Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. The Shakespearean romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet is an all-time classic. Two people from warring families who were brought together by love only to sadly die in each other’s arms. The story is timeless and has popped up a number of times throughout media over the years. Most of the adaptations are good such as West Side Story (both versions. Yes, I like the musical. Piss off haters) but then there are some obscure adaptations that fly under radar like today’s anime, Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World. Based on the light novel written by Kei Sazane in 2017 and still continuing to this day. KimiSen as its abbreviated in Japan made its anime debut at a time when the industry was barren, 2020. With a lot of anime being delayed due to covid, fans would take just about any anime that came out to sate their boredom from being inside all day. The anime was produced by Silver Link (Baka & Test) who were one of the MVP studios that year in terms of fantasy animes. They had a hit with Bofuri, My Next Life as a Villainess, and Maō Gakuin no Futekigōsha. All of which had low expectations but wound up being better than anyone predicted. Just like its predecessors, KimiSen also had low expectations, so how did the anime fair? Let’s close out the month of love with love. This is Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World.
Opening and Ending Theme
For the opening we have “Against” by Kaori Ishihara. It’s alright. I didn’t really care for it all that much but it definitely sounds like something you would hear in a Final Fantasy game. Apparently, the director like it because this song would always play during a big battle between the characters.
The ending is “Koori no Torikago” by Sora Amamiya. I did like this more than the opening. I mean it’s Sora Amamiya. It’s impossible not to fall in love with her sing. I especially like the piano at the beginning. It gets your attention and serves as a great lead in to the song.
Episodes 1-4
The anime opens up talking about astral power, a strange energy source within the planet that was too powerful for humans. Over the years people started to be born with astral power and this scared normal people. They became shunned by the empire being called witches and oppressed until they rose up against the empire and fought back (that’s right, use that anger to get your self-respect). They soon formed their own nation called the Nebulis Sovereignty, a nation that would oppose the technologically advanced empire (ah~ the classic science vs magic setup). We focus on a group of knights known as saint disciples who are getting ready to head out on a mission to suppress a witch (hey, that’s offensive). The group consists of our main character Iska voiced by Yūsuke Kobayashi (Arslan from The Heroic Legend of Arslan), his friend Jhin, cute childhood friend Nene, and their moe captain Mismis (yeah, I can already see the doujins for this series). They arrive at a plant in the woods and go out to meet with another unit where they get ambushed by mages. Iska and Jhin take on the mages with Iska staying behind to handle another mage. He defeats the mage and interrogates her where he soon comes face to face with Alice, princess of the Nebulis Sovereignty voiced by Sora Amamiya (Aqua from Konosuba). The two fight against each other where we find out they both want to end this war and bring peace to the world. Alice retreats after Iska catches her from falling where she spends all day thinking about Iska (love at first sight). Wanting a change of scenery, Alice goes to an opera in a neutral city and runs into Iska once again (scene here: https://youtu.be/1YKy6pElnQA).
In episode 2 we start by finding out that Iska got the ticket from Mismis in the hopes that a change of scenery will help him sleep better since he hasn’t slept well. Throughout episode 2 we see Iska and Alice interact and their interactions are cute and funny. There’s this one scene where they both discover they like pasta and talk about which one is the best where they both like the same thing. Later on, the two run into each other at an art exhibit where they tour the exhibit together and Alice is invested in Iska’s thoughts on art and what he sees. At the end, we see them sit on a bench together where Iska falls asleep and rests on the shoulder of Alice (scene here: https://youtu.be/ytVUqLhQNPw).
Things start to get interesting in episode 3. Iska gains an audience with the higher-ups who are impressed with him matching blades with Alice. They’re so impressed that they offer to reinstate him as a saint disciple. In the past, Iska was a saint disciple putting him high up in the military until one day he freed a captured astral mage (why the hell would he do that?). Apparently, the astral mage was only a child with little to no astral powers and Iska couldn’t stand the Empire harming her because of it. He was shortly arrested after this and served a one-year sentence in solitary confinement for treason (seems like a light sentence) and now has a chance to earn back his title if he can capture Alice. Betting on fate he goes back to Neutral City in the hopes of finding Alice who also wants to meet up with him and get the full story into why he freed the astral mage. Mismis joins Iska and they meet Alice and her maid Rin in the city. They go to a disclosed location to talk where Iska says his goal was to capture Alice and negotiate peace between the two sides. While Alice also wants peace she says his plan would fail as her mother wouldn’t bat an eye at her getting captured and would continue to fight the Empire until they were destroyed (what a bitch. And they call Alice the Ice Witch). Alice instead says that Iska should defect to the Nebulis Sovereignty and serve under her (I’m sure you would both benefit from that). Just then the sky opens up (the sky is falling) and out comes a being known as The Founder. The Founder was the first astral mage who appeared 100 years ago and nearly destroyed the Empire. Iska and Alice team up where they defeat The Founder and send her back to sleep (scene here: https://youtu.be/nqqqt5byWnY). After the battle, Iska tells Alice he won’t defect and they call a temporary truce for the day as they’re too tired to fight each other (and thus the romance begins).
