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

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by moridin84

An inexperienced MC finding an intelligent magic weapon which helps them become stronger is a pretty common story. It's just in this case the MC is the intelligent magic weapon.

Fran's utter brutality towards people being racist towards her race is actually one of her most interesting characteristics.

Expect her to continue carrying the show.

I'd be shocked if she didn't . Fran's been great so far and haven't seen any signs that she'll stop.

And it's nice that she is a bit balanced. Fran won't just take every insult to ridiculous degrees and she won't snap at every single thing either.

The one thing I'm curious about is what evolving actually means within this setting. Does she just change into a completely different kind of creature? Is it less obvious physically and more reflected in her stats/status? Be nice if the show just shows someone evolving as a nice reference so I have a good idea what to expect. Not that I think Fran will evolve anytime soon considering how it's a long term goal.

[felix]

Originally Posted by original premise

An inexperienced MC finding an intelligent magic weapon which helps them become stronger is a pretty common story.

Originally Posted by Tenzen12

Zero no Tsukaima, Soul Eater, Noragami, Durararara, Nise Seiken Monogatari, Rance...

Are you counting someone summoning a human or some other "human" being involved somehow (including ones that can turn into swords or some such but are 90% of the time NOT a sword) as the same thing as "finding a magic weapon" or an "entity that is ONLY a sword" for the entire story? Because it looks like you are.

I'm not sure of the Ddurarara one as I never watched it, but wouldnt count any of the others under the criteria of "story defining intelligent weapon that the hero relies on for their power". And neither of the ones that actually have weapons fit the "finding" part very much either, unless they being already super strong entities like gods of disaster in norogami and using a strong weapon counts as "finding" anything.

If we're just talking summons, strong ass sword, random people that can turn into swords, blah blah, then sure we've seen plenty.

Just for clarity I'll break it down. A show with all of the following:

• "An inexperienced MC" — presumably they're not some "inexperienced" godly-entity either and have something normal/average about them
• "finding" — as in typically being implausible for them to get it or come near it (not just one of many possible godly weapons they could have had)
• "an intelligent magic weapon" — not a human, not a summon, not a human that turns into a weapon, not a monster entity that's "a weapon" in the technical sense, not a familiar that helps out, etc. It has to be a "weapon" 100% of the time and the main character has to "wield it"
• "which helps them become stronger" — not some key that unlocks their hidden godly snowflake identity (outside of buffs), presumably they are powerless average and not special in any way with out it

Though given even in the list provided with out meeting the criteria out of two decades of shows we had to go all the way to zero, and involve the not-even-an-anime nise and rance of all things, I think it's clear just how "common" it is, as in not really common at all. Honestly the only one that comes to mind is that armor girl show or shield hero show but they don't meet the "intelligent" or "finding" criteria either (and they're just strong overall from the start more or less).

[moridin84]

Originally Posted by Ghostfriendly

Stereotypes aren't going to be what makes a story good; pandering to prejudice will be what makes it bad. A story shouldn't be condemned by its genre; there's no reason cowboys have to be white, starship captains have to be men, or fantasy worlds have to be European and chauvinistic. If they are, then it is the story content that I'm saying could be better. The problem isn't that this is an isekai, the problem is the overpowered male saviour, the enslaved animal-girl, and the failure of JPG mechanics or isekaied MC to add anything to the story except tedium;

An OP male in a European-esk fantasy with game elements is certainly a popular setting.

But that's it. And there are also plenty of variations on that setting.

It's no different from any other popular setting.

problems general to modern Isekai stories which also appear in this one.

Yeah, like I said. You are discriminating against the story because of your prejudice about the type of story it is.

The problem with slavery in this type of story is that heroine remains a slave and is generally subservient and maybe even worshipful towards the MC.

Conversely, Fran becomes free at the end of the episode and the MC is the one in a subservient relationship with her. But this has gone completely over your head.

