Hello everyone. Justin here and welcome to the Otaku Mind. Let’s talk about Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry. Getting started back in 2013 and having an anime adaption in 2015, this series quickly gained a good fanbase. While the story was a bit generic, the way it was told was good and the characters were great. However, if you ask me, the one thing that made this series really stand out is the amazing fight scenes. Each fight presented in this anime was great. They were exciting, emotional, and most importantly, they told a good story and argument. If you watched Super Eyepatch Wolf’s video about “What Makes A Fight Scene Interesting?” he says that fight scenes are basically arguments between two or more characters. When you really think about it he makes a good point. Fights are just stories/arguments between two people. However, instead of words (which some fights do), they instead use their fists, swords or weapons to prove that their point is the correct one and both are prepared for the consequences of their losses should they fail. Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry really does excel in this and that’s why for this Otaku Mind I’m going to analyze each of the fight scenes from least to best. I hesitate to say worst because all these fights are great, it’s just that some of the fights are obviously better than the other. Anyway, we’ll look at the characters who are fighting, the story being told, the emotions, and anything else I can think of that enhances or hurts the fight. Let’s begin.
Ikki vs Stella
Yeah the fight major fight scene in the series is probably my least favorite. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad fight, it just doesn’t carry that much technical and emotional narrative as the other fights in the anime. The story of this fight is that Ikki who at this point has been established as the weakest student in school because he lacks talented abilities like other students is going up against the new student who is a prodigy and blessed with a amazing talent but also understands the importance of hard work and how hard work will always outweigh those who just rely on their talents to win a fight. For Ikki, winning this fight is to prove to everyone and himself that he belongs here and can keep up with the best of them despite not having the talent to use magic. For Stella, it’s proving to everyone that she’s not just a talented fighter but someone who puts in the hard work to be strong. For a good chunk of the fight Ikki is on the defense, slowly getting a feel for Stella’s swordplay so that he can better predict her moves. Once he finally has a grip on her swordplay, he goes on the attack and pushes Stella back until she has no choice but to use a move that goes against her style and when that fails she has no choice but to use her powers to defeat Ikki which even she is ashamed to do because she wanted prove that she could beat him without relying on her powers. Yet, despite this, Ikki manages to defeat her with one hit. Like I said, from a technical and emotional narrative it’s really not all that good. The technical narrative is that each character wants to prove their skills to each other, themselves, and to the school. That’s okay, as it gives us the viewer insight into who Ikki and Stella are as characters. The emotional narrative unfortunately isn’t there as neither one has no past with each other no mixed feelings for one another (yet) and are just fighting to settle a small misunderstanding. A good introduction fight to the series but not the best fight in my opinion.
Ikki vs Toka
The final fight in the anime as well as the shortest fight. After battling his way through the school tournament, Ikki has reach the finals where waiting for him is none other than Toka the student council president and the favorite to win. The technical narrative for this fight is that Ikki had been locked up by his family after it was discovered that he and Stella are dating each other. He gets bought in for questioning and locked up as a prisoner where he is not fed for 18 days where he fights other opponents. Only until he is exhausted mentally and physically is he released and on the day of his final match against Toka who is fully aware of this BS and tries to get Ikki’s sister Shizuku to get him to pull out from the match. Toka has tremendous amount of respect for Ikki and wants to face him when he’s at his best. Even though she wants to win she doesn’t want to win like this. She can’t back out of it because she’s the student council president and has a responsibility to her school to be the strongest. The fight is over as soon as it begins as Ikki summons all of his strength and beats Toka with one quick-draw slash beating Toka to the punch. This is everyone’s least favorite fight in the series. I guess after seeing Toka’s previous fight which I’ll get to later, everyone was expecting something along those lines if not more but keep in mind, Toka’s fighting style is quick. She likes to end her fights quickly as she knows that if she prolongs the fight it’ll give her opponents time to build momentum. While technical narrative for this fight is good, the emotional narrative is the part that keeps this fight low. There’s no emotional weight on Toka’s part. She wants to win but she’s okay with losing to someone like Ikki as she has respect for him so she’s kind of indifferent to the outcome of the fight. For Ikki, the emotional weight is there as he wants to win not only for himself but for everyone who has cheered for him and to show those who have doubted him and tried to hold him back that he will never give up. It’s a short fight but I personally did enjoy it.
Ikki vs Kirihara
Okay, now we’re starting to get into the good stuff. This was Ikki’s first fight in the school tournament where he faces off against the arrogant Kirihara a student born with exceptional talent and does everything in his power to belittle and humiliate Ikki every chance he gets. The technical narrative here is that Ikki is nervous as everything is riding on this tournament for him and if he fails here he may never get another shot like this again. For Kirihara he has a reputation to uphold as he placed pretty high last year and once again wants to use this opportunity to belittle and humiliate Ikki. The match starts good for Ikki as he studied Kirihara’s skills from the last year and knows how to counter them, but Kirihara presents a new skill which throws Ikki off his game and begins to torture Ikki mentally, even getting the whole school to openly mock him during the fight. It’s only until Stella shuts the crowd up and encourages Ikki that he finally gets back on his feet. With his nerves settled, he counters Kirihara’s new skill and sends him on the run where he’s so scared for his life that he begs for his life and gives up before fainting in front of everyone out of pure terror. This is a fight that had a good balance of technical and emotional narrative. The technical story being that Ikki has to settle his nerves and overcome an opponent he knows he can beat and continue on his way. You understand why he’s so nervous and can’t help but cheer for him. For Kirihara it’s just proving to others that he’s the best and that Ikki is nothing. The emotional narrative here is that there might have been a hint of doubt in Ikki’s mind that maybe he can’t do it and Kirihara was exploiting that doubt which made Ikki sloppier and bought him out of his game. Kirihara’s emotional narrative is that he truly does believe he’s the best and enjoys every minute of torturing Ikki because his skills are so great. He truly believes that being talented is greater than hard work and when Ikki crushes that belief of his and has him scared for his life do we truly get to see Kirihara’s true personality. A spineless coward who relied solely on his talent to win battles for him and nothing else. A satisfying fight with a good ending.
