Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry

Rakudai Kisihi no Calvary is a show that does a hell of a lot more wrong than it does right, manages to fall into all the typical LN tropes, and still manages to have an incredibly fervent fanbase which thinks that somehow it is an original show which averts many tropes used in LN-adaptations. While I admit that the show manages more right than wrong in one or two aspects, it still manages to be an incredibly bland and generic LN adaptation in the eyes of almost anyone who is experienced enough anime. This review involves spoilers, but honestly no one should care about spoilers ... in a show this bad. Still, you have been warned.

The story is basically that Japan won WWII, a hierarchical society of magic users (where magical aptitude is superior to all) exists, and the main character is someone who apparently sucks at magic and yet somehow can conveniently fight on an equal level to some of the best students in an academy that apparently is renown for training magicians.

No, I did not describe Mahouka to you just now. That is Rakudai.

Let me continue, our female main character is a girl with reddish pinkish hair, who conveniently forgets to lock her door while dressing up (in the very first episode) while the main character walks in. Our main character responds by stripping in exchange to her baring her unmentionables accidentally (something no human being does and is done only for the sake of comedy) and then establishes himself as a fairly reasonable person, complaining because the girl didn't lock the door and that it was an accident.

So basically, it's attempting to be witty and breaks any chance of me taking this guy seriously.

That's without mentioning a character's ability at copying movements (Kakashi from Naruto says hi), the girl using a fire sword (because Shana), our main character having the same conflict as Tatsuya from Mahouka (though he's a lot better than that abomination of a "character") and even an Accelerator like character who is randomly and maniacally doing crazy things. That's without mentioning just how absurd some of the powers are (your pupil losing color gives you a power up, really). Like seriously, that's just plain stupid.

This show may legit be the most uninspired thing I've ever seen in terms of story.

If only it was just that, but the characters aren't better either. Stella is a generic tsundere, Kurogane is the blank MC with the occasional moment, he has a sister that is in love with him, some side kick that's kinda cool and...do you see where I'm getting at here?

So. Finally we come here. What is the show's selling point, that drove its fans insane and say that it's so original and distinct from all those other LN adaptations?

The main duo get into a relationship.

Nah, I'm not pulling your leg here. They legitimately get into a relationship, and it's actually handled alright. By alright, I mean that I'm not cringing every time they interact, and it's actually kinda cute on a superficial level...until you realize it's just that, superficial.

Every single time they interact, the show feels like it's trying to force you to recognize that it's in a relationship like "OH GOD THEY KISSED" or "OH GOD GIRL IS ASKING GUY TO HAVE SEX" and so on, and it just doesn't feel natural. No one is legitimately this pushy when in a relationship, and people don't endlessly shove their love lives down people's throats. I will admit that there are a few scenes that are legitimately alright (the cabin scene was nice...then the ending blew it) and that it honestly is nowhere near the worst relationship I've seen in anime, but I'm genuinely surprised that this is considered by its fanbase to be the best relationship between two characters in an LN. Toradora? Hyouka? Oregairu? Spice and Wolf? Seriously, this is the best relationship in an LN-adaptation you guys have seen? The characters aren't even that interesting, you honestly can't describe or think of these guys as people (and let's face it, getting them into a relationship quickly may be a nice idea on a basic level, but makes no sense chemistry-wise, we hardly see them get along as friends and boom they're in a relationship).

Animation is drop dead gorgeous, especially during the fight scenes. The backgrounds look pretty nice, and there are actually some pretty nice scenery shots throughout the show. I just with they were better spent on some other show, because I honestly don't think this show deserves it.
I can't remember any particular track from the OST, though I guess the opening was alright.

And I honestly can't say I enjoyed the show all too much, honestly. It's too cliche for its own good, has only one aspect to remember done in an extremely superficial manner, and is just too much of the same as a whole to enjoy. Like sure, I may be repeating myself here, but it's hard not to feel that when you watch this show.

If you like this show, fine. I hold no grudge against you (unless it turns into another Mahouka) and can totally understand why you'd like it. Hell, I may have liked it if I watched it when I was 14. But honestly, if you're sick of more of the same and just heard that it's unique or original or any other absurd claim, please avoid it. It's not worth your time.

Have you ever been disappointed by something that you didn't have high expectations of in the first place? If your answer is "no", then you have yet to attend a high school and/or watch Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry. Some time during the Fall 2015 season, I had gone about a month without watching any anime because reasons, and the only shows I'd been watching were two shows I knew about already and one that was somewhat of a recommendation; therefore, I ventured off into uncharted territory and picked this up, seeing that it was the most-watched show outside of One Hype Man and some sequels ... to things that I already watched. Looked like some general action series, wouldn't hurt to try.

Who could've predicted such tragedy?

All aboard the spoiler hoard!

At two minutes and thirty seconds in, I elicited my first groan. Around the three-minute mark, I stopped taking it seriously altogether. It COULD'VE tried redeeming itself, but by the time it apologized and tried to act mature, it'd already pissed the bed, tripped over its own shoelaces, spoiled dinner, drove the family dog mad, and heard daddy's car drive away for the last time. Oh wait, that's a spoiler, isn't it. Whoops.

That's my biggest problem with Cavalry. It has so many cringe moments that I couldn't find the capacity to take it seriously, no matter how hard it wanted me to. Here's what I mean: the one particular element of this show that apparently brought about its success about is the romance between the two lead characters. No, this isn't the worst relationship in the world, but I wish the two would quit fucking around with themselves and act like real people. Here's some advice for both sides: Gentlemen, if you find yourselves taking a shower, and your female friend invites herself in and rubs her bare tits on you, she wants to fuck and probably a marriage. There's no other explanation, unless she's the biggest cock-tease in the galaxy, in which case lol. And ladies, if you're the one inviting yourself to take a shower with your male friend and he doesn't make a move after you rub your bare tits on him, find a new man to cling to. He obviously doesn't want you or is too stupid to take a hint. I don't want to hear anything about "awww but he/she's being modest!" They're 16. They have hormones and do stupid things, we've been and/or known these people. But after such extreme encounters, everyone forgets that said event never happened, or something.

If Cavalry had any self-awareness or didn't try to be dramatic, I could've at least acknowledged it as some cheap harem only created as fap material, but I guess that doesn't rake in as many dollars as a show containing something that resembles a serious plot. But really, the penultimate episode in particular was so dramatic and intense that I just couldn't understand what the hell I was actually watching. This is the show with an incestuous loli and a girl who got dripping wet while training so she can restore her family's honor? Huh??? ...Wait, is this Monogatari? What the hell is going on here?!

And that leaves me with no choice but to talk about the plot. Well, frankly, there's not much to say. Some scrublord named Icky transfers into a prestigious school and is required to be basically the best student just to pass and for daddy-senpai to hopefully notice him because too much of an asshole otherwise. Despite Icky being dubbed as "Worst One" and having a terrible rank, he's an adept fighter because the school's system is shit because daddy-senpai is too much of an asshole, so this is about how he becomes "Best One" instead, or something. Along the way, he ends up interacting with other people and gets involved with some romance, and there's a somewhat interesting plot twist towards the end, but I've already said that I couldn't take them seriously. (Plus the twist makes little sense. "So you're apparently doing really well in school. THAT IS MEDIOCRE!! I HAVE NO SON!!!!!")

