Knight’s & Magic Episode 1 [First Impression]

Eva’s First Impression

Wow this premiere was executed really well, also the animation and the CGI is super slick. I was truly impressed with the quality I had to double-check who was in charge of the project! (8-bit) And boy they really polished things up from the last time I’ve watched a production of theirs!

Our protagonist was a programmer and robot otaku who was unfortunately hit by a car and was reincarnated as Ernesti Echevarria (who is looks like a girl, and even sometimes gets mistaken as one. Even I wasn’t 100% convinced until the narrator identified him as a boy!). But what makes Ernesti such a fun and interesting protagonist is how his passion for robots and programing carried over into his new life. It enables him to tap into the knowledge and ideas he possessed from his previous life, and figure out how he can apply it into this world. As a child, Ernesti, he may have heard of the Silhouette Knights, but he had never seen them in action. So when he saw them for the first time (literally saved him, he was able to be eaten by a giant bug), it served as the trigger to awaken the dormant passion of robots, and he just took off from there. He became completely immersed in his studies, determined to become a Knight Runner as quickly as he can. I would think this also plays a crucial role in his level of maturity despite his young age.

But while his devotion to his studies are impressive, there is one crucial roadblock that is in his way. That is his height. Due to being shorter than average, his height puts him at an disadvantage of being unable to pilot a Silhouette Knight, where a necessary height is needed. So regardless if he jumps from Elementary to Middle School, so as long as he doesn’t have that growth spurt, he is not going to be able to pilot a Silhouette Knight.

Well, as if that his height is enough to deter him from his lifelong mission.
If he can’t meet the height requirements for one, he will just build one himself!

And it doesn’t stop here, in fact we only see him create a variety of new tools and weapons. He designs a gunblade (later models includes the blade), which enables him to skip grades and prove to be incredibly vital for a fight he and his friends take part of three years in the future. It’s clear that his modern designs of the Silhouette Knights and new innovations be needed to counter the demon beasts (or anyone else for the matter) attacks. The robots (AKA, Solodreahs models) are 300 years old. They are terribly outdated and long overdue for an upgrade. It’s almost shocking to think how there hasn’t been anyone around capable of doing such.

His current circle of lifelong friends are Archid and Adeltrud Olter (whom he taught magic to) and Batson, a dwarf who comes from a family of Knighsmiths. In fact their encounter with Batson was pretty funny. Some nasty kids took his special hammer and so they helped him get it back… by throwing him with their magic into the kids. It worked, but bwahahaha, poor guy, he didn’t sign up for that! Regardless they become friends. There is also an interesting situation between Archid and Adeltrud Olter with Stefania, who is their half-sister. It’s still relatively unclear what kind of relationship they have with each other, but perhaps seeing them help each other will strengthen their bond despite the awkward family situation. (Archid and Adeltrud’s mother is not noble, where as Stefania’s mother is.)

However it is by the end of the episode when we are given a glimpse of the troubles ahead. All while when the students embark on trip to do exercise field-combat against small demon beasts only to find themselves being attacked by a horde of them, it appears the capital may also be under attack by a deadly monster. The fact this world is one that is ruled by both humans and beast demons, I am curious to see what is the cause and motive for this attack, and perhaps if the Ether Reactor (the engine of the robots, also considered a national secret that only select few know where they obtain it) has anything to do with it.

I have to say I think Knight’s and Magic’s opening beat or is tied to how excited Katsugeki Touken Ranbu’s premiere made me. I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to snag these two because while the rest of the season may totally be underwhelming, all you need is a one or two shows that hit the ball out of the park! There were so many moments in this episode that were considered a high for me that it’s hard to pick a favourite scene. But I think the best one was probably when Ernesti was given the opportunity by a senior student, Edge (who customized his Silhouette Knight a tad) to sit inside the robot. Gosh Ernesti was in absolute bliss, it was adorable. Also that scene when Ernesti seemed to have been considering to take out Stefania on his friends behalf had me cracking me up because I did not expect him to even think of that! I will also have to confess the opening scene of seeing him die and be sad about his unopened boxes of models at him actually pulled my heart-strings and I felt sad for him. Relatable? Yeah I guess you could say that.

That being said, I don’t think there’s need for a debate. I am definitely covering this one and I am so hyped, I really, REALLY want to read the novel now. I hope it gets licensed someday! Maybe if this anime proves to be super popular it will, fufufufufufuu….

Possibility of Covering: Guaranteed