At the start of episode 4 Iska’s group goes to a casino to have some fun (not sure how losing one’s money is fun, but when in Rome). We see Alice is also there, but the two don’t run into each other (that actually makes me a little mad. However, they are thinking about each other a lot). After their fun, Iska’s group finds out that a vortex of astral energy is forming. In the past, this vortex of astral energy was responsible for the rise of the Sovereignty and now a second one is forming. Iska’s group has been tasked with stopping the Sovereignty from accessing the vortex and giving birth to another powerful witch like The Founder. Leading the army is another saint disciple named Nameless a cybernetic soldier who will do anything to destroy the witches and make this mission succeed. Alice also decides to investigate the vortex despite the fact that the vortex is in the area of nobles who don’t get along with the royal family and want to claim the vortex for themselves.
Episodes 5-7
In episode 5, Iska’s team is out searching for the vortex where they get a reading on it but get stopped by another team who turn out to be witches that infiltrated the army. They capture Mismis (obviously, she’s got damsel in distress written all over her body) forcing Iska and the others to stand down, but Nameless gets the jump on the witches and kills all of them except for the witch who keeps Mismis hostage (worst assassin ever). The witch escapes with Mismis and takes her back to the base of Sovereignty who have already found the vortex and have claimed it as their own. While at the base Mismis meets Alice again, but Rin knocks her out to keep Alice’s meetings with Iska a secret. Now that Alice knows Iska is in the vicinity, she hurries out to find him so they can fight (this is her idea of a date). She makes it to the imperial base and is disappointed to see that Iska isn’t there. Instead, she’s forced to fight against Nameless where she manages to scare him away. Meanwhile, Iska infiltrates the base of the Sovereignty to rescue Mismis where he fights against a witch named Kissing who is a cousin of Alice. The fight is bland and uninteresting as Iska manages to beat her without killing her. Before he and Mismis can escape, another witch named Masked Lord comes in and kicks Mismis into the vortex. Iska jumps in after her but can’t get out (really didn’t think this one through). Luckily, Alice is there to save them in exchange for a fight with Iska. He accepts her offer and just before she can get them out of there, the astral spirit within the vortex shoots them out for whatever reason (scene here: https://youtu.be/s5jktS8CH3Y).
Nothing much happens in episode 6. Alice wanders the neutral city for three days straight in the hopes of running into Iska again (wow, I don’t know what Iska did to her, but whatever it is it’s working). As for Iska, he and his team are given the mission to sneak into the Sovereignty and kidnap the queen (oh sure, and we can pop the popcorn while we’re at it). They discover that Mismis has been possessed by the astral spirit from episode 5 (really working hard to not make her baggage in this anime). The team decides to hide this from the Empire in order to protect her. Iska takes her to the neutral city where he runs into Alice (of course he does). Alice can tell that something is troubling Iska, but Rin shows up and gives him a spiked drink which he foolishly drinks. He gets knocked out just as Mismis shows up to see what happened forcing Alice to go along with Rin’s strategy to kidnap Iska and take him back to the Sovereignty (to do God knows what with him. With everything going on it’s either going to be a fight or sexy time).
In episode 7, Alice and Rin take Iska to Alcatroz, a prison city located in the Sovereignty. They take Iska to a hotel suite (oh what? No dinner or movie first? You ladies move fast). We see Rin try to kill Iska when Alice isn’t looking but she realizes what we the audience have realized since the beginning (she’s in love). Alice of course stops her and handcuffs herself to Iska to make sure he doesn’t run away. However, this changes a little when Iska asks the big questions: how will they go to the bathroom, sleep and shower (the answer: you do them all together). During his hostage situation, he does tell Alice that he considers her a rival and she’s happy about that (scene here: https://youtu.be/6Mfn3zMm8_8). While this is all going on, the members of Iska’s team sneak into the city searching for him (too bad they’re searching the wrong place) and Risya a member of the Empire goes to meet a prisoner named Salinger. The Empire is planning a large-scale invasion on the Sovereignty and want his help to capture the queen. He agrees to join them out of boredom and Risya frees him.
Episodes 8-12
In episodes 8-9 we see Alice and Rin go to the prison to help and capture escaping prisoners. Alice leaves Iska behind, however, she left the key for him to either escape or help her if he chooses (taking a big gamble eh, Alice?). Luckily, Alice’s bet paid off as Iska went to help out. He comes across the others who give him his swords and he goes to face Salinger who got done beating Rin. With the help of a battered Rin, Iska is able to defeat Salinger and then escapes with everyone else as Alice handles clean up. As the episode ends, we meet Alice’s little sister, Sisbell, who just happens to be the mage that Iska helped escape in the past. She overhears Alice and Rin talk about Iska and wants to meet him again (he’s got the big and little sister falling for him. Does his MC powers know no boundaries?).