Icky himself is some generic, forgettable character who serves as your projector screen. Do you want to become the swagnificent new kid in school who literally creates an army of girls and gets a hot girlfriend? Photoshop your face onto his and feel good about yourself. Stella is waifu bait, made only so young boys can hold her close to their hearts. Well, they'll hold something, anyway. She becomes Icky's servant or something because fanservice and has some tsundere side that's more annoying than endearing; again, Stella does some ridiculous shit in an attempt to get Icky to notice her, yet she tries playing these things off. She goes way too far down the rabbit hole but tries escaping anyway. It's not working.

These two become lovers before too long. I must admit that this relationship is surprisingly decent. I thought this would be very annoying and subtle with the two either never hooking up at all or only saying they're in a relationship without doing anything, with the cour's final scene being a long-awaited kiss. Nah, it's actually better than that. They have some legitimate moments together and their relationship develops in an interesting way; after it actually starts, they don't seem like a couple, but they take notice of this and work on it. I thought that was pretty effective, but the scene itself is another awkward, headache-inducing montage of dialogue that more-or-less runs around in a few circles before getting to the goddamn point. I didn't exactly enjoy their screentime, but the outline of their relationship was good.

Back to the characters. Cavalry's side characters are a hilariously awful group of bumblefucks; I'll mention the incestuous loli again because, yeah, that's a thing. They even try justifying it! She talks about how/why she acts so affectionate towards Icky, but apparently no one told her that FAMILY MEMBERS DON'T FUCK EACH OTHER! Cavalry, are you trying to tell me something? Are you telling me that I, the only brother to three siblings, should agree to this? The reverse-trap enables this and, yeah, there's a reverse-trap in here who has no personality or development whatosever. It's only funny for a second. I think there was a furry at some point, too. Should I mention the Gary Oak character? There's some douche who acts like a douche to Icky because we, as the audience, should feel bad and have feelings or something. Then he gets beaten like a bitch and I guess this is supposed to be satisfying??? It was super overdone and cringe-worthy. (At least he didn't show up to act like a bitch again.) Ayase has a pretty funny backstory, but it taught me a valuable life lesson: If you want someone's house, beat the shit out of them in order to obtain it. Apparently that's a thing in this place. She demonstrates how serious she is about restoring her father's dojo by getting dripping wet when Icky tries to help her. What a warrior! The only normal character I could actually enjoy was the Director lady, whatever her name is. She's kind of serious but troll-ish, like she's aware that she's in a bad anime but has accepted her fate.

If I forgot anyone worth mentioning, please notify me via junk mail, because it's probably a garbage character anyway.

So, was there anything I actually enjoyed beyond a superficial level? Yeah, turns out Cavalry doesn't want me to rate this a 1/10. The art is quite nice with some pretty standout moments. For one, I enjoyed the opening's style, which is one thing that drew me to this anime. That style returns in the last two episodes and is executed very well. Icky's prison scenes looked appropriately desolate and grim while the cour's final fight had an iconic feel to it. This style amplifies in the dramatic penultimate episode and plays out like Shaft made a guest appearance, though it was probably my general lack of interest that kept me from really enjoying it. There are some really shitty-looking rock monsters late in the anime, though. But overall it's pretty good, so at least you'll get some good action, though little of it was memorable beyond the art.

The sound is another story. I'll tell you that it has a pretty good OP and a pretty good ED, but the rest of the soundtrack has completely escaped me. I can't remember anything about it, so that tells you how good it isn't. Being unmemorable is better than being memorably bad, though.

That's about it. Congrats, Cavalry, I hoped to watch something that would just help pass the time and not piss me off very much and instead you instead made me regret not getting hit by a car instead. I'm probably considering this to be the worst anime of the year as far as I know, because at least Danmachi and Asterisk didn't make me uncomfortable with any stupid incest. Painful fanservice, generic concept/setting, laughable characters, it's not something I'd recommend to someone, even if it were to purposefully tease them.

All of the above text more-or-less applies to The Asterisk War, minus the actually good parts.

Story - 2/10
Art - 8/10
Sound - 4/10
Characters - 1/10
Enjoyment - 1/10
Overall - 3/10
Favorite character - Can't remember her name, don't care enough to look it up.
Favorite episode - 11
Recommended to anyone that liked The Asterisk War because it's literally the same thing.

EDITED ON 3.14.16: I changed the score to a 3/10 because I feel that a 2/10 is only bare-minimum; Cavalry has some legitimate strong points and doesn't deserve that rating.

Trashiest of trashes. They started somewhat compelling and it all went downhill. There's illusion of growth and development when in reality it's random nonsense between decently animated but at the same time very predictable and boring fights. Antagonists are just garbage. Story is garbage. Directing is garbage. Fan service is garbage. There's so much trash in this show racoons would look at it as heaven. Never have I been happy that there wasn't a sequel.

There's no point answering "spoiler warning" for this anime as there's nothing to spoil. It starts with OP MC-kun in a school with tsundere reward for him and tournament is announced ... in very first episode. And that's the whole story... take a wild guess who wins at the end and how. Even that dreadful premise can be worked with had there been interesting character development or twists in the story or anything really. There's nothing. What you see MC do in first episode is what he does always and that's it.

To be honest first few episodes were encouraging and I started watching couple of times only to drop it at episode 3. This time I decided to persevere and have regretted this decision. Take warning random scroller... avoid this like plague. Good score it currently has is only a mask.

Rakudai kishi no Cavalry is an ongoing light novel series from Misora Riku. Near the end of last year an anime adaptation aired. It was handled by Nexus and Silver Link. Silver Link being the studio behind WataMote & Baka To Test. Yeah, that's not an auspicious sign. Then again, those are the only two series that they did the main work on that I've reviewed or even seen. Their studio probably has some really good stuff of their own. I know that some of the stuff they've done in-between animation for has been quite good. So, let's look at this thing and see if ... the third time will, indeed, be the charm.

Story:

Ikki is the worst magical knight. He's at the bottom of his class in ranking and can't even get proper lessons because his stats are so low. One day, he returns to his room to find a young lady changing her clothes. Not knowing what else to do, he apologises for seeing what he saw and takes off his clothes to make up for it. He later finds out that this is his new room mate. Princess Stella Vermillion, a high ranking magical knight exchange student. The two have a mock battle to decide who gets to make their room's rules. After the obvious upset, the two and the rest of their school begin competing in a tournament to determine who will represent them at some big magic knight battle event.

Let's talk about the comedy in this series for a moment. I know, it's an action fantasy romance and not a comedic work. However, it does try to inject quite a few comedic moments. The problem is that these comedic attempts are just poor. They all seem to be based on something being unusual. The perky teacher who constantly vomits blood or Stella's entire body turning bright red in a slightly over the top way. Misora doesn't seem to understand that unusual does not equate to funny. I could sew newsie caps onto the shoulders of my coat and it would be weird but it wouldn't really be funny and the same can be said for these moments. They're odd and, at times, out of place but they aren't funny.

