Listen. For every anime title deemed “overrated” by a fraction of the fandom, there’s at least 10 titles that a majority of the fandom deems “underrated”. Such as the case for these unsung heroes of anime; as they’ve been “Luigi’d” (overshadowed) into the background to make room for the ‘A-listers’ (or “Mario” titles of the world). Even when some of the story arcs from the popular titles are low-balling it, they’re still shared among the fandom; and still praising the overall experience of the product and its franchise.

While many don’t see that as a bad thing, you kinda miss out on potential diamonds hidden in the rough. That’s why for this One-2-One character analysis, I’ll be looking into a series that is REALLY underrated. Kirito and Asuna aren’t the only sword-welding couple in anime; because there’s another! Get ready for the scorching-hot crimson-haired beauty with a fiery tongue to match known as Stella Vermillion from Chivalry of a Failed Knight!

Honestly this series doesn’t get talked about enough. When it comes to sword-welding anime maidens, many of them have a personality as sharp as their blade. (Other times they’re either Tsunderes or Yanderes with weapons. I’m lookin’ at chu’ Future Diary!) Stella may seem like the ‘high-and mighty’ type upon first glance, but in reality she’s actually quite the skilled swordswoman.

So Chivalry of a Failed Knight is a 12-episode series about the main male MC known as Ikki Kurogane, as he attends a school for students with extraordinary skills known as Blazers. Basically he and the other students are either modern-day knights, samurai, archers, or spellcasters; and participate in a tournament to select the top-tier fighters to be in the Seven Star Sword Art Festival. On paper it seems like just another generic anime school-life action/fantasy drama, but the reason this title hits different…is because of the character development of the two main characters; Ikki and Stella. There’s SO much more to Ikki, but we’ll cover him in a later post.

Part 1 – The Origin Story: Why Should You Care About Stella?

So what about Stella? If she’s an A-rank Blazer and the second imperial princess to the Vermillion Family, how did she get this strong and this skilled? Well that answer to that is…she was born with it. I’m not kidding you, Stella was literally born as a prodigy; having 30 times the base level of magic most Blazers have, which means that during her childhood she had to work extra hard to even master any type of control over her abilities. Being the second princess of the Vermillion Kingdom, and the daughter of Sirius and Astrea Vermillion, Stella is pretty much living the dream. However, after mastering her abilities she left her country and made her way to Japan because she didn’t want to be labeled as a ‘genius’ by the people around her. Sure, Stella may have been born as a prodigy and given the life of luxury, but its quite humbling to know that she’ll never really flaunt it nor boast about it because she genuinely doesn’t want to be labeled. And many of us know what that feels like…

Part 2 – Skills and Personality

Stella has a feisty and hot-blooded personality, as is the case with many red-haired anime girls. In this case however, its because of her sheltered upbringing. This is seen in the first episode of the series when Ikki walks in on her changing; not even realizing that he was her roommate. Though her temper was hot in the beginning, Stella later admits her mistakes and even starts becoming much friendlier around others and wants to be the one to make Ikki happy. She loathes being called a prodigy; stating that everything was given to her and never had to work hard for anything, and wants to prove that there’s more to her than meets the eye – and sword.

Also because of her sheltered life, she never got to experience what a man’s body looks like. Which explains that she has a bit of a perverted side when it comes to Ikki. (Not that I’m judging or anything.) Her relationship with Ikki was a bit platonic at best in the beginning, but eventually they became girlfriend and boyfriend. I’m not gonna spoil too much because there’s more going on in their relationship than what I’ve told you so far, so let’s get into Stella’s moveset!

Stella is a freakin’ powerhouse when it comes to her moves; as she has an immense amount of durability and strength due to her magical powers being 30 times that of a normal Blazer. Her base level of magic is on the same caliber as Kaio-ken x30 Son Goku. She is a Master Swordsman and has the Imperial Sword Style as her main method of offense and defense. Her device (or sword) is called Laevateinn and is used as her main weapon in battle. She has a noble art known as Dragon Breath, as it covers her in a flame barrier to protect her from projectiles and incoming attacks (as seen in the third episode of the series). Her other technique; Dragon Fang, allows her to strike her opponents from long-range with a flame-like serpent. Many of her attacks are flame-based and resemble the flames of a dragon, so its no surprise that she has a fiery personality to match her fiery skills! (If you read the manga, Stella actually has a LOT more moves.)

