I say give the series a spin, just don't expect the world and you'll probably come away satisfied. I just think they should have named the show something along the lines of 'Chivalry of an Honorable Knight' or what have you, as a failed knight is the last thing the main guy is. If you like to see the good guys be powerful yet not full of themselves then this surely is the series for you. Also check it out if you enjoy nice action sequences featuring interesting magical powers in a fight. A '6' rating is fine, and that's what you're getting here, an average, run of the mill show, and that's perfectly fine too.

To put it simply, watch this if you want an entertaining series, not a meaningful one.
This is an important thing to consider if your thinking about watching this. The series definitely has some things going for it, the art for one is gorgeous, so if you were drawn to it just because of that for that reason its totally understandable. Second of all, the fight scenes. overall the clashes between characters fell unique, and the abilities characters had feel fresh and unique for an anime that has superpowers present. tropes aside, the concept of the ... anime is interesting.

Now, if you want a romance between characters that has you rooting for them to progress further as they go through their ups and downs, this is not for you. A proper romance anime is one that takes you on an emotional journey, slowly watching the characters grow and develop, and even if the protagonists appear to be polar opposites, you understand why they fall for each other in the end. If you agree with that assessment, then do not watch this anime if that's what your looking for. The romance aspect of it is an incredibly small aspect of the series, it blossoms almost instantaneously at the start, no character tension or anything, then disappears for the rest of the series up until the end.
The series revolves around the idea of a character who's at the bottom of the barrel, with his entire school career depending on his ability to get to the top. Its an incredibly interesting concert for sure, but with the predictability of the protagonist's actions mixed with his blatant plot armor, its hard to be emotionally invested in the series. Not only that, but the main character goes through little to no impediments on his journey to the top. without getting to spoiler heavy, the only time we see any kind of struggle for the protagonist to get to the top is in the start, and the very last episode of the series. In my honest opinion, the best fight scene in the series that actually had me questioning who would win was in a side plot with a character he only had to fight once, that pushed him nowhere in the direction of achieving his goal of getting to the top. The main plot felt less of "climbing to the top", and more of "taking an elevator to the top." In this elevator journey to victory, the side characters only purpose is to support the main protagonist. the side character development is small, I think I can only count one or two times when side characters faced problems that visibly changed them as a person. there are a lot of problems relating to plot in most aspects, but if you dont care, then watch it.

yeah, that list of cons was much bigger then the pros. as a quick personal note, I watch anime purely for entertainment and dont actively seek out finding problems with shows, but this one had some pretty glaring issues that made this a pretty hard watch. But if you can put that all aside, and purely appreciate it for its art and choreographed fights, then give it a watch. maybe find a day where you are bored out of your mind and sit down, binge it, then forget about it a week later.

Warning this review may contain spoilers.

First impressions, so my first thoughts on this was ok this probably going to be the next generic light novel anime this season and the most part it kinda is.
But the show dose something a little different that really took me off my guard.


Story, 6/10

So chivalry of a failed knight on the surface seems like the next generic light novel anime with a school and teens with super powers.
But what I told that it does something a little different from the norm.
... "Oh really please explain"
"Sure thing"

So are story begins with the usual set up
With are Main character lkki kurogane who is a Blazer and the blazer is basically this world version of people with super powers that uses magic.
Ikki goes to a very prestigious school known as Hagun academy In order to be a Mage knight. But the problem with ikki is that he is ranked the weakest student at the school because of his low abilities when it comes to the magic and other things with him having the degrading nick name "the worst one" and basically treated like shit be most people around him.
So after returning from his daily training who comes across a half naked girl named Stella vermillion who is a princess from a different country Who came here to study.
So after trying to talk to the headmaster of the school
The to of them decide to have a dual in order to sort things out where the looser is the winner slave for life.
Which ends in the usual way with the main character completely beating her.
While she is recovering from her fight she learns that her and ikki have a lot more in common than she first believed.
Because she has also had a similar experience to what ikki has gone though but from the completely opposite side.
and so begins there adventure of working together in order to rech there dreams.

Which can be helped by entering the seven start sword art festival which is a inter school tournament which is student fighting each other between other schools.
Which is done by the strongest students of each school. Which is also decided by a tournament of some sort.

So the story is basically ikki and Stella fighting there way to the top of there school In order to get to this torment with them fighting opposition of the week
and the usual shit in between.
for example they fight some sort of terrorist group in one ep and in another part is where there basically doing regular school activities and some sort of romance that's going down.
Which sounds pretty bare bones.