Let's move on to the main narrative. We have an underdog hero in a tournament with a bunch of other teens who all have special powers. It's a very trite, very done to death type of story. I've reviewed two series that used the same premise, at least as far as I can remember ff the top of my head, four if you count the tournament arcs in Dragonball and Yu Yu Hakusho and there are quite a few more out there. Rakudai kishi no Cavalry takes this very over-used, standard premise and does nothing unique or original with it. It follows every cliché with no surprises which just serves to make it incredibly predictable and pretty boring when it comes right down to it.

That brings me to the biggest weakness of the series, the romance. Like the main narrative, the romance is very trite and standard in terms of its arc. However, it also suffers from there being no chemistry between the leads whatsoever. They barely know each other and have been nothing but antagonistic and then, suddenly she has a thing for him. All in the same episode. No explanation or motivation behind it. It's just contrived and weak. Then she starts acting tsundere towards him and then the obvious arc is obvious. Granted, it could be worse. His younger sister could be introduced as a romantic rival. Wait... she is. This romance is utter shite.

Characters:

So, with such a standard plot do we at least get strong characters? After all, Nanoha Vivid managed to do something pretty good with the same story just by virtue of having strong characters. So, what do we get here? The bland protagonist who acts like basically every generic nice guy protagonist ever, I'm going to call him Blandon from this point on. The tsundere princess, I'm going to call her OA from this point on because it amuses me to do so. The creepily devoted little sister. The supportive trans-girl and a bunch of archetypical characters on the side. The closest you get to any character arcs are the standard doubting yourself for reasons and having to get out of it thing that Blandon undergoes near the end and OA's spontaneous romantic interest in Blandon. And even those character arcs are ones that are often associated with the tropes the characters embody. I will give the series some credit for not using the trans-girl for a bunch of really tasteless jokes, they do have one, when so many series would have but that's not saying much. Save that the series could have been tackier.

Art:

The artwork in this is a bit mixed. On the positive side, there is some really nice background design The battle between the little sister & the student council President is pretty decent. The character designs also look mostly okay if a bit standard, except that their eyes are done in such a way that it looks like they're all constantly wearing heavy eye-liner. On the down side, this is a series with really tasteless, really tacky uses of fan-service. There's also an issue with most of the action sequences being really weak. So, not only do you have this bog-standard plot but there aren't even good action sequences to make it worthwhile. Instead, we get these very quick matches that end before anything exciting can happen or these kind of standard hero gets knocked around a bit before winning matches. The final match in the series is the absolute worst offender. They build it up quite a bit and then it's over in ten seconds. What's the point of a super-powered tournament plot if there aren't even going to be good fight scenes? Then, we have the “artistic” art choices. We've seen some of these in other reviews, the odd slanted shots in Phantom and such. Inn this one, they use mostly black and white with little colour during Blandon's doubting arc. To be fair, they do actually need to do this for practical reasons. There's nothing to the character beyond the trope so the art has to try and convey the emotional tone that the character himself can't carry.

Sound:

The acting in this is not very good. It suffers from the same issue as a lot of anime with weak characters, the vocal cast is very limited in what they can actually do with them. You can't give a complex performance to Blandon or OA or any of these other characters because they have no complexity. Instead, we get the actors doing the standard performances that go with the tropes. They may not be strong, emotional performances but they're the best you can expect under the circumstances. The music is pretty forgettable. It's not Nakagawa Kotaro's best, certainly but it's not bad. Remember, he did work on the music for Code Geass.

Ho-yay:

There really isn't any in the series.

Final Thoughts:

Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry is a bad series. The plot is trite. The romance is outright atrocious. The characters are weak with acting to match. The action is mostly pretty bad, culminating in an unforgivably short and disappointing climactic battle. If you're looking for a series where super-powered characters battle one another, you'd be better off with Nanoha Vivid, Shaman King, Dragonball, Yu Yu Hakusho or even the Law of Ueki. That being said, I have seen worse series. At least the backgrounds are nice and most of its flaws, though glaring, veer more towards stupidity than they do towards painfully terrible to watch. As such, my final rating is a 3/10. Next week I'm going to look at Boku dake ga Inai Machi. Hopefully, it will be better than this was.

There are spoilers below, but this anime is so generic you’ll predict everything anyway.

Generally, I’m all for tournaments, sword fights, high-fantasy, and adventure anime, but Rakudai fell flat on its face with crappy characters, cliches, and plot holes.

【Story】

4/10 — Rakudai Kishi no Calvary (which will be shortened here as “Rakudai”) follows the story of Ikki Kurogane a knight with the nickname ‘The Worst One’ due to his lackluster magical skills. However, despite what everybody believes, Ikki actually possesses extraordinary skill and fighting ability. After beating the A-rank princess-knight Stella Vermillion in battle, the two team up (sort of) to battle through the Seven ... Star Sword Festival in order to establish themselves as the best knights.

The plot of Rakudai is fairly generic these days in anime, but for me I still love this type of storyline. Unfortunately, the execution of Rakudai was pretty lame and heavily relies on cliches and tropes. You’ll see the same run-of-the-mill junk that has been done to death in the anime world: a guy walking in on a girl while she’s dressing, incest, several jealous guys that pick a fight with the MC because why not, etc.

For all the cliches this anime includes, it also leaves plenty of room for plot holes, too! Not once does the anime try to explain what knights are/what their duty is. Are they supposed to be the police of the world? Are they just people gifted with powers from birth? What are they and what is their purpose? What do they even use these powers for anyway? We never find out and there are no attempts made to explain. As another review mentioned, this makes the Seven Star Festival seem pretty… useless. Participants are paired up to fight in death-matches because… why? To determine the strongest, you say? So basically this is just a sporting event? Okay… so what happens after the tournament? Are apprentice knights hired as bodyguards for people? Clearly not, since many of the top students (Touka Touma, for example) are still attending school even after the tournament ends. So… what is the purpose of knights? The anime never explains. I know some might say, “well, if Rakudai gets a second season, they’ll explain some of these things!” but that to me is a pretty lame excuse. You don’t give someone subpar information and expect them to be interested in what’s to come. Even if this anime were slated for a second season, I shouldn’t have to wait to get basic expository details.

Another issue I found is that most of the battles in Rakudai (an action-tournament anime) aren’t even tournament-related. Most battles take place outside of school grounds and really aren’t even relevant in the grand scheme of things. When it comes to actual tournament battles, most just flash forward to the end where we see one of the main characters brandish their sword as they’re declared the winner. Only about 3 - 4 fights are shown over the course of the entire series and nearly all (with the exception of one) are Ikki’s. As the main character, this is to be expected, but the fact that his battles all end predictably make the anime dull.

Rakudai seems like it had a great plot idea, but it wasn’t approached in an enjoyable or sensical way, thus I give this category a 4.

【Characters】

2/10 — The characters of Rakudai are what make this anime intolerable.

