So, last September I took a swing at the “Battle School” genre, which I feel like needs more acknowledgment as being its own thing with its own conventions, the same way as Isekai gets (though probably with similar tones of criticism). These shows have tight formulas and a lot of genre expectations. One of those expectations is that Battle School shows are, almost without exception, Harem shows. They follow a male lead with some unique circumstances, and he inevitably attracts several interesting women who become the main components of his social circle and ultimately develop feelings for him. And, in proper Harem fashion, the lead guy will, even if he has some preference, pretty much never settle on or pick one of the girls to form a relationship with.
Viewer expectations are an interesting
beast. It can be good to subvert them at times, but you have to take
care in how you do it, because there’s also an unspoken contract with
viewers that if you present a certain way, you provide certain
elements, and refusing to honor the implicit contract can generate
backlash, even against material that’s actually good.
As the title indicates, I bring that up
because Chivalry of a Failed Knight is a Battle School show. To an
extent, it might even be the template of a battle school show. But
it’s not a Harem show. Instead, it’s a more straightforward romance,
building chemistry and a relationship between one male and one female
lead, with no assumption of proper romantic rivalry from the other
female characters. But despite this there are still a lot of ways in
which Chivalry of a Failed Knight seems to be deliberately imitating
the look and feel of the traditional Battle School Harem: There are
some female side characters that fit roles that would normally
indicate Harem member status, and there’s a lot of ecchi as you’d
expect out of a Battle School Harem – perhaps even more ecchi than
average, as if to compensate for the fact that we don’t get much if
any of the typical squabbles over the lead character. I think, in a
sense, this was the way Chivalry of a Failed Knight tried to uphold
its end of the implicit ‘viewer contract’ and give the people what
they want while remaining true to what it wanted to show.
Did it work?
Well, let’s start at the start. Our male lead and titular character is Ikki Kurogane. He’s enrolled in a school for “Blazers” – fighter/mage types that have all the hallmarks of the normal Battle School curriculum with no real variation. They use martial arts and arcane abilities, the latter of which tend to have unique themes and specific named powers, and are learning how to be powerful fighters. One of the things Chivalry of a Failed Knight doesn’t do is really explain its world. In Anti-Magic Academy or Unbreakable Machine Doll, you get a sense of what role the kids are training for, and what kind of place they have in a wider and more developed world. In Chivalry of a Failed Knight, you want to be a Blazer because Blazers are cool, and no consideration is given to what this world is like outside the facts that directly concern the Blazers in school. While I like the development you get in those other shows, especially Machine Doll, and like it better than not having it, there’s something refreshingly honest about admitting that a lot of viewers probably don’t care, and spending more time with other things.
Ikki is also, it so happens, the
worst-ranked Blazer in school, at Rank F, owing to his essential lack
of magical potential. Because of this he’s been barred from combat
classes and his only hope of graduation lies in winning an
international tournament as representative of his school. That,
however, is largely set aside at first when Ikki manages to, on
return to his room, walk in on a gorgeous busty redhead changing.
This is Stella Vermillion: A-Rank
Blazer, Foreign Princess, and by what almost seems to be a prank by
the academy director, Ikki’s new roommate. The initial naked
introduction is patched over, but the two clash over house rules,
resulting in Stella challenging Ikki to what should be a very
one-sided mock battle, with the conditions that the loser has to obey
the winner in all things. The Academy Director seems to approve of
this, and sets up the fight.
Predictably for the audience and
against expectations of the characters, Ikki wins, showing us his kit
of abilities that will carry him through the show. First, he’s an
excellent swordsman in terms of what’s done without magic, perfectly
able to keep up with Stella’s own considerable skill in swordplay.
Second, he’s uncannily good at analyzing his opponent’s style,
allowing him to quickly get a grasp of what his foe is capable of and
even where openings in the form might be found. Lastly, he does have
one trick that comes off as supernatural to viewers even if it’s not
considered to be Blazer magic in-setting: Ittou Shura, a technique
that allows him to put “everything he has” into a one-minute
burst, after which he’s left burnt out for a day but during which
he’s nearly unbeatable, even in this case overcoming Stella’s own
ultimate firepower.