But as you continue watching you start to notice.
that not what it's all about.
It is actually about an under dog story done right about the Main character and few others characters as they try to slowly change the system around them for the better.
As they try to point out the flaws and hypocrisy of the system around them.
Because in this society if you have low magic power your basically trash and people with high magic power can kind of do what they want.
For an example of this we find out that ikki is part of a prestigious clan of magic knights. Who after finding out ikki condition basically ignore is existence and continue to try and stop him from becoming a magical knight and even when ikki left his home and managed to get into this school in order to become a magic knight by the skin of his teeth.
Still unable to take part in classes because the kurogane clan basically got the school head master at the time to change the rules so he won't Be Able to past his classes.
And for a whole year he was basically in a no win situation at his school.
But though strong will and determination he continued to try and get stronger.
But now an opportunity has presented its self.
With the new headmaster that has told ikki that in order for him to become a magical knight and reach his dreams he must win the seven star sword festival for his school.
And that is basically what the story is about.
Which is quite interesting because I never expected something with actual deepth in a light novel anime.
Basically this is a story that subverts all expectations when it comes to the generic light novel type story's.

Now it nothing ground braking.
But at the end of the day it kind of refreshing in a way that they decided to take it.
Especially with the writing.
Because it has a sort of self awareness to it.
Which doesn't mean that's it good because it self awareness because it doesn't do much with it. But it has a sense of charm to.

For example there is this one scene where ikki is telling Stella that is Little sister is going to be at school and she sied to him your not going to tell me that you guys aren't related by blood or something like that with him reply no we are related by blood and then she says ok that's fine.
With that scene there basically saying yes we know what type of series this.

Another thing that makes the story stand out from the norm.
Is the fact that there is an romance that actually goes some where for a change.
Because it nice to see the moan character pick a girl and stick with it.
Plus they take seriously enough for you to by into it.






Characters, 6/10

The main character ikki actually has some sort of personality.
But what Made him stand out for me for example was his determination to continue fighting against a system that for most of his life pretty much backed him into a corner. Because he didn't have much magical abilities.
Like his personally is pretty much this.
He is pretty much a calm and collected guys that is very noble at heart.
Another thing that also stands out from him is that we are also showing that there things that will get to him.
For example there is this one scene where he is so nervous about this fight with this one guy.
Because of an encounter with this person in the past that really made him really struggle at first with his big fight with him at first intil they managed to up him get back into his normal state of mind.

Stella also has some sort of personality as well.
At first she seems like a basic tsudare character type.
But like ikki there is more the Meets the eye with her and I am not saying she deep or anything like that. Because she isn't.
But she a pretty interesting back story which is quite relateble and her dynamic with ikki more than makes up for it.
Also she never felt like the carbon copy of what a tsudare is.


On the topic on there dynamic they have very close blond which eventually becomes love which at times a little rushed but very genuine.
Another thing which made there romance interesting as the fact that out of the both of them she is the more sexually promiscuous.
which is something you don't see that often because generally it the male partner that is more of the pervert.
For an example. There is this one scene where they are in a log cabin in the woods and they are basically resting inside and both of them are basically half naked well you know hormones and the mood being set she asks ikki if he wants to have sex with her. Of course he turns it down because he is more of a traditionalist when it comes to matters of a sexual nature while Stella is not.
Which was quite interesting.

Now I am going to go more in depth about to more characters because I believe that these to especially at the moment of doing this review need to be addressed.

So i am going to talk about is ikki little sister first.
Shizuku who has a massive brother complex.
I know some of you are oh my god here we go again.
But unlike some shows that do this kind of trope mostly for comedy or fan serive in my experience. Which it kind of is but that's beside the point.
There is an actual good reason why she is like that.
Because she was probably one of the few members of ikki family that didn't treat him like shit. And when she found out about what her family members where doing to him she basically hates her family minus for brother and decides that she will become the subtitle for the love that he never received from his family. And has no problem show casing this is because I. One scene where it's the first time she had meet ikki in about 4 years she pushes him to the ground and kisses him in front of a large group of people and talks about her feels to her brother.
Even though it kind of shallow they at lest have some sort of context to why she is like that.