Ikki Kurogane — Your flat, overused, “kind-hearted” male protagonist who becomes conveniently oblivious whenever a girl wants to take him to bed. Coming from a family that shunned and isolated him because his knight skills were an epic fail on their record of prestigious knights, Ikki works hard to become a strong knight that will be able to protect others. He’s colorless, having no unique goal in mind that you haven’t seen or heard before. By episode one, Ikki establishes himself as Kirito 2.0. He’s your typical Gary-Stu, complete with a sad past to make you feel as if he actually deserves your pity and has genuine flaws. One of the biggest issues with this show is that Ikki doesn’t have any flaws or weaknesses (because no, not knowing how to deal with the attention of girls is not a character weakness). All of his problems are external rather than internal. The problem isn’t him, it’s the world he lives in. There are no inner demons he has to face, no personality defects he has to overcome, no opponent that *really* will give him a run for his money. He’s basically flawless. When he was younger his magic skills might’ve been crappy, but we never actually SEE this. All we see is the end product of a perfect sagacious swordsmen. In episode 12, after Ikki realizes his father truly doesn’t love him (big surprise), he goes into emo mode for about 10 minutes before his school friends cheer him up. This isn’t an internal struggle and about the closest we ever get to seeing one. Characters like Ikki are hard to root for because you already know he’ll win every battle he steps into. That’s why watching him get beaten down by characters such as Kuraudo and Kirihara was all the more enjoyable, even if it only lasted a few minutes.

Stella Vermillion — She is, shockingly enough, worse than Ikki. Stella Vermillion, princess-knight from a foreign land, wears the label of “twin-tailed tsundere heroine” and quickly rises to the top of this story’s short-lived list of female horndogs. She’s introduced as the all-powerful A-ranked knight that has the ability to control fire. And of course, throwing away all logic, she loses her first battle on the first day of her enrollment to none other than Ikki Kurogane. (Never mind the fact that she’s an A-ranked knight and doesn’t land a scratch on Ikki yet a C-ranked knight beats Ikki so bad he has to go to the hospital in a later episode…) What sickens me the most about Stella is that she has very little dignity. Ten minutes into the anime, she’s prepared to make Ikki commit suicide for walking in on her while dressing, but later on, that SAME day, she seats herself on top of him and begins stripping him down/touching him out of “curiosity.” By episode two (which, for viewers, seems like only a day has passed) she’s already “in love” (read: lust) with him. For the next two episodes, her only role is to pine over Ikki and try to maintain a monopoly over him. Ikki himself seems oblivious to her feelings, but don’t worry, he falls for her by episode 4. Buildup and relationship development not included. For the rest of the series, her personality can best be described as that of a desperate, quick-tempered girl that seems to always be in heat (with episode 9 being particularly disturbing). To make matters worse, even though Stella is an A-ranked knight, she loses or becomes incapacitated for almost every single one of her on-screen battles (this doesn’t include tournament duels since they aren’t even shown). Even though she’s the supposed HEROine, you only see her defeat 1 opponent in the entire anime. This makes for a very weak heroine indeed, so I wouldn’t necessarily call her a heroine but more of a side character. Stella is Ikki’s cheerleader and trophy, plain and simple. She’s not meant to be taken seriously as a character that can hold her own, and if she is, the studio should’ve done her justice instead of making her out to be lovesick and needy all the time.

Shizuku Kurogane — A character that had potential, but is forced into the ‘incest-is-best’ character trope for the simple reason of why not. Misanthropist at large, Shizuku is one of the only Kurogane family members (Ikki’s younger sister) that isn’t out to get Ikki. She’s quiet, analytical, controls water/ice, and French kisses her brother in episode 2 (he doesn’t seem to have a problem with it considering he doesn’t push her away). From the get-go, she’s introduced as having a brother complex, but this aspect of her personality has no relevance whatsoever to the story. After episode 4, it’s clear that she’s “out of the running” for Ikki’s heart, making me wonder why she even had that incestual bit of her personality in the first place. General love and respect for her brother would’ve been enough, but I guess this anime really wanted to hit home the fact that she’s always going to be there for Ikki. That aside, Shizuku actually isn’t that bad of a character, but as much as I rack my brain, I can’t figure out what her purpose is. She doesn’t actually add anything substantial to the plot. If she were removed entirely nothing would be different.

Nagi Arisuin — Alice, as he is referred to, is the only character that isn’t squashed into an archetype. He is introduced as Shizuku’s roommate and appears to be a kind-hearted male (?) that can control shadows. Like Shizuku, he actually wasn’t that bad of a character and became the ‘wise old owl’ of the four. Sadly enough, he’s one of the better characters this show had to offer, but was barely given any screen time. As a result, he didn’t seem to have much of a purpose, though he did provide cryptic advice from time to time.

【Art】

4/10 — I don’t have much to say about the art and sound since they aren’t my prime focus, but for the sake of the review, I’ll leave my two cents. The art is decent; not my favorite but decent enough. Battle scenes were fluid and not bad at times. The art style itself seems as if it were literally ripped from the light novel and given color, which isn’t a bad thing. What was a bit strange, however, was the shine that the characters had in their eyes and hair. It was almost as if the sun was always shining on everyone… even in a dark room. Perhaps I’m just nitpicking, so I’ll leave it at that.

【Sound】

5/10 — No part of the soundtrack stood out for its excellence. I admit that while I didn’t listen to the ending, I thought the opening was very catchy and enjoyable. Voice actors were fine and I have no complaints.


【Enjoyment / Conclusion】

3/10 — I can say with honesty that Rakudai was my least favorite part of each week. With very few redeeming traits, I can’t really recommend this anime for anything you wouldn’t find executed better somewhere else. Perhaps if I had to say something positive, the character designs were pretty decent and at least two of the battles kept my attention. Rakudai seemed like it didn’t know what it wanted to do, or rather, it had a plot in mind but didn’t know how to execute it in a sensical way. Annoyingly stupid or pointless characters and over-the-top ecchi scenes made this anime something I didn’t enjoy nor would I recommend. Comparison-wise, Rakudai was like eating a hamburger and trying to find the meat. Sure, the lettuce, pickles, and bun might taste okay, but the real substance just isn’t there. The few good points this story does have (and I found very, very few) are nothing to write home about.

This anime is, without a doubt, “The Worst One” I’ve seen this whole year.

Just a typical ecchi anime that tried to implement an element of romance. But in all honesty it failed. And it failed big. Yes the couple Ikki/Stella is cute but sincerely Stella is a stereotyped princess character with the typical tsundere personality. The series tries to make her strong but in the end she's just a sort of cheerlader for Ikki.
The story isn't original and it is pretty boring. The powers are cool, i admit it, but the fighting choreographies are mediocre. The art is pretty good, for an ecchi anime, the characters are cool and even the art style of some scenes are awesome. ... But just that. Nothing more, nothing less. The characters are boring. Ikki is the typical protagonist overpowered that wins every fight and is surrounded by every single girl in the show. His story with Shizuku is horrible (incest, again?!!). The psychology of most of the characters is absent or badly treated. Personally i liked Ayase more than Stella but it's just a matter of tastes.