Are you counting someone summoning a human or some other "human" being involved somehow (including ones that can turn into swords or some such but are 90% of the time NOT a sword) as the same thing as "finding a magic weapon" or an "entity that is ONLY a sword" for the entire story? Because it looks like you are.

In the first place, the MC isn't "only a sword" since he was originally a human.

And in Zero no Tsukaima, the MC does pick up an intelligent sword, it's called Derfflinger. It was never a human and doesn't even have a human form.

Kyōkai Senk is a different example. The MC finds a giant robot that is controlled by an intelligent AI.

I'm not sure why you are obsessing on the "magic weapon" part. For example, I was also thinking of Xiania type stuff where the MC picks up some magic ring that has a soul of an old master in it.

[BWTraveller]

Originally Posted by Ghostfriendly

It maintains the patriarchal idea that women must be guided, protected and effectively controlled by men, under which the humanity of women has been legally denied to them for centuries, and is still denied at present. Obviously. Male mentors aren't barred by any means, as I've already said, or necessarily sexist, but they reflect a problem it's good to be aware of. Especially, as I also said, when the male mentor is as unworthy as a banal isekai protagonist given to mindless bloodletting and chauvinist fantasies about sexy elves.

A story having a man save the heroine doesn't mean women can't take care of themselves, just like a female character having flaws and needing to grow to overcome them doesn't mean women are naturally weak/flawed. That's just the idiocy that's been going around for the last decade or so. There are stories with women acting as mentors, and stories with men acting as mentors, stories where women save other women, girls, and yes even men and boys, just like there are ones with men who do this. It's kind of hard to buy that you don't think male mentors shouldn't be allowed if you say their very presence is problematic. And in any case, just because you can draw parallels with some points to stories that you at least consider to be sexist doesn't mean that this show is in any way sexist. And if it really is offending you, then all I can say is that hate watching isn't that healthy.

[stray]

I'm not particularly fond of catgirls and the premise seemed kind of meh but as a whole it works for me. Seems like I haven't heard Shinichrio Miki that much lately either.

[FlareKnight]

Spoiler for Ep3:

Show is holding up really well. Fran finally got her gear, some clothes (of various types), and got to enjoy a comfortable bed for the first time that she can remember. A lot of positive and enjoyable moments there. And it is purely fun seeing her enjoy herself. Even getting some good looking food as well .

Did get a few pieces of information about intelligent weapons. I guess the question remains whether the MC was reincarnated into an already existing intelligent weapon or if the weapon itself was created by whatever deity threw him into this. But at least the whole "everyone has a higher attack stat" thing is over and done with.

But not all fun and games. Fran is strong and she's getting stronger fast. She's got a lot of natural gifts, but her actual level was naturally still low when this all began. So she's gaining levels fast which should multiply in effectiveness with the skills she's sharing with the sword. So that's all well and good. But she still has limits. The sword can arguably fight forever so long as there's a chance to use mana drain on enemies. But Fran has stamina and this is getting risky. All the more so with her unwillingness to take a step back.

[Greenish Growth]

Is this anime one week behind for the English version?

I see post surges starting one week after the previous episode aired.

[Metaneo]

Hi Dive, the only place I know that has it legally, is 1 week behind, still has the audacity to call it a Simulcast.

[Huh...?]

Originally Posted by Metaneo

Hi Dive, the only place I know that has it legally, is 1 week behind, still has the audacity to call it a Simulcast.

Actually its the other way around.

Official Japanese Airing is actually 1 Week behind early Chinese Streaming.

So, technically, HiDive is actually doing a Simulcast when compared to Japanese airing.
Its just Chinese Streaming site is getting early access.

[Greenish Growth]

I see. That's too bad.

I prefer it when as many people as possible are able to watch the episode at the same time.

[Ghostfriendly]

Posts trying to claim that this show has a novel premise miss the point; combining cliched elements in an less hackneyed combination is still an Isekai made up entirely of cliches, and not well-used or beloved ones.

