Story: 6
The biggest problem for the story from my side of things is that it seems to take titles, say such as Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero, and use their formulas with only minor tweaking. It's like the writers said 'hey lets make a ultra powerful main character that is humble instead of being full of himself' and ran with it. The title of the series is incredibly misleading, I believe. A 'failed knight', the 'story of the worst one' just really doesn't apply, even though they beat us over the head with this plot point continuously for the entire run.
The main guy is an utter badass, and demonstrates this early on, even if we're repeatedly told he's terrible. Thing is, he's not cocky about it, but is very unassuming and down-to-earth. This does not stop him from whipping the living shit out of every opponent he faces, pretty completely. He pretty much stays undefeated in every fight for the entire series. Yeah there's some close calls, but hey, gotta have *some* story tension, right? Even though he's constantly called weak, at one point in the series he runs a sword fighting training class that is insanely popular, with tons of students calling him master and recognizing his true skill levels.
The motivation behind this nice guy is a bit weak, and only partially touched on as the show comes to its conclusion, that being a distant father who expects him to fail and doesn't believe in him at all. This is almost another stereotypical trait, except that it is not really explored or fleshed out. The main guy's little sister has a much more convincing case of angst against their father than the main guy ever could dream of. The main guy is like a Boy Scout with a sword. He just merrily goes along his way helping his friends because they need help, and working hard to be a proper knight because that's what good guys do; they work hard to be good guys. Then at the end they throw in a little of 'maybe dad's an asshole' and leave it at that.
The main guy of course wants to get into the national tournament of knights because of course he does. This isn't any different from a million other anime titles, hell I mean the Love Live! girls wanted to get into the national competition too, ya know? Very predictable and average, as there's really no surprises along the way. There's a moderate twist towards the end, but it has no real effect on the main guy's efforts overall, and is kind of clumsily done. It still comes down to fighting sanctioned matches against other student opponents and when his sword comes out, asses are kicked in short order.
There is also a stumbling romance presented between the worst ultra badass and a foreign princess, but that stalls and sputters too. They go from sharing a kiss at one point to stumbling around being embarrassed to be close to each other for an inordinate amount of time afterwards. Usually when kisses are welcomed and enjoyed, they lead to more kissing, even if they are stolen in fleeting moments of privacy. These two seem to try to go with the cutesy act and it just makes the whole thing seem forced and uninteresting. They sputter around from kissing and giggling for 3 or 4 episodes to suddenly shooting forward to a full nude scene complete with propositions and everything, (guess how our noble knight responds?) and then right back to middle-school level shyness.
The only romantic tension that comes into play, outside their own immaturity, is that little sister is a total brocon, and is constantly trying to stake a romantic claim on main guy. Now this is anime, so it's totally possible for incest level shit to go down, but that would have added some flavor to the proceedings, so it was not to be. Instead sister is a light romantic foil for the main couple to prod them onto further (in)action. Just rather yawn inducing most of the time.
Now, wait a minute. I said the rating scale has a '6' at 'fine' right? The show isn't bad, not overly so, it's just completely predictable and just flat average. It's not to say there wasn't cool moments, it's just that those moments don't pull the series up from its foundation much at all. You can still pretty well guess everything that's going to go down for the whole shebang by episode 4 or 5, most likely, especially if you have much experience with these types of titles.
The fights are often pretty nice, and even though we know our badass main is going to win, they still often take an interesting route to get there, that is to say, the setup of the fight and the powers deployed, especially by main guy's foes. The only issue is, predictably, when the chips are down, main guy breaks out the super defense moves, then the super asskicking moves, and poof, opponent is finished.
Again, it's not a waste of time, but if you've seen other sword based shows such as the aforementioned Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero, or even SAO and Inuyasha, you've seen a lot of what is offered here. This is a perhaps a good series to kind of introduce a viewer to the overall concept, but when you've seen the tropes before, they do tend to stick out some.
Art: 7
I actually liked the art pretty well. The fights are pretty cool, and have some neat effects. I would have liked to see more of main girl's fire powers, and perhaps even some of the other students' abilities. We're limited in the amount of fights possible, as this is a short season, 12 episode run. On top of this, not all fights happen in the school ranking match for the national competition, so we do get some variety in background locations though not much.
Otherwise it looks pretty acceptable, cute girl is cute, hottie girl is drawn appropriately attractive, and even main guy looks pretty well done.