I think that the worst thing about Rakudai Kinshi No Cavalry is the fact that it expects to be a serious anime with good characters but at the end it's just an ecchi anime with some action. Ikki's story isn't so special this "Worst One" that represents those without talent is just the typical main character that is always a good guy, is overpowered as hell and never loses. Adding the romance didn't make the anime special or more interesting. If i think about it, the romance theme, made the anime more stodgy.

>STORY: 1

the story for Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry is virtually non-existent, it has a basic backdrop where the show takes place but then it just drops random characters in the setting and sets them loose.

There is no structure, no climax and no character development at all.
The romance is rushed to the point where it is insulting that a person would think that any romance is even remotely similar to what this show depicts.

School days had a better romance than this show did.

i bring up the romance because that is what the supporters for this garbage claim is the real story but honestly if thats true ... then that makes this show even worst than it already was.

I would rather have a generic cookie cutter harem show than a show that cant even do that correctly.


>ART: 2

The art is just as bad as the story however even though it hurt my eyes at times i will give them props for atleast trying something new


>SOUND: 1

The sound wasnt necesarily bad when you looked it up however whats worst than having bad sound design is having sound that you never even notice to the point where you cant remember if the show even had any background music at all.

>CHARACTER: 1

The characters might honestly be the worst part of this entire show because atleast in other bad shows the characters atleast feel like they have something to add to the show but with this every character is just a cutout with no personality that feel like they exist just to be used in fan service moments.

In all honesty they feel like they were designed by a 10 year old who's only writing experience comes from making bad Sonic fanfiction.

>ENJOYMENT: 1

after all i said did you really think i enjoyed this show?
no, of course not.

The only enjoyment i got from this was laughing at how bad it was or laughing at those on this site who keep giving it scores that put it on the same level as shows like cowboy bebop and steins gate.

Let me begin by saying this is not a full an true review, and I am biased. This is simply my take on it and as always you are open to your own opinion.
I'm basically writing this review only to say that this is a DIRECT rip-off of Gakusen Toshi Asterisk. Maybe I am incorrect as I have no idea which light novel was released before the other therefore I don't know whose story is the rip off.
But, I CAN say they are nearly identical and one is lower budget (this one, obviously.)
The female lead are both princesses from another country at ... a school for some reason or another and both have magical powers involving fire. The male protagonist is under-ranked and expected to be an easy fight in both anime but ends up being more powerful in other ways and both use a sword. They are both underestimated in strength due to different but very similar reasons in idea.
The only difference I am seeing is this is very much definitely Ecchi while the other is not.
Oh, the music isn't even comparable, by the way. Asterisk's music and audio blows this anime's music and audio out of the water. Art is also not comparable.
Perhaps this anime would be enjoyable to someone who hasn't already watched Asterisk, but not me. This is getting my two thumbs down.

My Rakudai Kishi No Cavalry review.

Story: Mediocre 5.
Art: Good 7.
Sound: Fair 6.
Character: Very Good 8.
Enjoyment: Fair 6.
Overall: Poor 3.

Ok, there nothing much interesting than watching another harem based anime for this winter season, so without anymore BS, here are my judgement to this anime. Story (up), I've given it a 5, since its plot and setting was the same as another anime namely " Gakusen Toshi Asterisk," but let cut there, since this isn't the portion for that,........however, in this anime they focus more on the suffering of the male MC where he was treated like shit by his family. But as I've watch ... this anime up it's 11th episode, understanding why was he treated like shit by his family is pretty much unclear, let's not forget, his otosan actually recognizes his abilities and knew that he is a force to be dealt with, but why treat him like that, which is another reason why I can't give thsi anime's story category a higher score. Art (up) ok so there were a lot of fanservice in it particularly when it comes to the panty shot, but unlike other harem based anime with ecchi, here the fanservices were a bit moderate, so it still a "GOOD." Sound, I gave it a 6 cu'z I jaz don't have a lot to say about it, I have no fuss about the VA's who did the character's voices, I just can't stand both the opening and closing theme. Character (up) the score was meant for Ikki whom at first was treated like shit both at home and at school, basically he's situation was like Cinderella, when Stella arrives she basically becomes his inspiration and his source of strength, that has provided this anime such sympathy for the guy, but I can't ignore this anime's double standard on Alice, usually guys aren't allowed in the ladies shower room , one might wonder as to why he is an exception, also it was rather ambiguous Alice Nagi is a he or a she, enjoyment (up) so far I only enjoy watching this anime to a certain extent as to simply want it to get over with, thought the fanservice did provide some spice,it probably wouldn't be enough for them pervers to ponder on it, so overall, this anime may have a harem genre, but it can't be classified as a true harem since the only competition for Ikki's affection was between Stella and Shizuku, and if Alice is a guy , it's kinda unfortunate that he can't have a piece of the harem pie, so basically this anime basically has such "POOR" taste when it comes to treating the MC like shit, frankly this anime basically relies a lot on Ikki's struggle to battle such misfortune. So season 2 anybody??????Don't even think about it, jaz leave it as a manga.


PEACE ESSSE and Merry Christmas!

"oh its 7/10 it cant be that bad," if your thinking this to your self you are wrong, because god knows I was FUCKING WRONG. The story is so basic it made the promise neverland s2 look like a dam master piece. a very marginally thin silver lining is that at least the art isn't an eye sore to look at and the character design is quite unique if you dont count the 500th kirito clone, another red head tsundere, and a little sister that wants to screw her older brother, as the 3 main characters again for the 800th time. Alice, bless his soul, ... is the only character in the main supporting cast that is honestly pretty good. there are anime that are so bad they are good. I almost gave them credit for having the final fight at least play the op during the final fight (unlike SAO). But then they go off and have the MC finish the fight in one hit. YES, THE MC THAT WAS TORTURED AND MALNOURISHED FOR 17 DAYS PRIOR TO THE LAST FIGHT BEAT HIS FUCKING OPPONENT, RANK #1 IN THEIR SCHOOL AND RANK #4 IN THE NATION, IN ONE FUCKING HIT. Jesus fucking Christ how many people had to sign off to this and approve this. how is garbage like this being animated but Berserk is still in Hiatus hell.
thank you, FROM someone who didn't finish the last episode bc the MC told the red headed tsudere that he wanted to make a family with her, in a stadium. full of people. from there school. On like national broadcast. And the red head tsudere is a princess from another FUCKING COUNTRY. YES. BY THE FUCKING WAY. THE. RED. HEAD. TSUDERE. IS. THE. FIRST. PRINCESS. OF. ANOTHER. MOTHER. FUCKING. COUNTRY.
FUCK THIS WAS A WASTE ON MY FUCKING TIME
thanks, seriously. your awesome for reading this far. love u

- I N T R O -
I was looking for the next quick watch to help me relax from all of the great but tense anime I've been watching and I decided on Rakudai Kishi No Cavalry after seeing a few fun clips on YouTube. I wasn't left with a good taste in my mouth, not to say I didn't expect it... but it wasn't anywhere near to this extent, here's why :

- S T O R Y -
There are humans capable of using magical power to manifest their souls as weapons and they are called Blazers, and those who are recognized as such undergo ... training at academies to become Mage-Knights.
Ikki Kurogane is an aspiring Mage-Knight, despite being considered the worst student at Hagun Academy as an F-ranked Blazer—the lowest rank possible.