Episode 10 focuses on Sisbell. She’s given the mission to head to Alsamira, a neutral nation that is thinking about siding with the Empire. We see she really doesn’t trust anyone in the palace because she and her sisters are in a three-way battle for the throne. So far the nobles are stuck between Alice and the oldest sister Elletear, but Sisbell isn’t really concerned about the throne as she can sense danger approaching her mom and is trying to do everything in her power to save her (shouldn’t you let her and your sisters in on this sudden peek into the future?). After Sisbell leaves, we get to meet Elletear (wow, she’s making Alice look small) who chats with Masked Lord and reveals that there’s a traitor among them believing it to be either Alice or Sisbell and asks Masked Lord for his assistance (I don’t trust her, she is too suspicious). Back with Iska’s group, they get a 60-day forced leave because they’re working too hard (that and you sent them on 3 missions that should have gotten them killed but didn’t). Wanting to keep Mismis safe, the group decides to go to Alsamira where Iska runs into Sisbell (is anyone surprised by this?). She runs away from him only to use her powers later on to track him down and asks for his help in saving the Sovereignty. As this is going on, Alice, her mom, and Rin go snooping around Sisbell’s room because of the odd behavior she’s had ever since she returned from the Empire. While snooping around, Alice finds the newspaper that talks about Iska rescuing Sisbell.
In episode 11, Sisbell talks to Iska asking for his assistance before taking her leave. Rin manages to convince the queen to let Alice go and talk to Sisbell to see what’s wrong. Sisbell approaches Iska again asking for his help and telling him about the traitor in the Sovereignty who seeks to destroy everything (scene here: https://youtu.be/dUzApAAvahA). While Iska agrees to help her he can’t go with her to the Sovereignty as he truly believes he can reach peace through negotiations (you can reach it faster with a nice sword to the face). Masked Lord and his men appear accusing Sisbell of treason and try to arrest her. Sisbell runs away and Iska steps between her and the magicians after her. However, he didn’t account for a mechanical monster going after her as well.
In the final episode, we find out that the mechanical monster is actually a weapon created by the Empire. Jhin and the others arrive to help Iska where the weapon can sense the astral spirit in Mismis. Iska takes on the weapon while Jhin fights against the astral mages and Masked Lord. We get to see Mismis use her powers to save Jhin (about time she did something) and Jhin actually destroys the mask of Masked Lord and forces him and the astral mages to retreat. Back with Iska, he manages to protect Sisbell and defeats the weapon. However, the weapon transforms into an astral spirit because the power source of this weapon is astral energy. The spirit captures Sisbell and Iska with the help of Alice manages to save her and defeat the spirit (not in that particular order). When Sisbell wakes back up, Alice pretends not to know who Iska is with Sisbell seeing through her lie (Sisbell: You are such a tsundere, sis). Sisbell decides to take advantage of this and stakes her claim on Iska wanting him to be her knight making Alice jealous (scene here: https://youtu.be/_KZ8TA2JxYM, that’s what you get for being a tsundere). Iska takes his leave and meets back up with everyone, we see the emperor meet up with Salinger in a secret location, there’s a possibility that the Ellatear we’ve been seeing is a fake, and the anime ends with Iska and Alice sitting on a bench and talking with each other.
Final Thoughts
Man, this was a tough anime to watch. The whole anime just feels unsatisfying from beginning to end. The world isn’t all that interesting, the characters feel like walking tropes, the fights aren’t good, and I just feel nothing for the characters or the war they’re in. Even the obvious dark secrets going on in the Empire or the fight for the throne in the Sovereignty aren’t entertaining. It just feels phoned in and a needless side story that nobody really cares about. The only enjoyment I got from this anime is the relationship between Iska and Alice. It’s cute, I like the banter they have with each other, I like how Alice unknowingly drops her guard around Iska, and I like how the two consider each other rivals despite both wanting the same thing. While both want to end the war they each have differences that stops them from teaming up with one another for the time being making their relationship a little more enduring. I wish there were more moments where the two sat down and talked with one another alone without any interference from other characters. The animation is nice but nothing about it really stands out and the music does nothing for me. As I said before the fights aren’t good as there’s really no pay off to them. Some fights will just end in a draw and in fights when the character does win it doesn’t feel like it mattered or has an impact in the grand scheme of things. Just like the rest of the anime it leaves you unsatisfied.
Final Score
The final score is a 3.5/10. This whole anime was just unsatisfying to watch and didn’t get me interested in the series at all. There has been rumors that a second season is in the works and if it is I’m not sure if I’ll watch as this anime does nothing for me and I feel like I could be spending my time better watching other anime. Thanks for reading I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.