(L) Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry (A Chivalry of the Failed Knight)

[CrowKenobi]

This thread is now reopened, please make constructive comments going forward.

Thank you.

EDIT: The above means NO off-topic sales discussion here. Link to the appropriate thread and take it there.

[AP24]

Found some nice official illustrations:

NSFW

Warning: Not safe to view at work or school!

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[Calca]

I really like how this "Harem" series bucked the trend. I know the OVA is coming out but this is something that needs a season 2. You actually have a solid relationship with a male and female protagonists who are actually likable and you root for both of them at the same time. They compliment each other and mesh well.

[zztop]

Did the Rakudai Blurays fix up any of the animation? I recall the TV broadcast could become QUALITY in some occasions.

[Gintokifan22]

Ok, just saw it and wow I am amazed. Romance was developed well in my opinion and I was so happy for the main character when he won, I was crying of happiness for him. He went through so much crap till now. I hope we get a second season

[zztop]

Does anyone know if overall Bluray sales for Rakudai were good or bad? I wouldn't mind seeing a Season 2 sometime soon.

[Shinji103]

Looks like the BDs are selling less than 3,000 per volume.

[ImperialFlameGod8190]

Originally Posted by Shinji103

Looks like the BDs are selling less than 3,000 per volume.

Thats not shocking to me given the anime. They put a huge emphasis on the erotic scene animation wise and that was it. The anime is solid but it cant compete with the top shows because frankly if it has a weakness its that its incredibly predictable even without reading the story. Now its good but the emphasis on the eros and the lack of great battles killed it.

[Kuroageha]

The ecchi wasn't even that goodand add to that the romance was cheesy so it was another turn off.

[zztop]

Originally Posted by Shinji103

Looks like the BDs are selling less than 3,000 per volume.

But it's not a total loss, is it? If you're talking 1000-2000+ per volume, that is. It sounds somewhat decent. If it were selling 600 per volume or less then that's a definite no sequel, right? I mean, if mangas like D-Gray Man can get a sequel 10 years after the 1st one...

ImperialFlameGod8190:
Thats not shocking to me given the anime. They put a huge emphasis on the erotic scene animation wise and that was it. The anime is solid but it cant compete with the top shows because frankly if it has a weakness its that its incredibly predictable even without reading the story. Now its good but the emphasis on the eros and the lack of great battles killed it.

IIRC the next plot arc is touted to have great battles, but it spans 6 volumes. The studio(either Silver Link or new) would have to bring their A-game to really emphasise the greatness of the fights.

[Marcus H.]

Talent versus hard work.
Weakness versus strength.
The summit versus the abyss.

The story of Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry is nothing special. In a nutshell, it's about a young man deemed as the weakest and his climb to fame and greater power. It shows up a lot of LN stories, and yet, for some reason, Rakudai Kishi felt different. Was it because of Silver Link's stylistic approach to some of the more striking scenes? Was it because the characters aren't a turn off to the enjoyment value of the show? Or was it the fact that the main character has decided on his romantic interest?

To me, the strengths of the series were thanks to having a solid story that encompassed the entire show. There are a few sequel hooks, but was light compared to the fact that the story had moved enough from Ikki entering school to pursue his dream to achieving said dream and a little more. It made for a fulfilling show... so fulfilling in fact that the slim chances of a Season 2 is somewhat of a disappointment.

On the other hand, it would have been nice if the overall animation quality was a notch higher than what we got in the show. I feel that Silver Link had to hold back on some of the visual aspects and it made the anime average except for where it really matters.

I'm going to follow the LNs a bit as a result of my positive feedback on the anime. Hopefully, Stella's romance with Ikki continues to blossom from where the anime ended.

[Jaden]

So, I recently tried watching the Asterisk War because of how popular it is, and after complaining about it on the forum, I was told to watch this instead.
I watched it, within the night. It's amazing how from the same premises, the two shows that aired at the same time ended up being like night and day.

I have the same problem with Rakudai as I do with Asterisk, in that they don't very well establish how we ended up with superpowered high schoolers fighting in a tournament.
The viewer is just kinda expected to be genre-savvy enough to overlook all of that.

However, Rakudai was far better at creating drama and tension. The characters' motivations were highly relatable.
Their powers felt poorly defined, although the awesome fight between Shizuku and President Lightning Blade was finally able to pique my interest in the battle aspect. Unfortunately that came kind of late.

