Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry – 06

They’re intent on not showing us a straightforward kiss, but this will do

Wanna know how to make Highway happy when you’re figuring out how much of your show to devote to fighting versus how much to devote to character development and exploration?

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!