(L) Tensei shitara Ken deshita (Reincarnated as a Sword)

[Keila]

Originally Posted by Dark Wing

Am I the only one who thought this story didn't need to be an Isekai?

Like Fern could've just stumbled upon a magic intelligent sword with an eccentric personality?

Isekai (in this sense) is a vehicle in which to grant the sword knowledge/understanding/interpret the world around them.

If the sword just happen to gain the knowledge/experience it has in-world, how would it have done so/what events lead to this?

What is a 'newborn sword' even like if it was intelligent? Upon creation, just how much does it know about the world, and why does it only know this much.


Being an isekai is just a short-cut to establish a baseline of the characters experience/knowledge/preferences/understanding (i.e. justification for why the character is the way it is) which is perfectly fine that way.

As adorable as it would be to have flashback scenes to a sword 'growing up', you'd inevitably run into other problems.

[Tenzen12]

There is no particular reason for this to be isekai. And there is no particular reason for it NOT be isekai either. Author just wanted it to be that way.

As for Paladin, well I believe I myself expressed similiar sentiments in past, but if nothing else, Will most important life choice was direct result of his reincarnation. If he didn't die once he wouldn't ever met goddess of Death and Rebirth. Wouldn't became (non-sexually attracted her and would probably choose different patron and thus whole story would be different.

Originally Posted by Rasty

^ I don't see it that way. The sword-only part has a lot of uses that establish the premise:
- The general world/skills/monsters/power system info

That's true, but there was no need spent whole episode of grinding mobs to do so.

- Establish the MC (sword) and why we should care about him, this is the most important, otherwise, it would be a story of a sword wielder, not a story about a sword and his wielder

It certainly didn't establish why we should care for him.

- His personality traits: wish for power, diligence, creativity, having kind emotions (graves), not minding murdering things, being lonely and wanting to have a partner, etc.

Except his personality (or closest thing to personality mc has) is much better presented by episode 2 and 3. And things that were established by episode 1 were basically overshadowed by boring hack and slash gameplay.

- MC's abilities (skills), growth potential, power scale, and limitations (the way he can be trapped in a single place forever)

That's true. And as I said, this is very bad way to do so.

Also, the comedy was good and the fight scenes were reasonable, so I pretty much enjoyed it even if I ignore all the world-building there. Btw., it's about 12 minutes, not 20.

Fair enough. It might be "only" 12 minutes (it felt like forever though), remaining time was spent on being stuck in rock/ground.

I mean look on Kumoko. Even if there is many similiarities, there was actual feeling of discovery and life or death level stakes. Here were no stakes, no discovery, very little personality and no feeling of archievment (and it's not like I am huge fan of that novel as it still felt grindy at times despite doing it MUCH better).

[Alchemist007]

The "isekai-ing" part is for the audience to relate to. It's a tossup on whether it matters at all for the plot.

[moridin84]

The reason for 12-minute grinding is to get most of the levelling up for him out of the way.

He gets stronger by eating magic crystals and absorbing their skills, so it doesn't make sense for him to be strong straight away. At the same time, this isn't supposed to be a story where Fran and the MC are weak and grow together but where Fran obtains an OP sword that helps her become stronger.

The MC needed to be both stronger and more knowledgeable than Fran for him to be her mentor. Having the MC being isekai'd means that the MC is knowledgeable in general but the world itself is still a mystery.

[FlareKnight]

There are times when you can definitely cut out the isekai element and change nothing. But in this case I think it's fine. There's a few ways to handle the sword character. Either it's a fresh existence in which case it would have to grow, learn, and wouldn't immediately be able to have that mentor/father role with Fran. Or it's an entity with a past to it. Can either be a legendary weapon that has a whole life in that world behind it or can make it a person with no connection to that world but their own personal history. Going isekai works well enough to give him a past and maturity.

It's not the only way they could have done it. But it works to tap into that isekai popularity while not being forced. It works and wouldn't necessarily make the story better to take another option.

It got the story set up and things can move forward fine without even thinking about it being an isekai. Even the sword is far more focused on taking care of Fran and bringing her joy than he is about the life he used to have.

[Anh_Minh]

It could have been an old, out of touch intelligent weapon and it would have been almost exactly the same.