One morning, he accidentally stumbles upon Stella Vermillion, a visiting princess and A-ranked Blazer who has just enrolled at Hagun, in a state of undress. As a result, she challenges him to a duel where the loser will be the winner’s slave. It seems like a surefire win for Stella, but could there be more to Ikki than meets the eye?

Of course there is something more to him, he's the protagonist of a Light Novel adaptation.
The premise is insultingly generic and the story itself is no different. All of the LN clichés you could think of, it's like Rakudai hits them all on purpose.
The pacing is too fast at moments and at some episodes it's non-existent.
The writing feels extremely amateurish at more than a few points and the comedy is extremely forced.

The battle scenes are handled alright, though they're nothing great. Two of the battles are well choreographed and do flow nicely, but that's far too few. Every other battle relies on absolute non-sense or Ikki's ability which is to use 100% of his power in one go, since humans can never bring out 100% of their power.
Though this ability does not last long and serves as a victimization tool for the protagonist. The moment it's duration expires, Ikki collapses because he's tired to create the illusion he really struggled with the battle when he easily defeated his opponent with his plot convenient power.

- C H A R A C T E R S -
None of the characters are unique, Kurogane is nothing more than your typical bland self-insert present in plenty of Light Novels. He has no personality outside of constantly spewing his clichéd ideologies like ''Friends should never be hurt'', ''the truly strong ones are the people who have someone to protect'', etc.
Other than him being a rather weak character, there's nothing much to say about him. His backstory is mildly interesting but it is nothing new.
The main female lead, Stella, is a basic tsundere. They didn't go out of their way to flesh her out or make her a unique. She's just a waifu archetype and nothing more.
In fact, every single female in this series is a waifu archetype, none of them are developed. They feel rather uninspired in terms of design.

Whatever antagonists this anime has, he/she's nothing more than a one dimensional villain to make sure the MC looks cool infront of the girl. They don't really have much of a personality on their own.

The show also tried to shamelessly force in incest, yes, it doesn't miss out a single clichéd Light Novel trope.
His sister is in love with him, she's nothing more than a shallow character serving only as a love rival to the main female lead.
Alongside her, we're introduced to another character, he happens to be male so of course in order to not get in the way of the harem he has ''a maiden's heart''.

The main selling point of Rakudai Kishi No Cavalry is the fact that unlike many anime of that sort, the main characters do get in a relationship, that doesn't stop Kurogane from having his low-key ship moments with the other girls to tease the fans of course. Also, every single romantic interaction of theirs is extremely forced, the author felt the need to constantly remind the viewers/readers that the two MCs are in a relationship and that it's a big deal.

- A R T & A N I M A T I O N -
The art in Rakudai feels extremely bland and uninspired, you would have a hard time setting it apart from similar anime such as Kuusen Madoushi Kouhosei no Kyoukan or many other. There is no set atmosphere in it, it's just a regular city with a messy setting. It seems more technologically advanced in certain places but other locations feel just like a regular city building. Despite all of this, it does fit with the series and still does feel pretty at places.

Art aside, the animation is actually good during the action scenes, it flows nicely but as I mentioned before, the battles themselves are not well choreographed, they feel like a slugfest of random attacks, only the very first battle had some kind of strategy involved but even then the animation still makes the action scenes enjoyable.

- S O U R C E M A T E R I A L -
Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry by Misora Riku (Story) and Won (Art) - The art in the Light Novel is certainly better than it's animated adaptation but seeing as this is a Light Novel, it's not of much use as you're gonna see an illustration every 100 pages. The script, while it does have more time to develop itself and the events that happen, the characters are still nothing more than just archetypes and a bit more time to develop the story does not make a difference since the overall script is bad, amateurish and the pacing is still all over the place.

I do recommend reading the Light Novel over watching the anime though. Unless you're just in for the pretty colors and animation.

It may seem pointless to write a review of this show four years after it came out, but what the hell.

I started watching this show for two reasons: 1. I found the dub on Hulu and I like having something playing in the background while playing video games; 2. I was given the impression that this would be a show that was a straight 12 episodes of a tournament arc with cool fights. I was severely mislead and disappointed

Story 4/10: Where to begin? I already mentioned how I was set up for disappointment with this series, but I can't stress enough how this just ... turned out to be such a dumpster fire. We start by getting introduced to the male lead, Ikki, the "worst" student at the academy, and the female lead, Stella, who is a princess and top-ranked fighter. After a chance encounter in a dorm room, they settle a nudity-centered misunderstanding in a practice match. Worst guy vs. top girl? How unfair of a match up that they put her against an anime protagonist. This is where the series starts going downhill because out of the countless tournament matches that these two are put in after this, only maybe only three last more than a minute: first being Ikki's first match, second not even being a match in the tournament, and the third being fought by Ikki's sister (which turned out to be the greatest fight of the series and barely had plot relevance).

All of the time that should have been spent on the fights was instead given to the most awkward, horny, juvenile, poorly written romance between the two main characters. My biggest example of this would be what would normally be flagged as a spoiler for any other show, but not this one: in the middle of the series Ikki and Stella get assigned their next opponents at the same time and they are each given a member of the student council, followed by a vague introduction scene of the two members saying how Ikki and Stella won't stand a chance against them. Any other show would have this introduce the increasingly powerful student council member arc...instead the next episodes starts with the announcer saying how Ikki and Stella both just won their matches and the student council becomes irrelevant because they're all friends now since they're so strong.

Art 8/10: Here is the other major disappointment for this series, the art. The animation around the weapons and magic in this series is surprisingly wonderful, which only adds to how unfortunate it is that this show is mislabeled as an action series.

Sound 7/10: Never any real opinions on this category for shows that aren't music focused series. No outstanding soundtrack, but my ears didn't bleed, so seven.

Character 2/10: These characters might just be a little worse than generic anime characters. Ikki is flagged as a F-rank student because his hidden abilities are things that the school doesn't measure, so that's enough for every character to suddenly defer to him as the go-to for all problem solving and only hope for beating strong opponents. As for his actual character, it's almost as if the writers made him and said "look, our male lead drinks his respect women juice!" except behind the scenes they didn't actually want to buy the name brand juice and got the generic brand that's more sugar than anything else. Stella was being built-up to be this hard working, strong, A-rank student, so naturally she just starts thirsting after the person with the worst reputation in the school in the most virgin way because he beat her in their first fight. Throw in an almost as thirsty sister and you have a middle school level rivalry with equally as mature insults. Alice, an openly trans character, is probably the best of them and balances intelligence with just being around the main characters for a fun time.

