Dhruv Sharma
One can get a fair idea of what ‘Katanagatari’ is all about from the title itself which translates to—”A tail of swords.” Though it is a pretty short series with only 12 episodes, it explains every small aspect of it in grave detail through the conversations between the characters. This might be a little bit of a turn off for those who expect a lot of action from the show but for the most part, it’s the well-scripted dialogues that actually make it a lot better. White Fox Studio is known for creating shows like ‘Steins;Gate‘ and ‘Akame ga Kill‘ that have very unique and creative animation styles. Even with ‘Katanagatari’, the studio brings forward a very simplistic yet flamboyant animation style that involves several themes such as traditional Japanese culture and modern fighting video games.
The animation style becomes very noticeable in the fight scenes where the movements of characters are simple yet extremely fluid. The art style can take a little getting used to but once you get the hang of it, you’ll start loving it. For a 12-episode anime, ‘Katanagatari’ features a lot of music which includes two different opening themes, 12 closing themes and a whole lot of melodious background scores. A lot of these background scores go unnoticed but the opening themes are quite memorable. The diversity in its music indicates that a lot of efforts have been put in this department as well.
Even the character development has been handled quite well considering its short runtime. A clear transformation can be seen between the relationship of the characters as their actions and conversations, with respect to each other, subtly change with each episode. Unfortunately, the great supporting cast, that holds a lot of potential, is ignored but that is understandable because of all the time constraints. Overall, ‘Katanagatari’ is a great anime that can be enjoyed by most viewers but it is nowhere close to being perfect. Though its dialogues are actually its strong suit, there are times when it is just too unnecessarily wordy. Also, its parody towards the common shounen stereotypes is not too bad but more often than not it feels like it is being forced into the show. When it comes to originality and creativity, ‘Katanagatari’ easily qualifies as one of the best out there and for obvious reasons, most of the credit for that goes to White Fox Studio.
Katanagatari Season 2 Release Date: When will it premiere?
‘Katanagatari’ season 1 premiered on January 26, 2010 and went on till December 11, 2010. The story of season one ends with an almost perfect conclusion and leaves absolutely no loose strings. So to be fair, it would in a way be better if the anime was left alone as a “one-season wonder”. ‘Katanagatari’ season 2 is something that most fans already know is not a possibility and that’s probably the reason why no one’s even talking about it anymore. So it would be better to not hope for ‘Katanagatari’ season 2 release date at all as it is pretty obvious by now that it’ll never happen. If you really enjoyed watching ‘Katanagatri’ then you should definitely check out our list of other great romance-action anime shows.
Katanagatari English Dub:
Unfortunately, despite being such a popular and well-rated anime, ‘Katanagatari’ cannot be legally streamed anywhere as of now. If we get any updates regarding its licensing and online streaming, we will surely update it here in this section.
Katanagatari Plot:
Similar to many other samurai anime like ‘Samurai Champloo‘ and ‘Shigurui’, ‘Katanagatari’ is also set in the Edo-period of Japan. It revolves around Shichika Yasuri who practices a very unique style of swordsmanship named Kyotouryuu in which the swordsman uses his/her own body like a blade. Shichika is the seventh head of the famous Kyotouryuu School and lives quite a peaceful life with his sister Nanami. But one day, their peace is completely shattered when Togame suddenly becomes a part of their ordinary lives.
Togame begs for Shichika’s help in her mission to hunt down all the twelve unique “Deviant Blades”. There is something about Togame that Shichika’s starts to admire and because of that, he decides to join her with her journey. But the path that leads them to the “Deviant Swords” is not all sunshine and rainbows and is full of many power-hungry forces who will do anything to reach the swords before them. The two must now completely unite with each other and put in all the strength they’ve got, only then they might possibly be able to lay their hands on what they seek.
Katanagatari Characters:
Togame
Togame is the main female protagonist of the series who claims to be a strategist working for the shogunate. She is really petite in stature and herself claims to be physically fragile. When she was born, she had jet black hair and bright red eyes but her appearance completely changes after she witnesses the murder of her father. Her hair turns white and that one eye witnessing the murder through the gap in the doorway becomes purple and takes a snake-like appearance. She is usually seen in traditional Japanese clothing that has bright bluish colors. After her father’s death, she vows to carry out his will and discards her old identity in order to avenge his death.
She has a strong sense of purpose and does not give up when she decides to get something done. She is also quite intelligent but ends up making bad judgments at times because of her clumsiness. She displays a lot of royalty through her personality and also her extravagant dressing sense. She has a really hard time when it comes to trusting others as she has been brutally betrayed before. At one point of time, she orders Shichika to fall in love with her as she firmly believes that love conquers every other temptation.
Shichika Yasuri
Shichika is the main male protagonist of the Katanagatari series who is the seventh head of the Kyotouryuu School of Japanese Swordsmanship. Shichika somehow manages to land himself in the most embarrassing situations all the time but usually has no clue about it as he is very naive about the outside world. He remains confused about the simplest things and has a hard time understanding the value of relationships. He was raised as a human weapon and that’s the reason why he fails to express his emotions. After meeting Togame, he starts to feel a little different and even claims that he is in love with her. Later, after he gets to interact with new people, he becomes more of a human.
He really cares for his younger sister Nanami and can do absolutely anything to keep her safe. But despite being so close to her, he does not know anything about her true power. His face and the hair on his head are all shaped like leaves. He usually wears half clothing that allows him to move freely during fights. He has been training since he was a kid and has developed the strength that surpasses the abilities of a normal human. Even his reflexes and durability during battles is a lot more than most others. He can also sustain multiple bullet wounds and still be able to defeat his opponents.
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