Fran quickly takes over from sword as another tedious overpowered MC, still quite dependent on sword powers. She's cute, but no Kana Kamui, showing the emotional depth of a puddle in response to horrible experiences. Other weapons having greater base strength than the sword was a decent idea, ruined by sword and Fran fussing over a problem that's predictably insignificant. Human guard failing to deal with a few goblins so Fran can slaughter them was very clumsy; Fran exclusively facing prejudice this ep from other beastpeople isn't a good representation of the real, full problem. The receptionist should've been able to threaten guild sanctions before the very tedious fight at the end ever happened. The main fight with the ogre was kinetic and not altogether bad, but nigh-unlimited magic makes a nonsense of tactics.

Originally Posted by moridin84

An OP male in a European-esk fantasy with game elements is certainly a popular setting. But that's it.

Yeah, like I said. You are discriminating against the story because of your prejudice about the type of story it is.

The problem with slavery in this type of story is that heroine remains a slave and is generally subservient and maybe even worshipful towards the MC.

Conversely, Fran becomes free at the end of the episode and the MC is the one in a subservient relationship with her. But this has gone completely over your head.

If Fran was Raphtalia, this show would be as unfit for human consumption as Shield Hero. Her having been a slave and continuing to be dependent on sword-guy's OP JPG powers are lesser offences, but they are offences, as I've plainly stated already.

Overpowered protagonists and JPG mechanics poorly reflect any real or believable situation, destroying narrative tension and WSOD. Overpowered male protagonists from the target-audience ethnic group, deliberated inserted into a foreign setting as a 'white-saviour' represent a toxic male and culturally chauvinist fantasy, and all these elements, along with European fantasy settings, have been done to death. Prejudice is dislike without reason; if Isekai stories have these genuine flaws, criticism of them isn't prejudice. Some of them pull it off, like Log Horizon, but not this one.

Originally Posted by BWTraveller

It's kind of hard to buy that you don't think male mentors shouldn't be allowed if you say their very presence is problematic. And in any case, just because you can draw parallels with some points to stories that you at least consider to be sexist doesn't mean that this show is in any way sexist.

Very few shows are made with the primary motive of attacking women, rather than pandering to societal prejudice. I said clearly that male mentors reflect a societal problem rather than necessarily being a problem; this male mentor is problem for reasons given in previous post, which all stem from the same societal chauvinism that the default to male mentor-female mentee reflects.

[The Green One]

Meh so what if it's cliched stuff that's a dime a dozen in Isekai. It's what I came to see.

Fran enjoying the simpler things in life and being cute doing it is a delight.

Now lets see how she does in her first big endurance fight. She's obviously a match for any Goblin but being attacked by large mobs of them without rest is difficult.

Go on Fran, make Goblin Slayer proud of you!

[Decel]

I just watched ep 2 and really liking what I saw. This impressed me more than the opener.

Am I missing something, I'm one week off??

[BWTraveller]

Originally Posted by Ghostfriendly

Very few shows are made with the primary motive of attacking women, rather than pandering to societal prejudice. I said clearly that male mentors reflect a societal problem rather than necessarily being a problem; this male mentor is problem for reasons given in previous post, which all stem from the same societal chauvinism that the default to male mentor-female mentee reflects.

Something doesn't have to be a direct attack to be prejudiced, and again, it isn't automatically sexist the moment it has a person of a certain gender in a certain role. Male mentors for female students aren't always pandering to or reflecting any "problems" or prejudices, just like female mentors aren't necessarily fighting against it. I won't sugarcoat it, I find such a mentality to be very high on the list of dumb takes. A man mentoring a girl doesn't have to reflect anything.

