Tensei Shitara Ken Deshita

Title:Tensei Shitara Ken Deshita
Reincarnated as a Sword
転生したら剣でした
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - C2C
KAKUMA Ai
MIKI Shinichirou
After being killed in an auto accident in modern day Japan, our protagonist is reincarnated as a sentient sword in a video game-like world. Using 'telekinesis' he can move and strike on his own, but would be much more deadly if he were wielded by another person. Along comes Fran, a beast/human hybrid known as a 'Black Cat' and a slave. The sword helps her escape from her cruel masters and she becomes its owner and user.

12 episodes
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent Stretch [series:4569#628]
(All episodes watched):

This seemed sort of amusing; more amusing than the average comedy isekai series, at least. A mere sword can rack up all sorts of skills and level-ups all by itself if it possesses telekinesis, and this one does. Fran names it 'Teacher'. Is she swinging the sword or is the sword going wherever it pleases while her hands are on it? I've heard of an old belief in Japan from the Samurai era that swords have minds of their own and cannot be completely controlled by the person who wields them. After watching episode one I wondered 'where could this story possibly go from here?'. I certainly didn't expect it to be brilliant, but it might be entertaining.

'Black Cats' like Fran are looked down upon because they cannot 'evolve' and become truly deadly. But she now has a way to match the performance of an evolved creature and decides to become an adventurer. One difference I noticed between this show and other isekai ones is that ordinary people here may be assholes who you'd love to kill whereas in many shows only the main villains do anything really evil and everyone else behaves like a fairly courteous video gamer. Fighting is semi-graphic with decapitations and severed limbs fairly common. Still, it doesn't feel particularly grim or dark. I felt that just what the main conflict of this show would be was remaining unclear for a while, but I enjoyed it enough to keep watching whereas just the day before I had dropped two other isekai series. I sympathize with Fran and was curious to see how her new life as a free person and an adventurer would go. In episode three Fran and Teacher get some help from an eccentric Dwarf blacksmith, Garrus, and learn about some capabilities they hadn't realized they had. There's a threat of a 'Goblin Stampede', a mass attack on the city where this story is taking place by goblins. The Fran/Master combo prove just how awesome they have already become in episode four--Fran especially has rapidly improved. I sort of wished they hadn't already ascended so high, because it seemed that there was now little risk they they would ever lose any serious fight, which defuses the tension and excitement (actually, Fran suffers a fairly grievous injury in episode five, but it is quickly undone using magic). But perhaps video gamers who are watching want to imagine themselves in such a situation of unchallenged pre-eminance. Was this girl really a slave not too long ago? This is lightweight fare but it is still kind of fun.

Fran never ceases to amaze veteran adventurers who are unaware of the sentient sword she wields (though she has done her best to improve as well). Some assholes cannot believe she did not cheat somehow to reach the high ranking she holds, and pick fights with her. While hardly brilliant, this was all seeming like simple but genuine fun to me. Fran and others go on an adventure into a spider-infested dungeon as a test of their abilities to see if they deserve higher rankings. But what was supposed to be a relatively easy quest in a well-known dungeon goes off track. Fran and Sensei are separated and she must survive in a deadly situation by her own wits while he tries to find her. The moment when they are reunited (of course it happens) was fairly powerful and almost brought a tear to my eye. Afterwards we get some hints about why this adventure went so wrong. The story seems to be at a pause rather than anywhere near complete, and sure enough the word at ANN is that this show will be getting a second season (it is also getting an English dub). I would definitely not mind watching some more. 'Not brilliant but entertaining' turned out to be an accurate early appraisal of this show.

Last updated Wednesday, December 28 2022. Created Monday, October 24 2022.

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