Enjoyment: What I enjoyed most about this series was the extremely awkward dub. The lines for this show are so awkward in English that I'm motivated to make a compilation video of the best ones. Example: Stella being told that one reason she's high maintenance is because it probably takes a whole team of people to get her bra on in the morning.

Overall 4/10: Referring back to how I went in thinking this would be a show that was 90% tournament arc, my overall score for this isn't that surprising (unless you're surprised that I didn't give it a 1). But there's something more important, fan service is almost unavoidable in these kinds of series, but I'm able to look past that if the story and fight sequences can make up for it. This show did the opposite and gutted their fight scenes in favor of the aforementioned romance and fan service while teasing us throughout the series that they had the full capability to actually choreograph really good fight scenes.

SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST 5-8 MINUTES OF EP1.

The story starts by introducing Blazers AKA Magic users and ranks them based on their magical ability. The MC, Kurogane Ikki a "talentless" F-Rank student opens the story by giving a backdrop of his life as a talentless boy and how he ran away from home because he was ignored because of his state.

What turns from a relatively generic and acceptable opening is soon complimented by a comedic ecchi / service scene. Naturally openings like these are funny and captivate the audience.

"The Worst One" nicknamed Ikki, will challenge "The Best One", Stella, for what originally was room-ground-rule ... control, that became total control over the other person's life of servitude.

---------------------

Overall Rating : 4
OST: 7
Art: 8 -> 6 as the show goes on the quality goes down, until the final episode.

The MC is LITERALLY a carbon copy of Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei's Shiba Tatsuya. A seemingly useless mage on pen and paper with extraordinary physical fighting skills that outweigh all other things on the surface.

Oddly enough his "only" skill, Blade Steal enables him to have outstanding analytical skill EXACTLY the same way as Mahouka's Tatsuya is able to read movement and predict enemy habits with incredible accuracy.

His biological sister, who has strong romantic feelings for her brother ALSO USES ICE MAGIC AS WELL.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!

Ikki, JUST like Tatsuya is considered useless and without purpose(although Tatsuya was a body-guard/weapon instead), Ikki his considered nothing to his family while his sister is talented beyond belief.

There are so many glaring similarities to Mahouka's plot-line it just makes it worse that the story takes the exact same road where it tries to redeem the strength of the MC, even though that is not what he's trying to prove to everyone, but his father alone.(Mahouka's MC has no care for anyone or anything but his sister, and aspires to be an engineer to improve the world instead)

On top of all this, the show throws in copious amounts of service/ecchi that is completely unneeded almost constantly.

I watched this start to finish hoping it would get better, and it didn't. The antagonists of the show try to make Ikki look worthless, and it obviously, fails to do so.

The final fight however was great. Not gonna even try to break it down. It's not your typical fight, but the way the fight "evolves" start to finish was pretty amazing.

I will not be continuing this series if another season comes out. The show was a train-wreck that ended on a decent fight. I'd like to leave it at that.

If you're here for a shitty carbon copy plot of Mahouka with a ton of unneeded service and a never-evolving plot-line, and an incredibly shitty romance that escalates faster than the speed of sound, this is the show for you.

If not, don't bother with this.

Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry was a show that started off promising but took a really drastic downhill slide about halfway through and never stopped sliding. I'm writing this review due in large part to both my disappointment with the show as well as my surprise that it is rated as well as it is here on MAL in comparison to what I scored it (7.66 at the time of this review).

As mentioned, it starts off rather promising. The first couple episodes do a good job of establishing the protagonist Ikki as a likeable underdog who is a much better fighter than what his test scores ... show he is. I got a real Tatsuya vibe from Mahouka in the early parts of the show. Stella is quickly established as the main girl and his love interest (more on that further down) and is a cliche yet still likeable tsundere. As the show goes on, Ikki's underdog status just gets milked for way more than its worth and Stella becomes more and more annoying. The side characters are much more likeable than the two main characters, with Shizuku (Ikki's imouto) and Alice (Shizuku's roomate) essentially stealing the show most of the time. The story begins to fall apart also. The Sword Eater arc in the middle of the show was when it really began to go downhill. It was just a boring arc with a disappointing final fight. It really felt like filler honestly. Lastly, the last arc... just... was terrible. I won't give any spoilers as to why, but let's just say that the EXTREMELY forced drama and the asspulls are strong in the last few episodes.

The show makes it pretty clear early on that it is a very action-oriented anime that is structured to where enjoyment heavily relies on the fights and the build-up to the fights. The problem is that most of the fights are not that good. The fight between Shizuku and Toudou is honestly a great 9/10 fight and really the highlight of the show, but most all of the other fights were really disappointing- the final fight in episode 12 especially. Another complaint I had with the show in regards to the fights is that way too many of the fights happen off-screen. Granted, since most all the fights are disappointing anyway it may be a moot point but it still made everything feel super rushed reagardless. The plot revolves around the Seven Stars Battle Festival which is essentially a giant tournament. Of all the fights that take place, Ikki's fights are pretty much the only ones you see happen. One of Shizuku's fights and one of Stella's fights are the only other ones shown. Alice gets no fights and his abilities are still completely unkown.

The sound in the show is not terrible. Pretty good action music for some of the fights, but overall it's really forgettable. However the OP and ED are, to put it bluntly, just plain bad.

The show has many bad aspects, and the art is definitely one of its worst ones (no pun intended). The characters themselves look nice usually but the environments look really bad. Worst of all is the colors. The colors just look dirty- that's the only way I know to describe it. The entire show just has a really dirty gray tint to it, and none of the colors shine the way that one would expect them to in an anime. There is also a very unique choice (and not in a good way) of coloring done with the animation during the important fight scenes, such as the Sword Eater fight and the final fight. All the colors on-screen are scrapped and the show is animated in pure black and gray with only the characters' eyes still retaining their color. It's definitely a unique strategy to emphasizing the fight scenes but it's utterly pointless and really doesn't look good at all. It made me shake my head and wonder who the hell thought of it more than anything.

I'm going to assume that people are rating the show as well as they are on here because of the romance between Stella and Ikki. Unlike most romances that occur in anime there is actual progress made in the romance throughout the story. It has a fairly consistent progression in-plot of the romance progressing and I guess people are a sucker for that considering that its a rarity for an anime to actually progress a romance in-plot like that. That being said, I still found the romance cheesy. It developed way too fast and I felt like its role in the story was really forced and overblown. But again, it did develop which is a rarity, so I'll assume most people rating this show are overlooking all its other flaws because they're a sucker for that or something.

Okay this was just a bland show.

Story: where to start, ah, I the idea of the school is for magic weapon users and...I can't really think of anything else to say. the plot is going for an underdog tale and how he shows that he is not a loser. I am usually all into these stories but the writers some how messed that up. nothing was really exciting for the characters did not feel interesting enough for me to care for. The 1st episode was just full of anime trops: waling in on senpai changing, tsundere getting mad about it, then the tsundere getting ... red for the guy said something nice. I was just at aw of how that could happen so early. But wait there's more, after the 1st episode the MC (Ikki) and the main female lead (Stella) already have feelings for each other. The show felt rushed and under developed.

