Look, I loved this. There are currently two 12-episode seasons and I am desperately hoping for a third. But even so, this was very different than what the description led me to believe. It sounds like it’s going to have a lot of fighting, right? The concept of time-traveling history defenders sounds solid. So I expected a lot of this:
I got, um, a small amount of that. But mostly what I got was:
And
Yes, the show focuses a lot on the daily life part. The time-traveling history protection is mainly there for select character development. But, like I said, I ended up loving this.
The series starts with this adorable ~~child~~ sword’s first day in the Citadel. See, all the characters are swords from Japan’s history, given human form by a mysterious but much beloved magical master. (Never seen by the audience, and they/them pronouns used at all times.) Since the swords live and train here when not being sent on missions, new swords get a tour and introduction to everyone. This is convenient for plot reasons, letting the audience get settled.
Hmmm, I thought, as we met the 10th character with no end in sight, I wonder if this was based on a video game? I’m getting that vibe.
Blue-guy, Yamatonokami, and Red-guy below, Kashuu, are the deuteragonists of the series, with Yama-Blue getting more focus in season 1, and Kashuu getting more in season 2. (Also, please join me in admiring Kashuu’s beautiful painted nails.)
This is really helpful, because with such a large cast, things would get lost if they tried to give everyone character development. Instead, we have these two that get more than one episode of development, a nebulous group of like, 20-ish that pop up in multiple episodes, enough that you can probably remember their names, and the rest of the cast really only pop up with lines a few times.
Oh? Didn’t I mention? There are a lot of characters. 62 swords, in fact, 40-odd of whom appear in the first season.
With so many characters, it can’t get deep. Instead, most episodes focus on a handful, whether it be “X is self-conscious about his size but helps the team on the mission by being tall” or “Kasen, who has for some reason taken on the role of Main Laundry Doer, tries to steal Yamanbagiri’s never-removed cloak for washing.” Sometimes we get familiar tropes like “two characters compete to get Position X while the regular person is gone,” or “two characters who don’t like each other are forced to work together and end up singing about it while cooking.” Or that perennial favorite, “unable to convince a loner to make friends any other way, the group puts together a host club.”
It ended up being so fun, because the show doesn’t try to overdo it. This isn’t the mess that was Miracle Train–there’s no attempt at trying to make things really dark and mysterious. This is mainly full of hijinks by a bunch of pretty dorks who live together, most of whom have personalities like “big brother” or “gym maniac” or “alcoholic” (that’s Jiroutachi, purple in the first gif) or “nice grandpa who drinks tea all day ~~and looks 25 and can kill you~~” (Munechika, below) or “daddy,” who I’m not kidding, gets straight-up called “SWORD DADDY” and killed me.
Everyone is so darn likable, even the loners and rude characters. It was pure fun–not million-laughs-a-minute comedy, but something I could sit down, know that I was going to watch characters be friendly and funny and resolve issues and get a happy ending, without getting monotonous.
Verdict
English dub? Yes, and with so many (SO MANY) voiced characters, if you’ve watched any amount of Funimation-dubbed anime you’ll probably recognize a few. Having just finished Kamisama Kiss before starting this, I was like HEY THAT’S TOMOE when one pink-haired sword starting speaking, and immediately identified Koro-sensei from Assassination Classroom in season 2. This isn’t a bad thing! It’s more of an Easter egg.
That said, I loved Kashuu’s voice, which I hadn’t heard before. There was something so captivating about his light and casual voice via Garret Storms. (my ears: this voice is friend-shaped)
Most things sounded fine in English, but my favorite thing besides Kashuu’s voice was definitely the two separate episodes where characters just break out into song while cooking together. 10/10 would watch again.
Visuals: The major thing that clued me in to this originating as a game wasn’t just the amount of characters, but their designs. These are fun, pretty, colorful designs. Characters are visually distinct so even if you can’t keep track of names, it’s easy to keep personalities separate. Plus, the show as a whole is colorful and light.
Worth watching? Hi, this is a show that explains none of its magic, but includes pretty sword-boys who paint their nails and have friendly swordfights and take daytrips to the beach and occasionally kill monsters so that history won’t change. It’s so much fun.
(Yes, it’s the kind of show where I’ve got questions about the “History Retrograde Army” and why they’re all explicitly-evil-looking monsters and those questions are never answered, but it doesn’t ever pretend it’s going to answer them so I don’t really mind.)
(*stares straight at Miracle Train* see THIS is how you do an inanimate-object-turned-pretty-boys-doing-things show, you amateurs.)
Important note: there is a separate show called “Katsugeki Touken Ranbu,” made by a different studio, that seems to be closer to what I initially thought I was watching: more action, more serious. I haven’t watched it yet, but be aware it’s a separate thing (although based on the same mobile game).