Watt Sears has traded his glory days as a Mechsteel knight for a humble life as train station employee with a knack for showing new pilots the ropes. Problem is, the city's baron—his boss—would love nothing more than to see Watt reclaim his old mantle as a Steelrider who hunts monsters and defends the city. Now nearing forty, the once-legendary pilot would much rather support the new generation than stand in the spotlight himself. Peace and quiet were the last things waiting for Watt, however, as his storied past literally comes to find him. When Anna, his long-lost daughter from a bygone romance, appears before him to ask for his help in a brewing royal power struggle, Watt vows to protect her. But as assailants descend on the city from all sides, keeping his promise proves to be no simple task. With turmoil rattling the kingdom, can this old knight survive his new post and keep his daughter safe?

Old Knight, New Post: From Retiree to Her Majesty's Blade has art by han2go and story by Hisago Amazake-no. English translation is done by Chris Craigo and lettering by Richmond T. Published by J-Novel Club (September 2, 2025). Rated 12+.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

Welcome to Fantasy Mechaland, where the giant robots are called mechsteels, pilots are steelriders, and a struggle for the throne is about to come to the frontier city where laid-back forty-something knight Watt has been stationed for roughly twenty years. What kind of man is he? The kind who doesn't even bat an eye when a sixteen-year-old girl arrives in town saying that she's his daughter; he just welcomes her with open arms and prepares to defend her to the death.

As you may have guessed, Old Knight, New Post is an uneven mix of elements. This first volume ranges from credulity-straining to kind of sweet, hitting all of the many points in between, making it a bit hard to really get a grasp of. It seems to want to be at least a little bit like Vision of Escaflowne with its “mechs and fantasy” setting and political turmoil, and to an extent it manages, albeit with 85% less angst. But most of the time I spent stuck on the idea that Watt so readily accepts Anna as his daughter, no questions asked. Even if he did sleep with her mother years ago, it all feels just a touch too convenient.

If it is, that adds a layer to this otherwise very thin story. The possibility that Anna is lying to Watt opens the door for a deeper sort of manipulation than we see otherwise, which mostly consists of moustache-twirling antics on the part of the knights sent to find her. I suspect that this is more to show how utterly good Watt is rather than to hint at a more involved plot, although the two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. Still, I have my doubts, especially since a lot of the book is devoted to showing how free and kind life is on the kingdom's frontiers. Anna learns firsthand how welcoming everyone is, how understanding they are about little things like “mechsteel destroyed my town,” and how all women are in love with her dad.

If I sound ambivalent about this book, that's because I am. I didn't dislike it, and the art is actually pretty decent. But there's just not much substance to this volume, making it hard to decide how much of this is just surface level. If you like the combination of fantasy and mecha, it's probably worth at least checking out, keeping your expectations low.

Erica Friedman
Rating:

Mechanic Zaddy Watt Sears learns he is an actual Daddy, and in this two-pronged, mega-nice-guy fantasy, he can save his town, his friends, and his new perfect daughter in one epic battle. Old Knight, New Post: From Retiree to Her Majesty's Blade is an all-you-can-eat Viking of being a good, powerful, humble, decent guy who used to be a badass.

We meet Watts Sears, who has settled into his current life as a Mechsteel mechanic and trainer, as he has dreams about his former life as a Knight. We instantly understand that these two lives are about to clash. We then meet Watt's newfound family, the people and the town he lives in, that he will have to protect when the mech hits the fan.

Into this near-perfect world steps a perfect daughter. Like her father, she is smart, competent, beautiful, and hardworking, and Watt never needed to change a single diaper. Anna is everything Watt wants to protect, as well.

So when political intrigue arrives in this town in the form of giant mech driven by nobles who look down on the people Watt loves, well, obviously, all we want is to see Watt kick their butts in an even cooler Mechsteel.

Watt arrives appropriately as the clock ticks down on the lives of a few townspeople. Yay! He's the perfect hero! Look at him, calm but determined, defeating a hotheaded asshole noble with a bit of mecha aikido.

I don't care about the story here; it's not important. Anna is the target that all the nobles will be gunning for. All we're doing is watching Watt and his friends be cool and beat the assholes, which is perfectly fine for a few hours of entertainment.