Well, I’m glad you asked, little voice in my head, let me explain.
Story and Characters
From any angle you look Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry (this one is quite the mouthful, I’m gonna call just Rakudai for short) is following the clichés of the Sorcery School genre so strictly it seems as if it has a checklist of the tropes required. We have:
-the hardworking but underestimated protagonist who happens to be somewhat oblivious to girls affections;
-the pink-haired upstart tsundere, largely known for being among the most talented and powerful on the student body;
-the Imouto character, whose main purpose is to give the series its incest undertones;
-the playfull and not-at-all subtle homosexual side-character who just so happens to be someone you should not underestimate;
-the one-off enemy that is going to be discarded for the sake of raising the protagonist;
-a setting based on a school with modern aesthetic, that teaches its students about the handling of magical abilities;
-a tournament centered plot were the main characters bet their academic future and pride.
Now, what makes Rakudai an interesting beast to tackle is how it seems to be at odds with its own clichéd nature. The series displays a weird brand of self-awareness where it doesn’t necessarily belittle or parodies such tropes, but seriously plays them to the best of its abilities. Mostly. You can see this manifested in how the characters are presented and treated, going back and forth between the predictable instances of their archetypes and legitimately thought-out character moments.
Starting with the easier one, Ikki, the protagonist and Failed Knight of the translated title, who starts as an underdog but reveals to be actually pretty strong. Surprised? Neither am I. Granted, the series doesn’t make him simply a powerhouse for poorly established reasons or goes out of its way to avoid any kind of tension during battle, it shows him as a deeply hard-working individual who struggles against tough enemies, even showing that his strongest moves have their limitations, so a Kirito he isn’t, thankfully. In some instances the writing even makes fun of how quickly he becomes popular among his schoolmates. Personality-wise, he was given a sense of humour and empathy, enough to make him likeable and play well with the other figures.
Following is Stella, the resident tsundere. Now, even being a staple of anime, the tsundere archetype is a tricky one to write. Doing it right, the tsundere can develop into a well-rounded and likeable figure, in the molds of Taiga or Meryl Strife. Doing it wrong though, the results add the potential extra-damage of being not only a poorly-written character but also an awful individual as a whole, ruining the chances of the audience connecting or growing to like the character.
So how does Stella fair? Let’s take a look at the first episode before anything else: for once, after the obligatory accidental peeping scene, she is introduced in a comedic sequence so that it’s easier in get accustomed to her demeanor. Following that we’re shown her motivations for being in the story and the episode ends by displaying her kinder side towards the protagonist, while not in his presence mind you. Now, I think this is noteworthy effort, because far too often writers only worry about introducing the tsundere by her aggressive traits. Introducing Stella in this manner helps to understand that all the traits presented are natural sides of her personality that don’t conflict with each other. Later, when in her tsun-side, she acts more flustered than abrasive, making the transition to her dere-side natural.
Now, one common practice to make the tsundere likeable to the audience is to give her a quirk, so what would it be for Stella? She’s horny. No, really, the majority of the initial sexual tension between her and Ikki comes from her desire for his body.
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This later takes a different form when their relationship develops and leads to their most interesting moments as a couple. Being Stella a more sexually forward individual than Ikki, the two have to work out their expectations in regards to the relationship, strengthening their bond and ultimately providing better understanding of where their morals lie on. All that aside, it's unexpectedly refreshing to see a light novel adaptation having teenagers deal with such a strong subject like sex in a tasteful manner.
--[Minor spoiler end]—
The Imouto in the series is also played in that strangely self-conscious manner. Usually this archetype is used to give incest undertones to the anime, here it’s not at all in undertones. She starts her role by kissing her brother in front of other classmates, openly declaring her love so that everyone can hear it and playfully talking about sleeping together. I realize this might be a problem to some, but as long as it doesn’t devolve into tasteless pandering I appreciate when a series cuts the bullshit and plays with a trope.
Now and then, Rakudai has these strange moments that handle plot points in a way that could be classified as meta-humour, although this might be a dangerous statement to make. I say it can be seen as meta-humour because they play with expectations the viewer creates after having already seen similar situations. We’ve seen new characters end an episode talking about fighting the protagonist, so we expect them to be a future threat, not the punchline for a joke (which, you might notice, was a wasted opportunity for more effective build up, not gonna lie), and we’ve seen countless anime feature pool/beach episodes, so we expect them to have pointless fanservice and dumb hijinks, not legitimate character development.
Around episode 6 you’ll probably notice that this series is more focused in interactions than in any on-going main conflict. While the interactions are nice to watch and even charming from time-to-time, it leads to one of the main problems with the series: it introduces characters that play their arc but might get forgotten in the long run. Some adversaries, for example, become throw-away characters and might as well be classified as filler. Being this only the first season, Rakudai might be trying to pull a “Index” and stack up in characters that become recurrent in the long run, which is a better option but comes with issues of its own.
Presentation
This I’d say is the anime’s most glaring weak-spot. Rakudai uses the style that is by now a given for light-novel adaptations of this genre, which in some instances can make the series indistinguishable from other titles: figures use futuristic-looking uniforms in white and black shades with minimal variant details, scenarios are mostly light colored, with the exception of battle stages, presented in dark tones of green and blue, powers are undetailed but given noticeable lighting, etc.
The same goes for character design: Ikki is thin, has dark and spiky hair; the tsundere has pink hair tied in ponytails, large, soft and bouncy breasts (I won’t complain about that!); the Imouto is flat-chested and carries a uniformly bland color pallet; the supportive gay friend is fabulous. Being a Silver Link series, though, it’s nice to see it was done by the side of the studio that understands contrast, so we luckily don’t have a Chaos Dragon this time. Seriously, that show looked awful!
On action sequences there are issues with framing: a lot of attention is given to the special powers, but they take too much of the scene, and adding it to the manner in which those sequences are cut, makes for somewhat disjointed and hard to follow action. On a plus side, when the focus is on character movement it’s very fluid and pleasant to look at, mainly during swordfights. Wow, here I go being boring again!
The opening is interesting because the visuals have a slightly gritty vibe to them, but the song sounds not really upbeat, but energetic and stimulating, possibly to evoke a competitive thrill going into the anime. The ending is a slower, somber piece accompanied by some… enticing visuals. Can’t go wrong with that.
Personal ramblings
Rakudai Kishi no Calvary was a show that played constantly with my expectations. At many points it seemed like it was going into shit-territory with its setup, just to pull it back and make a fool of me by presenting a legitimate good and entertaining moment. I can say I had an equal amount of enjoyment from watching the show as well as I dissecting it.
There are many factors that can make a work for me, but hardly ever break it. One that is fundamental to me and can easily do both are the characters. Bad characters can sink a series with good premise and waste solid potential, as well as good or even great characters can help a work with a tired premise to rise above mediocrity, even if it doesn’t mean becoming a landmark for its media, but just a solid piece of entertainment.
The saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” seems to be getting increasingly meaningless as it has become easier to spot a generic, effortless and vapid cash-grabs in the current anime scene, so it’s really pleasant to find once in a while a show that throws you for a loop and is worth looking at and analyzing.