I really, really appreciate how this show turned the harem situation around by quickly having the main hero and heroine confess their love to one another and have a proper romance.
It made the whole harem setting seem retarded in comparison.

Despite being superficially lower in production quality, I found that Rakudai had far more artistic value than Asterisk.
For example, the scenes with Ikki in prison were eerily captivating, and the character designs and their outfits were really cute and natural.

It's funny...if it wasn't for the trashiness of the Asterisk War, I wouldn't have thought of this show as anything special, but after being subjected to that, watching this felt really good.

[ImperialFlameGod8190]

Originally Posted by Jaden

So, I recently tried watching the Asterisk War because of how popular it is, and after complaining about it on the forum, I was told to watch this instead.
I watched it, within the night. It's amazing how from the same premises, the two shows that aired at the same time ended up being like night and day.

I have the same problem with Rakudai as I do with Asterisk, in that they don't very well establish how we ended up with superpowered high schoolers fighting in a tournament.
The viewer is just kinda expected to be genre-savvy enough to overlook all of that.

However, Rakudai was far better at creating drama and tension. The characters' motivations were highly relatable.
Their powers felt poorly defined, although the awesome fight between Shizuku and President Lightning Blade was finally able to pique my interest in the battle aspect. Unfortunately that came kind of late.

I really, really appreciate how this show turned the harem situation around by quickly having the main hero and heroine confess their love to one another and have a proper romance.
It made the whole harem setting seem retarded in comparison.

Despite being superficially lower in production quality, I found that Rakudai had far more artistic value than Asterisk.
For example, the scenes with Ikki in prison were eerily captivating, and the character designs and their outfits were really cute and natural.

It's funny...if it wasn't for the trashiness of the Asterisk War, I wouldn't have thought of this show as anything special, but after being subjected to that, watching this felt really good.

I agree with you about most of what you said but as a person whose genre savy let me tell you what you've missed and what i disagree with from your post.
1. You never ask the question of how come these kids are fighting in the tournament you pretty much accept it for what it is. Thats like asking in a harem genre why are the girls slapping the guy for stuff thats not his fault. It is what it is.
2. The strength of shows like Rakudai lie in the battles and in the girls. In both aspects Rakudai loses IMO.
Girls:
Stella and Ikki are a nice couple but Stella is horrificaly naive. Gakusen makes it obvious that there are feelings both ways but the sexual tension is funny since despite Julis's denying everything the results are obvious and once you get beyond the main girls the side girls for Rakudai simply arent great characters. Ayase is a female Ikki in many regards and after her arc she's non-existant and Shizuku is a bro-con in the most boring way. Raikiri at least has some depth but you see her so little there's nothing there. After their arcs the girls pretty much step away.
In the case of Gakusen. Saya and Kirin are good characters and Claudia is also interesting in her own way. The dynamic between the girls and Ayato is also far better because they stick around after their arc is done.

As for the battles Rakudai has so few major ones that its problematic and of them really only Raikiri and Shizuku is great.

3. When you look at the animation differences it was clear that Rakudai tried to emphasize two things and thats the ecchi moments and the angsty moment with ikki. The quality of Shizuku's battle with Raikiri is so vastly superior to the others its like uhhh where was this earlier. They pretty much knew that compared to Asterik that has far more battles and moments they had to throw everything into certain pieces.

4. Rakudai is solid all around i agree with that but the fact that it makes sure that everything stays at a similar level is apparent. Now make no mistake it has its moments but they're minimal.

[mangatron]

Originally Posted by ImperialFlameGod8190

2. The strength of shows like Rakudai lie in the battles and in the girls. In both aspects Rakudai loses IMO.
Girls:
Stella and Ikki are a nice couple but Stella is horrificaly naive. Gakusen makes it obvious that there are feelings both ways but the sexual tension is funny since despite Julis's denying everything the results are obvious and once you get beyond the main girls the side girls for Rakudai simply arent great characters. Ayase is a female Ikki in many regards and after her arc she's non-existant and Shizuku is a bro-con in the most boring way. Raikiri at least has some depth but you see her so little there's nothing there. After their arcs the girls pretty much step away.

I wholeheartedly disagree with this. I would actually be rather annoyed if we continually see more of the other girls interacting deeper with Ikki considering he and Stella were established as an item so early. This is the Chivalry of a Failed Knight, not A Knight's Academic Escapades, and much of the story was centered around Ikki fighting the system, something for once I was happy to see among these battle anime. Aside from the imouto, who you know, is family, the other girls were his opponents first, let's call a truce second, of whom the only thing they had in common was simply being in the same school. Given the time constraints, it would be incredibly weird to see them be somewhat buddy buddy before or so soon after their respective, very important matches.

