Chivalry of a Failed Knight

Plot

The story is set in an Alternate Earth world where humans called "Blazers" have supernatural abilities. These Blazers can materialize weapons known as "Device" which are made through a person's soul. Ikki Kurogane is arranged to share a dorm room with Stella Vermillion, a foreign princess and a once-in-a-decade genius student. Ikki though is considered a Failure Knight and is having to repeat a grade. Offended that Ikki saw her half-dressed, Stella challenges Ikki to a duel where the loser has to be obedient to the winner for life. She ends up losing the duel, but they agree to become roommates. The series follows their adventures as they train to qualify as the school's representatives for the Seven Star Sword Art Festival, an annual tournament event held by the seven Mage Knight Academies in Japan to determine the strongest Apprentice Knight.

Characters

Ikki Kurogane (黒鉄 一輝, Kurogane Ikki)

Voiced by: Ryōta Ōsaka, Yukiyo Fujii (young)Ikki is an F-Rank Blazer who is widely known as the Worst One (落第騎士 (ワーストワン), Wāsuto Wan). A member of the distinguished Kurogane Family, Ikki was subjected to ill treatment from his own family since childhood, and due to his family's influence on the school coupled with less than average grades, he was forced to repeat a year. However, his great-grandfather, Ryoma Kurogane, a legendary Blazer and hero, encouraged Ikki to never give up and become strong, after which he continued to work hard on his craft. He relies on learning his opponents' skills and tactics. His Device is Intetsu and his Noble Art is Ittō Shura (一刀修羅), where he pushes his skills and abilities beyond what the human body would limit. At the start of the series, he is challenged by Stella in a duel where the loser has to obey the winner. Although he wins the duel, his main order is that he and Stella become roommates and get along.^{LN 1 ch. 1} After defeating his past-year rival, Shizuya Kirihara, Ikki gets a new nickname, Another One (無冠の剣王 (アナザーワン), Anazāwan). Although he attracts the affections of many girls,^{LN 1 ch. 2} he and Stella eventually develop a relationship, and they get engaged.

Stella Vermillion (ステラ・ヴァーミリオン, Sutera Vāmirion)

Voiced by: Shizuka IshigamiThe main heroine of the series, Stella is a red-haired A-Rank Blazer who is considered to be a once-in-a-decade genius. Her Device is Laevateinn and her Noble Art is Katharterio Salamandra (天壌焼き焦がす竜王の焔 (カルサリティオ・サラマンドラ), Karusaritio Saramandora). The second princess of the Vermillion Kingdom (a small European country), Stella could not control her own powers as a child and was badly burned each time she tried to use them. Through her effort, she eventually mastered her own power and is widely regarded as a genius by those around her. Stella, not wanting to become conceited, then decided to transfer to Japan. At the start of the story, she challenges Ikki to a duel where the loser must obey the winner, but she loses. Although they agree to be roommates, Stella feels it is her noble's obligation to treat him as a master.^{LN 1 ch 1} She is immediately jealous of other girls being affectionate towards Ikki,^{Ch. 3-5} and over the course of the series, she falls in love with Ikki. They eventually become a couple and engaged.

Shizuku Kurogane (黒鉄 珠雫, Kurogane Shizuku)

Voiced by: Nao TōyamaIkki's younger sister who is extremely obsessed with him.^{Ch. 4} She has white hair, unlike his brother, who has black hair. Nicknamed Lorelei (深海の魔女 (ローレライ), Rōrerai), a B-Rank Blazer who excels in magic control. Her Device is Yoishigure and her Noble Arts are Shōha Suiren (障波水蓮), Water Prison Orb (水牢弾, Suirōdan), and Hisuijin (緋水刃).^{Ch. 4} Shizuku hates her family for their treatment of Ikki and generally dislikes holding the family name.^{Ch. 5} She initially disapproved of Ikki's relationship with Stella, but eventually accepted her and decided to take it upon herself to teach Stella about being a bride of the Kurogane family, though she still made up her own restricting rules.

Production

After winning an award for his previous light novel series Danzai no Exceed, Riku Misora decided to write a sport-related novel in the vein of Akamitsu Awamura's Mugen no Linkage.

Print

The original release of the series was in light novel format which was written by Riku Misora, and illustrated by Won. Chivalry of a Failed Knight has been published by SB Creative's GA Bunko imprint since July 16, 2013, eleven volumes have been released. The series was later adapted into a serial which was illustrated by Megumu Soramichi, and appeared in the monthly manga magazine Monthly Shonen Gangan starting in 2014. Eight volumes have been collected into tankōbon format which have been released from December 12, 2014 to the present. So far thirty-five chapters have been serialized in the magazine.

Anime

An anime adaptation was announced in March 2015. The series premiered in Japan on October 4, 2015, and aired until December 19, 2015. Produced by Silver Link and Nexus, the series ran on AT-X from October 4 to December 19, 2015 in Japan for 12 episodes; the episodes were later released by Media Factory through six DVD and Blu-ray volumes. Sentai Filmworks licensed the anime in September 2015 for digital and home media release in North America. The series was simulcast only on Hulu though as it aired in Japan. It is scheduled to be released on DVD and Blu-ray in North America on June 13, 2017.

Reception

The light novels have been well received. According to Japanese light novel news website LN News, the series had 1.2 million copies sold as of February 2017. Oricon ranked Chivalry of a Failed Knight as the 29th and 17th top-selling light novel series in November 2015 and May 2016, respectively.

Anime News Network had six editors review the first episode of the anime adaptation: Lynzee Loveridge compared the series to The Asterisk War and while she considered the Chivalry characters to be more likeable, she was critical of the blended in CG artwork and considered Stella's becoming Ikki's servant to be "cringe-worthy"; Nick Creamer expressed criticism towards the episode and called it a "concentrated capsule of hoary clichés"; Hope Chapman called the episode's plot "soul-suckingly lame" and considered Asterisk as a much nicer series; Rebecca Silverman wrote that the first episode's plot was already done by Asterisk and Lance N' Masques and while she praises Stella for some initial character development, she says this gets lost with her "tsundere ranting"; and Zac Bertschy said that the anime is "a total waste of [the viewer's] time, but it serves a purpose, however unintentional.". The sixth reviewer, Theron Martin, agreed that "formulaic and generic" wouldn't be wrong ways to describe the story and he also praised Stella's underlying motivations. Martin concluded that while the series has potential, it needs to find "fresher angles" to stand out from other similar storylines. Silverman reviewed the anime's future episodes.

Works cited

^ "LN" is shortened form for light novel and refers to a volume number of the Chivalry of a Failed Knight light novels.

^ "Ep." is shortened form for episode and refers to an episode of the Chivalry of a Failed Knight anime.

^ "Ch." and "Vol." is shortened form for chapter and refers to a chapter number of the Chivalry of a Failed Knight manga.