Part 3 – Overall Analysis

Stella is an individual who despite coming from a noble family, doesn’t believe anyone should get treated differently or ostracized because they don’t have family wealth. She herself doesn’t like the idea of being called a ‘prodigy’ or a ‘genius’ because she was naturally strong, instead she saw who Ikki was during his battles. She knows what it like to strive for a goal and to work hard at something, which is why she hates that people treat Ikki like he’s worthless; like he’s nothing compared to her. There’s more to Stella than just her beauty and looks, as she’s one of the most humbling main heroine characters in anime.

Although she wasn’t too fond of Ikki when she first met him, she saw a little bit of herself inside of him. While he didn’t have the same level of magical prowess that she did, she saw the driving spirit deep within him. To her; Ikki was more than just her boyfriend (and eventually fiancee), he was a man who wasn’t gifted at all, and was cast aside by his own family accept for his sister Shizuku, who sees him as more than a failure. Stella would be the kind of person to stand up for the weak and fragile, and has a hatred for cowardly acts of violence. (As shown in the third/fourth episode of the series.)

Ikki and Stella’s dynamic is something rarely seen in anime, and represents two sides of the same coin; what it means to be gifted and deemed by others as a ‘prodigy’ in a particular field, while the other was shunned for not having any sort of talent or gift at all. Some parents even raise their children the same way; with one of them being the successful one while the other is the ‘black sheep’, or even suffer the ‘middle child curse’ if there’s three or five children. Chivalry of a Failed Knight is a love story centered around Ikki and Stella’s challenges, relationship, and what they strive to accomplish together. Stella never saw Ikki as less than, instead she saw him as a part of herself that wants to prove that she’s more than what others saw about her. When its all said and done, Stella and Ikki are one in the same.

That will do it for this One-2-One, until next post stay nerdy! 😉

What if. Those two little words have created scenarios and situations beyond anything our minds can fathom. Stories we never thought were possible, are possible. Dream alliances that we only thought of in the subconsciousness of our minds, are now reality. Crossovers we’ve always wanted or never knew we wanted, are happening! When I think of this particular show; it kinda reminds me of the first time I was introduced to Super Smash Bros. thanks to the 1999 commercial. (If you saw it as a kid, then you know what I’m talkin’ about.)

There have been crossovers in just about every nerdy fandom you can think of, but what about the anime fandom? Other than that one movie where Lupin the 3rd and Case Closed crossed over, there hasn’t really been an ACTUAL anime crossover series – until now! Even though it is the most saturated genre in all of anime history, Isekai has a place in all of our geeky little hearts. Sure, some of the characters may be as useless as Aqua; as Tsundere as Tanya, as sweet as Rem, or as crazy as Albedo, but NO one thought that we would see the day where all four of these women (and potential waifus) were in the same show. This is the Smash Bros. equivalent of isekai anime titles; Isekai Quartet.

Just like the tagline for Smash Bros. Ultimate, everyone…is here. Isekai Quartet takes the main characters from some of the most popular isekai titles out there, and throws them into a ‘School Life’ scenario. Who would’ve thought we’d see the day where Subaru and Kazuma are friends – only to find out they’re basically the same guy based on how they got “isekai’ed”. The series took them out of their element of the show(s) that they were in, which caused them to try and adapt to the new environment around them.

The plot and premise of the story is quite simple; the main cast of Saga of Tanya, Konosuba, Overlord, and Re:Zero, find a red button in their worlds and end up pressing it. thus portals open up and they land in school, and are now in a ‘school life’ scenario. That’s it. There’s nothing more to it than that. Keep in mind when you watch this series, all of the characters are NOT going to be in the forms they were on their shows. Instead, they are chibi versions of themselves; because to make them in their original form would cost the studio way too much money. (Tanya in her chibi form looks soooo cute!)

