Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Characters in anime have been reincarnated into a number of things over the years. Skeletons, demon lords, slime, a spider, and most recently, a vending machine (don’t question it, it just works). Yep, even you can be reincarnated as an inanimate object. An odd choice but if that vending machine anime is the big success they’re hoping for then we’ll be seeing a lot of animes like this in the future and the anime that kind of got this ball rolling is today’s anime, Reincarnated as a Sword. Based off the light novel written in 2016 by Yuu Tanaka this was series that was compared to a lot of other series with the same idea. While it didn’t win points for originality it managed to gain an audience thanks to Yuu’s dialogue and character development. The characters talked and had conversations that you could see real people having. In 2022 the novel was turned into an anime by C2C who were just starting to dip their hands into the isekai genre. Was this a good entry point for them? Let’s do our best hiayh and find out. This is Reincarnated as a Sword.
Opening and Ending Theme
The song for this anime’s opening is “Tensei Shitara Ken deshita” by Kishida Kyoudan & The Akeboshi Rockets. A good rock song overall. It gets you hyped for the episode and the lyrics are pretty meaningful, especially for the main characters. I also the opening animation. They actually feature some Berserk-inspired images in the first half of the opening.
The ending is “more＜STRONGLY” by the late Maon Kurosaki. At first, I wasn’t a big fan of this song. I didn’t dislike it, I just didn’t get into it. However, after listening to it again for the review I do see the appeal of the song. It’s decent and Maon’s singing sounds amazing here. The piano and drums are also great.
Episodes 1-4
The anime starts with the main character voiced by the legendary veteran Shin-ichiro Miki (Mustang from FMA: Brotherhood) dying and getting transported to another world. Rather than be reincarnated as a hero he’s instead reincarnated as a sword called Shishou and his wielder is a catgirl named Fran voiced by Ai Kakuma (Eris from Mushoku Tensei). Before the two met we see Shishou acquire skills, learn magic, and level up his stats. Using mana points he can move around on his own and fight opponents (mostly goblins. Goblin Slayer would love to meet you). He also learns instant-regeneration which allows him to recover from any damage no matter how severe it is (if only the Master Sword was like him). Fran on the other hand was a slave abused by her masters. One day Shishou gets stuck in a forest where the ground absorbs mana meaning he’s stuck and has to wait for someone to pull him out. After a month of waiting, Fran’s slave wagon comes through being chased by a two-headed bear. The wagon gets destroyed and a majority of the slaves get killed. Just when it looks like Fran will be next, she spots Shishou and manages to pick him up (she is the chosen one). After registering her as the wielder her stats increase and the two work together to defeat the bear (scene here: https://youtu.be/m_ltYOkXpf4, good kitty). The slave owner tries to reclaim Fran, but Shishou kills him and burns the contract thus freeing Fran. The two decide to travel together with Fran’s dream to evolve. Shishou agrees to teach her to be stronger and the two go on their way.
Episode 2 starts with explaining beastkin who have the power to evolve once their strength reaches a high enough level. Fran’s clan, the black cat tribe, is the only beastkin that hasn’t evolved and are considered the weakest of the beastkin. So, her parents and her went off on a journey to evolve only for the parents to overexert themselves and die. Fran is now determined to fulfill her parents’ ambitions and evolve (hey as long as you become a sexy catgirl I’m all for it). Returning to the present, we see Fran is a quick learner. She learns skills and magic spells with ease and is able to wield Shishou like a pro. After rescuing a traveling caravan, they get a ride to the city of Alessa where Fran decides to become an adventurer (scene here: https://youtu.be/3Ih-kTyZ3so). The receptionist, Nell, tries to talk her out of it but Fran insists on becoming one. She gets taken to her examiner, Donadrond the oni, where the two will participate in a fight. It’s a decent short fight ending with Fran getting the win, but having to work for it (scene here: https://youtu.be/XhjKKjxiLx4). She gets taken to the guildmaster, Klimt, who is also curious about her skills and tries to use appraisal on her (I’m beginning to think that’s one of the most broken skills in this genre) but has no luck as Shishou has a skill that blocks appraisal. Despite this, Fran becomes an adventurer and registers herself as a sword mage. After selling her materials she heads out to find a place to stay as well as get armor, but gets stopped by other adventurers who want her money. After insulting her clan she rips the legs off their leader and beats up the others much to the satisfaction of Nell (she’s got a dark side. I like that). They head out the door where a blacksmith dwarf named Garrus uses his godsight skill to appraise Shishou.