Another character I want to talk about in a bit of detail is Alice.
Who is basically a transgender or transsexual person (and don't quote me on this because I get confused on which on is which because I don't really care and plus I kind of forget the difference between trans- sexual and trans- gender people)
And in most cases of anime I have seen with these kinds of character they are generally used as some sort of joke which when I think about it is kind of insulting
To people who are like that and to the character them selfs.
Because they could have been interesting if taking seriously enough.
But Alice on the other hand is actually taken seriously for the most part which was also somethings I didn't expect from this kind of story.
And for the most he was quite the interesting character to watch.


Now for the side characters that where for the most pretty average for the most part
Most of them are pretty one note.
Some of them where a bit more interesting than other that.
Nothing else really noteworthy.


Art, 7/10

The animation was very well done.
All the back ground also like very nice.
They also have a very bright colors scheme.
Which actually changes when there some serious shit going down.
Because when characters are feeling depressed or there a lot of tension in the scene.
The world becomes red , black, gray and sometimes there some blue in there to.
They also like to use expressive animation when the come to what the characters are generally feeling.
There is also some very good fight choreography.

It has a very generic style to it.

The character designs are basically your run of the mill light novel designs.




Sound, 6/10

The quite enjoyed listening to bouts the opening song and ending song.

Because it kind of got my attention and it has a nice beat to it.

The ost was on point most of the time but nothing really standing out that much.

But I think that the op and end song are worth a quick listen.



Enjoyment, 6/10


So when it came to this anime what I enjoyed.
Is that it took the basic light novel formula and put actual effort Into it.
And it was refreshing and quite endearing.
Even though it had quite a few generic shit that kinds of bothered me it actually never felt like that. I also found this to be a good time passer as well.



Overall. 6/10

So if your are new to anime or just starting to dive into more titles then check this show out because it's a very good entry level show.

But if your a veteran of anime or you think light novels is the cancer of anime then probably stay away.

Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry is probably my favorite take on the whole superpowered kids competing at school thing. I think because it has a good understanding of what works about that setting. It mostly emphasizes the fights and the goofy character dynamics, until the end when it takes a bit of an ill-advised visit to the drama zone.

The characters have very exaggerated personalities, but I do find some of them likable. Ikki and Alice are pretty good characters, I'd say. Admittedly it's hit and miss; Stella and Shizuku are rather annoying. Although the former has decent interactions with Ikki at least. It's probably for the ... best that this anime focuses on just that relationship and dials the harem aspect back compared to usual.

The most unqualified strength this has is the fight scenes, which are very good. Detailed, well animated and fun to watch. They do a good job showing how the various characters' powers play off each other, and it's nice how Ikki wins his fights by observing and outsmarting his opponents. Sometimes the fight scenes take up entire episodes, and that's honestly when the show is at its best.

But you can't give it too many props for the story and characters. This is a slightly above average execution of a very standard premise. Nothing too much more than that.

It's pretty risky biznu trying to go against what people are calling an amazing anime, but boy did I not enjoy this show.

I'd like to get the soundtrack and music out of the way first, because that's the easiest aspect of this show to dislike. The opening song straight out did not click with me; perhaps it's just not my type of music, but the singer gave me the impression of a cringe-inducing japanese comedy show host. The ending didn't fit the show's theme at all in my opinion, giving off a vibe for a horror or mystery anime, rather than that of a ... magic-academy battle royale-esque show.

The show boasts a lot of great animation.. When you actually get to see it. During the dedicated "Battle of the episode", the tournament rounds usually follow a pretty obnoxious cut-and-paste formula.

Our main character Ikki enters the arena. Stella, Shizuku and Alice are all sitting in the crowd, discussing what Ikki's opponent will do. Ikki confronts his opponent, and either has his own inner monologue for quieter opponents, or will have a conversation with them that goes on a little too long. After they're done talking, the round starts; "Let's Go Ahead". Either Ikki or the Opponent rushes at him, usually in an irritatingly slow motion clip. Ikki begins his second inner monologue, "What is the gimmick of this opponent?" Cut to the crowd where Stella, Shizuku and Alice are sitting. Either Stella or Shizuku will ask Alice what the gimmick of the battle is, to which Alice will usually answer for them. Cut back to Ikki, who has already essentially figured out the battle gimmick, takes advantage of the knowledge he has; and then uses his OP Main Character ability to win the match.

Congratulations, you've just experienced half, if not three quarters, of the show already by reading that one paragraph.

