The people of this universe have the ability to use powerful magic that manifest from their souls. We call these people blazers. When you are born with this magical gift you can enter a training academy to become a Mage-knight. Ikki Kurogane dreams of being a mage-knight despite his family and most of the magical community being against it due to his lack of magical power. He is ranked as class “F” the lowest of the low on the magical scale yet still has the ability to go toe to toe with blazers and the world that seems to have turned against him. The story is about Ikki’s quest to become a knight will be complete if he simply beats the strongest mage-knights in the world at in a potentially deadly tournament.

Chivalry of a Failed Knight and Armed Girls Machiavellism have a few key similarities. The first one is they are both battle anime. You can expect one or two great fight scenes per episodes. We have a healthy level of ecchi as well. We get some great ecchi moments between Ikki and his, roommate and girlfriend, Stella Vermillion a knock out sexy tsundere redhead princess. A great element of the story they have in common in one of discrimination. Ikki faces discrimination from his classmates and his own family for not being a gifted mage at one point not being allowed to attend classes simply because of his rank. Nomura faces similar discrimination simply because of his gender. He is bullied and thought the worst of because he is a boy. The two have an advantage because there is nothing as likely to succeed as when your enemy thinks you don’t have a shot. We watch Ikki and Nomura battle against people who consider themselves their social betters to prove they are equals.

Asterisk War is the story of Ayato Amagirl as one of the Genestella (a new breed of humans born with amazing physical and magical skills). The Genestella enter academy’s like Seidoukan Academy to learn how to control their powers. Students usually learn this control by dueling against each other or by entering the festas widely attended tournaments that showcase their skills. Ayato’s main goal isn’t to compete in festas but to unravel a mystery at the school. His life of flying under the radar takes an unfortunate turn when he attempts to do something nice, return a handkerchief he found to its owner. A misunderstand leads to a duel with one of the most powerful Genestella at the school and as you’d imagine he wins elevating his profile in the school and compelling him to compete in the high profile festas.

Asterisk War has a lot in common with Armed Girls Machiavelleism. We first can draw a comparison between the school settings and classic battle anime plot that has one character fight his way episode after episode towards a goal. Ayato, to win the festa and Nomura to get all the signatures for the pass that will let him off campus. The battles in Asterisk War are powerful and are fought with technomagical weapons. Nomura and the 5 swords may fight with, well, swords, and other traditional methods they still battle with super human techniques. Nomura and Ayato also find themselves surrounded by a collection of beautiful women that pledge themselves to them in one way or another. Yes, this has a harem element filled with girls that all “haven’t even thought of boys like that before,” giving us a good layer to cute to even out the violent moments.

The world Arata wakes to one day seems perfect. He is living the ideal life for a manga or anime character he has school, friends, lives with his childhood friend/cousin Hijiri who is totally hot and seems to be in love with him. The song Black Hole Sun by Chris Cornell even seem to make sense, as the sun “shining” in the sky is pitch black. He has his reservations and thinks something is off but his life is pretty good, so why question it, that is until he meets Lilith Asami. The lady Lilith oozes sex appeal and gets Arata’s attention when she whispers in his ear, “wake up or I’ll have to kill you.” You can understand why this is the catalyst for the events that lead Arata to find his cousin gone, the world nearly destroyed, and him enrolling in the Royal Biblia Academy to become a mage.

Trinity Seven is first and foremost an unapologetic ecchi comedy. You get a lot of boobs and panties as well as suggestive language in this show. You do get a bit of ecchi in Machivaellism a scene with two girls attempting to put on a sumo mawashi (loincloth) is one example. If you had to rank the ecchi with Trinity Seven being lv. 10 then Machivaellism is about lv. 7. The harem aspect is also a big similarity the collections have all the tropes you’d expect tsundere, deredere, and kudere as well as some over the top yuri onee-sama obsessions by the younger classmen. The girls don’t all fall for Arata on the outset so this is quite a bit of magical battling bringing the action aspect that’s similar to Machivaellism. The two anime also have a rather unapologetic lead characters. Arata doesn’t apologize for his lustful thoughts and pervy ways and Nomura doesn’t apologize for being himself, someone that doesn’t bow down to anyone.

Medaka Kurokami is perfect. She, like Superman, is kind, intelligent, athletic and superhumanly strong. She is also very sexy and probably the best-looking girl in school. She is also immensely popular; she won the student council presidency with 98% of the school vote. She lives to use her super human abilities to help “strangers,” or in this case the students at the Hakoniwa Academy. She is helped by the other members of the student council that includes her pessimistic childhood friend Zenkichi a stoic straight man and perfect foil to super optimistic and cheerful Medaka. She receives the requests for help from the suggestion box dubbed the Medaka Box.

Armed Girls Machivaellism as a few similarities with Medaka Box, the first and most important is that it is a school based battle royal. We find that there is something truly sinister going on at the school and Medaka and the student council will have to face opponent after opponent to uncover the truth. We also get several super strong women warriors just like in Armed Girls Machivaellism. A few ecchi moments, many involving Medaka’s tattered clothes after a battle are also something we can point to as a similarity between the two programs.

Aktsuki Ousawa was one of many kidnapped as children, summoned to another world to defeat the Dark Lord Garius, many of those children never returned home. Our hero Aktsuki truly became a hero when he became the one to defeat the dark lord. The children, many now teenagers, were allowed to return to our world many of them bringing magical items with them. Aktsuki, having his own moral code, brought back the daughter of the man he defeated, Dark Lord Garius. Mui, the dark lord’s daughter poses as his long lost little sister as a way to protect her from the rivals of the dark lord that may want revenge. Akatsuki, like all the children who returned, must attend a special school called Babel where they will train to use their unique powers for the good of humanity.

We wouldn’t necessarily call Nomura perverted. If he fits anywhere on the ecchi scale it’s on the lucky pervert side, never asking for it or making a big deal about it, things just happen to make him seem like he’s lecherous. Akatsuki like Nomura is governed by a moral code his just lets him use and take advantage of his abilities like magically stealing lingerie from girls standing right in front of him. The two heroes are also very confident and powerful never letting rules cramp their style. Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero much like Machiavellism is a battle anime that is an episodic tale of challenges and over the top battles that in some cases truly move the story along.

Ryuuko Matoi is in search of her father’s killer. The missing half of his invention, the Scissor Blade is her only lead. The investigation takes her to the prestigious Honnouji Academy a school that is less a school and more a totalitarian society. The dictator, Satsuki Kiryuuin whom calls herself president, like many dictators rules the school with absolute power. Her top lieutenants, the Elite 4, are given special clothes, “Goku Uniforms” that grant them super human power. Ryuuko knows to find the truth she will have to tear down the establishment. She has very few allies, Mako Mankanshoku an extremely energetic girl with lots of personality and not a lot of brains that has completely devoted herself to Ryuuko and Senketsu. Senketsu, is a sentient “Kamui” or God Garment, that in exchange for blood gives Ryuuko the power to fight the Elite Four and Satsuki and find the answer she seeks.

Kill la Kill is a battle story through and through. We know that there are some that who feel the story has a much deeper meaning, but the surface story is a battle story. The heroes, Ryuuko and Nomura, both are people on a mission that have to battle every episode with super human ability to achieve their goals. Nomura and Ryuuko both are going up against governments with philosophies that think that the ends justify the means approach in which the subjugation of personal freedom is in the name of peace. We can also put Kill la kill in the ecchi category but like Armed Girls Machiavellism it doesn’t seem to be the main focus of the series. You, with or without the ecchi, are in for a bare knuckles brawl of a show with fight after fight.