At the start of episode 3 Garrus approaches Fran on the streets where we find out he’s a legendary blacksmith who only sells his wares to people he deems worthy. He has deemed Fran worthy and wants to sell his wares to her. He gives her a set of armor and even drops the bomb he knows Shishou is an intelligent weapon. He also teaches them about mana conductivity. Shishou was starting to doubt himself as he saw other weapons had higher ATK stats than him, but he’s still stronger thanks to his mana conductivity. Basically, you pour mana into your weapon to give it a power boost and thanks to Shishou’s conductivity being so high he gets a major power boost with even the smallest of mana (scene here: https://youtu.be/6UvSW3F1fe0). After getting the armor, they get a few other supplies such as clothes (scene here: https://youtu.be/pQ88fXhDSnw) and food before going to an inn, eating (I find it ironic that a sword is cooking), and talking strategy before falling asleep. The next day they go on a quest which is herb gathering where they come across a bunch of adventurers being attacked by goblins. Fran saves them and easily defeats the goblins (scene here: https://youtu.be/MJtGghmtI4A) where the adventurers say this is a sign that a large goblin clan is nearby and will attack soon. Fran decides to venture into the goblin den alone while the other adventurers warn the city of the coming danger (summon the Goblin Slayer. Begin playing the Doom music). Despite getting a few injuries Fran continues to press forward refusing to back down or retreat because she’s determined to get stronger. She doesn’t want to rely on Shishou’s powers, she wants to be strong to fight on her own and bring out his true powers (she wants to earn it).
In the opening moments of episode 4, Fran continues to fight the goblins and manages to win with Shishou healing her and providing encouragement. She leveled up to 12 (pretty sure that’s her age). She retreats back to the city to get her equipment repaired and then informs the guild about the situation where we get an idea of just how serious this situation is. Not only are there over a hundred goblins, but a dungeon has resurrected in the vicinity to house them all and it’s full. So full that any goblins left outside have no choice but to fight. Fran gets put on the subjugation team and gets bumped up to a rank F adventurer (hot damn!). As Fran gets her equipment repaired we learn about dungeons and how they work in this world. It says that dungeons were created by the god of chaos to test humanity. They pop up randomly and each one has a core where the closest creature to it becomes the dungeon master (just like D&D). Dungeon masters receive a power boost and intelligence to create a maze in the dungeon and the longer they’re around they develop their own ecosystems. Finally, just like all dungeons, it’s filled with treasure for you to loot and rare monsters. After a bath scene (which was cut short because the studio got cold feet. Scene here: https://youtu.be/d__kd-z2TLg) we continue to learn more about this world such as how all the monsters we see are believed to be the remnants of the God of War (so that’s what happened to Kratos after Ragnarok). The next day Fran and Shishou head to Garrus who has finished creating Shishou’s scabbard (scene here: https://youtu.be/gfayWTn8WN8). They then head off to the dungeon where the goblins do a sneak attack catching them off guard (clever bastards). Luckily, Fran fights back and manages to clear a path for the adventurers where she heads in first (scene here: https://youtu.be/S-rfiYY4_OA).
Episodes 5-8
Not much happens in episode 5. Fran and Shishou easily make their way through the dungeon and manage to kill the king and queen goblin (death to the royalty. Long live democracy). They continue into the dungeon where they find the dungeon master a rare goblin who has the ability to talk (a talking goblin? What will they think up next?). The goblin also seems to have summoned a greater demon to battle our heroes and for the first time ever they’re in a fight where they could possibly lose.