The animation of each battle progressively gets worse as the show goes on; boasting amazing, crisp and smooth movements that I was very impressed by in the first couple of episodes. After the first couple of episodes, however, the battles are filled up with annoying inner-monologues and side-commentary by the characters, as mentioned in the paragraph above. However, when the characters actually shut up for once in the episode, the animation can go either of two ways. Either the animation returns to the smooth and crisp style movement that I fell in love with originally, or it takes a turn for the worst and just settles for stationary characters running in front of speedlines, or extremely abundant slow-motion scenes that make the battle seem slower and more boring rather than dramatic or tense.

The characters are very empty, despite what I had heard about prior to actually watching the show. You have your classic overpowered main character with a relatively dark past, a red-haired princess tsundere archetype, a loli/little sister with a older brother complex, and the creepy, quite possibly homosexual, individual who acts as an 'all-knowing' plot convenience. The main "antagonist" of the show doesn't become apparent until the last small chunk of the show, leaving little room for development there. Speaking of development, there almost isn't any in the show. The characters are flat, as much as I hate to say it, even though the show breaks the harem stereotype by integrating an actual romance into the story.

I won't go into detail regarding the previously mentioned romance, in fear that it might constitute as a spoiler, however I can safely say that it doesn't affect the character development or the story as much as I would have liked. Sure, having a romance in these types of shows is a pretty uncommon feat, however the relationship itself, disappointingly, managed to bore me.

The story is very basic for the usual 'Magical Sword Academy' genre. The main character and his redheaded sidekick manage to enter the school's suspiciously dangerous 'Battle Royale to the Death'. For personal reasons, Mr. MC cannot lose a single match, otherwise something detrimental will happen to his character development, whatever little he has of it. He encounters opponent after opponent, each with their own somewhat unique special ability. Most episodes, and I mean 9 out of 12, usually follow the battle formula mentioned above, and those take up most of the show's airtime. By the end of the show we see something that attempts to be an antagonist; and succeeds, to a degree. Really, the antagonist only appears so that the tragedy tag can be taped to the main character in a last stand attempt to give the story some depth, which it ultimately doesn't.

TL;DR Section

Story - 6 | The story is generic beyond belief, and doesn't really go anywhere due to the fact that almost every episode features a poorly executed battle segment with a little too much talking about the battle, and not the story progression.

Art - 6 | The art looks great, when the characters aren't really doing anything. When they jump into battle however, it fluctuates pretty heavily, for better or for worse. Battle animation either follows the path of lazy speedlines or obnoxous slowmotion for the most part.

Sound - 4 | The soundtrack essentially consists of one song played in different styles. I can't take the opening seriously, and I'm not sure what it is that irks me so. It might be that I burst out into laughter or cringe at the sound of the singer, or maybe it's the non-sensical Engrish. Either way, the opening song makes its way into the show for multiple scenes. For scenes trying to be romantic, dramatic or tragic, the opening song is slowed down and played on a piano. For particularly exciting battles the opening plays in its original form. Realistically, the lack of variety in music really makes it difficult for me to enjoy the soundtrack itself.

Character - 4 | The characters are generic: OPMC, Tsundere Redhead Princess, BigBroComplex Loli/Little Sister, All-Knowing Mysterious Roommate (Who also fills the category of potentially gay character)

Enjoyment - 5 | I would realistically only recommend this show to another person if they had already watched the good Action-Based Magical Academy shows I had already recommended to them (There are surprisingly a lot more than you would expect.) Did I enjoy it? No. Is it a bad show? Not exactly. I didn't enjoy the show because of my own personal opinions (Battles include too much talking, the story doesn't go anywhere, characters are bland, overhype of the show in general, etc.) However I can definitely see this show being enjoyed by someone who just wants to watch some ecchi fanservice with a little action on the side (Similar to the effect of Highschool DxD). As an action show, this anime isn't the best, but it's not unbearable. As a romance/comedy, it succeeds a little more than it does when it tries to fit into the action genre.

Overall - 6 | It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as good as everybody had hyped it up to be.

Let me get this clear: My rating of 6 does not mean that this anime is bad, only that it could've been much more than it is. To me, 5-6 is mediocre. It could have been better, but it doesn't do horribly bad either. 5-6 is my example of an average anime. In a lot of anime reviews of MyAnimeList, I seem to think that a lot of reviewers regard a 5 as a bad score. My point with this lengthy introduction is that my mindset is different from most reviewers who think like the above, so when you read this, keep this in mind. ...