After the battle (The technical wager
of which pretty much never comes up, Ikki takes the high road and has
his only order be for Stella to be his roommate), Stella has a
newfound respect for Ikki, both because he beat her and because she
found they had a fairly similar world view from different
perspectives, both valuing hard work over natural talent: Stella
because her hard work is never recognized and her successes credited
to her massive talent, and Ikki because his hard work is dismissed by
others due to his lack of talent. The Director also gives Stella
(and the audience) a little backstory: the ranking system is new, and
the result of Ikki’s family (a rich and well-connected line of
Blazers) trying to force him out because of his low power, and that
he’s actually one of the better fighters in the school. Good enough
to win with the deck stacked against him, not just by the hand of
fate but by his own family? Maybe, but that remains to be seen.
Soon after, we learn that not every
member of Ikki’s family hates him for being ‘weak’ when we meet
Shizuku, his little sister, a strong Blazer who at first seems to be
very inappropriately interested in her big brother, even greeting him
with an open-mouth kiss.
At this point, you’d expect it. At
this point, everything about Chivalry of a Failed Knight looks like a
standard Battle School Harem… but that’s not the way it develops.
Ultimately (though after many episodes) we delve deeper into
Shizuku’s interest in Ikki and find that she actually has a very
earnest and not psychotic or lustful appreciation of him, acting
jealous because she thinks other girls wouldn’t be good enough, and
acting lovey-dovey because she’s trying to make up for the horrifying
void of familial love provided by the rest of their family. She goes
about most of what she does the wrong way (but the right way for
extra fanservice in the first couple episodes), but it comes from a
place that’s honest, kind of interesting, and not ultimately in
Stella’s way.
Along with Shizuku comes her roommate,
Alice. I will refer to Alice as “she” for the rest of this
review because despite being biologically male, Alice lives as and
refers to herself as a female, and in a storytelling sense, one of
the roles Alice most commonly serves is as a “safe” fellow girl
for Shizuku to talk to, letting her air her feelings. Both for
Shizuku and occasionally for others, Alice plays a role somewhere
between a therapist and an “artificial fool” sort of character,
providing insight and perspectives that the other characters wouldn’t
otherwise see, and knowing how to ask the right questions to force
them to confront their psychological and emotional issues.
Shortly after Shizuku’s arrival, she
asks Ikki to come shopping with her (interrupting an attempt by
Stella to ask him on a date), and Stella invites herself along,
resulting in some competition between the girls. This is cut short
when the mall is subject to a terrorist attack in which the Blazers
are authorized to fight, Stella going first and getting herself into
a bad situation before Ikki, Shizuku, and Alice save her and a new
Blazer appears to save them. He’s a nasty piece of work despite
helping out here, and has a power that resembles invisibility. He’s
also set to be Ikki’s first opponent in the tournament, and someone
Ikki previously retreated from a match with.
Speaking of which, since the tournament
to select the school’s representatives is now starting, it’s time to
talk about just a little side note on that. We aren’t told too many
details at first, but over time it clearly seems like a
single-elimination tournament: be defeated once, and you’re out. At
the end, the six undefeated students left standing will be the
school’s representatives. Seem fine? There are twenty rounds.
If this doesn’t immediately strike you
as insane, allow me to do the math: Six undefeated competitors at the
end of twenty rounds of single elimination means the starting pool
was 6*2^20 individuals. Or, assuming no byes, 6,291,456 hopeful
students. About 6.3 Million competitors. Someone didn’t actually
think about this tournament structure. Of course, since the
structure is fairly obfuscated and not focused on (much like the
outside world, or any of those other pesky details) this doesn’t
become obvious for quite some time.
In any case, we get that the new guy
with his invisibility actually bullied Ikki over the previous year,
and that he avoided retaliating because he knew that such behavior
would be used by the previous director, in the pocket of his family,
to have him expelled. Ikki takes him on, and after an initial decent
showing, starts to get put on the back foot, even taking some
injuries. Stella, in the crowd, cheers her heart out, telling Ikki
to keep fighting, and that gives him the force of will to go on, see
through his opponent’s trickery, and win the fight. In the
aftermath, as Ikki recovers in the hospital (he ends up there a lot;
Ittou Shura isn’t kind), Stella comes to visit, and Ikki takes the
opportunity to confess his feelings for her, which after some initial
flustered tsundere reaction sees them going forward as boyfriend and
girlfriend and vowing to have their rematch in the finals of the
international tournament, supporting each other on the way there.
This is the end of episode 4. Ikki has
picked a girl before – long before – many other Battle School
shows would be done introducing girls. This is not a fake-out, a
momentary turn, or a forgotten promise. There are no take-backs.