With two seasons and a movie on the way, I think Isekai Quartet is the crossover anime series that fan fiction writers have always dreamed about; now realized into existence. They got both Texas and LA voice actors to reprise all of the roles of the characters from their original shows; now a part of this crossover series. Who knows; maybe Isekai Quartet IS the Super Smash Bros. of anime titles, and in terms of popularity, it just might be the best crossover anime of all time. To be 100% honest, this is probably just the tip of the iceberg in terms of which isekai characters will be introduced next. The Rising of the Shield Hero main cast is there, and Cautious Hero made a cameo appearance. Maybe That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime might be next, and maybe even How Not To Summon A Demon Lord. The sky’s the limit with a series like this, and if they wanted to (and possibly pull a page out of Sakurai’s handbook), they could turn this series into the greatest anime crossover franchise of all time.

One and only hope, but until then, keep watching the show or check it out on Crunchyroll if you haven’t already. Until next post, stay nerdy my friends! 😉

Okay, the time has come for me to give you another episode review from Fena: Pirate Princess. After watching this episode first hand, it appears that the secret of the glass stone has finally been revealed. Now that that revelation has come to pass, what will that mean for Fena and the crew?

So it looks like as the episode kicks off I (the viewer) discover that Yukihisa and Kei are talking about a witch’s spell placed on Yukimaru, but knowing how these types of situations go down, I (the viewer) don’t find out until the last three episodes of the series. The voyage continues with Fena and the crew as she focuses on the map given to her by the Berger mister after leaving the place that I cannot even pronounce the name to. They eventually end up going to another island full of various holes and pathways leading to some kind of underground mine, but sadly they’re not alone, for another crew of pirates (the same ones from Bar-Barel) followed close behind them.

Other than Karin getting spooked and pissed off at Enju for spooking her inside the mine, the rest of the episode gets a little more serious. As they get deep into the mine Fena starts acting a little strange; as if she’s been in the area before, causing Yukimaru to become curious and confused at the same time. The crew reaches a vast area where just in the middle of it was what looked to be the area where the glass brick fits right in. After that the crew discovers that the little scratches were actually coordinates to another location which was later revealed to be El Dorado, however by the time they figured that out, the other pirates showed up and held Fena hostage while taking the coordinates for themselves.

As a way to add insult to injury, they took several boxes of explosives and used them to blow up the only way in and out of the cavern. By the end of the episode Tsubaki was still on the ship not knowing what happened…

Looks like the fun and games are over for the moment as the plot is starting to pick up. Though we now know what the clear stone was used for, there’s still so much we don’t know about Fena; or why the other pirates kidnapped her and are on their way to El Dorado. Guess we’ll find all of that out on the next episode.

Until then, stay nerdy my friends. 😉 

Hey there! It appears that I’ve been summoned to give you another episode review from Fena: Pirate Princess. If that’s the case, then I’ll go ahead and do just that for you guys. Fena and the crew continue their voyage on the path to finding out the mystery of the stone; which is the name of the title of this episode. Anyway, let’s go!

Fena and the crew are out at sea looking for the island of “Adenopenstein” as Kaede called it (even though that’s not the real name, but I can’t spell or pronounce it either so we’re just gonna call it what Kaede called it). While inside Fena had just finished treating Yukimaru’s wounds and stated that she’ll do everything she can to be more useful to the team. Yukimaru’s response to that was pretty much a “Hell no, you almost got me killed!” type of response, while she argued that no matter how opposed he was to this decision, that Fena was GOING to be useful to the crew!

Later on Shiton joined Fena on the deck of the ship as she asked if he would train her on how to use a weapon. Shiton handed her his bow and arrow, but just like before, she sucked at it. She then asked other members of the crew to train her on how to use a weapon, but they all declined in comedic fashion. Eventually the crew came around and helped train Fena on how to use a sword and gun (thanks to Shiton), although the training sessions were brutal. (Hopefully Fena will get better at combat in later episodes…hopefully.)

After a day or two the crew finally makes it to “Adenopenstein” (as Kaede called it) as Fena asks the locals if they know anything about the stone. Although it appeared as they weren’t getting the answer they were looking for, a woman named Arya appeared and introduced herself to Yukimaru and the others. She saw the stone and told them that she might know of a person in the village that can help, and that person turned out to be her father; the Berger mister of the village. While on the hike it looked as if Yukimaru was getting a little too chatty with Arya thanks to the twins reading too much into the conversation taking place, and leaving Fena to think that Arya might be hitting on Yukimaru. (And she was starting to believe it thanks to the twins.)

