Wakaranai

Rating:    

Manglobe’s new foray into the darkside of otaku-pandering moe-moe anime production and marketing continues to provide us with surprisingly fun results. Being a once-proud studio Manglobe still brings flare and energy to this anime series, even if they are throwing in obvious trapping for fanboys. I have a lot of fun watching this series, and quite frankly it’s really refreshing to sink my teeth into a straight fantasy like this – an unpretentious and unsophisticated tale of knights, magic and demonic beings. This particular episode was kind of jarring in a way that I’m having trouble pinpointing. The previous episodes all flowed on to each other nicely with a pretty consistent pace and tone, but then this episode startlingly opened up with an uncharacteristically battle-ready Cecily fighting off a horde of new characters. Suddenly there’s demon swords left-right-and-centre, an empire, a horde of new girls and a sharp new focus of the plot.

This jarring effect is amplified by the fact that the new girls, the emperor’s heiress and her trio of plucky guardians, bring a whole new mood to the table. For starters they feel notably more cliché than the other characters. Even though I only just met them, they already feel so familiar. The protective bodyguard role and the faux ojousama role are fairly reoccurring in anime. Plus, their interactions somehow just don’t seem to be in line with the fantasy setting of the series. I can’t really pinpoint why, they just don’t seem to ‘fit’. I probably just have to adjust to them as well as the new plot direction (or tangent?) that they’ve brought with them. The sudden abundance of demon swords was probably the biggest surprise (other than Cecily actually being skillful in a battle). Now that everyone seems to have one it kind of undermines the importance impressiveness of Aria. But the biggest thing that made me think “this doesn’t feel like The Sacred Blacksmith!” was the fact that there was not a single Cecily breast-size joke! Not one! Make an effort, Manglobe..

That aside, I enjoyed the episode. There was a lot of action, parts of it well animated, others a little jerkily, but all of it pretty exciting. Seeing the new demon swords in action was a lot of fun (although it’s strange that we didn’t see any of the others in human form, are they happy just staying a sword all the time?). And I’m glad Cecily got to hold her own in a fight with actual choreography. You did well, girl! Even if they were jarring, I still liked the new girls. The young girl with the right to the throne, Charlotte is actually kind of annoying, but she’s really cute with her three friends and protectors. The interplay between them is fun! I think it’s amusing how the episode turned out after they were beating the crap out of Cecily for the first half. Cecily must be feeling really confused when she’s enjoying dinner with them! Other than Cecily, they all seem pretty casual about fighting.

Casual describes this episode pretty well, and that suits me just fine. The Sacred Blacksmith is a very enjoyable series if you aren’t looking for something deep or realistic, and if you can stomach its rampant embellishment of katanas.

● The three bodyguards who work for Charlotte are Doris (Earth demon sword user), Margot (demon sword of scarlet ray), and Penelope (who uses a demon-sword-killing ballock knife. Together these young girls add a new flavor to the series. Personally, I’m especially fond of Doris. The name of her seiyuu eludes me but I really like her and think she fits this role very well. Margot is also very fetching, with red hair even fierier than Cecily’s. Her character design is very stunning <3. But she’s not just good looks – her demon sword is probably the coolest one I’ve seen so far. It’s like an extendable lightsabre of sorts. It gives off a really ‘lethal’ feel. Margot also has a cute side to her when dealing with Charlotte. It was so moe when she was wiping her face clean at dinner.

● Didn’t Luke seem a bit overpowered here? I expected him to drop in and dish out a pretty epic spanking but he barely even had to muster a flick of the wrist to defeat all three demon-sword wilders when he was rescuing Cecily (again). It seemed a bit much. Also, how many times does a guy have to save a girl these days before making her melt into dere-dere mode? Mind you, Luke’s dashing chivalry is offset a bit by the fact that he’s a bastard. I loved his grin when Cecily was forced to have the empress-to-be in her home.

✔ My surprise at the fact that this series is directed by the man who previously bought us .. a bunch of pokemon movies and Linebarrels of Iron (Hidaka Masamitsu), is ongoing. This will certainly improve his reputation!