Oh, you tsunderes you~
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

<o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><style> </style> Regular readers of my blog should be well acquainted with my love of strong female characters. So I guess it came as no surprise when I decided to pick up The Sacred Blacksmith, despite how utterly cliche it looked.It's a lie!...at least, I thought the main girl looked pretty strong from the pictures. Oh god was I wrong there...Come sample my many fine rocks!STORYFollowing the sparsely detailed death of her father, young Cecily has become the new head of the House of Campbell, a prestigious family of knights with the world's dumbest coat of arms. Anyway, so Cecily is the latest knight of <st1:city><st1:place>Campbell</st1:place></st1:city>. Only problem is, she sucks. Big time. Like, if she was in an RPG, her level would be in the negatives.A brave Knight of Cambell <o:p> </o:p> So anyway, Cecily sucks. And in her suckiness, she gets her ass kicked by a mook and her precious family sword is broken. Luckily, Luck, a pedophilic blacksmith, saves her life. She then befriends the guy and asks him to make a new sword for her, sadly unaware of the fact that a better sword isn't going to make up for the fact that she fights about as competently as...as...oh god, I can't think of a single comparison to make that wouldn't be insulting to said object of comparison. Look, she sucks.Yeah, don't expect to see Cecily doing this for a while. A long while.So that's about it really. There were some generic anime shady guys who hid behind generic bushes and spoke generic cryptic garbage about some generic evilness which will presumably be important later, but little actual detail has been revealed on that.Generic White Haired Evil Guy vs Generic Lead Male GuyOh, and Luke's big gimmick is that he forges katanas rather then European swords. And in keeping with Japan's famous cultural humility, katanas are infinitely stronger then their European counterparts in the world of Sacred Blacksmith.What? You've never been to England? You see katanas EVERYWHERE over there.CHARACTERSCecily CambellThe main character. A knight and head of the House of Cambell. Despite being a knight, she's horrible at sword fighting. On the plus side though, she's pretty brave, if monumentally stupid. For reasons unexplained, she dresses in some bizarre knight/maid hybrid outfit. Also has a ludicrously stupid coat of arms.Ahh, random townsfolk, what would the fantasy genre be without you?Luke AinsworthPresumably, the titular sacred blacksmith. Is technically not a blacksmith given the fact he makes swords through magic rather then actual smithing. Is a huge jackass who's generally rude and dismissive. Unlike other blacksmiths, he forges katanas, which are much, much stronger then their European counterparts. Ahh, Japan, you so humble! Is also the local pedophile who lives with an underage girl. Luke's power of antisocialness negates all attempts to communicate with him.Guys, I'm totally not a Gary Stu! Now check out my magical flame katana. LisaSaid underage girl that Luke lives with. Has no real personality outside of generic cuteness. Is probably an elf or some shit. Aside from being the object of his lust, she seems to help Luke with his magic (i.e cheating) smithing by providing a magical flame or something.Oh, I wasn't included sole to appeal to the pedophile audience! Honest!See? That's a katana. It's better then your silly white man sword, cause it's Japanese!ANIMATIONAnimation was surprisingly fluid and fun to watch. Admittedly, first episodes tend to look better then mid season ones, but if the series cup this level of animation, it should prove to be one of the nicer looking shows this season.In what is quite possibly a first in action anime, Cecily even lost to the very first grunt she fought against.Colours and bright and vibrant, though backgrounds are pretty boring and uninspired. Similarly, whilst the character designs are distinctive enough, they're fairly standard medieval fantasy fare.I'm totally forging a sword guys!OVERALLHonestly, I'm really not too sure what to think of this. I watched this basically to see a strong female lead kick ass; episode one definitely didn't deliver on that. For now though, that's ok; she still has time to grow. In fact, Gunbuster's Noriko Takaya, one of the most badass female characters ever, was a useless pile of incompetence for the first half of that series. So hopefully Cecily can take a page out of her book.Cecily's knowledge on weapon maintenance was sadly lacking.The main problem however, is that not only is Cecily weak as shit, there's really almost nothing redeeming about her character. Admittedly she's brave in never backing down from a fight, but she does it to the point of sheer idiocy. "Guard Save Believe"?? What kind of shitass motto is that!?Don't worry Cecily! There'll come a time when you won't suck! Believe in me who believes in you!Actually, the glasses girl is just trying to make you feel better; you're doomed to a life of suckage.Similarly, it's difficult to take her seriously because of how goddamned fetishized she is. Just look at her outfit! She looks like a bizarre armoured variation of a French maid!Maid...Knight...same shit really.And besides, how could a character come off as respectable when the viewer is bombarded with scenes like this;The other characters really don't fare much better. Luke is the generic rude, angsty guy with a mysterious and likely tragic past, and Lisa is typical happy loli fare. There's another major character who hasn't been introduced yet, but she looks like the standard gentle healer type.Luke wasn't the only one getting annoyed with Cecily.Mr. Luke, please put your pants back on.And this is the main problem I have with the Sacred Blacksmith; everything is boring and uninspired. The show admittedly looks pretty, but it's not like it's anything we haven't seen before.Im'ma show you my K-On face.The world is uninspired, the characters are boring and the plot really doesn't look like it's going to break new ground. Quite frankly, the only saving grace this show really has is it's main character, who so far, has been an utter disappointment.Curse you overpriced rocks!If you have nothing better to watch this season, give Sacred Blacksmith a look, maybe you'll find some value in this. If you don't have much time to watch anime though, save it for something else.Must...find...a way...to get...out of this show!
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