Additionally, even if you say that it does because he was hoping for a cute girl or something, thing is that this much is pretty typical in both directions: people often want to be partnered to an attractive member of the opposite sex. This doesn't mean that a man who wants to be wielded by a woman or wants to help a woman who's in trouble is looking down on women anymore than a woman who wants a male traveling companion/wielder and/or wants to provide aid to men she sees in need is looking down on them. I won't deny that the selection of a cute girl as the partner was definitely deliberate, but not because of any ridiculous prejudices or chauvinism; it's just that they know people like cute girls, and I say people because even a lot of female audience members like cute girls. It's just fitting the narrating character to the gender and character most similar to the majority of their audience, and the character that does the fighting to a gender and appearance that would be most aesthetically pleasing. There's absolutely no need to go imagining some "girls need a strong man to guide and protect them" theme.

A long time ago I heard a saying, something like "don't be too quick to attribute to hate what can easily be explained by stupidity". I wouldn't say it applies directly here, but the general point is that there are often plenty of reasons for decisions made that have absolutely nothing to do with any kind of negative feelings or prejudices. If you go looking for a reason for something to be hateful you can almost certainly find it anywhere you look, but frequently that's just a way it can be construed and has nothing to do with what's actually in the creator's mind.

[Greenish Growth]

Originally Posted by Decel

I just watched ep 2 and really liking what I saw. This impressed me more than the opener.

Am I missing something, I'm one week off??

I think ep3 is out now.

Most of us have to wait a week to see it. It feels like the year 2001 once again. Where's my CD drive and dial up connection?

[Shinji103]

Sadly there is a drop-off in animation but not severe, though admittedly it’s hard to be disappointed after seeing cabbage.

50 points if you get that reference.

………..and now I feel old……………

But we’ve still got good material going.

Spoiler for sort of:

They’ve toned down the fanservice, which is perfectly fine as this isn’t a fanservice show in the first place. I expected as much when they put chest wrappings on Fran in her slave outfit as opposed to the manga. (not that they ever showed anything in the manga, you could only see that there was nothing under her top) Heck, the only reason I realized any of this is because I noticed the chest wrappings under her arm in the extremely tame Megami scan which was shown in the thread two or three pages back.
That and they didn’t show Fran bathing last episode…………….which was only a brief thought of Fran’s she said she bathed in the river in the manga version.
And then instead of briefly showing Fran in underwear like in the manga (with Teach providing Fatherly Protection to hide the naughty bits ), they showed her trying on full outfits. Honestly though I think they could’ve stuck with the underwear shots just for the humor of Sword Daddy.
I expect no difference in toning down the rest of the fanservice in the show. All good all good, because this show isn’t about that kind of fanservice even in the manga. It provides a different kind of fanservice: the “Fran is a complete badass” fanservice.

Conversely they continue to not tone down the violence. (much, there were some more serious hits Fran took, but that may be in the continuation of the battle next episode) Also good, as they aren’t treating Fran with kid gloves. It’s much more badass when the fighters have serious battles where they’re taking serious hits and bleeding for their wins instead of at most shaking them off with little or no effort. We all know those characters…….. -_-

Sadly, the bad part about reading a manga that’s ahead of the anime is that you find yourself waiting for certain scenes to come instead of just simply waiting for the next episode……. *sob*

Originally Posted by Ghostfriendly

Posts trying to claim that this show has a novel premise miss the point; combining cliched elements in an less hackneyed combination is still an Isekai made up entirely of cliches, and not well-used or beloved ones.

And? At this point nothing in anime is not cliche in some way; I just got done pointing out in the Gundam section how the newest series is using the done-to-death academy with duels setting, and it even had the equally cliched episode 1: overpowered transfer student easily crushing the loud, arrogant bully in said duel. Nobody is hating it over there, they even like it. And I honestly don’t hate it either, I just really don’t think a big-project anime should be recycling a setting we see two or three times each season, but anyway…..

Fran quickly takes over from sword as another tedious overpowered MC, still quite dependent on sword powers. She's cute, but no Kana Kamui, showing the emotional depth of a puddle in response to horrible experiences. Other weapons having greater base strength than the sword was a decent idea, ruined by sword and Fran fussing over a problem that's predictably insignificant. Human guard failing to deal with a few goblins so Fran can slaughter them was very clumsy; Fran exclusively facing prejudice this ep from other beastpeople isn't a good representation of the real, full problem. The receptionist should've been able to threaten guild sanctions before the very tedious fight at the end ever happened. The main fight with the ogre was kinetic and not altogether bad, but nigh-unlimited magic makes a nonsense of tactics.

