Anime Review 115 Chivalry of a Failed Knight

Ever since the tragedy that was Sword Art Online as well ham-fisted Frankenstein monster that was The Asterisk War the reputation of anime adaptations based on light novels has gone down the drain. I honestly cannot blame anyone because let’s face the facts most anime that are based on are terrible. Not only do most of the light novel adaptations completely fall flat when it comes to adapting but they also love to ham-fisted its plot and character cliches right down the viewer’s throats.

Despite all of that there is one anime that completely avoided many of the pitfalls that light novel adaptations.

That anime is Chivalry of a Failed Knight.

Chivalry of a Failed Knight is an anime that was released in the fall 15 season the same season that gave us the underrated mecha anime Heavy Object, the kickass second season of Haikyuu the superhero parody One Punch Man and the now-defunct Frankenstein monster that was The Asterisk War.

It was directed by Shin Oonuma the same director that directed the ef series, Baka and Test, Watamote and Dusk Maiden of Amnesia.

The story follows Kurogane Ikki who is an F-Rank Blazer. He has earned the unfortunate nickname the ”worst one” from his thanks to his low magical abilities. Due to this, he’s forced to repeat a year as well share a room with a roommate thanks to the new rule that the director has made. His roommate Stella is the second princess of the Vermilion Kingdom as well as being A-Rank Blazer. After a misunderstanding from their earlier encounter, the two duel it out where the loser has to be obedient to the winner.
She ends up losing the duel, but they agree to become roommates as well as being friends. From there Ikka and Stella try to make it to the top of a battle royal tournament and prove Ikki’s worth to the world.

On the surface, Chivalry of a Failed Knight is no different to your generic light novel adaptation however what separates this show from the others is its amazing execution. Many of the problems that plagued light novel adaptations have been thrown out of the window in favour of presenting a well-thought-out underdog tale.
This is only better with the show’s strong world-building as Hagun Academy feels alive. It is also consistent with its technology and lore.

The one thing that Chivalry of a Failed Knight going for is its character development.

Every single character in the show gets developed in some way or another as the show does a brilliant job at giving characters appropriate screen-time to develop which we will get to in a bit.

The show is well-paced for the most part as many of the events flow in nicely.
By far the best thing about Chivalry of a Failed Knight outside the fights and characterisation is the dialogue.

One of the main problems with other Light Novel anime was that the dialogue feels supernatural. The superficial dialogue from these shows hinders the viewer’s interest as they rather focus on cliche pandering. This is not the case in Chivalry of a Failed Knight as the series is more down to earth in of dialogue. The series is also for the most part cliche free. Sure it did it have moments but they have been greatly toned down to a point where it doesn’t feel like another series that is relays on cliches.

This leads to the main dish of the series being Selection Battle Arc aka the tournament arc of the series.

I was amazed how the show handled the arc because not only it feature great and engaging fights that were only made better due to fighting choreography but the sub-stories between the arc were intriguing to watch especially episode 11 which I won’t talk about due to major spoilers. Chivalry tackles the themes of working hard, royalty, discrimination, friendship and brotherly love and the series managed to execute them very nicely in the narrative.

Naturally, Chivalry of a Failed Knight isn’t perfect. Despite the show separating itself from other light novel anime it actually took a short while to separate itself. What I mean by this is that the first 3 episodes of Chivalry were tightly identical to the Asterisk War. Granted Chivalry had better writing and characters but it had that boring setup where the light novel protagonist walks into a room with a female character naked, they duel each other for approval, they enter a tournament etc.

To Cavalry’s credit, it actually makes fun of its cliches by either reversing the impact of the cliche or presenting the cliche in a more over the top way.

Thankfully episode 4 of the series mostly abandons its typical light novel ways at it becomes a much more complex and interesting series. 

The characters are what makes this show shine as they are all intriguing and easy to follow.

Ikki is a light novel protagonist done right. He’s isn’t the typical dense as pig’s light novel protagonist that you have seen from other light novel series as he is, unique and original. He’s also a very skilled and smart fighter as he studies his opponents and outplays them in the most satisfyingly way possible. My praise for Ikki doesn’t end there. He has a pretty strong backstory where everyone apart from his sister Shizuku had treated him like an outsider thanks to his F Blazer status.
On top of being a well-written lead, he’s not a creators pet who only exists to self insert with the females.