This anime was a refresher for light novel anime watchers like me. Many light novels anime adaptions are really bad, like Asterisk War and SAO. Although this light novel isn't that much better, it still sets itself off from SAO and Asterisk War. The romance that was set in the anime is realized waaay earlier than expected, making the harem end much earlier. There are also little things, like the characters reacting in a realistic way to an embarrassing or outrageous event, or even the visuals that completely flesh out a dangerous situation.

Story 5/10
The story is very generic. It has the main character, with zero magical ability, fight in selection matches to get in a big event, in order to graduate. I've seen many plots like this, and in this one the story is executed in a passable way. It really isn't anything special.

Art 7/10
The visuals were very average, with the exceptions of the last few episodes. Without spoiling too much, the main character is undergoing a gigantic hardship. The visuals portray this very well, and it really set the mood for the situation. This visual change is the main reason art is 7/10 and not a 5/10.

Sound 8/10
The OP was nicely done. I liked alot of the music of this anime. From the happy and quirky pieces that were cheerful, to the tense pieces that made your heart beat fast, the music influenced alot to the emotions that I experienced while watching this anime. Loved it all.

Characters 6/10
There's the pink haired tsundere princess, the sister who's smitten to the main guy lead, and the cross boy girl mother figure?! This cast of characters isn't all that special, maybe except the cross boy girl, but the way they were executed made them into actually decent characters.

Enjoyment 6/10
I enjoyed this anime more than I thought I would've. The fight scenes were well animated (for the most part), the fanservice was not forced, like the Asterisk War, and overall, even though I cringed at the "I like boobs.", and other scenes and lines, overall this was a good watch.

Overall 6/10
This anime is better than some light novel anime adaptions, but still has alot of problems. It has assets over other anime, but it isn't able to override the many issues this anime has.

This anime starts off strong, devolves into incomprehensible mess and then sorta recovers in the last episodes.

I honestly thought that the first two episodes are amazing, because they had some sort of spark in them and displayed great chemistry between characters. Unfortunately, that chemistry quickly disappeared, and the series turned into a string of drawn out episodes full of melodramatic events, deus ex machinas, and overdramatizations.

The anime shares a lot of similarities with Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei. The basic idea is the same - a very powerful underdog unjustly mistreated based on arbitrary ranking system. Heck, protagonists even look similar to each other, although Rettosei's ... main character had less character and was much more powerful. The anime also loves putting characters through pointlessly dramatic painful events for no reason, and those situations feel forced. Sometimes characters just flat out act like idiots. However, with all that in mind, anime looks good, and art style is interesting to watch. The anime uses some sort of soft thin lines, which is slightly different from most of the titles I remember. Main Heroine despite being stereotypical tsundere (with all the blushing, getting upset over nothing, etc), is occasionally itneresting to watch purely from animation angle. Fights feature a lot of movement too... all that is overshadowed by shrotcomings and weak stories of the middle episodes, however.

Either way, detailed breakdown is below:
Story:
Starts strong, gets bad, sorta recovers in the last episode to a tolerable levels. The story suffers from attempts pointless overdramatization, and even though it is supposed to be a one complete whole centered around the tournament, if you look back at it, it feels quite disjointed. Premise is quite similar to Mahouka Koukou no Rettosei, even though the world is not well thought out. There were plenty of situations where events feel forced or the story tries to go out of its way to put characters through some "overly dramatic" event (with onlookers badmouthing character in one frame, and then cheering them in the next), thankfully it does not go as far as Re: Zero went with its "Almost torture porn" episodes.

Art:
Pleasant style which is a bit unusual. Thin lines, soft palette, although I think there were two semi-cg dragons I didn't quite like. OVerall it is of an above average quality, and looks greate after abominably bland backgrounds I've recently seen in High School DxD Born.

Sound:
Decent, but nothing I managed to remember. Complements the story, but doesn't get in your way.

Characters:
Initial strong introduction made me thing there will be well-written interactions between characters with strong chemistry between them. Well, the anime happily proved me to be wrong. There are couple of amusing characters, but in general a lot of characters are inconsistent, and occasionally they act in not very smart or hard to believe fashion. Probably in order to cope with another ridiculous plot device. At the very least, their designs are interesting, and I enjoyed few brief scenes with "Yuri-chan". She was probably the best character in the whole anime.

Enjoyment:
First two episodes were interesting, portion of the last episode was alright, the rest was quite bland.