Ikki vs Ayase
Out of all of Ikki’s fights this was probably is most impressive. The story of this fight is that Ikki befriends Ayase a senior student who is the daughter of a swordsman Ikki respects. When it gets announced that they’ll be facing each other in the tournament, Ayase throws herself off a building in front of Ikki knowing that he’ll save her no matter what. He’s forced to use his sacred arts to save her which weakens him before their match. Ayase did this on purpose because she wants to win no matter what as a student from another school defeated her father, put him in a coma, and took his dojo. Ayase now wants revenge against that man and in order to face him she must win the tournament. Ayase does everything in this match to make sure she wins but despite all of her underhanded tactics Ikki pulls out the victory. This fight has the second best emotional narrative in the anime. Ayase is prepared to sacrifice everything. Her teachings, morals, honor, ideals, and respect all in the name of revenge. She doesn’t care how she wins just as long as she wins. For Ikki, this fight is him trying to save Ayase from herself. While he’s mad at what Ayase has done he knows that deep down she is in great pain and needs help. He stays true to his swordsmanship to show her that her way will never work for her and will just destroy her in the end. The technical narrative here is that Ikki has to adapt to this new Ayase that is before him. The one that he sees now is a lie and so he must change up his tactics and start presenting now skills to throw off Ayase. As the match goes on and all of Ayase’s underhanded tactics begin to fail her she begins to faulter and the real Ayase begins to resurface. Ayase tried hard to create an evil person to fool herself and everyone but no matter how hard she tries, Ikki was able to see through all of it and see the real her. It’s a fight that teaches us that cheaters can never truly win.
Ikki vs Kuraudo
Hands down the second best fight in the anime. The sword fighting was spectacular between these two characters. After beating Ayase and getting her to ask for help, Ikki takes on Kuraudo in a fight for Ayase’s family dojo where he wins. While this fight may not have much of an emotional narrative it’s the technical narrative that really places this fight high on my list. Like I said before the swordplay in this fight is top notch as it’s two powerful swordsmen who recognize the skills of each other and are enjoying their fight with each other. This is a fast-paced fight where both Ikki and Kuraudo present an argument and counter-argument for each other. Neither one has anytime to gain the upper hand and even when one does it usually doesn’t last long. The fight does end in Ikki’s victory and Ayase regaining her family’s dojo. While the emotional narrative isn’t much I do think it’s worth talking about Kuraudo. In the eyes of Ayase he is a cruel man and our first meeting of him is of him trying to provoke Ikki into a fight by spitting in his face and everything. However, despite his cruel nature, he is the first and probably the only person in the anime to recognize Ikki’s skills immediately. Showing us that he has good insight to others and doesn’t believe that whole talent is everything talk that everyone throws around. Through the fight we see him smile throughout all of it as he’s having fun and enjoying every minute of his fight with Ikki. He’s been looking for a challenge for so long and now he’s finally found one. Out of all the fights this is probably the one that a lot of people forget about when discussing this anime but for me it’s easily Ikki’s best fight as he and his opponent are enjoying every minute of what they’re doing.
Shizuku vs Toka
In an ironic twist, the best fight in the anime is the fight that doesn’t involve the main character at all but his sister. In the school tournament Shizuku takes on Toka who at this point in the anime had just made her appearance where she quickly established herself as this incredible badass with amazing sword skills and was considered to be the strongest student in school. Just like I said before, this fight is just another fight for Toka to establish herself as the strongest student there and be their symbol. For Shizuku, this fight means more. She wants to win this fight in order to stand by Ikki’s side. Unlike the rest of her family, Shizuku actually cares for Ikki to the point where it’s borderline incest. Shizuku knows she’s going up against a wall and we know as the audience watching that this fight will end in her defeat but despite knowing all of this, this fight had us on the edge of our seats. We were invested into this fight as for a split second they made us believe that Shizuku could pull this off that she was going to win. We all cheered for her and when she lost, we all cried with her. She did everything. She studied her opponent, analyzed all of her moves, was able to adapt and present counter-arguments to Toka yet despite all of this it still wasn’t enough to defeat her. This was a beautiful and emotional fight from beginning to end. While there’s no denying that Shizuku was the better and more versatile fighter, Toka was the strongest, played to her strengths, and never once lost her cool as she knew what she had to do to win and did it. That’s why for me, this fight is the best fight in the anime.
Folks, that’s going to do it for me. I hoped you enjoyed this Otaku Mind and gained some interest or appreciation for this series. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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