The fight between Fran and the great demon continues in episode 6. Fran and Shishou see that this demon is too powerful for them right now, but refuse to retreat because they know if this demon escapes it’ll kill everyone. So they stand their ground and figure out that if they kill the rare goblin the great demon will disappear (defeat the dungeon master and the dungeon goes down with it). In a pretty bold and well-planned strategy, they manage to destroy the greater demon by Fran throwing Shishou at its chest while pretending to aim for the rare goblin. The only downside is Shishou exhausts all of his mana and breaks (scenes here: https://youtu.be/R8olkYAKwvY and https://youtu.be/4QcasDd0ka0). Before the rare goblin can summon another demon, Fran stops him and kills him thus clearing the dungeon (I give them a B. You started off strong by beating the king and queen goblin, but you struggled with the greater demon and only won by the skin of your teeth. Scene here: https://youtu.be/yqM-RAJfAQU). After conquering the dungeon, Fran’s level rose to 25 and they max out the skill Skill Taker which allows them to steal the skill of others (if that wasn’t obvious). As Fran is giving the guildmaster her report, he asks what happened to the demon’s crystal core which was absorbed by Shishou. She lies and says it disappeared but a man comes in saying she’s lying.
At the start of episode 7 the man reveals himself to be August Allsand, vice-captain of the knights who despises adventurers. He has a skill called Essence of Falsehood which allows him to see through lies. It also makes their own lies more believable (hello, new skill). Sure enough, Fran and Shishou take his skill and he retreats for the time being (scene here: https://youtu.be/b67Wzu437rQ). After that, Fran gets promoted to rank D and parties with the other adventurers. For the rest of the episode nothing much happens. Fran discovers the taste of curry (scene here: https://youtu.be/u-nTjUtvTRw) and she runs into August again whose life has been a living hell after getting his skill stolen. He now wants revenge and has hired a blue cat the natural enemy of black cats to fight Fran. Years ago they deceived the black cats which cost them being ranked the lowest of the beastkin and have since been targeted by blue cats (scene here: https://youtu.be/d-skoX_-QcU).
In episode 8 Fran fights against the blue cat named Gyuran where we see she’s afraid of him. Her fear makes her weak, but Shisho is there to remind her who she is (everyone’s favorite little kitten). This settles her nerves and she goes into killer mode where she cuts his wrist off to steal his sword then proceeds to cut off other limbs one at a time before finally killing him (scene here: https://youtu.be/ko-Tke4Xh3I). As for August, he gets apprehended by other adventurers and escorted back to his family’s estate. In the second half Fran meets an elf named Amanda the ace of the guild. Amanda instantly becomes fond of Fran (because who wouldn’t be?) and even stalks her around the city (scenes here: https://youtu.be/D9fs9zXUkco and https://youtu.be/sFr-vWnHhTg. Is it wrong to say I can see this happening in real life?). The guild master calls in Fran to investigate a spider’s nest near a dungeon in exchange for five rare crystals and a permit to enter another dungeon. Amanda overhears them talking and says she’s going to join Fran on the mission along with other adventurers.
Episodes 9-12
The mission begins in episode 9 where one adventurer named Krad continues to mouth off against Fran. He believes Fran used her connections to rise up through the rankings and doesn’t think she’s that strong. After insulting Shishou (thems fighting words, son), Fran fights him in a sparring match and manages to beat him (scene here: https://youtu.be/_tyYQ71i8-U). Amanda wants to spar against Fran as well and this time Fran decides to take her on without Shishou’s assistance. The fight is pretty good as Fran was able to make Amanda get serious, but despite her best efforts was unable to get the win and faints from mental exhaustion (scene here: https://youtu.be/iYwYA8h3FWs).