[Shinji103]

^ I disagree for the reasons I already stated that are already in play, but how and why does this hurt anything? Unless you just don’t like isekai as a principle, there’s nothing wrong here. I think people are getting worked up over nothing again.

[Cloudedmind]

Originally Posted by Shinji103

^ I disagree for the reasons I already stated that are already in play, but how and why does this hurt anything? Unless you just don’t like isekai as a principle, there’s nothing wrong here. I think people are getting worked up over nothing again.

Because far to often it gets used as a crutch for an easy backstory or plot convenience. That can work fine if it's just a slice of life isekai story. But, only a few shows really delve into who the person was before they got isekai'd. Or has who they were previously actually matter later in regards to things like personality traits or faults. I'll give Re:Zero some credit for having Subaru reconcile who he use to be with both himself and his "parents". But, I feel like we'll never get another Now And Then, Here and There anytime soon.

[Rasty]

^ I am pretty much OK with that use though. This way we got exactly one sentence about who he is (He died and reincarnated as a sword in fantasy world) and we are done with his past. Now we can concentrate on the more interesting things like exploring the world and watching Fran grow.

Btw., I love how casually brutal Fran is since the first episode. The way how she looks over her shoulder at the guy getting torn apart by the monster and then unhurriedly continues to the sword is priceless. Also, the way how she casually swipes away a cloak from the freshly dead slaver is pretty cool.

[Shinji103]

Originally Posted by Cloudedmind

Because far to often it gets used as a crutch for an easy backstory or plot convenience. That can work fine if it's just a slice of life isekai story. But, only a few shows really delve into who the person was before they got isekai'd. Or has who they were previously actually matter later in regards to things like personality traits or faults. I'll give Re:Zero some credit for having Subaru reconcile who he use to be with both himself and his "parents". But, I feel like we'll never get another Now And Then, Here and There anytime soon.

And none of that hurts TenKen one bit. The reincarnate-ee’s old life doesn’t need to matter or be plot-relevant for an Isekai to be good, and TenKen doesn’t need that either.
In fact I’m glad TenKen doesn’t take time to delve into Teach’s old life, instead they focus on his and Fran’s adventures.

Again, getting worked up over nothing.

[Sheba]

Subaru is cast away, which more or less justifies his need to reconciliate with his parents. On Earth, he is technically one of the many people who have gone missing with no clues left behind.

Reincarnated ones dont have that kind of concern.

[Cloudedmind]

Originally Posted by Shinji103

And none of that hurts TenKen one bit. The reincarnate-ee’s old life doesn’t need to matter or be plot-relevant for an Isekai to be good, and TenKen doesn’t need that either.
In fact I’m glad TenKen doesn’t take time to delve into Teach’s old life, instead they focus on his and Fran’s adventures.

Again, getting worked up over nothing.

Nobody's getting worked up, chill. I stated why I find it to be lazy writing, you can feel otherwise.

[kari-no-sugata II]

I think it's worth pointing out that the WN/LN is from the Sword's first person perspective. So the reader is basically experiencing a fantasy world through the perspective of a person from a similar background. Doing that from the perspective of in-world sword would be interesting but also very challenging. Naturally the anime can't really show the first person perspective too much so it's not like I don't understand the perspective of those wondering why this needs to be an isekai at all.

I would add though that the long term plot does have a number of factors that would be hard/impossible to do with an in-world sword. To put it simply, here the MC is ignorant of the ways of the world and the perspective of those living in this world and has to adjust. An in-world sword with a lot of background knowledge would have the danger of making certain things too easy or carry the risk of breaking suspension of disbelief with the sword having to conveniently not know certain crucial details.

[Shinji103]

Originally Posted by kari-no-sugata II

I would add though that the long term plot does have a number of factors that would be hard/impossible to do with an in-world sword. To put it simply, here the MC is ignorant of the ways of the world and the perspective of those living in this world and has to adjust. An in-world sword with a lot of background knowledge would have the danger of making certain things too easy or carry the risk of breaking suspension of disbelief with the sword having to conveniently not know certain crucial details.

I stated before some similar factors including plot-related reasons for why Teach is from another world, but I guess nobody read it…

[kari-no-sugata II]

Originally Posted by Shinji103

I stated before some similar factors including plot-related reasons for why Teach is from another world, but I guess nobody read it…

Yup. The arguments were continuing so I felt it was worth re-starting it...