Overall:
It could've been better. Might be worth checking out to see the art style, and maybe first two episodes, and maybe the first scene with "Yuri-chan", but story-wise and character-wise the anime doesn't offer much - events are overly dramatic, overly melodramatic, characters often act in weird fashion, and as a result, the whole thing looks fairly hard to believe and disjointed.

A little late to the party here, but better late than never I guess.

When looking at seasonal charts to decide what anime I want to watch, it's easy to look at something like Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry and say "oh fuck, another shitty light novel harem ecchi battle series" and pass over it entirely. And granted, that's exactly what I did. It's easy to lose faith in light novel adaptations with the abundance of rather below average ones cropping up nearly every season. However, it really isn't right to judge a book by it's cover, so I gave Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry a chance finally ... to see if the bad reputation of it's brethren follows suit.

I've seen a few reviews praise this show for twisting around some of the tropes that normally follow this kind of show, especially with reference to the characters. And while I believe that there are some notable changes to these that warrant praise, they aren't much more than additions rather than total changes. It's building off the base of these tired old tropes like the underdog, the tsundere, the ice cold loli, etc. and adding new things to them, sure, but they aren't changed enough to tell them distinctly apart from their foundations.

EDIT: I wrote this review at 2:00 in the morning, so I inevitably didn't really explain my major point very well (that being the characters still being basic tropes with some fairly superficial additions), so I'll explain it in more detail by using the main character as an example. The most well known trait of generic light novel main characters are that they are obscenely overpowered (see Kirito from SAO, the MC from Mahouka, etc.) and don't face much of a challenge from anything. Ikki Kurogane is a little different, getting some worthwhile adversaries that do end up giving him a hard time for every fight. However, it doesn't change the fact that he is still insanely overpowered and wins fights against the strongest characters presented in the series, sometimes based on sheer willpower. While this character fits well with the general message that the anime is trying to portray (i.e. sheer talent doesn't get you anywhere without a little hardwork), it doesn't change the tropes around enough for him to be a standout main character in his own right.

I'll get the absolute worst part about this show out of the way. The world-building is pretty awful. A lot of these terms are thrown around to suggest a bigger picture, but so many things are never explained in full enough detail to actually make any sense. For example, the main character, Ikki Kurogane, wants to show that his lack of magical talent is made up by his intense physical and mental capabilities by becoming a Magic Knight. The thing is, we have no idea what a Magic Knight actually does. This doesn't actually detract from Ikki's character at all, as his motivations and goals are expressed decently well throughout Cavalry's runtime, but it feels hard to latch onto this goal when we don't even have a semi-clear picture of what's at the finish line. This happens all the time with stuff like the main heroine Stella Vermillion coming from some country to go to this prestigious magic school in Japan. We are to assume this is the real world since the setting is still Japan, but an explanation on how this country came to being. Was it because of this World War we heard about once, but once again, never was cared to explain? I could go on forever about this, but there are some actual positives of this show I need to address.

Firstly, even though the animation wasn't all that great, you could really tell that the staff was really trying with this show. Shin Oonuma, the director of Calvalry, as well as my favourite romance anime of all time, Ef: a tale of memories, really loves using colour (and, in some cases, lack of colour) to set the mood of the scene and the characters at any given time. Although I think he did it to much greater effect in Ef, he still did a good job here with it. There are also some really ambitious camera angles and movements here, and while they can be fairly jerky from time to time, they add a cool perspective and dimension to the fight scenes, which probably would have been fairly lackluster without them.

Even though this is kind of a basic thing, I really do appreciate that the powers and character designs actually correlate to the personality of any given character. Take Stella Vermillion, for example, who is a very forward and passionate person. Her more western-looking broadsword, her extremely hot flames, and even her bodacious body type all emphasize this. While, like I said earlier, the characters are still fairly certainly basic anime tropes with a slight twist, these details really help to add depth to these characters where they otherwise wouldn't be.

As for the romance, well, I can't really say it it did too much for me. It progressed way too fast with not enough justification as to why it was moving at such a breakneck speed. I can't not say that it wasn't nice to see a romance ACTUALLY PROGRESSING IN AN ANIME, but the novelty wears off after a while if there isn't much substance to back it up.

I also have to call attention to the fanservice briefly. I have to give major props to this show for making the fanservice at least slightly relevant to the plot and characters (for example, once again, Stella
s body type working off of her personality, etc.) of Calvary, rather than it just being what it says on the tin. There is A LOT of fanservice here, and the fact that it is sort of justified in some scenarios doesn't change the fact that if you don't like fanservice, you won't like it here, but I appreciate the effort the staff made to keep it kinda classy.

