Chivalry of a Failed Knight (落第騎士の英雄譚, Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry) is a 2015 television anime series based on Riku Misora’s light novel series of the same name with illustrator Won. The series was adapted by studios Silver Link. and Nexus, and the staff credits include director Shin Ōnuma (with series director Jin Tamamura), series composition writer Shogo Yasukawa, character designer Kiyoshi Komatsubara, and music composed by Kotaro Nakagawa. The series first aired in Japan on October 2015, distributed by Hakuhodo DY MAP.
Note: This post also contains images from the box art and booklet that are not suitable for work.
Note: This post has been updated in May 2024 to reflect the current blog layout and some minor tweaks to the original write-up.
Background:
“Ikki Kurogane may have come from a long line of Blazers, people with the ability to create weapons or devices manifested from their souls, but as far as the Hagun Academy is concerned, he’s been a major disappointment in the magical powers department. He is so disappointing, in fact, that he’s earned the unfortunate nickname of the “Worst One”. However, things change for Ikki in the most surprising way when Princess Stella Vermillion, the most promising Rank-A Blazer to come along in many years, decides to transfer to Hagun. When she challenges him to a duel where the loser must obey the winner for the rest of their life, the last thing anyone expects is that the Worst One might prove to be a match for the Crimson Princess… and the unforeseen consequences will push the boundaries of society itself in CHIVALRY OF A FAILED KNIGHT!”
Plot Synopsis via Sentai Filmworks, June 2017.
With the isekai genre rising in popularity there were still a couple of fantasy novels and manga being adapted and one of them was Chivalry of a Failed Knight, which is a series that I had been wanting to watch for a while but was mishandled in the UK streaming scene.
The series was one of the few Sentai Filmworks titles that had a weird streaming cycle, because it was first made exclusively through Sentai’s streaming platform The Anime Network, which was mainly geared towards the US & Canada market to begin with, so the UK presence was rather weak. While it did made its way onto another streaming platform called Viewster, the show was pretty much non-existent until Sentai relaunched their streaming service called HIDIVE in June 2017. Crunchyroll streamed the series years later so people can experience the wonders of Stella & co.
The license for Chivalry of a Failed Knight in the United States & Canada is with Sentai Filmworks who secured both streaming and home video rights. Sentai also had the United Kingdom & Ireland rights which is how the show had weird streaming locations over here. But as of 2019, MVM Entertainment was able to secure the home video rights from Sentai for the United Kingdom & Ireland, but I had wanted to pickup Sentai’s premium edition release either way.
Limited Edition Contents:
Sentai Filmworks have released a variety of limited editions in different styles, reminiscent of the ADV days where you would get big box sets with tons of goodies. Chivalry of a Failed Knight did well enough during streaming to receive a limited edition release.
The limited edition release from Sentai Filmworks is a big box with a variety of content. Included are three DVD-sized cases with 2 Blu-ray discs, 3 DVD discs and 1 CD disc covering the show’s original soundtrack. Then we have a hardcover booklet covering episode information and storyboard artwork, and a cardboard box containing artcards, a poster, 2 character pins, and a patch.
The artwork is free of any information and the bottom part of the box covers the information and specification like previous Sentai Filmworks releases. The limited edition Blu-ray has an unspecified amount of units printed for an SRP of $169.98. A standard Blu-ray was also made available on the same day.
The series was purchased through Rightstuf during a sale, though I had to pay for customs/duties.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with DVD case packaging and clean artwork
- Original Soundtrack CD
- 100-page Hardcover Artbook
- 6 Art Cards
- Long Poster
- 2 Character Pins
- Patch
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Sentai Filmworks
Released: 13th June 2017
The limited edition release for Chivalry of a Failed Knight contains all 12 episodes of the series across two Blu-ray discs and three DVD discs, with the encode & authoring done by Sentai Filmworks. The audio options available are Japanese with English subtitles and the Sentai Studios English dub.
The yellow subtitles were locked during playback and the disc regions were accessible to Blu-ray players set to the United States country code (which will work on Region A players as per normal, and for specific Region B players like video games consoles and ones that support the country code), but locked to DVD players set to 1.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | A B United States Country Code (Geolocking) |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 2 (1 BD-50, 1 BD-25) |
DVD Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Dolby Digital 2.0 Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 |
| Video | Standard Definition in NTSC format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | 1 |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 3 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 2:
- Japanese Promos
- Clean Opening Animation “Identity”
- Clean Closing Animation “Haramitsu Renge”
- Sentai Filmworks Trailers
DVD On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 1:
- Japanese Promos
- Clean Opening Animation “Identity”
- Clean Closing Animation “Haramitsu Renge”
- Sentai Filmworks Trailers
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Chivalry of a Failed Knight is available to purchase on Blu-ray by Sentai Filmworks in the US & Canada. The limited edition Blu-ray release was available but has since sold out of stock.
The Normanic Vault 
Leave a comment