Review of Katanagatari

Katanagatari, as the name implies, is a story about swords. It isn't just a story featuring swords: It's literally a story about swords. It's a story about twelve 'Deviant Blades' made by the legendary Shikizaki Kiki, the sword-collecting journey of Shichika and Togame, and the side-characters who wield the Deviant Blades. It's also a story about the 'Maniwa Ningun', but I won't spoil anything about them. The story starts when the main character, Shichika (master of Kyotouryuu), meets Togame (a strategist). Togame ropes Shichika into going on a sword-collecting journey, and that's basically it. But the things that happen on this journey (and the revelations insome episodes) are what really matter. The writing is brilliant (thank NisiOisiN, author of the Monogatari series, for that), and the masses of dialogue just add to the brilliance.

The characters are all likeable, at least to me. Shichika is a somewhat deadpan human weapon (of sorts), Togame is cute and clever, and there's even a penguin ninja. If that doesn't interest you, I don't know what will.

There's an action scene in every episode, which is good (there's also an off-screen battle that was used as a joke). The animation (which is consistently good) makes these scenes better. Katanagatari is quite violent at times, but has a kind of 'soft' artstyle (which I liked a lot). I think the animation is good because of the dialogue scenes, which don't require much animating, but the dialogue scenes are good, so I'm happy.

The OPs and EDs of this anime are all decent at worst, as is the OST (which shines when it really needs to). The voice-acting (Japanese-only; there's no English dub) is pretty good as well, especially for Shichika.

The only thing left to mention is the GODLY final episode (one of the best finales in anime), but I'll not spoil it.

Overall, Katanagatari (it's really fun to type that name, by the way) is an amazing anime. I give it a 10/10, or a 93% for those of you who like percentages. I could talk more about this anime, but by that point you'll have been torn to pieces (subtle reference is subtle).

Cheerio!