Knight's & Magic

Having died in a car accident, Tsubasa Kurata—an otaku from modern Japan—is reborn in the Fremmevilla Kingdom, a medieval world where powerful mechs called Silhouette Knights are used to fight horrific demonic beasts.

Born into a noble family under the name of Ernesti Echevarria and bestowed with prodigious magical abilities, he enrolls into Royal Laihaila Academy. This school of magic trains young men and women on how to pilot the Silhouette Knights, prepping them to protect the kingdom from threats, both demonic and human. Ernesti teams up with the twins named Adeltrud and Archid Olter with the goal to create his own Silhouette Knight one day, a feat unheard of for several centuries.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Echevarria, Ernesti Main

Takahashi, Rie Japanese

Olter, Adeltrud Main

Ohashi, Ayaka Japanese

Olter, Archid Main

Sugawara, Shinsuke Japanese

Oberg, Helvi Supporting

Itou, Shizuka Japanese

Fremmevira, Emrys Geijer Supporting

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Cojal, Horacio Supporting

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Kuschpercha, Eleonora Miranda Supporting

Tamura, Yukari Japanese

Frykberg, Nora Supporting

Kakuma, Ai Japanese

Kirjarinta, Quitterie Supporting

Han, Keiko Japanese

Dixgard, Knut Supporting

Hashi, Takaya Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Ootomo, Toshiya Producer

Ozaki, Ryouta Producer

Kashimura, Emi Producer

Reviews

Feb 22, 2024

Franktamas

Recommended

Knight's & Magic
If I had to describe the show with one word it would be: Competent

The world-building is fundamentally a baseline on how to do a fantasy setting right, everything is correctly built up, we get more than enough info of both the world and the magic-system so it is fully logical, understandable and intriguing.
I made fun of the base premise*⁠, but it was an effective and necessary setup for the story to be told this way.

The characters are really well done, all have their agencies, several of them have their own arcs, and even their own lives and thinking are completely logical and intelligent ... so they feel relatable and human, even their flaws come from their base character so even when they fail it is sympathetic.

For the plot I just go back to the word of today's review: competent. Sadly, it is mainly the base element I can criticize, especially as it felt like the story, they wanted to tell would've needed more than 13 episodes, but as they only got that many, they tried to cram everything into those 13 episodes, which contributed to a lot of time-skips and rushed plot-lines. The story was kind of predictable for a more experienced eye, but it might just be a routine issue. [When a racer can predict the second half of a racecourse, just by how the 1 half went.]
Still, it was really engaging and full of twists and turns that kept the interest always high, with new elements and challenges for our heroes to overcome.

To summarize I'd say that competence is the main element, but it does feel as if it was written by an AI. Everything is designed to a mastered textbook level, but there were really few peaks of quality. In numerical terms there was no moment that went below a 7, but there was no moment above a 9 either.

8.6/10

Subjective parts: I don't like CG, but it was nothing egregious, and maybe it is a hot take, but although I like Rie Takahashi, and she did manage to make a 10-12yo boy voice, for the latter part it was really weird having a 15-17 boy/man still having Rie as a voice actress.

*2017 isekai show about a successful company-man getting reincarnated into a young fragile body, where he uses his knowledge from his previous life and integrates it with the magical elements of the new settings, because of that he quickly climbs the ranks and becomes a child prodigy, but with every promotion the situation just gets more and more dangerous for both him the team he gets to lead [which was specifically granted/created for him by the country's leader].

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Nov 11, 2024

kottadragon

Mixed Feelings

6/10. Nothing special at best and inoffensive at worst. The premise is the run-of-the-mill isekai slop, though the harping about programming like it’s some superpower and the clear ‘literally me’ MC can get a little eye roll-y. The mech designs, at least are pretty cool and the Ikaruga makes for one of the more memorable things the show has to offer.

The episodes blaze by events, often to the story's detriment. But that same fast pacing is a bit of a catch-22. There's never any time to develop strong attachments to anything, nor is there a chance for anything to overstay its welcome or for you ... to dwell on the show's flaws.

The ones who often suffer the most from this are the characters. The cast is so large and events fly by so fast, aside from some notable ones like Dietrich they blend together. Knights & Magic would definitely benefit from reserving some time to focus on some members of the cast more, flesh out their thoughts, their drives, and how they react to the world around them. I am, at the very least, grateful that on the flipside doesn’t ever fall into the trap of an episode-long internal struggle about killing.

All this sounds terrible in a vacuum, but it’s really not when you’re experiencing it. It’s just the way the show goes; bouncing between scenes that range from mid to fun. The sort of show that you can sit through in a single sitting and walk away from feeling kind of satisfied but retaining no real lasting impression.