Sound: 7
The sound is fairly good, though we have an obvious problem from the start: nice main guy sounds like a boring, well, nice guy. He's never overly worked up, but never disinterested either. He's pretty flat and even, which in this case doesn't work to his advantage, as the rollercoaster of emotions we're to believe he goes through doesn't really reflect in his voice much at all. He's pretty unflappable even when the situation calls for his flaps to be fluttering a great deal.
The other voice work is acceptable, the main girl is a little loud at times, but isn't screeching like we get pretty often from the character that's lovey-dovey with the main. The little sister is played really well, having an appropriate edge to her voice when the situation calls for it. The gay guy is handled acceptably to me (we'll talk more in character section on this) without being overly wrought.
The battle sounds are well done, not surprisingly. The clashes and clangs and magical effects are all just how and where they are supposed to be, and add to the battle atmosphere nicely. The background music is perfectly acceptable and also works well. The themes are pretty nice, actually. I found the opener pretty enjoyable, and the closer has a nice 'warrior' feel to it.
Character: 6
We've already pounded repeatedly on the main guy's failing, in being immensely overpowered for his humble attitude, and for being such a supposedly 'failed' and 'worst' knight. He's just bland overall, and lacking in real charm. He does what nice guys do, and really never deviates from that course. On top of this, the writing never really puts him in any situations to test his demure ways. He lives with the main girl and love interest, and they basically never throw them into any compromising situations, a bit cliche in itself, but could have been a nice change of pace for the characters. I mean, c'mon he lives with his girlfriend, and there's never any embarrassing mix ups or even any steamy situations because Mr. Nice Guy's intentions are too pure for that, even when she seems to be throwing herself at him.
The main girl is the stereotypical powerful redhead, who has a bit of a sassy attitude. Never seen that one before huh? Overall she's not too overplayed, just also predictable in many ways. She's a little disappointing in that she's part of the almost childish romance subplot. She is forceful and headstrong in pretty much every other way, but isn't all that interested in taking the lead from the main guy, who clearly isn't going to bust a move on her first. She's just the cliched strong willed and strongly powered redhead love interest.
The little sister falls flat on the brocon thing, but does a good job at pulling the emotional strings in regards to her family situation. She would have been much better off without the brother-lust and purely as a character devoted to her family (or her brother at least). Otherwise she's pretty spot on acceptable.
The gay guy might be seen as a little offensive to more sensitive viewers, but I found him pretty well done. He acts as an emotional support for the main characters, especially the little sister. Now he's fairly stereotypical in his speech, and that might irk some of you. He often calls people 'honey' and refers to himself as a female, and has a slight lisp about him, but he's played off pretty evenly by his voice actor (Chris Patton, who's works I really enjoy) and isn't over the top. I have known many gay men through work, friends, and family and I've seen far more flamboyant personalities than what is portrayed in this series. Because of my real world experience, I didn't find this character to be offensive. I do, however, wish we'd gotten to see him really throw down and fight though.
The opposing characters and random others that pop up are pretty well done and not overpowering or completely underwhelming either. The tough guy that needs his ass whipped is cool, the lost girl who needs help regaining her true path is awesome, and student council president, while incredibly powerful, isn't the cliched bitch we see so often.
Enjoyment: 6
I know I seem to be pounding hard on this show, but it's really not that bad. If you're new to this kind of fantasy action stuff, and enjoy it, you'll likely really like this anime. For those of you that have a little experience, you might really enjoy yourself too, just know that the main guy isn't as nuanced as other mains in other shows. He's not an idiot like Issei from HS DXD or constantly showing off like Akatsuki of Rogue Hero, or mostly angry like Inuyasha. He's just a nice guy, and deserves credit for that, just it doesn't mesh as well against his abilities to decimate his opponents as other personality traits would.
Best Girl: Ayase, the lost girl who must find her way again and reclaim her family's honor. She's got an awesome look to her, and a great magical power. She even comes close to rivaling the main guy in her sword work. On top of this, she has a mysterious air about her, and so she gets my vote for sure.
I say give the series a spin, just don't expect the world and you'll probably come away satisfied. I just think they should have named the show something along the lines of 'Chivalry of an Honorable Knight' or what have you, as a failed knight is the last thing the main guy is. If you like to see the good guys be powerful yet not full of themselves then this surely is the series for you. Also check it out if you enjoy nice action sequences featuring interesting magical powers in a fight. A '6' rating is fine, and that's what you're getting here, an average, run of the mill show, and that's perfectly fine too.
