Lance N' Masques


Lance N' Masques is a Japanese light novel series by Hideaki Koyasu with illustrations by Shino, and is edited by the animation studio Studio Gokumi. Pony Canyon has published six volumes since 2013 under their Poni Can imprint. An anime television series adaptation aired from October 1 to December 17, 2015.

Plot

The protagonist of the story is Yōtarō Hanabusa, a member of the surviving 21st century Knights, called the "Knights of the world." Wanting to be a normal person rather than a knight, he leaves everyone behind to set out on his own, but old habits die hard and he finds that like it or not he reflexively acts like a "White Knight" any time someone's in trouble. One day he meets a girl, Kidoin Makio, and learns that she is forced to live completely alone; he takes her under his wing and begins to look after her, all the while hiding his identity as the masked "Knight Lancer" she idolizes.

Characters

;Alice Cleveland
;Shirohime
;Yuifa/Liu Yu-Hua
;Sae Igarashi
;Tafei
;Shin Hanabusa
;Yuma Kidoin
;Gai Kongouji

Media

Light novels

Anime

An anime television series adaptation aired from October 1 to December 17, 2015. Kyōhei Ishiguro directed the series at Studio Gokumi, and original author Hideaki Koyasu was in charge of the scripts. The opening theme is "Light for Knight" by Suzuko Mimori and the ending theme is "Little*Lion*Heart" by Ayana Taketatsu.

Episode list

Reception

The anime series' first episode received poor reviews from Anime News Network's staff during the Fall 2015 season previews. Rebecca Silverman was optimistic of both the Maiko plotline and world-building involving the knights but found negative qualities in the overall production and introduction of the supporting cast. Other staffers were less than favorable. Lynzee Loveridge was critical of the faulty logic and lack of "normalcy" in the plotting, while Nick Creamer called it "flavorless anime custard" for being an "extremely bland light novel adaptation." Theron Martin compared the plot to Kure-nai but with production that's well below its quality level. Hope Chapman criticized the story for playing out like an amalgam of "subpar 4-koma anime" with comedy that comes across more like "pure filler than intentional humor." Zac Bertschy saw the introduction of the premise as "barebones" with characters that offer nothing to get the viewer interested in them.