Chivalry of a Failed Knight (Episode 4) - The Worst One IV

Ikki is preparing for his first match and it’s against his nemesis, Shizuya Kirihara. They have some history in which Shizuya decided to bully and mock Ikki, but now, it’s time for Ikki to win back his life!

Chivalry of a Failed Knight (Episode 4) – The Worst One IV

What happened?

Stella has her first fight and it’s a massive anti-climax. Her opponent has a huge suit of magical armour and fights like a juggernaut, but crumbles under some cruel words from Stella. She won, but it wasn’t even a fight. After the fight, Stella learns that Shizuku and Arisian both won their first fights too and while she’s coming out of the shower, Kagami charges in to interview them all. Arisian and Kagami become instant friends!

Stella finds Ikki obsessing over a video of Shizuya’s last fight, trying to find a way to win. He gives Stella his best fake confidence smile and she appears to buy it. Later Arisian approaches Ikki to talk about his past and what happened between him and Shizuya. It would appear that Shizuya has always been a jerk and it’s surprising that he wasn’t expelled for attacking a student with his weapon.

Anyhow, Ikki and Shizuya enter the arena to fight. Shizuya activates his cloaking field and begins to take shots at Ikki. Ikki seems to be handling them well, but then Shizuya reveals that he can cloak his arrows even after he’s fired them. Ikki takes hit after hit and appears to have given up. Shizuya even gets the crowd chanting “The Worst One”. Stella explodes with rage and yells at Ikki to get up, which he does and focuses his powers on predicting Shizuya’s movements.

With his focus renewed, Ikki makes quick work of tracking down Shizuya and defeats him, much to the joy of the new school trainer, Nene Saikyou. Later, after Ikki has recovered from the fight, he tells Stella he likes her. She tells him to close his eyes and even though he thinks she’s going to punch him he does. Of course, she kissed him on the cheek and admits she likes him too.

Chivalry of a Failed Knight Episode 4 Shizuya Kirihara is a massive jerk

What did you think?

So, here’s the thing with this series so far. It’s full of cliches and full of well-used tropes. In this episode, we see the hero take hit after hit and appear to be done for, but some rousing words from a love interest bring him back and give him the confidence to win. We’ve seen it a thousand times and we’ll probably see it another thousand times because it works. Yes, it is predictable, but it’s fun and it’s effective. I’m really enjoying this series and love the way the fights are animated. I’m also on board with the Stella Ikki ship. They make a great couple.