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Knight’s & Magic (Season One)

Knight's & Magic Title

When a gifted programmer is killed in a car accident, he wakes to find himself reborn into a new world with magic, monsters and giant mecha! Luckily, he’s retained his memories and goes about making his dreams come true.

What did you watch?

This was my selection for the letter K in my A to Z Anime Challenge. Now, first things first. The apostrophe in Knight’s… they put it there, not me. Ironically, on the manga, it doesn’t have the errant apostrophe, but I’m reviewing the anime, so it is what it is. This was another series that I knew nothing about before I watched it, which is a fun way to do it. No expectations, no spoilers. Although this review will have spoilers… anyhow, let’s get on with the review.

Knights And Magic Young Ernesti

What happened?

Tsubasa Kurata was a gifted programmer and mecha otaku until a car accident ended his life. He was, however, reincarnated as a young boy in a mysterious Kingdom where magic exists. With his knowledge of programming and obsession with mecha, Ernesti (Tsubasa) was determined to become a Silhouette Knight pilot known as a Knight Runner, but given his small stature and weak body, it seemed unlikely.

That wasn’t enough to put Ernesti off though, if need be he’ll learn the secrets and build his own giant mecha. Luckily, his knowledge of programming has prepared him for the use of magic, which seems fairly similar. He enrols in the prestigious Laihiala Academy and soon finds himself thrust into a dangerous situation, but it’s also one where he can show off his true potential.

Knights And Magic Silhouette Knights Training

What did you think?

There was a lot of things that I enjoyed in this series. The magic mechas were an interesting twist and I loved how they equated magic to programming. That was cool. I think my main issue with the series was Ernesti himself. He was always too sure of himself and overconfident, which thanks to his wealthy upbringing and connected family it didn’t seem to matter what he did. It was all too easy. I would have preferred that he was from a regular family and had to break the class system to get to the top.

Knight's & Magic Silhouette Knight Versus Giant Demon Tortoise

What was your favourite moment?

That was when Ernesti first took control of a Silhouette Knight that he had stolen from a Knight Runner that ran away. He modified the controls to his needs and took on a monstrous demon beast. The battle itself was pretty epic and the finishing move that Ernesti performed was awesome. That was fairly early in the series and while there were lots of other great fights, this was the one that really stood out to me.

Knights And Magic Ernesti takes over a Silhouette Knight

What was your least favourite moment?

Again, I found the ease with which everything just seemed to happen to Ernesti became quite boring. Sure, there were minor setbacks here and there, but it really didn’t give the story any oomph. On top of that, I found Ernesti to be quite annoying, so that didn’t help much either.

Knights And Magic Young Ernesti shows his Skills

Who was your favourite character?

I found Helvi to be the most entertaining character. She was easily the best of the three older Knight Runners and had the most entertaining personality too. It may have helped that when they redesigned her Silhouette Knight she ended up with a motorcycle-style sitting position… I said “may” have helped… Seriously, let’s just move on to the next section…

Knight's & Magic Helvi

Who was your least favourite character?

Unfortunately, it was Ernesti, which is quite the downer for the lead character in a series. He was just too annoyingly perfect and everything seemed to work out for him.

Knights And Magic Ernesti

Who needs more screen time?

Obviously, we need to see a whole lot more of Helvi. She disappeared for a fairly large part of the show because her Silhouette Knight was stolen, which leads me to another character that could have had more time and that was Lady Kerhilt. She was the leader of the group known as the Bronze Fangs. She was a little unhinged and quite deadly, which are all great qualities for anime villains.

Knight's & Magic Lady Kerhilt

Would you like another season?

It’s hard to not compare this to other Isekai series, especially as Ernesti was overpowered in a sense. His knowledge of programming and mecha definitely gave him a far superior edge of anyone else and when you threw in his nobility and family ties. It was a novel way of having an overpowered main character but it didn’t really work for me in this one.

So, let me quickly say that despite some of my comments, I did enjoy the series. However, I don’t think I’d be too keen on another season. It pretty much tied up most of the stories in the thirteen episodes and I wouldn’t be too thrilled to spend any more time with Ernesti.

Knights And Magic Ernesti taking on a Silhouette Dragon

Other reviews in the series

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14 Comments

  1. I felt the same way about Ernesti. Even if they wanted to make him this extremely knowledgeable guy, I feel like they could have at least thrown some wrenches in the works.. definitely felt too perfect in that sense.

    • Yeah, I’m all for the overpowered MC but the surprise should be in how they do it not knowing that they will. This all felt to straight forward and everything just worked out. I loved the idea of magic working like programming though. That was cool.

    • Yeah it’s a weird one. I’m a huge fan of the overpowered fighter, and the overpowered strategist, but with Ernesti it just felt a bit off.. maybe his age had something to do with it too

    • I think his family ties took everything too far. He was already in an elevated position where as if he’d been a regular guy it would have given him an obstacle that would have been far more complicated to overcome.

  2. I loved this show so much. I think I got a post about it on the blog back in the early days.

    Mostly because it was a celebration of Otaku culture and the geek lifestyle. Putting aside the fact that Erensti is responsible for the deaths of millions in the future because of his inventions, he is a boy who wants to just create giant robots, and that childlike innocence seeps into everything and everyone around him.

    This show came around right when I was getting back into anime, and a time where people were starting to hate the things they loved, so to see a show like this be so proud of being an otaku/nerd, it warmed the heart.

    • That’s true. There was a lot to like about the show, I just found Ernesti to be too annoying as a character and how easy everything was for him was frustrating. Like how the elves would train for years and years to create the engine, but Ernesti goes in there and picks it all up in a week or so.

    • Thems the breaks when it comes to Isekai though, there has to be a suspension of disbelief, or at least you gotta check your shit at the door.

      I dunno, I found it more than believable, but that was my first isekai show I think I watched…ever since I got back into anime, I bet now I’d be more eh about it.

  3. I was definitely not a big fan of Ernesti. Knights and Magic was one anime that just didn’t work for me even though it objectively isn’t much worse than most other isekai anime. I think that main character who I just didn’t like watching was enough to sour the experience.

    • It’s a pretty big part to go wrong. There are some things you can excuse but not liking the MC is definitely a worry.

    • That’s why I still haven’t managed to get to the second episode of Re:Zero. I cannot stand the MC.

    • I’m planning on watching it as my R. Not seen it before. I’ll have to keep an eye on him!

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