In The Sacred Blacksmith, breastplate is the ULTIMATE armor.
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

I’m not too enthusiastic about this new season. I’ll just follow about 3-4 shows and marathon the others when they turn up to be good. On the bright side, I can attack my backlog with more ferocity–there’s Planetes, VOTOMS, and Victory Gundam sitting in my hard drive. That aside, I decided to check out The Sacred [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Summary: In the Independent Trade City Housman, order is maintained by a corps of knights, and one such knight is Cecily Cambell.
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Sometimes I’m badly burnt by this genre (e.g. Symphonia), but I try anyway. And if a girl is not bothered by the breastplate, it should be safe to watch. Although certainly, the ending is a big question as usual. But when it’s not?
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Yes, this is the screencap I choose to represent this fantasy series. It was fun. This seems to be how I always feel about a new fantasy show but…uh…this time I mean it! Because it was literally fun, not just enjoyable. For me anyway. The promising thing about a fantasy show will always be [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

LOLOLOL GUESS WHAT I’M BLOGGING THIS FALL. Wow I’m surprised subs came out so fast. This anime didn’t disappoint me as much as some animes. I had my hopes up pretty high and it was *kind of* worth it. It’s just that…. OMG I LOVE IT SO MUCH. Sorry, I’m trying to be less biased as [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

For those who want to know my impression of the novels this show is based on, it’s here. But for anyone who wants to dive into the show, here we go: Did you know that Katana or any other legendary swords really CANNOT cut through other blades in a clean slice? Do you think I’m kidding? In [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

One of my expected B-grade shows of the season, The Sacred Blacksmith pretty much delivered what I thought I'd see: nice character art, some ok action, and a dodgy story. Cecily needs more practice with her swordwork and her tsundere mode
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

  Yes, yes, your father was awesome. Stop talking about him now. Please. Season Premier Disclaimer: I like to check almost every new show out. The value of a show is in its execution, not its premise. That said, my tastes are mine and mine alone. Some things bother me, some things don’t. I will attempt to [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

As the new season gets closer, trailer roundups become much less frequent which is disappointing. Luckily for us though, the winter season is now only a couple of months away which means it’s time to start pushing forward once again. Speaking of the new season, those of you who are looking forward to the official [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

I didn’t think much of this novel when I picked it up to give it a try. I thought it wasn’t all that popular and it didn’t seem to be popular in Taiwan, where I temporarily reside. But the trailer indicates that 570,000 copies has been sold in Japan, its home market. I picked it [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

