Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry Episode 4 Discussion

TheVictor9634 said:
Romantic declarationin the chapter 4? This anime is breaking"the rules"and I like it

Mentar said:


If that was the case, why were you attributing something extremely oblivious and shallow to the attraction between Ikki and Stella? Why did you misrepresent?




Nobody asks you to "crush" over it. But if you implicitly berate the show for being trivial and simple, and then give an extremely trivial, simple and _false_ representation, this is a peculiar mix. It rather suggests to me that your own judgment is oblivious and faulty.



It is _your_ fault for being unable to pick it up. Like I said, your criticism of triviality and your own ability to analyze are at odds.

FlameSpeedster said:
It would only be breaking the rules if this was a harem anime.

frenze12 said:
Because the meaning behind it matters little when you think about it. Our heroine still fell in love after the mc beat her.

So you are trying to attack the person instead of admitting that the actual core concept and representation is still the same old stuff that would fit right into place in any harem antic related show? Whatever floats your boat i guess.

frenze12 said:
Because the meaning behind it matters little when you think about it. Our heroine still fell in love after the mc beat her.

RealityRush said:
It's like the same tired old argument of claiming "generic = bad". Let's stop trying to assign moral descriptors to amoral ideas.

Gymkata said:
Personally, I don't understand the hype behind this episode. The dynamic between our two leads is refreshingly original for ecchi/harem, but the better part of that final duel - not to mention Shizuya's interminable rodomontade - was borderline cringe-worthy. Idk, maybe I'm just sick of these corny intra-battle dialogues. Stella's 'motivational speech/screaming at Ikki, while he lay in a pool of blood, seemed all too nauseatingly reminiscent of The Matrix's ending, which didn't help either. What's saving this series for me is an MC that isn't a gynophobic pussy and romance that's actually going somewhere.

Grey-Zone said:

And what makes that bad? Aside from it not fitting your own personal tastes of course... and please don't even think of bringing up "originality" when it comes to "falling in love". If anything the more original it is done, the more unrealistic it actually is...

Unless of course, you want to claim that you know better how love "works" than the others in this forum. If that really is the case, then there is no point in further debating about this.




People should stop using the word "generic" altogether. In the end it's only a very exaggerated way to say "so unoriginal that you could generate it with a computer program", i.e. it's a buzzword.


However as far as I can see it, the word "generic" is currently being more used to describe a setting that is extremely predictable as well as having characters that strictly follow a pattern (even with this more concrete definition "generic" is still a buzzword because its definition is often warped to fit one's own arguments).

As for Rakudai, the confession in this episode was definitly not predictable. The characters also don't follow any "pattern". If anything this series is a "bait-and-switch series" (in a positive way). It pretends to be a harem at the beginning with all the usual so-called "generic elements" only to surprise the audience with the fact that there is actually substance in most characters and their interactions.

RealityRush said:
No... then it would be a harem. It "broke the rules" because it started out like a harem, and then accomplished something rarely seen from what was initially a harem. It also broke the rules because the action-fantasy genre rarely does romantic pairings and usually sticks to harem.

frenze12 said:
Not even once have i called this series bad. These are words you people tried to put into my mounth for no reason. (it's actually not bad for a shounen if it keeps going like this)

I only said that the base concept and representation of females is still the same like any other series in it's genre. And that's it.

frenze12 said:
Yet people act as if this is something revolutionary new that's worth it's weight in gold or something because it shows some above average character developments.

frenze12 said:
Not even once have i called this series bad. These are words you people tried to put into my mounth for no reason. (it's actually not bad for a shounen if it keeps going like this)

frenze12 said:
I only said that the base concept and representation of females is still the same like any other series in it's genre. And that's it.

RealityRush said:


Wait... what? How is Stella's speech in any way like the Matrix ending? We're talking the original right, not Revo? Trinity kissed a literally dead Neo to "resurrect" him after professing her love. Stella told Ikki to man the fuck up because he's better than what everyone else says. Those are two vastly different messages. Not to mention the obvious of Stella literally screaming it at Ikki in a crowd and Trinity whispering to only Neo.... or we talking Revolutions ending... which was basically the same thing in reverse.

I think you just don't like battle dialogue anymore, man, lol. Though if that's the case, I don't see how you didn't despise the fight in Asterisk's Ep 4 where the intra-battle dialogue was so awkward and illogical it made me cringe. "I'm going to kill you quickly, but by quickly I mean I'll waste ages talking so your lover-boy can show up in time to stop me and then I'll allow you two to have a lovely chat just 1 floor above me for like 5 minutes while I brood on my luck!"

Grey-Zone said:



"any other series" would not only have Stella make the confession scene extremely awkward, but Shizuku would also "jump in" and prevent either the confession or the kiss and start a "catfight" with Stella, destroying the complete atmosphere. But what actually happened is Ikki and Stella acting like (IMO quite realistic) young, inexperienced in love, healthy teenagers. Shizuku actually stays true to her claim to "do the best for her brother", so she let the person who stood up for him have alone time with him. Also, Alice seems to be quite the unique character. It's neither the usual "trap", not the usual overexaggerated "transgender person", but instead a "chill" person who one can talk to easily. Considering this, can you still say with confidence that it really is the same "base concept? It's only the same "base concept" on a very, VERY superficial level, as I see it.

