[Akiyoshi]

Originally Posted by Keroko

Circular? Hardly. Page 3 has a semi-decent view of the handgrip. It's just curved. Now the handguard is almost circular, yes, but that's not a bad thing, given that it's located on the blade side, which is the common placement for handguards that cover the hand anyway. Always shielding the place on your grip where your fingers are.

The design of Laevatein's handgrip is just fine, the curved zones at the end of the blade can be used to fend off attacks aimed at the hands. The AEC-cleaver design is excesive.

Originally Posted by Keroko

The blade looks bulky on most pages, but it's often perspective talking. Blade first, Signum second means the blade will be drawn larger. That's why I want a Force Next before judging scale, because the pics are squinting galore.

Unfortunately Kurogin said he finished with the NEXT design series so we'll need to wait for another official source of info for the stats of that thing. We didn't even know how the thing is called xDU

Originally Posted by Keroko

You are going to have to explain to me what you see as "proper fencing," because there are millions of varieties in swordplay, and the term "fencing" is used most often to refer to this kind which Signum has never ever done.

I'll admit i'm no sword expert. The only thing i know is that the style used by Signum on this fight isn't the one she uses usually and seemed to be clumsier and less efective.

Originally Posted by Keroko

I don't see much agility in the way Signum wields laevateine either (it's always "RAWR! SMASH!" until she goes slangenform, which itself is a retarded weapon working only because of Rule of Cool). In fact, I'd say that this fight is far more agile than anything we've seen signum do so far. Double-blocking, repeated multi-weapon use, and following the sword traces rather than the static images, very agile swordsplay.

Heh, just the same way people like to flanderize Nanoha into someone who only knows how to blast thigns xD. Signum's fightstyle was very fast and skilled. Laevatein is a sword with a wide area of attack but Signum was always able to precit opponent's movement and turn fast to block and attack in rapid succession.

I agree Schalgenform would be utterly inpractical on the real world, but fortunately, it exist on the Nanohaverse where people can fly and long snake-like whip-swords can be manipulated to cover great areas swiflty and with great effect. Schalgenfrom is rarely the way Signum finishes her battles, it's more like the middle-step of her combat style, the snake-sword can be used to control the opponent's moves and also confuse them with quick and variable range moves. It's offensive and defensive at the same time and can channel Signum's magical power to a variety of effects, it lacks the raw striking power of the Schwertform and can't make high-tier bombardement attacks like Bogenform but it's the most versatile form of Laevatein that can open the path for Signum in battle.

You said Signum's AEC is fluid and quick, yet Sginum's lacking speed in this fight allowed Cypha to score damage and was relying on the shield for defense for msot of the fight because she wasn't able to parry as well with that thing. Something that never happened with Laevatein who managed to even blind Cypha with it's maneuverability and high-speed attacks. the only weakness Laevatein have against the new equipement is durability. He's superior in every other aspect.

Originally Posted by Keroko

And buckler breaking is no surprise. Bucklers aren't tower shields, they excel in defending against light blades, and will break under the stress of heavy blows. The purpose of a buckler in those cases is to make sure said blow doesn't kill the user and create openings (by deflecting blows, shielding the sword hand, pinning the enemy, etc.) which the buckler succeeded at to the point of creating an opening for Signum to strike. Exactly as design intended, really.

Half agree on this. I said half because if Cypha decided to regrow her arm and continue the fight Signum would be fried as the only thing preventing Cypha from avoiding her clumsy cleaver and get to her guts was that shield xDU

Originally Posted by Keroko

You say "Signum is a knight" as if it justifies your personal analysis of her fighting style, but if we get critical, she's always been a terrible knight. Even in A's. This is not the fault of the character, but the fault of the animators not knowing what a knight entails and just defaulting to standard samurai knowledge. She wields a one-handed weapon without side-arm. Uses only slashing attacks despite her weapon having solid piercing options even without slangenform (indeed, due to the evolution of western armor, western weapons became specialized in stabbing). She uses two hands to fight with her one-hander, despite solo-one handing benefiting more from... well... using one hand and positioning your body so you receive minimal retaliatory blows.

Maybe you're right but in the Nanohaverse she's a very capable and effecgtive fighter. Signum's scabbar fulfill shield functions perfectly as also doubling as a second sword of sorts which is actually a pretty cool and clever idea. Signum only uses two hand for certaing kind of strikes who require more strenght, most of the time she only uses one hand (Shidden Issen is mostly executed one-handed). Signum do tried to stab people but plot always get in her way xDU.

Originally Posted by Keroko

The way Signum wields laevateine is how the average movie samurai fights. If anything, by fighting style alone Signum is a samurai. Not a knight.

Okay, she's a samurai if you like. Still not an araban fighter. Teh point remains xD