Chivalry of a Failed Knight | Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry

Genre: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Romance, Fantasy
Season: 1
Episodes: 12
Director: Shin Oonuma
Studio: Silver Link, Nexus
Original Airtime: October 3, 2015 – December 19, 2015

Plot

The plot of Chivalry of a Failed Knight (Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry) is set in a school where magical knights fight with weapons converted from their souls. Ikki Kurogane goes to this school of magic knights. However, he doesn’t have any special magical powers unlike the other students. He is also labeled as ‘the worst one’. One day he runs into a powerful knight princess named Stella Vermillion and she challenges him to a duel. Thus the story of ‘the worst one’ begins as he overcomes many challenges and rises to the top.

Story: 7/10

The story of Chivalry of a Failed Knight (Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry) is extremely straight forward. The protagonist is in an elite school where everyone has special powers but the protagonist doesn’t. He has to overcome all his challenge with mere skills only. In my honest opinion the story is really ordinary. The story heavily lacks plot twists and there is really no x factor or that cutting edge that will make keep the viewers on their seat. Still it is fairly enjoyable and very well paced with the exception of the stereotypical swimming pool fan service episode.

The part I like about the story though, is that despite being a action/romance anime, it really gets into the romance. That too very early into the show. They execute the romance part of the story very well and don’t play around with it. You won’t have to wait for 12 episodes for just a hug or a kiss on the cheek. It takes the romance part seriously.

Character: 6/10

Chivalry of a Failed Knight (Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry) is filled with clichéd characters. The protagonist tries to overcome much stronger opponents with mere skills. The lead female is a damsel in distress despite being one of the strongest characters. Then there is the adorable but at times irritating little sister who has potential but fails to achieve the target. The characters aren’t bad in any way. But the thing is we have grown used to watching this type of character over the years and unfortunately this anime failed to break free of the shackles of stereotype.

Here are some notable characters from the anime:

Animation and Art: 8/10

This is where Chivalry of a Failed Knight (Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry) truly excelled and one of the reason I liked the show. The artstyle is nothing short of astounding. The drawings are pretty and colors are vibrant. The animation is simply awesome. The fight scenes are really something special. This excellent art style also comes in handy during the ecchi scenes

Here are some screenshots from the anime:

Music: 6.5/10

The soundtracks were good. I liked the opening theme of Chivalry of a Failed Knight (Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry), “Identity” by Mikio Sakai. The background scores were really good as well and went smoothly with the environment of the show and complemented the scenes.

Final Thoughts

Good anime these days are hard to come by. However, despite not being a top notch anime Chivalry of a Failed Knight (Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry) definitely has done a terrific job in satisfying their viewers and kudos to them. The story is incomplete. So hopefully we’ll see more seasons. Will be looking forward more seasons of this anime.