Given what the show sets up, there are interesting places it could go by giving the MC a revolutionary rival to help push the bounds of the Silhouette Knights and warfare across the setting, but the season concludes before it can truly enact upon it outside of giving you a taste of it in the final arc.

I can honestly recall nothing about the soundtrack.

Save Knights & Magic for your mecha binge and give it a watch when you’ve finally worked through the really good stuff and need something to dull the edge before it's time to start dumpster diving.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 26, 2023

RESOLVING_POWER

Not Recommended

I watched Knight's & Magic. Here are my thoughts:

This anime is about a geeky programmer who gets isekai'd into a fantasy world where he is transformed into an androgynous mecha-fanatic (inb4: wow he's literally me!). The isekai world is like a medieval fantasy setting but with mechs added. Basically, this is a typical isekai show but with a lot of mecha-related content. If you stripped away the mecha theme, this would be an utterly generic medieval isekai. The mecha theme in a medieval setting is the only thing this anime has going for it – there really isn't any other selling point. In general this ... show feels fun and self-aware of its own silliness.

After the first couple episodes I was feeling cautiously optimistic about this anime, but as I progressed further my enthusiasm declined. I wanted to like this but the actual story is quite dull and boring. The story feels better suited for an LN instead of anime, which isn't surprising since this is an LN adaptation. A large portion of the show consists of the MC tinkering around in the mech mechanic shop, which could be interesting but the execution is so underwhelming (it's probably cooler in literature format). This issue is aggravated by the mechs functioning via some kind of nonsensical magic that isn't ever adequately explained. I think all the tinkering and mechanic shop scenes would have been way more interesting if the mechs operated on physical principles, or at least all the engineering aspects were coherently explained. Anyway, when the mech conflicts do occur they feel totally formulaic. This anime fails to deliver any kind of engaging storyline, and the episodes feel like a slog to get through as a result. I never felt the slightest flicker of excitement or suspense while watching this. It should be noted that I haven't read the LN and can't vouch for the quality of the source material nor the fidelity of this adaptation.

The characters themselves are rather lackluster; nobody is memorable in any way besides the MC. The supporting cast is tropey, generic, and underdeveloped. I liked the MC though – he was fun and his enthusiasm for mechs was infectious. The MC's VA suited him well, and his clingy female companion (Adeltrud) has some cute voicework too. There are all sorts of bastardized western-Continental-European names for everything that are a neverending source of amusement when paired with the Japanese dialogue in this ridiculous show.

Some of the action scenes are decent, although a little crude at times. This is hardly a high-budget blockbuster movie; CGI is frequently used to animate the mechs and monsters. Don't go into this anime expecting mindblowing action scenes, you won't get that here. However, some of the mechs are pretty cool, and there's a decent variety of mech models featured in the show. Furthermore, sometimes the setting looks nice; for example, the medieval castles have a lot of aesthetic moments.

Although the OST is nothing special from a musical perspective, it has a unique medieval flavour that suited the setting well (think historic-European instruments like bagpipes and various types of horns). It is a comical juxtaposition to hear music like that playing while the screen is filled with mechs battling.

You probably won't be surprised to hear that this show can be fairly juvenile and generally feels catered to a young audience.


My personal overall rating: 4/10
Were it not for the mecha theme, this would be a boring formulaic medieval isekai. The story in this is not compelling or interesting at all. Most of the characters are underdeveloped and tropey, with the exception of the MC who is fun and likeable. The show in general is fun and playful, and feels like it isn't meant to be taken seriously even though it involves military conflict. There is a ton of 'mech fanservice' in this, and for diehard mecha fans it might be worth watching. Aside from the cool mecha action, I didn't particularly enjoy this anime.

The thing I savoured most about this show was the action scenes, but that's more a consequence of the story, characters and script all sucking. If you just want to chill out and watch mechs fight in medieval castles and shoot lasers at each other, this show is fine for that. Honestly, you won't miss out on much if you just skip all the duller dialogue-heavy scenes. This isn't an anime you should take seriously.

I'm probably the wrong audience for this. For diehard mecha fans, I think this show is worth a try. Also, boys around roughly preteen age might enjoy this anime.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Knight's & Magic Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Sep 24, 2017	110 replies	by PedroKarim64 »» Aug 22, 12:42 PM
	Poll: Knight's & Magic Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Jul 23, 2017	52 replies	by removed-user »» May 31, 5:40 AM
	Poll: Knight's & Magic Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Jul 16, 2017	77 replies	by removed-user »» May 31, 1:12 AM
	Poll: Knight's & Magic Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Jul 9, 2017	89 replies	by removed-user »» May 31, 12:45 AM
	Poll: Knight's & Magic Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Stark700 - Jul 2, 2017	235 replies	by removed-user »» May 31, 12:04 AM