Characters:

Ikki: Our Hero, MC, Underdog, and a generic nice guy. He is okay but his power is so lazy. I swear it was just a an ability to copy someone else's ability, well to a degree. This felt so cheap. He was not OP in anyway, just cheap. how he acts is bland and I was not sure what his goal was. He could have been much more if 1: his power was not "Copy and Paste" and 2: if he had a real personality.

Stella: She was okay and could have been better. the show never gives any real background on her which is strange. she gets her butt kicked in the 1st episode by Ikki like it was nothing. She was assumed to be strong but due to a cheap shot she was made to look like a weakling. her romance with Ikki was just sad. it was not handled well.

Everyone Else: Meh. Ikki and Stella's main friends consisted of some feminine guy and Ikki's sister who had a brother complex (the bad one).

I started Rakudai as soon as the season started without great expectations, knowing there can be no miracles with highschool, ecchi, harem animes.

With that in mind I watched 6 episodes as soon as they aired and then I got bored, but having a tiny bit of hope I somehow managed to finish it.

Story: 4/10
Story isn't that new, it has some sudden changes and a bit of unnecesary fillers in such a short anime, but it-s easy to understand. It has no plot holes in the story itself, but if this show don't get a second season giving it a finale after all it went through, ... there will be an awkward feeling.

Art: 8/10
Strong, strong point. Characters and settings are well designed, battle scenes (except, of course, one shot battles) are quite entertaining and well designed; magic effects are luminous and it does not abuse a single tone of colors. Having such a nice art makes watching RKnC easier.

Sound: 8/10
Except for the MC, every other single voice was in its place, helped with the personalities of the characters. I didn't find the BGM memorable, but it wasn't bad and was well placed. The Opening is specially good and the Ending is good enough.

Character: 4/10
Nothing we haven't seen, they have their personalities, but no one brings anything really new to the table. The MC has something different from the standard Harem Lead, but it doesn't help a lot. The characters work better as a whole than as individuals, they actually complement each other, but their personalities are so standard it's hard to forget about that.

Enjoyment: 5/10
Not so hard to watch, but if you're a bit tired of the excesive fan service, it's not a good idea. Without the fanservice, maybe it could have gotten a couple extra points, because it's excesive and sometines out of place. Personally don't think anyone will remember RKnC in a couple years if the anime don't get an awesome sequel.

Overall: 4/10
Almost bearable, it's an average series with a good art and sound department. It has it's moments, but they don't save the whole thing. It could have been worse, of course, but it also could have been A LOT better. It has potential, something a lot of Magic Highschool Harems don't.

Plot and storyline aside. Looked through close to 20 anime before finally deciding to go ahead with this one given the fair rating on MAL as well. The second episode absolutely ruined it for me. As in why. Just why. Not spoiling it for the folks who havent seen it, but the ones who have. Like absolutely could not make sense of or justify the need for that. another anime ruined.

This is what happens when a single country that is fundamentally messed up in both values and principles is also sadly pretty much the only country that makes anime. My impression of Japanese in general ... goes down with every anime i watch, despite it being pretty much all i watch in terms of media. *spoiler* needs incest tag if that exists *spoiler*

Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry

Chivalry of a Failed Knight



The description of this work does not sound particularly promising. One could assume that this is obviously a typical ecchi / harem strip. And that's exactly what it is.

I approached this anime without any expectation and therefore couldn't really be shocked, but I was even slightly pleasantly surprised. With regard to the implementation, slight changes were added that made it look much less bad. Both some actions, dialogues, reactions and events that can certainly distance him from the typical harem works.

...
The plot wasn't anything special, to be honest, it wasn't even there. It was more or less disappointing, just consisted of the characters facing one fight after another. In the middle there was something like scenes from everyday school life and so it went on.

In the end there were slight changes, but they were too small to have any impact on the amount of story.


Animation / Pictures:


The animations were quite fluid and therefore attractive. Especially the combat animations. They also had a rather interesting style. Apart from the fighting, the animations were the total norm.

The style of the characters and the colors, however, did not allow anything too dynamic. During the fighting it became more explosive.

Characters:


In terms of characters, there was absolutely nothing to speak of.
The characters were also a collection of all stereo type personalities.

The protagonist may have had potential at the beginning, as he was initially seen as something new, but in the end it turned out to be nothing special. He was simply the guy who didn't think much of himself, even though he was already on fire. His personality corresponded to a typical good guy with no really special character traits or events and changes that could distinguish him.

The protagonist was a typical Tsundere princess whose role, according to the description, should be all too obvious. She didn't play a particularly important role in the work and was simply there to be with the protagonist. The protagonist, however, was always in focus.

Among the supporting characters there was only Alice, the only really interesting character. Due to his mysterious manner, one did not understand what was going on in him until the end.

Music:



The intro of the series was quite varied. It had an interesting style, good visuals and was dynamic. I really didn't expect something like that.

The outro was nothing too special now and was average.

The soundtracks were also up to standard. The Ost "Identity" stood out slightly from the others.

My conclusion


Below Average by its finest. Its not bad, you can watch it but don't expect too much. It killed of some typical cliche, had some good moments and that's it.

Review contain spoiler, I warm you



Story : The story itself use very awful trope in history, Enter someone room, see girl naked and get kicked out, the girl ask you duel, randomly sh*t happened when they are duel, call truce and fight them threat together. Next episode they are lovey dovey. I mean yo wat? Is that easy to get (also forget to mention, there is 2nd awful trope, Red hair girl, Princess, use fire magic, and tsundere trope) princess from another country? when u are just normal guy who dont have any noble status. Kinda funny u know, Long story short another 3rd awful ... trope, they use tournament arc as plot driven. This is where i know the story will be bad when it passed tournament arc. And u know what, tournament arc is shorter than i think, Other anime it takes 2 season to finish tournament arc. This one only 1 season to finish

Art : Its probably mid at the best, Also combat will be good if its not black white every single time.

Sound : No comment

Character : Tsundere Stella typical trope (totally looks like character from other "same plot" anime, check the recommendation), Ikki is most cringe overpowered mc here which he's not admit he is overpowered. Shizuku is basically thirsty sister (which i doubt they are sibling). Nagi probably one of interesting character despite he is like feminism boy but still i want story about this guy instead Cringe IKki

Enjoyment : Its enjoyable when u didnt notice how messy it start but its completely ruin by everything

Overall : 4 of 10, cant recommended unless u are not sick how many overuse trope in this anime. I suggest you turn off your brain while watch this because its pain to watch

Thats should be all
Adios! also check recommendation

Let me save you the trouble of having to spend 4.6hrs of your life by watching this series. Spoilers of course

F ranked worst student whom is supposed to have no magical talent in a school of magical knights, turns out to be the most powerful student whom will be the captain of the team leading the group that is representing the school in some sort of magical Knight carnival.

That’s basically what this anime is all about. Forget about plot (see any random shounen anime), forget about characters (see every other harem anime). Oh the op ed was awesome ( ok maybe spend 5 mins ... of your life listening to the op and ed )

There I saved you 4.6hrs, thank me later.