  I know we've talked about this show before, but now it's coming up soon, so perhaps some of the info bears repeating.Title: Seiken no BlacksmithJP Title: 聖剣の刀鍛冶Title Translation: The Sacred BlacksmithStudio: ManglobeGenre: FantasyAirs: October 2009, TBA  <object width="500" height="405"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iVql97Rxi2I&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x402061&amp;color2=0x9461ca&amp;border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed wmode="transparent" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iVql97Rxi2I&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x402061&amp;color2=0x9461ca&amp;border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="500" height="405"></embed></param><param value="transparent" name="wmode"></param></object>  Cecily Cambell is a would-be knight with a remarkable old sword from her father which she hopes to get repaired-- but first she has to find the right blacksmith. One day she bumps into a man with a strange taboo power and an oddly-shaped sword. His name is Luke Aunsworth, and the two unite for a what will probably be a rollicking adventure. Eventually the two are joined by Luke's live-in helpmate, the loli Lisa, and the mysterious bodyguard Aria.  <object width="500" height="405"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iVql97Rxi2I&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x402061&amp;color2=0x9461ca&amp;border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed wmode="transparent" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iVql97Rxi2I&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x402061&amp;color2=0x9461ca&amp;border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="500" height="405"></embed></param><param value="transparent" name="wmode"></param></object>  It's been a while since we've had a sort of traditional fantasy adventure other than Slayers-- perhaps because it's been so long since Zero no Tsukaima aired anything on TV? --but it looks like a solidly-animated show and I'm hoping it's a lot of fun. Be sure to watch the trailers!
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

█ Media Factory Youtube channel released a 1:22 minutes trailer for the upcoming The Sacred Blacksmith anime. It looks just like all others light fantasy anime so I’ll pass this one. Bookmark It
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Well, now that everyone has basically decided what new shows they are going to be watching this season (three premieres occur this week, eight premiere next week if you had forgotten) it’s time to start looking ahead. Starting things off with the second trailer for the upcoming anime film, Baton, the new trailer comes in [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

I know, I know, I'm totally behind on getting the summer 2009 anime season preview online-- it's coming very, very soon, I promise!But let's move past that and into fall for a second, shall we? Seiken no Katanakaji, or The Sacred Blacksmith, is due out this autumn, and its trailer just went online (via Moon Phase). When I first heard news of the adaptation, I wasn't especially excited. It was a fantasy anime based on a popular series of light novels that, as far as I could tell, revolved around a female blacksmith named Cecily, born to a famous blacksmithing family. It's not entirely clear to me what sort of misadventures Cecily has, although I'm sure they involve her family's ability to make a special sword that can fight demons, and doubtless the rest of the cast she meets: the noble Luke Ainsworth, cute'n'young elf(?) Lisa, and Aria, who, judging from the attitude she expresses in the preview and from her sexy appearance, will probably be a favorite of mine.The anime is being produced by Manglobe (Samurai Champloo, Ergo Proxy, Michiko to Hatchin), and directed by Masamitsu Hidaka, of Linebarrels of Iron and Pokemon fame.  <object height="525" width="660"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iVql97Rxi2I&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x402061&amp;color2=0x9461ca&amp;border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iVql97Rxi2I&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x402061&amp;color2=0x9461ca&amp;border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="525" width="660"></embed></param></object> As I said, I wasn't especially excited about the project until I saw the PV-- it looks puuuurdy. Although it'd be cooler if Cecily wasn't being saved so heartily by Luke, I suppose. What do you think?
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

- Chu-Bra animation confirmed. Apparently it's "slightly H girls comedy" - Seiken no Katanakaji (Or the Sacred Black Smith)PV will be available on 23rd and Akiba Blog has some screenshots up for now: HERE - Tonari no 801 OP (and OP ONLY) will be include..글 전체보기
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

Miura Isao’s light novel series - Seiken No Blacksmith gets confirmation for TV Anime series. The story centers around a girl Cecily Campbell, a former noble’s daughter who joined knighthood. She encounters a man who ...
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta

According to Moonphase Diary, an anime adaptation of Miura Isao’s fantasy novel series, “Sacred Blacksmith,” has been green-lit for production. The announcement originally comes from the obi found in the just-released fourth volume of the novel. In addition, a manga adaptation from Yamada Koutarou is also expected to begin publication in the pages of Media Factory’s [...]
Read the rest of this entry Entry meta