Stella is another great character. She starts off a hot-blooded and powerful tsundere who looks down on Ikki thanks to his status but as the series progresses she opens up and starts to become more friendly towards others especially to Ikki. Also, her romance with Ikki in the latter half was satisfying and well-executed.
The only problem that I have with her is we don’t see her fight all that much, despite being the poster girl of the series then again that was more of a technical issue which I will talk about in a bit

I was not a fan of Shizuku at first due to her incestual behaviour towards Ikki as well-disliking Stella however as the series progresses she grows a character where not only she starts respecting Stella she also tones down the incestual behaviour. On top of being a nicely developed character, she is also a skilled and powerful fighter.

Alice is a solid character. He may not be as developed as the main three but his layback and analytical personality ultimately make him a fun character.

The supporting cast not counting mediocre villains were solid all around. They were fun and a likeable bunch of characters that only spices up the character development for the main characters.

Moving to the technical side of things Chivalry of a Failed Knight is visually stylish and beautiful. The characters designs are appealing to look at, the background scenery is top-notch the and the lighting is well directed.

The beautiful art in Chivalry was made possible thanks to the smooth and sharp colour palette that only makes the world of Chivalry feel more alive.

The highlight of the production is without a question the animation. Sword fights are masterfully choreographed with the sword clashes shooting of speaks that emphasise the strength behind each attack. General movement is smooth and consistent and there’s hardly any still frames.

Chivalry of a Failed Knight also has it’s far fan service but don’t you worry as it isn’t as exploited as other light novel anime.

If I had any issues with the presentation it would be the lack of visual fights for Stella. Despite being the female lead of the series we barely get to see her fight fully.
Excluding episode 1 all of her fights in the Selector Battle arc happened off-screen, and we only get the see the result of the fight where Stella is decided to be the victor.  Did Sliver Link blew the budget for the Ikki fight scenes?

This is honestly a bit upsetting to say least because everything else in the presentation is top-notch.

The soundtrack was done by Kotaro Nakagawa the same person who did the soundtrack for Code Geass, Yugioh Arc V, and Planetes.

For the most part I liked Chivalry’s soundtrack. It has a good mix of upbeat, and gritty tracks that only makes moments in the show more impactful.

By far the best track for Chivalry of a Failed Knight is the appropriate title the Worst One. It’s such a fantastic track that perfectly captures Ikki character as a whole.

The opening theme Identity is a kick-ass opening theme that fits the anime perfectly.
The ending theme is bad and it’s not because of the mediocre song the ending visuals that put you off thanks to its bizarre fan service.

I suggest skipping the ending theme it is that bad.

Sentai Filmworks is known to have a hit-and-miss track record when it comes to English dubs. They have done some great dubs like Land of the Lustrous, Princess Principal and Flip Flappers but at the same time, they have done some horrible dubs like Clannad, Maid Sama and No Game No Life. Sadly the dub for Chivalry of a Failed Knight is a mixed bag at best. Clint Bickham as Ikki is just bad. He sounds way too high-pitched and nerdy. Not to mention it was a big miscast on Sentai part.

Thankfully the other dub voices did not suffer from the same problem as Luci Christian (Stella), Chris Patton and Juliet Simmons did a great job with the performances they were given. In short, the dub is decent but it has a lot to be desired and because of that, I recommend the original Japanese audio unless you’re a fan of dubs such myself.

Chivalry of a Failed Knight is a perfect example of how to not judge something by its cover. It’s a fun, and intriguing ride that I enjoyed from beginning and end. It did have some flaws like the mixed bag dub, the mediocre villains and the cliche storm start but well-choreographed fights, the well-written leads and engaging story more or not makes it up.

I’m honestly glad to find a battle light novel anime that isn’t garbage as Chivalry Of the Failed Knight was the one who broke the LN battle anime curse.

Strong Reccomdation