Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry – 06
They’re intent on not showing us a straightforward kiss, but this will do
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Get It Out of the Way
Nice indication of moods
So I thought they’d take care of the two fights against the Student Council officers this week, but I didn’t expect that it would get taken care of in the cold open, in 90 seconds, including the signoff from the battle. And they did it in a way that highlighted both Ikki and Stella’s ability to neutralize their opponent’s strength: Ikki through evasiveness and Stella through pure power. So with that out of the way, what is the rest of the episode going to be about?
Someone is really bad at hiding
Well, besides the usual Stella jealousy of Shizuku taking advantage of Ikki’s niceness to cop a few hugs, the main thrust of this episode is the introduction of the new character we saw a slight bit of last week (and discussed in the comments a little): Ayase Ayatsuji. Apparently, Ikki’s been letting her tail him for a week without doing anything, and he’d probably have let it go a lot longer if Alice hadn’t said anything. But having been pushed on it, Ikki finally confronts her, and after freaking her out into the water feature, we get down to the business of introducing her to the audience. It turns out she’s the daughter of a famous swordsman, who of course Ikki knows all about, but Alice and Stella don’t, because he wasn’t a Blazer. And she hasn’t reached the success in his style that she’s wanted to, so she is asking Ikki for help.
Help is Needed
Ikki gets a bit handsy
While Ikki’s help for her fighting style is dealt with pretty quickly, coming down to the difference between men and women. Of course, he has to show her in about the most intimate, embarrassing way possible, but he’s able to adjust her stance from one copied directly from her famous father to one that’s more suitable for a woman. It was also interesting that he gave her the choice of staying with what she was doing, copying her father’s moves exactly and upholding that honor and tradition, or adjusting it to work better for her. To me that says not just things about Ikki, but about the world and the school here.
Cheap-shotted by the bad guy
This is not a “kill or be killed” world they’re building. That’s been something that they’ve been clear about. It’s one where it’s allowable to not fight, to give up on the fight, to not be the absolute best. And it’s a school where students are still encouraged to do as well as they can. I like this world they’re building, because I think it has realistic consequences and realistic expectations, unlike so many worlds we see in anime where they start the consequences so high that there’s absolutely nowhere to go later in the series, and it’s just unbelievable that it would be so do or literally die.
Ayase’s definitely got a history with these clowns
But that doesn’t mean that nothing matters. And we get one of those areas of consequence while having a rest with Stella, Ikki, and Ayase at the Family Restaurant. A gang of thugs led by someone named Kuraudo, who obviously know Ayase, come in and assault Ikki who, as he has shown before, lets those kinds of things roll off of him, even getting a bottle smashed over his head. But as before, his prudence is shown to be correct, in that he’s the one who has everything to lose by breaking school rules. Eventually the thugs leave, proving his reticence correct, but Ayase won’t admit her connection to the gang before she and Ikki find out that their next match is against each other. And because she knows she can’t beat Ikki in a straight fight, it’s as Alice points out: She’s going to try to take him out of commission before that. But Ikki knows that and still goes to meet her.
You wonder what her plan is: Trickery, Force, or Seduction?
Another good episode that made progress, introduced Ayase, and also helped flesh out the atmosphere that this story is set in. And without it being the main focus of the episode, we still had some good communication between Ikki and Stella, who continue to work through Stella’s uncertainties about their relationship. I don’t fault her for her worries about Ikki’s closeness with other girls, and it seems like she’s able to be jealous of the other girls closeness without being accusatory of Ikki. I have to say that I do think it would be better if Ikki could be a little more mindful about Stella’s feelings and worries about other women. Yes, he has no intentions or feelings toward the other girls, but I think it would be a good message if he were to not be that typical protagonist, nice to everyone to such a point that his girlfriend gets worried. Learn the things that make her uncomfortable, and stop doing them. I don’t think that Stella’s been unreasonable at all, but the show is always making her be the one who is understanding and accepting. A man being mindful of the things that makes his girlfriend uncomfortable isn’t ‘controlling’ or overly jealous, it’s being a good boyfriend.
About Highway
Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Ikki gets a bit handsy.
The anime version really played up the lewdness of the thigh scene, which was rather muted in the novel.
Also, Shizuku’s extra appearances and brocon dialogue are mostly anime original; she had very few scenes in Vol 2. Likely this is to appeal to the target otaku audience.
This is not a “kill or be killed” world they’re building.
Apart from a small reference to a “previous world war”, there’s not as much worldbuilding in this series. Other LNs would have spent several paragraphs explaining the said war.
Re. killing, the novels do explain most Blazers end up joining the army, to use their powers for national defense. Kanata, the StuCo girl in the white dress, was previously recruited to help take down various terror groups like the mall terrorists from Ep 3.
The novels hint Kanata’s not to be messed with, having a “presence…like thick fresh blood…that could not be hidden no matter how much perfume she wore…Both Ikki and Stella felt a fleeting, incomparable feeling of disgust.”
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
See, I think that’s a good thing that they’re not going on with what the war was or what the point of being a blazer is. Because that’s not really important to the story as it pertains to high schoolers. And that’s good, like I was saying, because it’s not some do-or-die thing, nor is it “We need these high schoolers to save the world!” It makes the consequences feel more appropriate, like these kids are actually *preparing* for the rest of their lives, no matter what they may end up doing.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Sexy scans of Shizuku and Stella:
https://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=5692994&postcount=763
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Rakudai’s author, Misora Riku (guy wearing shades), appeared at a Taiwanese anime event this year.
http://www.animen.com.tw/FilesUpload/CK-Images/150811_44_02.JPG
Rakudai’s his first ever novel, making him a novice writer. But he’s currently working on a new series, Ultimate Antihero.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I know I talked about novice writers not being that great in this week’s asterisk post, but one also needs to remember that a lot of authors’ best works are their first work. My point in talking about that was more about the slavish devotion to the original material, and indeed, this kind of proves the point. We have a novice writer, and Shin Oonuma is adapting it in the way he thinks it’s best, while not losing the things that made the novel good. I applaud this kind of collaboration, much more than heavy-handed decrees from the “voice of god”.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I thought Ayase was the perfect Third Girl to add. At the moment she doesn’t have any romantic inclinations towards Ikki, but that can change once he “saves” her. I’m hoping they put more agency in her hands to do the saving.
So, is Shizuku’s confidence a false face? She’s awfully chipper when Alice is around, but that can change…
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I actually feel like Shizuku’s attitude has changed subtly but completely. She has, essentially, given up on succeeding in her romantic goals with her brother, and is now taking her fun in trolling Stella. It felt to me that while she was praising Ayase as someone that she wouldn’t mind seeing Ikki with, she was also acknowledging Stella as suitable for Ikki, even as she continued to wind up Stella about her physical differences. To me, this fits in with what zztop says above about how they’re adding her in in parts that she’s not really in in the novels, because it’s easy to add a character like that in.
To me it feels like the show has successfully turned Shizuku and Stella into friends, and that the whole group is doing very well in their friendship. And it kind of feels that that friendship in the group has replaced Shizuku’s focus for Ikki.
Ayase was fine to add this way, and given the OTP nature of this story, even if she does decide “I want to be with a guy like that” it won’t go anywhere, just like Shizuku and Kagami’s attentions.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Episode six Endcard:
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