Chivalry of a Failed Knight

Chivalry of a Failed Knight is a solid entry in the battle-school genre, elevated by its commitment to the central romance and its surprisingly good action animation. It's not groundbreaking, and it has some notable flaws—rushed pacing, shallow villains, and an uncomfortable incest subplot. But if you're looking for a show where the main couple actually gets together and the fights are fun to watch, this delivers. The lack of a second season is disappointing, because the story clearly has more to tell. But the first season ends on a satisfying enough note that you won't feel cheated.

Not every show is able to come with villains so vicious that make you want to truly hate them, but Rakudai Kishi is one of those that manages to accomplish that with mastery. A good finally with a final battle with one of the biggest stakes in the whole show. Rakudai Kishi no Calvary ends, with a very nice conclusion that sadly, does not have a season 2 like a lot of other shows from its time.

The threads that were woven during episode 9 are brought back in this episode giving us one of the most intriguing episode in the show so far, with a rather unique way of visual storytelling, that while might not be for everyone, it is for me, personally charming and helps to tell the sense of despair that the episode wants to pass.

Sometimes we wish that all episodes that had a fight were like this one, but unfortunately we know that is not possible. Be for time reasons, or budget, very few episodes and fights get the full blown out animation it deserves, but happily, this one episode is one of those, delivering what is in my opinion, the BEST fight of the show so far!

A vacation, everyone deserves one every now and then, especially if in the middle of an important tournament, but can Ikki and Stella really be able to simply enjoy their time off without a problem? Well, doesn’t matter the answer from this question, this episode is quite a nice breather from the tournament and the previous episodes, giving the show a chance to unwind while still introducing threads that are going to be important for the finale.

The arc of the Last Samurai and the Sword Eater comes to a close. Now that Ayase’s motives and past has come to light, it is time for Ikki to do what he does best and help his friend. But against a top contender of the Seven Stars Swordsmanship Tournament, can he really win? A good episode with a good conclusion for this story arc with some really intense fight to boot!

With such an intense opener, this episode gives everything, from drama to comedy and a really, high stakes fight were both opponents, each for their own reasons, can’t afford to lose. Ikki and Ayase, a match between friends, master and disciple, what kind of end can we expect to this whole situation?

No matter how good Rakudai Kishi is, it still suffers from the same problem that a lot of Light Novel adaptations have, which is pacing. Having so much content to cover but with so little time, it is inevitable that some things will be left out and some anticipated matches won’t receive all the focus it deserves. But even then, the show continues to be really good with its characters and their dynamics, even when introducing more students for our cast to interact with.

In these type of animes, usually the main couple takes the entire series to be together, often times, it is even relegated to those last episode epilogues. So it is really refreshing when Rakudai makes it happen right at the start, bringing out nice developments in relationships and dynamics.

With Rakudai Kishi going straight for a tournament arc after the first 3 episodes, stakes get suddenly high and tense as the first matches developed, especially for Ikki, who has to face against Kirihara. With a past incident connecting those two, this episode shows really well how the past shaped Ikki and continues to affect his present while delivering a very good fight.

What could be consider the final episode of setup for the anime, Rakudai Kishi gives us a fun episode focusing on the relationships between Ikki, Stella, Shizuku and Alice couple with a interesting twist that makes this episode stand out compared to the first two.

This show is definitely a product of its time, with a fair amount of fanservice typical of 2015 and certain character relationships that can be frowned upon in today’s world, but even then, I’d say the anime still delivers a satisfactory episode, diving deeper into our main character backstory, introducing new characters and overall doing what most first arcs of any show does, setting up the foundation of the story.

Rakudai Kishi is quite an old anime already, being from 2015 and I remember watching it back then. Old animes has a tendency to be fairly nostalgic, and I got to say, this one is not exception to that. A classic story of a genius and an ordinary person, but what sets this a part from other stories with this trope is the relationship between the characters, one thing we can already start to see from the first episode alone. Coupled with some really good fighting scenes and a good opening song that survives the test of time, this episode is a really good start for the show.

12 Ep for a proposal, those were the days back then.

You'd be surprise how well these old series are animated and voiced. They aged pretty well. There was so many series like that back then, seirei tsukai blade dance, mahouka koukou no reteisei, used to be overdone. But watching it now feels fresh hahaha

Wow jujur ini adalah final episode yg paling epic!. MC berhasil menyelesaikan semua masalah dengan perfect dan menyempurnakan image nya dengan sangat baik. Tidak salah saya menyebut anime ini sebagai underrated anime, saya berharap ada season 2 nya di masa depan. Benar benar memberikan tempo cepat dan ending yg sangat memuaskan.

Partai puncak sudah di depan mata tetapi masalah demi masalah terus datang dan puncaknya terjadi saat sang heroine juga terjebak dalam masalah. Sang MC tidak ragu dan langsung melakukan apapun itu menyelamat sang Heroine. Episode ini mengubah arah cerita secara drastis. Setelah sepuluh episode berpusat pada pertandingan dan perkembangan karakter, kini konflik bergeser menuju ancaman yang lebih besar

Salah satu duel yg saya suka di series ini, apalagi saya sangat menyukai style power technique milik Toudou yg sangat keren. Duel ini mempertemukan dia dan adiknya sang MC yaitu Shizuku. Toudou menunjukkan kelas nya dengan baik. Berbeda dari duel Ikki yang biasanya dipenuhi perkembangan emosional, episode ini hampir sepenuhnya berfokus pada pertarungan teknis.

Episode ini pace lebih santai dan lebih banyak menampilkan progress hubungan sang Heroine dan MC. Disini juga dijelaskan sudut pandang keluarga sang MC terhadap anaknya sendiri. Perubahan tempo dilakukan secara halus sehingga episode tetap terasa utuh meski memadukan tiga suasana yang sangat berbeda. Animasi Raikiri milik Touka menjadi salah satu highlight visual terbaik di paruh kedua seri.

Sang MC menelusuri apa tujuan ayase melakukan segala cara agar bisa menang di turnamen itu dan akhirnya mengetahui nya, keren nya disini meskipun sedikit naif sang MC berhasil menyelesaikan nya dengan sangat baik!. Episode ini hampir seluruhnya berpusat pada satu konflik, tetapi tidak pernah terasa lambat. Studio Silver Link menghadirkan salah satu pertarungan paling elegan di anime ini.