In episode 10 the group arrives at the spider nest they were asked to investigate (https://youtu.be/DWhkMaT7jVo). For most of the episode, Amanda teaches Fran about magic and skills (nothing we haven’t heard before in other animes). Things take a bad turn near the end of the episode. As they journey deeper into the dungeon, the group comes across tricky spiders the evolved form of the trap spiders they were fighting earlier. This is shocking because this dungeon doesn’t have a master which means these monsters evolved naturally (masters of strategy and adaptability). They decide to fall back but Fran and two other adventurers fall into a trap where they get teleported away and Fran gets separated from Shishou (oh no~). Amanda comes to the conclusion that there’s one creature out there that can perform this kind of magic and that’s the final form of the trap spider, the trickster spider (sure is getting Pokémon in here. Scene here: https://youtu.be/tK3HpWxWgi0).
Episode 11 goes by pretty fast. Everyone searches desperately for Fran and the two adventurers where Shishou actually reveals himself to Amanda and summons a dark wolf to find Fran (scene here: https://youtu.be/umSyEjY40h0). Speaking of Fran, we see her feel powerless without Shishou, but then she finds the motivation to fight back using her arms and legs. She holds off the spiders long enough (pretty sure there’s an Australian joke in here somewhere) for Shishou and Amanda to find them (scene here: https://youtu.be/bJUeUprbNkU). Fran comes clean and tells Amanda about Shishou where she’s excited to meet an intelligent weapon and promises to keep their secret (scene here: https://youtu.be/VDWzNEot9bc). They leave the spider den to get to a safe area, but the trickster spider is still alive and the mastermind behind all of this appears in the form of a white owl.
In the final episode we find out that the owl is actually a guardian spirit that was summoned by one of the other adventurers who is in trouble. The owl leads them to the others and they fight off the spiders to save everyone (really wish we had a can of raid right about now. Scene here: https://youtu.be/I7v44x3dsl0). The trickster spider returns and Fran takes it on herself where she does a good job, but Amanda uses her wind magic to destroy the spider along with the crystal (scenes here: https://youtu.be/GveO0Buv0Zo and https://youtu.be/qPprHQp_66Q. Shishou was gonna eat that!). They then make it to the center of the dungeon where they gather the crystals and return to Alessa. Fran gets her promotion, some new armor (scenes here: https://youtu.be/iVCrv1-_TfU and https://youtu.be/H75Tqk4Wmvg, still looks cute), and permission to enter the dungeon in Uluett. The next day she leaves and we get the reveal that Amanda knew her parents. In fact, she raised her parents and taught them how to fight (so in a sense Amanda is Fran’s grandma. Scene here: https://youtu.be/oVr8ojb7e0c).
Final Thoughts
This anime for the most part was decent. It’s wholesome and has its fair share of funny and cute moments. The character of Fran is cute but at the same time brave, strong, and someone you cheer for. I also like how she’s not afraid to be merciless and sadistic to her opponents. Her relationship with Shishou is nice and I do like how he enters the role of guardian wanting to keep Fran safe. Some say he entered the role too quickly, but I think it’s just his instincts as a sword kicking in and wanting to keep his holder safe. Aside from Amanda the side characters really don’t stand out, but I do like how Fran brings out her maternal instincts and the connection they have with each other is nice and works. The magic is nothing new but I do like the dungeons and how they work. It’s something new and unique to the dungeon scenario that I haven’t heard of or seen before. The world-building could have been better though.
The animation is meh as is the music. As far as fight scenes go they’re all right. I think my favorite had to be Fran’s fight against Amanda where she showed that even without Shishou’s help she can hold her own in a fight against an A-rank adventurer and the use of magic looks good.
Final Score
My grade for Reincarnated as a Sword is a 5.5/10. As far as isekai animes go it’s nothing new but it’s enjoyable for what it is. Rumor has it a second season is coming in 2024 so we’ll have to wait to see our favorite black cat and sword. Until then, thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.