3 Steps I Would Take To Improve Try Knights

Hello everyone, and welcome to our shelter! 🙂 Sometimes it happens that the Anime you decide to watch is just plain bad. That’s the case with Try Knights. However, instead of bashing every each aspect of the Anime, I prefer to write what I would change to make it at least average (and bearable to watch). Small disclaimer, I’m not sending hate to any of the people that helped build this Anime! We are all humans, and we all make mistakes. Moreover, Try Knights have some people who are starting their careers in the Anime industry, so, usually, things don’t come out perfect right away. On top of that, we also need to take into account that this Anime has a way too tight budget and, therefore, there are just things that you cannot do.

Talking about budget, that’s one of the things that I will always take into account while writing this article. I mean, of course, that if the series had a lot more investment, most of the things wouldn’t be as bad. So, I will come up with ideas that don’t need to bring much investment to the series, and I will try my best not to change anyone from the team. For example, I won’t switch the V.A.s just because this is their debut.

Nevertheless you can still see this as first impressions, or in this case first episode impressions since I will point out what was bad (and good) throughout the episode before I give my suggestion. But, first, let me explain what this Anime is about (if you know the series you can skip the first part) 😉

Try Knights Synopsis

Try Knights is about Riku Haruma and Kariya Akira, which, although very different from each other, have one love in common – rugby. Due to his body growth, Riku had to put aside the dream of being a professional rugby player and, although a genius when it comes to school, is lost in what to do next. However, one day, Akira grabs Riku’s attention while playing rugby and decides to give him a small tip to help him to perform better. The advice works wonders and Akira decides to convince Riku to join the rugby club, something he ends up doing after a lot of persistence. Now, with Riku’s brains and Akira’s muscles, they make the perfect duo!

Step 1 – Small Team Change and Better Audio Quality

Although I said I wasn’t going to change anything when it came to the team, there is one person that I can’t understand why the hell is in the mix. That person is R.O.N, a great musician and sound producer. You may know him through Kuroko no Basket or from the piece Genesis (which I think is the most popular music of him); I’ll leave you the video so you can listen to it.

So, there is no problem whatsoever with R.O.N, and I love his music a lot! (I also think he’s cute as well). However, the type of music he usually produces and is known for – dubstep or something down those lines – is not something that goes well with the overall flow of Try Knights, especially when the show is so slow animation-wise, conversation-wise, well everything-wise! Therefore, having such electric music attached to such a series just comes out off!

Now, I’m actually not sure who is in charge of audio’s volume levels, sound effects, equipment, etc. However, the audio quality is poor. You can hear a clear discrepancy between the voice actors voice and the rest; sound effects are way too low, which makes the series to feel bland… Well, although I’ve seen worse, it’s still a bummer that they didn’t realize this until it was too late – hopefully, things get better on the next episodes. However, most people decide if they continue an Anime after the first episode, so I would make sure that everything was in place audio-wise before putting the episode out. I know that there are schedules to meet… Nonetheless, I’m not sure if it wouldn’t be better to postpone the all thing for a week than releasing something that is not 100%.

Step 2 – Do Everything Possible to Make VAs Feel at Ease

Look, I can only imagine how stressful it must be to debut as a voice actor on a lead role. So, it’s usual to see VAs underperform during the first episodes. Unfortunately, that’s what happens to Shogo Sakamoto. Although he already did a smaller part on The Royal Tutor Movie earlier this year, it’s easy to see that he is not secure. My main problem with his voice acting is how bland everything sounds. Of course, this can also be a directing problem since the director may have told him to have no emotion whatsoever.

Nevertheless, I’m pretty sure there were ways to make this thing work since he was not that bad on The Royal Tutor Movie. So, first of all, I would make sure that he felt entirely at ease, and then make him repeat the lines until it was perfect right from the beginning. I think that showing him on his first days that it was ok to make mistakes and there were second chances that he would have loosed up a little bit. However, if this was a directing choice, then I would make Riku a little livelier. I know that he is supposed to be one of those genius characters that are quiet and don’t have many friends, but it’s just too much.

However, there is another problem that may affect our perception of the VAs’ performance – how slow conversations are.

Step 3 – Speed Things Up

The worst part of Try Knights is how slow everything is. It’s ok that you can’t do fancy animation because of lack of budget. However, that doesn’t mean slow conversations and slow frame passage. Everything is so slow that the story you watch in twenty minutes could be told in half of the time. There are different ways to increase movement on the screen and to give the feeling of change, so the viewer does not get bored.

Well, that’s an improvement I would for sure. Instead of showing three guys in one frame to reveal their names, display three different frames instead, each one focusing on one of the characters. Right there, you already got some movement. Others examples are using close-ups, slide ups (and downs), focus on one of the body’s parts, focus on something in the environment while someone is talking. There are so many freaking options and what we get is everything moving at a rate that made me almost fall asleep.

Moreover, by speeding things up, you actually get more time to explore the story and the characters. For example, there would be enough time to show Riku’s past when he decided to quit rugby, his favorite thing in the world. It would be great for character construction as well as making the viewer connect with him.

Final Thoughts

It’s a shame that Try Knights ended up being so bad, I mean it’s the only sports Anime of the 2019 Summer Season. Hopefully, it gets better from episode two onwards, but I know someone who is not going to watch to confirm – me!

Although those are the major things I would change, there are still small details that I wanted to mention such as the characters’ mouths being out of sync with the voice as well as not understanding why is the rugby ball made in 3D. I mean, it’s not like the ball moves that much, at least on episode one, and just seems totally out of place.

Anyway… Have you watched Try Knights? What your thoughts about it? How would you improve it? Tell me everything in the comments down below 🙂