For the rest of the show, Ikki and Stella are an item, and they only
grow closer over time. Harem over, deal with it.
And the show… does. The next episode
sees Ikki and Stella work out some kinks in their relationship as
Ikki starts to become the popular big man on campus, even mentoring
other students in swordplay. Stella briefly fears she’s lost Ikki’s
attention, but the two reaffirm their interest and share a kiss.
After that, Ikki picks up a particular new pupil, Ayase Ayatsuji, the daughter of a famous swordsman (not a Blazer) who Ikki looked up to as a role model. She learns well, with Ikki encouraging her to adapt her father’s style, recognizing that her faults come from following it too slavishly. They also have a brief encounter with the new plot they’ll face through her, in the form of a bully from a different school named Kuraudo Kurashiki who seems to know Ayase. After an ugly encounter there, matters get worse when it seems Ikki and Ayase will be facing off against each other next in the tournament.
Ayase doesn’t reveal why at first, but
she’s desperate to win. She brings Ikki to the school rooftop to
‘talk’ the night before their match and jumps off, knowing he’ll use
Ittou Shura to save her and thus not have it available in their
fight. And, if that wasn’t enough, she breaks tournament rules by
using her ability (creating invisible hurt zones where she’s swung
her sword in the past) to cover the battlefield in what amount to
invisible traps ahead of the fight. Ikki, however, has figured out
why she fights and that she would cheat, and takes it all head on to
both beat Ayase fairly and convince her that her honor is worth more
than victory.
Why is she so desperate? She wants a
chance to face down against Kurashiki who, years ago, challenged her
father in his dojo, which resulted in Ayase’s father being put
comatose in the hospital and the Dojo becoming Kurashiki’s hideout.
Ultimately, Ikki ends up the one to challenge Kurashiki on Ayase’s
behalf and… I’m going to be honest, I love this sequence.
Over the fight we see Ikki and
Kurashiki show off all their moves and size each other up, while also
getting flashbacks to Kurashiki’s fight against Ayase’s father from
different perspectives. As this goes on, we kind of get a different
perspective on Kurashiki. In his previous appearance, he seemed like
nothing more than a delinquent thug, even taking some free shots at
Ikki when he tried to defend Ayase, mocking him for his
nonconfrontational approach and trying to pick a fight that Ikki had
no intention of taking. However, now that Ikki is fighting,
Kurashiki comes around to respecting him surprisingly quickly, even
offering praise for how quickly Ikki deciphers his trick and how long
he lasts. He starts to look less like a pure brute, and more like a
worthy opponent the more he comes to see Ikki as a worthy opponent.
This ultimately leads to a better
understanding of how the fight with Ayase’s father ended. The facts
are that the two were trash-talking each other, the old man promised
to show him the “heart of his swordplay”, but before he could
perform his technique, he had a medical crisis and Kurashiki, in a
foul mood, took possession of the dojo and terrorized Ayase. At
first, we’re lead to believe that Kurashiki’s brutality was to blame,
that he came to bully an old man and said old man’s young daughter,
picking on people who couldn’t really fight back. But as the battle
with Ikki progresses, the perspective changes: Kurashiki came not to
dishonor Ayase’s father, but to fight against a worthy foe with
everything he had, and his bad mood at the end of the fight was
because he wanted, desperately, to face his opponent at his best, and
had that stolen from him by the man collapsing. Even his antagonism
of Ayase can be somewhat reframed, suggesting that he wanted her to
become strong and take him on so that she, as the inheritor of the
sword technique, could show him what he missed out on. It’s a
motivation very similar to the Black Knight in the Tellius Fire
Emblem games. Kurashiki is still a jerk… but he comes off as more
of an honorable jerk, someone who lives to fight but respects the
purity of combat.
And, in the end, Ikki gives Kurashiki
his wish. From training Ayase, he’s absorbed the style that she so
meticulously learned, and he uses it here, executing the very
finishing move that her father wanted to. After taking a clean hit
from that, Kurashiki isn’t down or out exactly, but he’s more than
pleased to concede defeat, returning the Dojo to Ayase and promising
to finish the fight right with Ikki at the big tournament. Then he
just sort of walks out of the show like a boss, only to be seen again
quietly rooting for Ikki in Ikki’s final match.
Rock on, you dangerous madman.
