Katanagatari and its beautiful art.
This is just the novel cover though.
Katanagatari is great because:
1. It is quite refreshing and original. I get it that the concept of using 'human swords' are not unheard of even if they are rare but the plot line is pretty upbeat and I rarely find myself yawning when I watch an episode. One reviewer said that he thought Katanagatari was more of a character development kind of anime instead of being called 'action'. I beg to differ. Certainly the anime delves deep into character development (Shichika from a complete emotion-less tool to a human sword who's brain can comprehend a house that's gaudy and laugh at it) but there is plenty of action as well! Each anime has action scenes in it so I wouldn't call it an anime whose sole purpose was to look at how the characters blossom. It's part of it, yes, but so's it a pat of the action.
Shichika and Togame.
2. Character designs!~ They are beautiful! I still pretty much dislike Togame but she got a bit bearable towards her death (SPOILER ALERT!). Her clothes still sucked though. I thought hers was the ugliest piece of sh*t ever but the Maniwa Corps sucked @ss too. HOWEVER, Shichika's design is attractive, masculine with a touch of feminine and suitable for his Kyoutoryuu style of fighting. He was what got me interested in the anime in the first place! XD Uneri Ginkaku was a wicked cool too. Simple, dark and gloomy, with the black and white hair to boot! Lol. He was rather fine in a dark mysterious way. Sabi Hakuhei was cool too. Something about him screams 'SNOW!' Well, anyway, he's your resident pretty white haired boy so go figure. They're always awesome as in @.@ & o.O and cool as in -___- and super duper strong like @+@. Wish I saw more of him though...
Shichika in battle with Sabi the smexy white haired boy. :D
Uneri Ginkaku, the mysterious and dark ronin from Inaba.
Doesn't he just look so wicked cool?
3. ACTION! The fighting scenes are EPIC! And I loved how this anime doesn't just show people hack each other up with cool flashy moves but don't tell us viewers what the heck just happened. This one actually explains to us the nature of a person's techniques ie. :- Shichika: swordless, uses arms & legs as swords; Ginkaku: drawing sword technique, super fast at the speed of light; Nanami: Ill girl because she's too strong and that learning techniques literally makes her WEAKER! Yep, go figure...; etc, etc.
I'll say this, the only reason which pisses me off about Katanagatari is the fight that was never seen;
Sabi Hakuhei vs Yasuri Shichika!
Glimpses of it was awesome though.
Also, it's very interesting to watch the Kyoutoryuu in action as well as adrenaline pumping. Meisai's sword technique was fascinating to watch too. I don't think I've ever seen a technique like hers before even tho I've toyed of the concept for some time. Ginkaku is just wicked! I've always had a fascination for sword drawers! Kenshin, anyone??? I think he and Sabi are my new anime crushes! They're so wickedly AWESOME!!! Kyaaaa!~~ Fangirl cry!
Yasuri Shichika in one of the Kyoutoryuu stances.
4. Character Development: It is surprisingly good. I was seriously praying that this anime was good while I was downloading it. I was so hoping it wasn't one of those stupidly boring animes which were supposed to be swords and fights and romance but instead got sidetracked with displaying a bunch of pretty boys holding katanas, drinking tea and looking cool all day long (Peacemaker Kurogane, pops in my mind right now). Thank god, it wasn't! Now let's look at how the characters blossom:
Yasuri Shichika: From an emotionless retard with no human social skills whatsoever, the dude seemed to grow a bit of humanity throughout the series. I was glad that by the time he met Konayuki, he had grown some empathy and sympathy for her loss as well as his reluctance to do her any real harm. I was seriously growing to like him by then. He also developed in the sense that; before, he was certainly willing to take life just for the fact that he was 'Togame's sword' but actually even felt a bit...dare I say it, guilty, I guess, at killing Meisai, Ginkaku, Sabi and Koumori at the end of the series. When that Holy-man whatshisname asked him "why do you fight?" and told him it was no small deal killing people, bro; dude finally got some clue about what he'd done. He didn't regret those killings, but, he finally understood why he does those things for Togame, why loved her and how that love drives him to do her biding "willingly" as before that, he was just a puppet with no real emotions.