Arya’s father took a look at the stone and it appeared that it was made in the village, but something about it seemed strange. Although it appeared that it was carved in the village, it was commissioned by someone else; someone who was killed five years after the inscribed date of the stone. By the end of the episode Fena told Yukimaru that the person Arya’s father was referring to, she was called that name before…

So it looks like we’re given more information about the stone, and based on the plot progression of the story, this piece of info will play a big part later on in the series. Could there be a connection between Fena and the person Arya’s father mentioned while in “Adenopenstein” (as Kaede called it)? Guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it!

Anyway that’s it for my review on this episode, until next time, stay nerdy! 😉

Salutations fellow otaku! I have returned with another episode review from the original series; Fena: Pirate Princess. Now that the gang has a ship and has set sail, it’s time for the real adventure to begin! So let’s get to it!

The third episode kicks off with Fena walking through the chambers of the newly crafted ship thanks to Karin’s design; of course a little comical banter between the two occurred when Fena made a comment about the ship’s corridor being too small. (I like keeping the spoilers to a minimum so if you want the full deets you’ll have to watch the episode.) The two met with the others as they were discussing something about the free country of Bar-Barel; where pirates from all over the globe congregate and stop by – mostly from England or other surrounding areas. After the meeting was over it ended up being one of the stops on the crew’s voyage, of course there was one detail that was left out…Yukimaru had to stay on the ship with Brule (Fena’s dog) while Fena, Shiton, Karin, Tsubaki, and the others went into the town of Bar-Barel. Yeah, that sucked but it gets better at the end.

While in town various shenanigans take place; Karin’s running around like a kid in a candy store at the various shops and street vendors, the twins Kaede and Anju are being their ‘usual’ goofy selves, and Shiton was about to get his freak on with a lady on the street until Makuba intervened. Tsubaki told the others it was time to collect supplies for the voyage while they were in town, except Fena and the twins were not with them – pissing off Tsubaki in the process. Kaede and Anju took Fena to a shop where she wanted to try some new clothes, afterwards she really did look very much like a pirate (and a cute one might I add).

Sadly trouble arose when Fena’s ex-fiancée; the creep she was supposed to marry back in the first episode, returned with his own band of pirates who surrounded Fena and the twins. Back at the ship Yukimaru asked the others where Fena was, and though they said she was with the twins he knew something was up, and raced into town to find her. It didn’t take long though, as the twins were fighting off the creep’s pirates with one of the twins complimenting one of the female pirates saying that he’d like to take her out for dinner next time. (That was Anju by the way.) Yukimaru joined the fight and took out the remaining pirates in the area before grabbing Fena and hauling ass back to the ship.

Although his hand got nicked by one of the bullets from one of the pirates who shot him, Yukimaru stated to Fena that it was only a flesh wound, and that she shouldn’t be so reckless. By the end of the episode Tsubaki was so furious at Fena and the twins’ actions that he threw the three of them overboard as punishment. The fact that Fena was a girl did NOT save her from receiving the same punishment as the twins. Although Bar-Barel was their first stop, the adventure for Fena and the crew has only just begun.

Though I’m three episodes into the series, I like the balance of comedy and action in the story a little bit. I know many fans (including my friend A. Goldman) have been craving that in several of the titles that have been released so far, but as far as Fena’s concerned, I like what I’m seeing. The crew comes with various personalities; such as the twins’ annoying and silly persona though they’re skilled fighters who are very close, Karin’s creative spirit who keeps most of the guys in line, Tsubaki who makes sure the crew stays on their mission, Makuba who’s the strength of the crew, and Shiton who’s the pretty boy all the women wanna be with. That pretty much leaves Fena; the MC of the show with a lovable personality and kinda silly herself, and Yukimaru who hasn’t quite accepted his feelings towards Fena just yet. (Hopefully we’ll see that when the story progresses.)

Alright, that’ll end this review on my side of the tracks, but as always there’s more content on the blog to come! 😉