In any other Battle School show this
would naturally lead to Ayase gaining “Harem Member” status, but
here that’s all been wrapped up… which oddly enough I think lets
her bond with Ikki be much stronger than it otherwise would be. If
she were a harem contender, her connection would have to be metered
and measured, making sure to not outshine the other girls too much.
But here, because Stella already has Ikki’s heart, he and Ayase can
have a genuine and critical friendship. Ikki saves her twice, both
from losing her soul (metaphorically speaking) in the pursuit of
victory and by facing down against the tormentor who pushed her so
far. He reminds her deeply of her father, a fact that’s commented on
in several scenes, a father who she is properly lovingly devoted to
and who Ikki also admired deeply. On the other side, Ikki sees in
her a kindred spirit, and a tortured soul that he can help, someone
who can shine bright but only with some effort and guidance. But
there are no romantic sparks or really any overtones between them.
Even Shizuku (who’s having trouble accepting Stella, but trying on
that score) isn’t jealous of Ayase or fearful she’ll try something,
because she sees that Ayase and Ikki are interacting on a completely
different level.
By taking away the possibility of
romance, in this case, the two of them were given a much deeper and
less reserved relationship. I really appreciate that; I’ve
complained before (in life if not on this blog) that media,
particularly in the West, doesn’t let characters be friends enough;
there’s always an undercurrent of romantic expectations even when
it’s not supposed to be there, and whether or not the characters
would actually be attracted to each other. Chivalry of a Failed
Knight, with Ayase and Ikki, stomps hard on any hint of romance, and
gets away with a lot thanks to that. I’d oddly say that it’s Ayase,
not Stella, who benefits most in terms of writing from sewing up the
romantic competition early.
With that done, we largely move in to
the last arc of the show. It starts unassuming enough, with
something of a school vacation, putting the characters in the
mountain. Ikki and Stella get caught by the rain and shelter in a
small cabin to the tune of an extremely ecchi scene between the two.
Their moment, however, is cut short by a summoned giant monster
trying to kill them and, behind the same, a puppet master blazer.
They’re bailed out by the arrival of the Student Council President,
Toka Todo, who wields the invincible move Raikiri.
Toka is another character who benefits
somewhat from not being shoved into a Harem position, though a little
less triumphantly than Ayase because she doesn’t spend quite as much
time with Ikki. The first and most basic introduction she gets is as
a powerful fighter. Toka came in second in the previous year’s
tournament (the big one, not the school one that’s going on now and
just selecting candidates) and only took a loss because her opponent
was able to avoid facing her special move by engaging from range.
Raikiri itself (the move also serving as Toka’s nickname) has never
failed. As we follow along, we get to know Toka a little better, and
get the sense of why she fights. In a sense, she forms a third point
with Ikki and Stella on reacting to the gap between the powerful and
the powerless: Toka came from a very low station (quite the opposite
of Ikki’s origin) but got where she is thanks to her supreme ability.
In return, Toka does her best to fight primarily for those who can’t
fight for themselves, and wants to be an inspiration to others
She seems, in a sense, like someone who
could be a formidable opponent, but who also does have one known
weakness and a strong moral core. The second episode in the arc is
dedicated to building her up, as she gets paired against Shizuku in
the selection tournament. Most of the episode is taken up by their
battle, which isn’t normal, and it goes through a lot of push and
pull. At first, it seems like Shizuku has every advantage, having
good ranged attack and the ability to turn terrain in her favor.
Toka, however, is no slouch relying on her “unstoppable” one-hit
move, and beats Shizuku largely on the force of her core skills.
Toka is faster, Toka is stronger, and Toka takes little sister right
out of the tournament.
We take something of a detour from that
in the penultimate episode, as Ikki’s family isn’t done bothering
him. A member of the clan, heading the Ethics Committee,
manufactures a scandal by procuring a picture of Ikki and Stella
kissing, and trumping up the charges of illicit relations and
international incidents to detain Ikki essentially indefinitely while
they interrogate him, putting Ikki through isolation and,
essentially, torture. This episode, and the start of the next, is
mostly Ikki’s torment and how his friends like Stella and allies like
the Academy Director try to support him from afar, resulting in him
winning his matches as he’s allowed to continue to participate out of
his confinement, despite his physical and mental condition
deteriorating steadily under his cruel treatment.
