Reincarnated as a Sword Season 1 Blu-ray Review
In a fantasy world where magic is real and monsters exist, one man from our world finds himself reincarnated as a sword. Stuck in a land with no one nearby, he decides to level up his magical skills by slaying monsters. After a while he has attained super strong skills, but still no wielder! What is a sword to do? Then one day, a caravan is attacked by local monsters, and Fran, a cat girl slave, picks up the sword to defend herself. Now free from slavery, Fran wants to use the magical sword to evolve, which no black cat so far has been able to do. Together, with the sword now named ‘Teacher’, the pair embark on an adventure together to fulfil this quest.
Reincarnated As A Sword is based on the light novel of the same name, which also has a manga adaption. Both are licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment and are still ongoing, with the second season of the anime due in October this year. So if you like this series, there’s plenty of material to check out afterwards.
This series is from the ever-popular isekai genre, with the fantasy world being very bog-standard. There are elves, monsters, goblins, giant spiders, magic systems and so on. The way the world works is also run by video game logic, with characters often introduced via their ‘stats’ (like strength and health points) as well as skills on a board that comes up to show what each character or enemies know. Fighting gives them experience points to level up and learn new skills. Weirdly, the magic system and how the characters learn weapon arts isn’t actually explained in detail until near the end of the first season, which is a little bizarre, but the systems are simple enough to understand from the offset, so you won’t be confused by the world’s logic or anything. My only complaint is the amount of reading that the anime expects you to do, especially when it comes to the bigger monsters the protagonists face, and our heroes gasp at stats and skills the enemies use, but they often scroll fast so it’s hard to absorb the information whilst watching.
But Fran and Teacher and their developing relationship across the series are the real main draw. They have a very warm, sweet partnership, like a father and daughter, and how they not only bond over wanting to get stronger, but also to reassure each other of each other’s strengths and skills. I also appreciated that, unlike some anime, the relationship is never sexualised, considering how young Fran is. Teacher has one joke where he visualises different strengths of curry (mild to spicy) as young and mature Fran, but that’s as far as it goes, the rest of the time is very wholesome and fun to enjoy. The series overall is rather light-hearted, so there isn’t an evil lord overshadowing the main plot or political conflicts between kingdoms. The story just gets to spend time with these two characters and watch them develop as adventurers along the way, and the story is stronger for it, I think; the chemistry between them overweighs the blandness of the fantasy world they’re in.
It also helps that each character is rather simple but still engaging to watch on screen, Fran, for example, was a slave, so doesn’t want to just rely on Teacher’s built-in sword skills. Instead she wants to get stronger on her own – building up her own stats and learning more about the world that she was unable to experience as a slave. Teacher is also a kind protagonist, who protects Fran from incoming threats, but also listens to her and steps back when she wants to handle a situation on her own. He’s the perfect ‘teacher’ if you will: knowledgeable and firm, but also encouraging and understanding of Fran’s needs. I did not think that he needed to be from our world however, because we never learn anything about his original life and after the opening episode, it’s never brought up again. It could have easily just have been a sword that gained sentience, or someone within that world who got cursed into a sword, or whatever. But I understand that isekai is popular right now, and so needing that hook to gain readers was a choice by the writer or editor.
Music is provided by Yasuharu Takanashi, who’s very prolific across anime and video games, including Naruto, Beyblade and Sailor Moon Crystal. There’s a lot of high energy tracks for the various combat sequences, as well as softer pieces when Fran and Teacher are just hanging out.
Animation is by C2C studio, who have been active since 2006, with series under their belt including Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki and WorldEnd. Their animation here is fine overall and they did a good job blending the 3D model of Teacher (the sword) with the 2D environments, to give the movement of the sword more weight and style.
The on-disc extras in this complete collection from MVM include web previews, clean opening and closings, plus Japanese and English dubs. The English dub has a lot of good talent, with Ty Mahany being my personal favourite performance as Teacher.
Sometimes you don’t need a unique world and magic system to make a series shine, sometimes you just need simple characters with a good chemistry, and that’s where Reincarnated As A Sword delivers. The anime may not stand out for its animation or storytelling, but the main characters are fun to watch progress as they become adventurers. If you’re looking for a truly unique isekai, this one may not be for you, but if you just want something comfy to watch, this would be a good choice.
Our review copy was supplied by MVM.
