Knight's & Magic: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Knight's & Magic: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Knights & Magic is a fantasy-action-adventure anime. Created by Hisago Amazake-no and featuring original character designs by Kurogin, Knights & Magic is a mecha event for otaku (pun intended). A production featuring animation produced by 8 bit (Aquarion Evol, Comet Lucifer), Knights & Magic brings audiences on a adventurous thrill ride. Produced by Bryan Ingram, Justin Cook, and Michael Harcourt, the tale of knights and mecha brings otakus some thrills.

Ernesti "Eru" Echevarria (Rie Takahashi) has a big role ahead of him as the unexpected hero of his own story: the central hero in a role he never expected himself to be in. As a young lad, Eru finds himself becoming reincarnated as a noble knight. In the realm world, Eru was only a a nerdy otaku with an obsession with anime and manga.

Yet now Eru finds himself in far different terrain – Eru is the hero within a fantastical world where real magic exists. Eru leaves behind his otaku days for actual mecha fun. The mecha knight has arrived. Everything is at stake. Can Eru lead the way?

Eru is a compelling lead for the action-adventure series. The character has a strong personality with a sense of thrill at the idea of setting forth on new adventures. This element of the series plays well in exploring the character while they embark on their respective ark. A nerdy otaku, one can imagine plenty of otaku relating to the character for their interests.

The series features worthwhile character designs by Kenichirō Katsura (Comic Party Revolution, NAKAIMO - My Little Sister Is Among Them!). The designs are certainly solid and do a good job showcasing the central cast members. These designs are effective for the production. A solid production effort by Katsura. The main cast members, especially Eru, are well-designed and fit the bill for the series well.

The animation is solid, too. The series features reasonably engaging art direction by Kenta Masuda (Absolute Duo, Comet Lucifer). The series also showcases the chief animation direction by Kenichirō Katsura (The Fruit of Grisaia, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime), Tomoko Fukunaga (How to keep a mummy, If My Favorite Pop Idol Made it to the Budokan, I Would Die), and Yuuko Yamada (Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East, Juni Taisen: Zodiac War). The animation is one of the core strengths of the production. The art style showcases vivid designs and a detailed landscape for the series core elements.

The mecha designs by Hidetaka Tenjin (Hellsing Ultimate) and Kurogin (Hybrid x Heart Magias Academy Ataraxia) are effective as well. The mecha elements are certainly a key component of the production. There is a lot to appreciate about the mecha elements and genre fans who enjoy these aspects will certainly like seeing the level of detail given to the mecha components.

The cinematography by Hiroshi Satō (Encouragement of Climb: Next Summit, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime) is perhaps the best visual aid to the production. The series has bright, colorful, and vivid cinematography. The cinematographic approach highlights the series animation and the strong effort of the animators. The series is all the more robust looking because of the core cinematographic approach given by Sato. The effort is commendable and worthwhile.

The score composed by Masato Kōda (Combatants Will Be Dispatched!, Domestic Girlfriend) is a decent addition to the production. While not a top-tier anime score, the music nonetheless imbues the series with enough compelling elements to be satisfactory as background music. The score fits the action sequences and provides a sense of adventure to the production. A solid score composed by Koda.

Written by Michiko Yokote (Chrome Shelled Regios, Junjō Romantica), Knights & Magic is average in the scriptwriting department. The storyline is standard in some regards. The concept doesn’t feel as original when compared to other anime productions with similar ideas— having characters tossed in to a digital or fantasy world. The results are nonetheless reasonable. Yokote does a decent enough job to help the series find some interesting concepts.

Directed by Yūsuke Yamamoto (Aquarion Evol, Welcome to the NHK), Knights & Magic has fun playing in the mecha sandbox. The series explores a lot of elements of otaku and director Yamamoto seems to find a sense of action-packed rhythm for the series. Knights & Magic might not be a classic in any sense of the word but the director finds a way to craft a reasonably entertaining production.

Knight's & Magic: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Funimation, Knights & Magic is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original television aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The series has an impressive high-definition presentation. The animation looks wonderful on the Blu-ray format. The presentation shows excellent color reproduction and detail. The video encoding is solid and the action scenes are handled well without compression woes. The encoding effort by Funimation is worthwhile on this release.

Knight's & Magic: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a selection of lossless audio options: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 stereo (with English subtitles). The lossless audio options provide fans an impressive sound presentation that far exceeds that of streaming options. The lossless audio has an immersive sense of depth and detail. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand. The score is well reproduced. The soundstage is well detailed.

Knight's & Magic: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Chapter 4 Video Commentary (HD, 24:40)

Promo Videos (HD, 10:59)

Trailers (HD, 5:11)

Textless Opening Song (HD, 1:32)

Textless Closing Song HD, 1:32)

Knight's & Magic: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Knights & Magic provides action-adventure anime fans with a mecha thrill ride with some interesting elements. The series has beautiful animation and some other nice production merits. The Blu-ray release provides a worthwhile video and audio presentation alongside a selection of exclusive bonus features only available on the box set release (such as a chapter 4 video commentary). The release comes recommended for series fans.