- I N T R O -
I was looking for the next quick watch to help me relax from all of the great but tense anime I've been watching and I decided on Rakudai Kishi No Cavalry after seeing a few fun clips on YouTube. I wasn't left with a good taste in my mouth, not to say I didn't expect it... but it wasn't anywhere near to this extent, here's why :

- S T O R Y -
There are humans capable of using magical power to manifest their souls as weapons and they are called Blazers, and those who are recognized as such undergo training at academies to become Mage-Knights.
Ikki Kurogane is an aspiring Mage-Knight, despite being considered the worst student at Hagun Academy as an F-ranked Blazer—the lowest rank possible.

One morning, he accidentally stumbles upon Stella Vermillion, a visiting princess and A-ranked Blazer who has just enrolled at Hagun, in a state of undress. As a result, she challenges him to a duel where the loser will be the winner’s slave. It seems like a surefire win for Stella, but could there be more to Ikki than meets the eye?

Of course there is something more to him, he's the protagonist of a Light Novel adaptation.
The premise is insultingly generic and the story itself is no different. All of the LN clichés you could think of, it's like Rakudai hits them all on purpose.
The pacing is too fast at moments and at some episodes it's non-existent.
The writing feels extremely amateurish at more than a few points and the comedy is extremely forced.

The battle scenes are handled alright, though they're nothing great. Two of the battles are well choreographed and do flow nicely, but that's far too few. Every other battle relies on absolute non-sense or Ikki's ability which is to use 100% of his power in one go, since humans can never bring out 100% of their power.
Though this ability does not last long and serves as a victimization tool for the protagonist. The moment it's duration expires, Ikki collapses because he's tired to create the illusion he really struggled with the battle when he easily defeated his opponent with his plot convenient power.

- C H A R A C T E R S -
None of the characters are unique, Kurogane is nothing more than your typical bland self-insert present in plenty of Light Novels. He has no personality outside of constantly spewing his clichéd ideologies like ''Friends should never be hurt'', ''the truly strong ones are the people who have someone to protect'', etc.
Other than him being a rather weak character, there's nothing much to say about him. His backstory is mildly interesting but it is nothing new.
The main female lead, Stella, is a basic tsundere. They didn't go out of their way to flesh her out or make her a unique. She's just a waifu archetype and nothing more.
In fact, every single female in this series is a waifu archetype, none of them are developed. They feel rather uninspired in terms of design.

Whatever antagonists this anime has, he/she's nothing more than a one dimensional villain to make sure the MC looks cool infront of the girl. They don't really have much of a personality on their own.

The show also tried to shamelessly force in incest, yes, it doesn't miss out a single clichéd Light Novel trope.
His sister is in love with him, she's nothing more than a shallow character serving only as a love rival to the main female lead.
Alongside her, we're introduced to another character, he happens to be male so of course in order to not get in the way of the harem he has ''a maiden's heart''.

The main selling point of Rakudai Kishi No Cavalry is the fact that unlike many anime of that sort, the main characters do get in a relationship, that doesn't stop Kurogane from having his low-key ship moments with the other girls to tease the fans of course. Also, every single romantic interaction of theirs is extremely forced, the author felt the need to constantly remind the viewers/readers that the two MCs are in a relationship and that it's a big deal.

- A R T & A N I M A T I O N -
The art in Rakudai feels extremely bland and uninspired, you would have a hard time setting it apart from similar anime such as Kuusen Madoushi Kouhosei no Kyoukan or many other. There is no set atmosphere in it, it's just a regular city with a messy setting. It seems more technologically advanced in certain places but other locations feel just like a regular city building. Despite all of this, it does fit with the series and still does feel pretty at places.

Art aside, the animation is actually good during the action scenes, it flows nicely but as I mentioned before, the battles themselves are not well choreographed, they feel like a slugfest of random attacks, only the very first battle had some kind of strategy involved but even then the animation still makes the action scenes enjoyable.

- O V E R A L L -
Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry is a terrible anime with pretty but uninspired visuals, bland cast and terrible writing that plays out like an amateurish fan-fiction written by an edgy 12 year old.