I was wrong. It was not Episode 11, but instead the penultimate episode of Knight’s & Magic that set the stage for the final battle that is coming with the finale next week. If you take the series for what it is, a mediocre story with amazing visuals, then we should look forward to the final fight between two brilliant minds, Oratio Gojass and Ernesti Echevalier. To be honest, I support neither, but their clash will be interesting.
The first half of this episode felt more like testing the waters for the final battle, and of course, for the last-minute engineering tweaks that the two protagonists, Ernesti and Oratio, had to do to their machines in order to meet one final time. Lord Gojass’s superweapon forced Ernesti’s band into a shameful tie, the first in their history. It was the first time that we saw Ernesti panicking. Losing his wings was a big deal for someone who thought himself indestructible. In true Ernesti fashion, however, he never ceased to sport that annoying ‘This is amazing’ smile on his face.
Dietrich’s fight felt a little forced on what was indeed a spectacular animated moment. No one really cares if Dietrich has changed, and bitching about his former cowardly demeanor brought nothing to the scene, but the fight against the sword freak was impressive enough to put such uninspiring dialogue aside.
As much as the show wanted to change its theme in these last episodes, there is nothing that can take the stench of the real driving force behind this series: the wish of a robot otaku coming true, an otaku who cares for nothing but the continuous advancement of these machines of war. Maybe, the only real change of mood was Eleonora’s rally speech, one of the few examples of what Knight’s & Magic could have been if it had a real story to back it up. There are more in stake here than Ernesti’s fantasies, but we are seldom let into the real implications of a large-scale war as this. In the end, this is just about Ernesti and his toys.
Engine Fail: I guess that robots are just machines and are no less prone to a classic engine fail. Remember boys and girls to not stress your engines too much. See what happened to the sword freak?
A Reason to Fight: The reason Ernesti will never have a place among the great protagonists of mecha anime is his character. Probably a projection of his creator, his fanboyism is overshadowing any good qualities that can be counted as heroic. Ernesti is not a hero. He is a mecha otaku who cares more about robots than he does about humans. How can anyone relate with a robot fan whose only concern as he approaches the huge drake is to destroy it because if it is allowed to exist, future weapons development will rely on huge constructs. That’s his reason. Oh, and a HIGHLY JUSTIFIABLE (not) anger of the enemy not adhering to his robot aesthetics. At least he warned his ‘friends’ to get out of the way when the dragon started spitting fire.
Death Flag: In one of the most unfortunate moments of foreshadowing, Oratio has probably flagged his own death. The new giant reactor is DEFINITELY going out of control in the next episode and Oratio couldn’t have chosen a more perfect moment to go down with it.
Who really recalls the first episodes? I think there was some kind of isekai concept about a mecha otaku that was reborn in this world as Ernesti, wasn’t there? I also remember Ernesti being a child prodigy and skipping classes like an academically inclined antelope. Yet, none of that backstory really mattered. I don’t feel closer to any of the early characters. I don’t feel particularly attracted to any of the newest. I still don’t know why we have a narrator and that bothers me. And, in the end, there was just too much info to digest and too little time to properly integrate them into the story. Do I have to read the light novels to learn more about what really happened to this world? Thanks, but I’ll pass.
We just had to have a last technological leap before calling the end of this show. A last battle between the most advanced achievement of the two rivals who should have been allowed to be rivals from the beginning of the show. Who will win? I don’t know if anyone cares at this moment, but what we do care about is a nicely animated robot battle. Knight’s & Magic will give us that much.
NEXT TIME: Heaven & Earth | Season Finale
Official Site: http://knights-magic.com/
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Can you already smell the sea? Can you feel the sun on your skin? Have you already had your first slice of watermelon? Well, the only certain thing is that the summer anime season is coming this July!