And while I agree that looking at all anime there are, the early romance development isn't that special, however among the "magic highschool" genre, it definitly is. And that's what people talk about here. Not as an anime in general, but as a "magic highschool" anime it IS indeed quite unique.

Gymkata said:
The messages may have been different but the effect was the same - cheesy. Sorry.

frenze12 said:
You see now you are talking more about the execution rather than the base concept. It's character devellopment that saved Stella's confession. Which is like i said above average for it's genre. If Shizuku had more of a "bitch" like personalty what were the chances of this happening?

And as far as general representation of females goes, those "ecchi" scenes or like how the the female news reporter grabs mc hand between her breasts in ep 2 are quite spot on. (ps have you seen that ending of each episode with the female cast being naked covered in roses, really smooth there)

although i admit that Alice is pretty much my favourite character in this show. Best girl so far.

2. He messed up his chance of winning the fight from the start because he was nervous. Once again, pretty realistic. He tried to go with the safe route of figuring out Kirihara's attack pattern which backfired on him. He didn't think about the fact that Kirihara may have improved over the year. Being nervous makes you do a lot of stupid things. Speaking from experience here.

TyphoonS said:


2. Is every single kid in that school an asshole? I mean..why would you even cheer on Kirihara when you can plainly see what type of a guy he is. I wouldn't have minded if it was 'x' number of people that cheered Kirihara...this looked like the whole school was against Ikki (excluding the main 3 other than Ikki.) .

TyphoonS said:

1. I didn't like the fact that Ikki just stood up like nothing happened after Stella encouraged him on. I would have liked to see what he was thinking about when he heard Stella cheer for him. I would have liked to see how it motivated him. This was just like ''Stella is cheering for me..well..gotta be badass now.'' .

GradationAir said:


Most people thought Ikki was seriously badly hurt, but the reason Ikki didn't stand up was because he was literally feeling hopeless(he can't find a possibility for victory even though he thought he absolutely cannot lose no matter what because then all his hardwork would mean nothing), and didn't even want to bother anymore, and the when Stella delivered her message, Ikki finally understood that there's no way it had no meaning even if he loses because arguably the most talented person in this whole academy is saying that she likes the path he walked.

Ikki only started going all out after that.

TyphoonS said:

Hmm..that's good. However, the point is that you had to tell me this. They didn't showcase what he was feeling when he was lying on the ground. Just one of my two complains in this episode.

TyphoonS said:
Hmm..that's good. However, the point is that you had to tell me this. They didn't showcase what he was feeling when he was lying on the ground. Just one of my two complains in this episode.

RealityRush said:


They did show it. They showed his face being all gloomy and dark, they showed him on his knees. That is showing an emotion. They even told the audience via Kirihara taunting him saying he'd given up. I mean, it was pretty clear what was going on. Cheesy and cliched, but quite clear.

TyphoonS said:
It also would've been much easier to convince people that he had gone through development instead of simple ''power up'' as some people think.
Although you could've understood that there was actual development if you paid attention.

Stormen said:
Let's just hope their relationship doesn't enter status quo now and focus on endless action. While action is great of course, many series tend to forget or downplay the romance later on.

RealityRush said:


Well, I mean, it was a power-up of sorts. But they already showed us in episode 3 (probably on purpose) that his abilities basically allow him to ignore physical pain/damage and enhance the parts of his body he specifically needs at the cost of others. The show demonstrated already that what he did was possible, it just nearly killed him to do so. People that claim it's a Deus ex Machina are ignorant though, as the show provided justification, no matter how thinly.

I also personally wouldn't see the benefit of portraying his internal monologue during it. Stella's showed us something, a realization on her part; Ikki's wouldn't show us anything we didn't already know. He was super nervous and terrified of failing, Alice already made that clear. Stella just allowed him to realize he was worth it, and I thought that was better presented through her words.

To each his own though, I guess. Some people like things spelled out more than others, and there's nothing wrong with that. I prefer it when shows let my
imagination fill in details.

AP24 said:

Don't worry about it. Just wait for the 6th episode and the episodes from the 3rd arc. You'll see the romance gets stronger.

GradationAir said:


Well, it definitely could've been better, but I think the message is fairly clear that he wasn't that badly wounded when he had the energy to stand up like that and punch himself.At least it wasn't UBW adaptation.

CookingPriest said:
I thought it was quite clear that he went "What the fuck is the point?" when people were chanting "worst one". Not only he has underestimated his opponent, but seemingly nothing changed from the last year.

Ikki is doing it to prove a point, so what is the point of doing anything if literally everyone around you thinks you do not deserve it.

You don't need a monologue for that.

frenze12 said:
So you are trying to attack the person instead of admitting that the actual core concept and representation is still the same old stuff that would fit right into place in any harem antic related show? Whatever floats your boat i guess.

