The aspect I'm talking about in Rakudai is how the show managed to form what could have been a generic romantic comedy plot and woven it into something unique, both in tone and writing. The plot involves our two main heroes, Ikki and Stella, who slowly develop a bond at the show's beginning after they are forced to share a room at a knight academy. It starts like your generic romance where the girl acts tsundere towards the male lead, with your standard cliches involving humorous ecchi moments. At that point, it's just okay, but then around the middle-end of the show, it starts to morph into something very remarkable. We see our couple begin to act like a real couple would behave once they confessed their love towards one another, where they would constantly argue and share their feelings through physical or verbal needs. It was a breath of fresh air to see something I hadn't seen in a while: a loving couple in a harem.
Too bad everything else about the plot couldn't quite follow up on how great the relationship building was for Ikki and Stella. It isn't just because it is something we have seen before, the "set in an academy holding a fighting competition that our protagonist participates," but also because everything feels so superficial and bland from how it is structured. It's almost as if the writers didn't know what to do to make this scenario more interesting, so they tried to create subplots involving other characters that felt one-note and not thought out well enough. Whenever there was a match between two characters, I felt complete apathy from the whole experience of how badly they built up the plot for me to feel any tension in the outcome. It does not help the fact that the action sequences are nothing to write at home about; it's not anything terrible, just average to my eyes.
While the action is not groundbreaking, that has nothing to do with the art and animation quality. I have to admit that the character designs are nice and colorful. From the beautiful red hair of Stella that gives a devilish/cuteness aura around her that matches her personality to the supple bodies of all the girls, the art design makes a ton of effort to create a nice distinct look for Rakudai. Even though the animation is not always on point, it is good enough to warrant a passing mark to make a decent framework for the action sequences, despite my under-enthused mood.
As I said, Ikki and Stella are the hallmark of Rakudai and made me keep coming back to the show every week. However, the other characters don't necessarily have a similar response to me. Most of them range from mediocre to forgettable spectrum of quality characters. Shizuku is one example that felt like it was tossed on the wayside in favor of Stella. While that does make sense since Stella is the main girl, they still touted Shizuku as a love rival, but they don't follow up on her much once Stella becomes Ikki's girl. Again, it might seem logical in that respect; however, they still attempt to give Shizuku a much-needed pivotal moment near the end, but by the time I get to that point, I completely forgot what the point of her character was. So I was quick to show no interest in anything she did until the end, just like the rest of the other cast.
This is an ecchi anime as well, so don't be alarmed for those who are still worried about Rakudai steeping closer to generic territory. While most of the ecchi fanservice involves our main heroine Stella, that is all the woman you need to tickle your ecchi bone, fellas. I found it quite enjoyable to see a girl like Stella, a tsundere at heart, starting to open up, as she and Ikki start forming a romance, to him as a naughty girl. You often see girls like this in hentai saying something this straightforward. Not even in the raunchiest ecchi anime, you often hear something as blunt as that. Besides the typical washing the protagonist back scenario, some of the ecchi moments are borderline heartwarming as they involve a romantic connection between the two main leads. It adds a new flavor to the ecchi mix that made me hope for more in the coming episodes.
Oddly enough, despite many of the issues I've had with Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry, I still thought it was a decent anime to see. I guess you could chalk it up as I so highly regard the relationship plot arc that its flaws aren't huge as they would have been if the Stella and Ikki relationship arc was not as strong. At its worst, it isn't very impressive. At its best, it's good. It's an above-average middle-of-the-road show that will enlighten some and detract others. I want more girls like Stella-chan to exist in the anime spectrum. Please?
Grade: B-