[Strahan]

Originally Posted by Rasty

This way we got exactly one sentence about who he is (He died and reincarnated as a sword in fantasy world) and we are done with his past. Now we can concentrate on the more interesting things like exploring the world and watching Fran grow.

That reinforces the whole "why does it need to be isekai?" then if his Earth past is mentioned in one sentence and never brought up again. A native of their world could have been reincarnated as the sword for all the impact it would have on the story then. I suppose the one benefit of it being an Earthling is so he/she can learn about the new world, thus educating the audience on the worldbuilding. Though on the other hand, if the reincarnated person was from like 1000+ years ago it would work out to the same thing anyway. If someone from 1022 reincarnated today, they may as well have been from another world lol

Don't get me wrong; I don't care either way. I like it regardless, but in my opinion if a story is going to be an isekai story, it would be nice if the MC leveraged their prior life experience in some meaningful way. Honzuki no Gekokujou is an excellent example of this.

I like cute catgirls so the author would have to bomb hard with the writing to get me to drop this anyway lol

[kari-no-sugata II]

Originally Posted by Strahan

That reinforces the whole "why does it need to be isekai?" then if his Earth past is mentioned in one sentence and never brought up again.

That's only in the anime so far.

Don't get me wrong; I don't care either way. I like it regardless, but in my opinion if a story is going to be an isekai story, it would be nice if the MC leveraged their prior life experience in some meaningful way. Honzuki no Gekokujou is an excellent example of this.

One word: curry

I like cute catgirls so the author would have to bomb hard with the writing to get me to drop this anyway lol

Fran is definitely cute. And badass.

[FlareKnight]

The isekai thing really does seem to spiral in circles discussion-wise . I'm good with it.

Personally I'm more interested in Fran's character journey than the sword being from Earth. There's plenty they can do with that and when/if they do then I'll pay more attention to that.

I'm more curious how the immediate situation is going to play out. Fran is starting to run out of gas and she's not willing to retreat. It doesn't seem likely that she'll be able to power her way straight to the Goblin King in one go. So I can only really see her passing out and having the sword save her, get talked into retreating, or have someone powerful happen upon them and help out. It'll probably be one of those, but will be interesting to see which way they go.

[Rasty]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

I'm more curious how the immediate situation is going to play out. Fran is starting to run out of gas and she's not willing to retreat. It doesn't seem likely that she'll be able to power her way straight to the Goblin King in one go. So I can only really see her passing out and having the sword save her, get talked into retreating, or have someone powerful happen upon them and help out. It'll probably be one of those, but will be interesting to see which way they go.

Seemed to be just a bit out of breath for the moment. So I expect to see her taking down a lot more of the goblins in the next episode and also to get a lot more injuries (the arrow seemed like only the first taste). The sword saving her is definitely an option, but I would guess the 3 adventurers will inform the guild and someone from there (the instructor or the master himself) coming to save her.

Her pushing through is unlikely unless the goblin king comes out himself (possible, goblins aren't the greatest strategists under the sun), but I definitely can't see her retreating. Though if Teacher can persuade her to retreat it would make for a pretty nice emotional scene and an unexpected twist.

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by Rasty

Seemed to be just a bit out of breath for the moment. So I expect to see her taking down a lot more of the goblins in the next episode and also to get a lot more injuries (the arrow seemed like only the first taste). The sword saving her is definitely an option, but I would guess the 3 adventurers will inform the guild and someone from there (the instructor or the master himself) coming to save her.

Her pushing through is unlikely unless the goblin king comes out himself (possible, goblins aren't the greatest strategists under the sun), but I definitely can't see her retreating. Though if Teacher can persuade her to retreat it would make for a pretty nice emotional scene and an unexpected twist.

Definitely isn't a crisis yet. Although I can't see the goblins letting her actually catch her breath at the rate things are going. They are showing solid wave tactics. But she should at least hang in there long enough for either the sword to clear the area and force her retreat or for help to arrive. I'd like those adventurers to get help for her since it would make for a nice return of the favor.

I'm with you in not expecting her to just clear this by herself right now. Having Teacher persuade her despite her reluctance would make for a pretty sweet scene so I'm all for that option if they surprise us with it.

And honestly this is a good showing for goblins that don't always get to look capable as enemies. These guys aren't individually strong, but they are showing good tactics.