Yasuri Shichika in extremely serious mode.
I think this was how he looked like after Togame died.
11 year old Itezora Konayuki with the Herculean strength and she was the weakest in her clan.
Togame: Pure hatred towards this bitch for the whole time of the series until I finally reached the episode with that Zanki Kiguchi girl. I just thought she was quite cute when she got all jealous of Zanki and Shichika. It was kinda sweet too when she thought she saw them kissing and later on cried. Haha! I guess, I prefer her more with short hair. Also, when they met that Holy-man dude, I cried for her! Poor girl! Her dad's head getting chopped off like that in front of her very eyes and her dad being a pretty boy was a plus too. Meh. I felt sorry for her. Her chracter seriously grew and changed and I really liked that about her. DESPITE this, I still harbor some irritation towards her...Sigh.
Why do you hate me so, Lily-chan?
Lily: I hate you because you're just a total heartless skank but that seemed to evaporate a bit by episode 8 and beyond...Still, you are VERY annoying.
Maniwa Corps: Wish they'd delve a bit more for these guys. I seriously thought Chouchou and his smexy big boobed babe had a story to be explored but, alas, there wasn't. Huou was pretty cool ('cept for the design) but he wasn't looked into either. Not much you know about them but they're ugly to look at anyway so, meh, just die already!
The Maniwa Corps. A group of ninja wearing bright colors with animal themes.
And get this, they belong in special squads too like the beast squad, fish squad and insect squad.
Characters were quite memorable *some* but the designs were pretty whacked.
Who's ever heard of brightly dressed up ninjas?
Chouchou and his smexy GF/ whatever. I forgot her name but I rather liked her.
Yasuri Nanami: I suspected that this chick had some spikes to her when in the first episode, Shichika told her he'd created a new technique and that he wanted her to see. Also, when Koumori launched an attack of kunais, she pushed Togame and numskull Shichika out of the way. No ordinary chick would've known that a bunch of kunais were flying your wayif you weren't somewhat experienced in combat, right? And lo and behold, Nanami, ill girl with thin arms and legs that can barely hold up, who's soft and gentle demeanor depicts that of a weakling, is actually only an ill girl because her body is too strong for her to contain it in the first place! She is shockingly powerful and frightening when she is in combat. She has the freaky ability to observe people's techniques and then master it upon second observation. Nanami, is seriously whacked in the head though! You do not want to face her as an opponent when she's got that psycho grin on her face! No scratch that! You don't want to face her as an opponent AT ALL! Her character development isn't that deep but since she is extremely surprising, she gets gold stars for that! Yay, Nanami!
Yasuri Nanami. Very scary older sister. I think she might have even harbored some incestuous love for her bro...IDK. Just my opinion. I mean, it's not unheard of in Japanese anime, right?
All of these underlying themes...T__T Meh.
Princess Hitei: Insignificant bitch. I really don't care for her much.
Princess Hitei who seemed to have a HUGE love for pink roses.
She accompanied Shichika in his travels after the series reached its end.
Maybe they'll end up together...IDK.
Enmonzaemon: I think his clothes are lame but he'd be interesting to draw. Hahaha! Techniques and stuff didn't really move me. They should've shed some history on this fellow.
Enmonzaemon. When first saw him fight Shichika in the AMV I watched, I thought he was a girl.
That slim figure did got me to wonder what gender he really was.
And I went on a rampage to find this anime then.
Well, the character development mostly focuses on the two main characters so I guess that leaves nil room for the others to develop...sigh.
Anyway, yes, Katanagatari is seriously an awesome anime! I looooooooove it to death right now! I am currently in need to find a replacement anime for the void I feel but at the same time am too high on Katanagatari. I need swords and sword fighting in the anime! Lots of them! Maybe I'll try Samaurai Champloo soon...We'll see.
A future look of how things would be? I don't know but I think the pic is very well drawn! :)
Well, that's it then.
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