Mentar said:


Allow me to let you in on a secret. If you watch Gundam episodes carefully, you will notice lots of people shooting at each other. If you watch a shoujo romance, you will notice that the male leads are beautiful. If you watch yaoi, the lead characters tend to be guys liking each other. Mysterious coincidence, isn't it? It also means that if you find the idea of guys having homosexual interests disagreeable, you should steer clear of yaoi anime.

baki502 said:
Also all the people claiming this is not an harem, wait and see what happens from now on. Does MCs Sister or other girls still throw themselves on the MC like before despite knowing he is now in a relationship? If yes its a harem, confession with a lame kiss on the cheek (i've kissed people on the cheek as a greeting before, lol) mean nothing.

RealityRush said:


Uhhh. So currently there's one girl committed to Ikki and another who is just interested in him being happy and has broken off her chase.... so, you think 1 interested female party is a harem? That's an optimistic look at one's sex life I guess ;P

Second...... you think two people in a vulnerable moment that have been affectionate towards one another admitting they both "like each other" and the female kissing the male tenderly on the cheek isn't a clear indication of a relationship starting? What world do you live in where that's just what friends do? You must be missing out on a lot of signals O.o

baki502 said:


There was also that loli teacher or smth who clearly hit on him. And lets wait and see if those other 2 girls that are on the poster wont have the hots for him either.

As for the cheek kiss, that alone would be no indication for a relationship to start at all, the confession is. I was criticizing how ridiculous the kiss on the cheek is. Its typicall anime, ridiculously chaste and "pure", despite having fanservice on the other hand. One should understand the japanese. Holding hands and indirect kisses 2 lewd but fanservice ok.

And also lets see if their relationship will show. Or its another one of theese "we are a couple now but nothing actually changes" relationships anime likes to make.

baki502 said:
And if you watch LN adaptations you will notice they are shit :D

AP24 said:
Just saw the preview pics for Ep 5, the next big scene is actually happening in Ep 5 not 6!!

baki502 said:
There was also that loli teacher or smth who clearly hit on him. And lets wait and see if those other 2 girls that are on the poster wont have the hots for him either.

As for the cheek kiss, that alone would be no indication for a relationship to start at all, the confession is. I was criticizing how ridiculous the kiss on the cheek is. Its typicall anime, ridiculously chaste and "pure", despite having fanservice on the other hand. One should understand the japanese. Holding hands and indirect kisses 2 lewd but fanservice ok.

And also lets see if their relationship will show. Or its another one of theese "we are a couple now but nothing actually changes" relationships anime likes to make.

baki502 said:
As for the cheek kiss, that alone would be no indication for a relationship to start at all, the confession is. I was criticizing how ridiculous the kiss on the cheek is. Its typicall anime, ridiculously chaste and "pure", despite having fanservice on the other hand. One should understand the japanese. Holding hands and indirect kisses 2 lewd but fanservice ok.

Ryuutobi said:
It's actually related to Japanese culture regarding nudity & physical contact. Traditionally, Japanese doesn't mind nudity that much because of the public bath culture. Of course the place & occasion have roles in this. Being naked in the bath is proper & thus tolerated but being naked on the street is not.

And now about physical contact. Japanese people dislike physical contact with anyone they're not familiar with. This is why the traditional japanese way of greeting does not involve any form of physical contact. They simply bow and/or say the greeting. Nowadays, handshaking is an acceptable form of greeting but up till several decades ago, it was not. In short, Japan is a totally different place to wherever you live where kissing someone's cheek as a greeting is considered normal.

baki502 said:


2 Problems: Stella isnt japanese and MCs sister kissed him on the mouth and she is japanese. So really its just the author being bad for being inconsistent and letting his cultural background influence his writing. Charakterization is poor and research is either lacking or he didnt even bother.

baki502 said:


2 Problems: Stella isnt japanese and MCs sister kissed him on the mouth and she is japanese. So really its just the author being bad for being inconsistent and letting his cultural background influence his writing. Charakterization is poor and research is either lacking or he didnt even bother.

Mentar said:

Allow me to let you in on a secret. If you watch Gundam episodes carefully, you will notice lots of people shooting at each other. If you watch a shoujo romance, you will notice that the male leads are beautiful. If you watch yaoi, the lead characters tend to be guys liking each other. Mysterious coincidence, isn't it? It also means that if you find the idea of guys having homosexual interests disagreeable, you should steer clear of yaoi anime.

Mentar said:

Now does that mean that every anime that has people shooting at each other is a Gundam episode? Obviously not. Does this mean that Rakudai, which does have certain elements which can also be found in harem animes, is a harem? Obviously not either, and after ep4, it would only be a sign of an oblivious viewer not to realize this.

Mentar said:


I haven't seen a single Rakudai fan claim that the show was a revolutionary groundbreaking super-original piece of art. Not one.

Mentar said:

....THIS is the original part of the show that several people mentioned. A very specialized niche player for fans, which 90% of the viewers seem to like, or like a lot! Good.