And lastly, the absolute by far best part of this show. The fucking opening is baller. The first time I heard this thing, I getting an air of familiarity from the vocalist, only to find out that Sakai Mikio did the opening for Planetes over 11 years ago. I liked the Planetes opening well enough, but this outclasses it easily, with the fast-paced instrumentation, the uniquely deep vocals from Mikio, and the overall jazzy vibe from the thing.

Honest to god, this show tried. It really did. The interesting directing choices, the design choices of the characters making actual sense, and even making the fan-service relevant. However, these things still just cover up a lot of the problems that many of these types of shows have. The story isn't that interesting, the goals and motivations of characters are handled decently, especially with Ikki, but are loosely represented because of the basic tropes of these characters, and the world-building, once again, is really bad. The thing is, though, while this show doesn't really hold up as far as the general anime landscape goes, as far as the type of show it's categorized under, it excels past many of it's peers. So if you are specifically looking for a show that fits under light novel ecchi harem (okay, it really isn't a harem, but whatever) battle series, this is probably one of the best shows you will get. Seriously, I give the staff major credit for not trying to make a by the books generic LN adaptation like so many others seem to be, but they still fell a little short unfortunately. A decent in-between watch, but nothing memorable really at all. Still enjoyable in many cases however, and considering how lackluster 2015 was for anime, this actually stands out as one of the better shows.

Just by watching up to episode 4, I already realized that the writers are not afraid to make the viewers uncomfortable. With this in mind, I already knew that the main characters will be facing a lot of problems. I like the flow of the story. Each conflict has a deeper root in the characters' lives and adds a bump of emotional aspect to it. Just like with every emotional anime that I've watched, this anime hits close to home. I see this anime as an emotional one, the story gives a different perspective to life and the characters' stories make us reflect on what ... our life has been.

If I had to describe this anime in one word it'd be: Forgettable. I literally watched this entire anime through once, then a year later watched it again because I had forgotten that I already had. That being said, the only thing I did remember were some of the fights. They were actually quite original, clever and well done. A standout versus the rest of the anime.

Story: 3
There's little to no development in the overarching story arc and the plot for every few episodes is just a couple of mini-stories. The exposition of their 'magic' powers is secondary to the sword skills of the MC. ... Everything about the world they're living in seems inconsequential and the driving points of each mini-story so overplayed that it really comes off as more of a 'slice of life' anime if anything.

The main reason I get this feeling is that characters more or less pop up as-necessary to fill out the episode and the existing characters not really expanded on.

Art: 5
Almost sub-par for a 2015 production. The first ep was heavily CG involving some really overdone shadow work and 3D animation that was a little off-putting. There's a frequent recurring cherry-blossom theme that plagues the series that wears out pretty quickly.

Oh, there's quite a bit of fanservice especially around the female lead which mostly acts as unnecessary filler and isn't that appealing. Go watch hentai instead.

Sound: 6
It's hard to screw up sound production. The music was okay and the SFX appropriate. The voice actors were all pretty good and they didn't use as many English words as other animes which was nice. They did well enough with hitting the right notes to the right tropes that it would trigger the automatic emotional response in me to certain scenes.

Character: 5
It really feels like they just threw every archetype in the genre together in order to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. I actually got confused and thought this anime was from like...2010 or something. If it was actually the case I'd rate it higher and forgive the people who like this anime because then at least the brother x sister, transgender, trap, loli trope-characters would be a tiny bit ahead of it's time but alas, it's very late to the party.

Even then, there's so little development between the supporting roles because the main focus is on the, quite normal, awkward relationship between the two main characters which just feels stale. Why? Because there's no ups and downs in their relationship. Just pretty standard getting to know each other and trouble expressing their feelings. All of which is usually glanced over rather quickly. They both have problems and intriguing backstories but they're never properly fleshed out.

Enjoyment: 5
I'm not sure why I watched this to completion. I guess I just needed to find out what happens in the end. The characters have their typically cute interactions based on their archetype but there's rarely any development between the supporting roles.

There are some actually pretty cool fights and they're definitely the highlight and most memorable part of the anime; but it'd definitely be more enjoyable, for me at least, if the fan-service was toned down in favour of the fighting.