In the midst of this, Ikki is allowed a
confrontation with his father, whose recognition Ikki still wanted at
heart. Dad, though, is quite firm, and breaks Ikki’s heart with the
truth: he had always “acknowledged” Ikki, but believes that what
he’s doing is wrong and that those without power should know their
place, going so far as to suggest that Ikki’s dedication to self
improvement is not just something useless (after all, Ikki’s success
says it isn’t) but something wrong, like Ikki never should have had a
dream. I actually rather like this confrontation, as Ikki doesn’t
flip right around to giving his dad the finger. He’s defiant, but
also crushed, which is a very real response from a kid learning that
their parent despises what they’re doing in life.
Ultimately, Ikki reaches the final
round of the selection tournament. Naturally, the procedural
bullcrap being used to keep him imprisoned and tortured won’t hold
out much longer, but the committee head has one last ace up his
sleeve, fixing it so that Ikki’s final match is against none other
than Toka Toda herself.
As if that wasn’t enough, he even
sabotages Ikki further, forcing him to run all the way to the
tournament ground, a struggle that Ikki barely makes in time to not
be disqualified, bolstered by all his friends and classmates cheering
him on.
Throughout this whole sequence, from when Ikki is arrested to the end of his duel with Toka, the show goes very stylized. The opening was always like this: washed out, even monochrome art, with bold highlights of color that really pop. Seeing it in full episodes, it’s somewhat pretentious, but very effective. The art for Chivalry of a Failed Knight had, up until this point, been very standard. Good standard, especially when focusing on the ecchi (much like Trinity Seven), but nothing particularly special. Here, it sprouts a distinctive visual style that manages to transport you very effectively into the uncomfortable and emotionally tortured environment. I actually wish the show had done more interesting things with its style like this, rather than holding it off just for this… but on the other side, it makes the climax something special, which you want to do.
Toka, of course, knows that the duel
has been rigged in her favor. However, she has every desire for a
fair fight, feeling it would be inappropriate for her to take
advantage of someone in a weakened state. I emphasize, she wants a
fair fight. She’s not going to throw the match either.
From this, it all comes down to one
hit. For being the shortest fight in the show, an amazing job is
done building it up, and creating intense drama. Ikki burns Ittou
Shura immediately and charges Toka head on. She realizes it would be
over if she just dodged out of the way, but her honor and pride sees
her instead draw her blade for Raikiri – a moment for which
understanding both her persona and her ability, as the previous
episodes brought to do, was necessary. Facing down the unbeatable
move, Ikki intensifies his Ittou Shura, putting everything he has not
into one minute, but one nearly self-destructive second.
When the dust clears, Ikki is still
standing, though he barely has the strength… and Toka falls, her
sword shattered if I remember. The unbeatable Raikiri has been
beaten – and fairly, head-on and blow for blow. The Ethics
Committee head charges into the arena to smash Ikki, only to have the
color come back as Stella runs in, backhanding the guy into oblivion
as an afterthought as she goes to Ikki, unbelievably happy to see him
and desperate to support him. And right there, in front of not just
the whole school but, thanks to the match being televised, the whole
world, Ikki proposes to Stella, and she accepts. So, yeah, by the
end of the show (which, despite the lack of a second season, is
clearly only the first act of the story) our romantic leads aren’t
just an item, they’re engaged. Stella’s father (the Emperor of
Vermillion – remember, she was supposed to be a princess this whole
time) gives Ikki’s father a call and, despite not being exactly
pleased with this outcome, basically tells him to stop screwing with
their kids, suggesting that Ikki will be free of at least that one
problem in the future, as he’s named team captain to represent the
school. The show ends, the adventure continues… just not in anime
form.
All in all, I really do appreciate this
show. I think I appreciate it more than I like it, which is saying
something because I like it a fair bit. It takes the Battle School
formula and does something new and different with it in a clever way,
despite “staying true” to the look and feel of a Battle School
show.
The one reason I can think of to
potentially not recommend this show is that the Ecchi is really
heavy, much like Trinity Seven, and that’s not going to be for
everyone. All in all, I think it’s worth an A- for what is for me a
kind of strange reason. Normally, I hand out minus grades if the
bulk of achieved aspirations was at the letter but the execution had
some notable flaws. Here, it’s the grace notes, the small things,
and the side effects that push Chivalry of a Failed Knight forward.
It kind of aims at B range but it’s got some clever visuals, it’s got
a good twist on its genre, the characters – even, perhaps
especially, side characters like Alice and Ayase – are memorable
and well studied (and that despite having little time for it, in
what’s primary an action show)… I think it really does transcend
past B+ into something I can say I greatly respect.