And Stella's "naivete" is understandable, seeing as this was a princess who was always praised for her natural talent, and she herself was more concerned with changing that. Things like dating and most especially being the servant in a relationship is entirely new to her.

[Kakurin]

Rakudai was never designed with harem shticks in mind, so in essence complaining that the other girls aren't getting more harem-like focus is misplaced and shows a divergence between expectation and what was actually promised and delivered, which is not a fault of the series, but a fault of the one holding the wrong expectations. Considering the exasperation seen so often about the amount of harem series this complaint looks fairly amusing. Rakudai is about Ikki and Stella. And not Ikki and Stella and Shizuku and Ayase and Raikiri.

[ImperialFlameGod8190]

Originally Posted by mangatron

I wholeheartedly disagree with this. I would actually be rather annoyed if we continually see more of the other girls interacting deeper with Ikki considering he and Stella were established as an item so early. This is the Chivalry of a Failed Knight, not A Knight's Academic Escapades, and much of the story was centered around Ikki fighting the system, something for once I was happy to see among these battle anime. Aside from the imouto, who you know, is family, the other girls were his opponents first, let's call a truce second, of whom the only thing they had in common was simply being in the same school. Given the time constraints, it would be incredibly weird to see them be somewhat buddy buddy before or so soon after their respective, very important matches.

And Stella's "naivete" is understandable, seeing as this was a princess who was always praised for her natural talent, and she herself was more concerned with changing that. Things like dating and most especially being the servant in a relationship is entirely new to her.

You misunderstand my point. My point was that Rakudai tried to make a couple but yet still keep the harem antics which were rampant during the Ayase arc and at times with Shizuku. True they got rid of it pretty much during the end but whatever.

Originally Posted by Kakurin-san

Rakudai was never designed with harem shticks in mind, so in essence complaining that the other girls aren't getting more harem-like focus is misplaced and shows a divergence between expectation and what was actually promised and delivered, which is not a fault of the series, but a fault of the one holding the wrong expectations. Considering the exasperation seen so often about the amount of harem series this complaint looks fairly amusing. Rakudai is about Ikki and Stella. And not Ikki and Stella and Shizuku and Ayase and Raikiri.

You say that and you're right but lets face it you say that now after having read it. But when you started Rakudai dont deny that you expected a typical harem and that there were plenty of antics leading up to and after the confession and only once the drama with his dad hit did that truly stop.

[mangatron]

Originally Posted by ImperialFlameGod8190

You misunderstand my point. My point was that Rakudai tried to make a couple but yet still keep the harem antics which were rampant during the Ayase arc and at times with Shizuku. True they got rid of it pretty much during the end but whatever.

I didn't misunderstand anything. It seems to me you misunderstood the entirety of the Ayatsuji arc, and since when was there an imouto who didn't care about her brother? Wait, don't answer that last question

I would explain the Ayatsuji arc, but I really think it's best if you watch it again. It's actually one of my favorite types of stories, the Revenge story, and if you notice everything about what happened in that arc, you'll realize everything Ayatsuji did wrong, while trying to make it right. Harem antics? I didn't see any of it. And by the way, a little pantsu here and there is not harem antics. Training is not harem antics. Thanking the male protagonist is not harem antics.

[Endscape]

Originally Posted by ImperialFlameGod8190

You misunderstand my point. My point was that Rakudai tried to make a couple but yet still keep the harem antics which were rampant during the Ayase arc and at times with Shizuku. True they got rid of it pretty much during the end but whatever.

I think you're confusing the anime with the LN. The anime actually changed stuff around to avoid harem antics

[KnightShade]

*walks in to see this thread got re opened for some reason
*hopes for interesting discussion
*same fanwar meme from 2015
*yawns

where is the "not this shit again* meme when you need it. (yes i know, who am i to talk. people do grow up)

not counting on a second season for this given it shat the bed with the BD's. it was a fun ride for what it was, a predictable and cheesy shonen with actual development on the romance side.

[mangatron]

Well I admit I was hoping for some new information when I saw this sitting at the bottom of my subscriptions, but it's too bad about those BD sales. The anime pretty much setup a 2nd season, but like with many other anime out there, we most likely won't get to see any more.