If there was anything I learned from this anime, it’s that no one should ever underestimate an otaku and his “hobby”.
Knight’s & Magic is an anime about mechas and magic. Yes the combo might sound very contrasting but the anime does so well to execute the combination of the two elements that I couldn’t help but be entertained throughout the whole way. The magic is actually the source of power for the mechas and since they live in the middle ages, modern conventional power sources haven’t been invented yet. They certainly executed the machines being powered by magic trope far better than Broken Blade, the only other anime to my knowledge that uses magic as the catalyst to piloting a mecha.
The story begins in modern day Japan where a gunpla otaku who is an extremely efficient programmer dies of an accident. He is then reincarnated into another world as Ernesti Echevarria (man that’s a mouthful). In his new world, giant mechas called Silhouette Knights are common sight and they are constantly fighting against big monsters called demon beasts. Thanks to his new life, Ernesti can finally realize his dreams of creating mechas, so he got to work fast on learning about magic and how the robots work. A little too fast though since he had already started creating revolutionary machines and soloing fleet worthy giant demon beasts at the age of 12.
Eventually Ernesti and his friends don’t just fight demon beasts but also other nations who have their own Silhouette Knights, which is a dream come true for the young boy since his sense of aesthetics is that Mechas should only be destroyed by other mechas. And while he’s busy making more powerful mechas and demolishing his enemies with it, he takes them and studies how they make them work. All of this is done for the sake of his “hobby”.
Isekai (reborn in a new world) stories are my guilty pleasure since I love to see the implications of what would happen if you had a 21st century mind in an era of walls, steel, and magic. And this anime showed a great deal of it since Ernesti was creating new advancements in the Silhouette Knights industry 1-4 mechs in a month or two compared to having a new design every 3 centuries. Yes he was going at a centuries century’s pace. He was also busy making miniature suits that would benefit him and his friends on the side to boot. To the boy, magic is basically a program, so casting fire is as elementary as “Hello World”. Another great thing about it is that it is not a harem anime. Ernesti doesn’t even realize the girl beside him and only cares about cold steel.
While the story is pure escapism, I have to applaud the very impressive way the direction was executed. Not only did they create an entertaining anime but the plot was very consistent and was devoid of any filler to the untrained eye. The pacing was definitely rushed but it never gave you that feeling, it took me a while to realize it and was amazed how they managed to do it. It was a surprisingly complete story from beginning to end, everything is so straightforward and there are no flashbacks or anything that holds back the plot. It was so straight to the point that they ended all of it in just 13 episodes. It is quite rare for an anime to do all of that especially if the source material is a light novel.
Sometimes even a 2nd season can’t finish the entire plot. Usually the the author and studio would just agree that if fans want to find out what happens next then we have to buy the novels and for us fans outside of Japan, we have no access to buying them and we still have to face the language barrier. So I nearly couldn’t be any happier than seeing this anime tell us a story from start to finish given the number of episodes that were allotted to it. Hopefully more light novel adaptations can be more like this.
The art was definitely a treat since the character designs were really well done but kudos to the design of Ernesti since he was a cute trap throughout the anime. The mechas were incredibly detailed it was like mecha porn. The anime had the 2nd most realistic mechas I have ever seen with the 1st being in Broken Blade. The demon beasts had probably the best CGI and were amazing to behold while a certain few mechas suffered from it. The weapon designs could have been better like the rods while only a few blades showed some cool or authentic designs.
The anime also has one of the best opening sequences I have ever heard in my life and while the tune got me excited for another adventure of another episode, the main reason was that they added SFXs to go with the sequence. From tiny ones like a mecha head turning to blasting all the firearms, that little bit of detail captured my ears and it instantly became one of my favorite opening sequences of all time. Unfortunately the background music didn’t have anything that was memorable while the ending sequence was also forgettable but it did have an epic picturesque scene that captures the trap beauty of Ernesti and the mechas surrounding him.
The anime really does a great job in what it would be like if you were a mecha architect who wanted to make some of the most revolutionary mechas in as fast as possible. The development process was basically design and innovate but it was so well done that I had no complaints sine the technical jargons would usually diminish any form of enjoyment in the long run. I also love how they captured Ernesti’s childish innocence in pursuing his passion, nearly nothing was as consistently enjoyable in the anime as seeing a happy enthusiastic smile from our OP trap MC.
This is an amazing anime to just binge watch, which I did and I was so excited to see the next episode as soon as the last one was finished. While it did suffer a bit from the character development of the side characters, it didn’t detract a bit from my overall enjoyment of the entire show. Had the anime continued on to that one story in the ending then I would have lost it since they stated where my true passion lies.
This is one of the best animes I have ever seen and I easily recommend it to anyone who loves mecha, isekai stories, and adventure.