Overall: 5
Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry is a messy conglomeration of ideas that attempt to please as many people as possible without doing anything well. When you really think about it, the philosophy behind the production of this anime is similar to producing camouflage. When the random noise and colour all come together there's just no way to distinguish it from everything else you've watched and hence: I forgot all about it.

Now, I don't usually rate low on anime's but this one surprised me. I thought it was a cute idea of a high ranked Princess, teaming up with a low ranked nobody. I find it strange how he had a low rank considering how well he was doing. I don't like harems and I was honestly disgusted with a few scenes (yes the incest part) and some of the characters just annoyed me. I got bored in a few episodes because it was so easy to tell the outcome. The battles were intriguing but it's easy to guess where things were going to go. Even ... though in the end, I found the anime pleasant. With the problems that the main male character was going through, was nice to know. I didn't like how everything was about everyone else and how he changed peoples lives. I wanted to see what problems he was facing and it showed in the end. The art style was nice but I really didn't like the characters. Not the mention the sexual scenes surprised me.... But that's why you see what its rated before watching lol. But I was expecting another season because of how it was just left off. I feel kinda incomplete not knowing what happened but I guess that's just how things are. I recommend this anime if you like harems or battles. it was intriguing after all.

This anime is about a guy who has no "talent" and isn't recognized by his farther. His objective is to win a tournament so his father would recognize his talents and very existence.

Pro's
- Good animated fights
- Even though every girl loves the MC (harem), he still chooses one

Cons
- OP main character that wins against all and can do pretty much everything.
- Weird harem since he only likes Stella and isn't really interested in any other girl.
- No fighting logic
... - Poor character stories
- Stupid cliche "good" vs "bad" anime(which idiot thinks that the world is full of solely good and bad guys, why can't they all be just guy with different objectives/norms/values that causes each other to clash without solely hatred)
- Ending fight REALLY REALLY stupid, the director of this anime decided to cut the final fight and only show the result. What a major disappointing ending to a disappointing anime, fittingly.

This anime didnt really please me, it's a mediocre way of passing the free time. Don't watch this anime if you want a good shonen with lots of character and story development and don't watch this if you want to see an echhi harem with stubborn main character.

EDIT: I can't understand that the majority liked this piece of garbage. I guess I'm the only one (or a minority) that prefer character development, fighting logic, originality and logical norm/culture-collisions over plain characters that shout illogical fancy attacks against cliché opponents.

You know, I really tried hard to give this show a worse rating. But at the end I actually really liked it. Maybe it was from forcing myself to sit through the entirety of Sahkugan no Shana or Zero no Tsukaima, but I really do prefer a mature, honest, realistic relationship. Asterisk War...I mean Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry is actually fairly fulfilling and I think it was test to see whether this one or the same show with different plot points would win this season. That being said, the small female characters that couldn't possibly hope to win a real sword fight at least had ... a water power or speed or something to back up their power. There was a decent amount of realism with blood and such, and for a high school magic anime it wasn't half bad. It set out to do something, and it accomplished it, and left me wanting to see whether Kurogane can compete in the battle fest while still protecting his gf and sister. It was interesting to see the black and white art style used to freshen up an anime and give some life to the story. Being a long term martial artist I appreciated the backstory of Kurogane and felt that they actually tried to stop him without having some joke of a way to do it that would be easily foiled, and it didn't turn out that his dad was actually doing all this for his sake or something pitiful, he was actually a git and didn't want his power usurped. Anyways, I think I'd rather watch this than Zero no Tsukaima again, so despite being a total ripoff of a story, it was good.

Chivalry of a Failed Knight was an enjoyable, yet in some ways messily executed show. Following our main hero Ikki, a boy not respected by many due to his lower D rank in a school of magical knights called Blazers, you do find yourself rooting for him. Things get more interesting as Princess Stella Vermillion shows up one day and thus begins the start of a playfully crafted romance.

I will say that Ikki and Stella are the main reason to give Chivalry of a Failed Knight at least one sit through. However, some characters, such as Ikki's sister who pops up in a later episode ... and gives off near incestual vibes (one of THOSE characters, yes), are either alright or bland and uninteresting.

After a bit of research on the internet, it would seem there is a slight possibility of a sequel sometime this year in 2021, but no major confirmations yet. I do believe a second season would benefit the show a bit more because of how this short, 12 episode series ended.

My final rating of Chivalry of a Failed Knight is a 6/10.