Either you’re missing important facts yourself or you’re deliberately ignoring said facts to try and bolster your argument. It’s already been pointed out that her dulled emotional state is due to her years as a slave, and she’s only 12 years old. So there’s that. And even then we see in episodes 2 and 3 that she still emotions, plus the fact that she gets so happy and giddy over a simple lodge room is because her years as a slave deprived her of many things in life. This is also pointed out.
Fran and Teach realized that “nigh-unlimited” magic wouldn’t mean squat if they let the fight against Donadolondo (what a name) go on for too long.

If Fran was Raphtalia, this show would be as unfit for human consumption as Shield Hero. Her having been a slave and continuing to be dependent on sword-guy's OP JPG powers are lesser offences, but they are offences, as I've plainly stated already.

I have to question various things if this is what you consider “offensive” or “unfit for human consumption.” And seeing as you’re the only one offended by anything here, I’d say there aren’t actually any offenses here at all.

You don’t like it? Perfectly fine, that’s your choice and your opinion. Don’t talk like that opinion is fact, though.

Overpowered protagonists and JPG mechanics poorly reflect any real or believable situation, destroying narrative tension and WSOD. Overpowered male protagonists from the target-audience ethnic group, deliberated inserted into a foreign setting as a 'white-saviour' represent a toxic male and culturally chauvinist fantasy, and all these elements, along with European fantasy settings, have been done to death. Prejudice is dislike without reason; if Isekai stories have these genuine flaws, criticism of them isn't prejudice. Some of them pull it off, like Log Horizon, but not this one.

……..wow, those are some impressive sexist mental gymnastics you’ve pulled off.
If you really think this is all about Teach the Saviour……….…. *laughs hysterically*
I really hope we get a second season so you see just how delusional you’re being. There will still be good scenes in this one.

Very few shows are made with the primary motive of attacking women, rather than pandering to societal prejudice. I said clearly that male mentors reflect a societal problem rather than necessarily being a problem; this male mentor is problem for reasons given in previous post, which all stem from the same societal chauvinism that the default to male mentor-female mentee reflects.

*again laughs hysterically*

I finished my response because I was already well into it before I realized this, but Ghost is pretty sexist (just like racism, it goes both ways) and this will be all I put up with that foolishness. Ghost, you really need to just stop watching the show because you’re clearly biased and have no intention of seeing anything other than your side, even when the truth will come and kick you in the face here. (especially if they make a second season)

[Sheba]

Some people really need to get out of twitter and tumblr. Because the way they look at shows is unhealthy. Also lol at pulling the white man card against a show targeted at Japanese.

[Aogami]

Am I the only one laughing my ass off that this poster has been throwing a massive tantrum over "self proclaimed sexism" when the MC is a damn sword and essentially doesn't even have a gender.
People really need to reduce the time they spend on Twitter.

[EroKing]

Originally Posted by Decel

I just watched ep 2 and really liking what I saw. This impressed me more than the opener.

Am I missing something, I'm one week off??

Originally Posted by Greenish Growth

I think ep3 is out now.

Most of us have to wait a week to see it. It feels like the year 2001 once again. Where's my CD drive and dial up connection?

Releases on the Japanese streaming service ABEMA started a week earlier compared to Hidive, TOKYO MX and ABC TV.

[Rasty]

Are Blackcats discriminated against mostly by other beast-humans? The normal humans and elves seem to be more chill with that. Or rather often not mentioning the species at all, so they might simply not be too knowledgeable about all the "subspecies" of beast-humans.

I love how Fran manages to simultaneously be absolutely brutal and innocently cute. I also wonder whether the evolution is based simply on level/exp or if they need to do some achievement and will evolve regardless of level.