Review of Katanagatari

Monster of the week, unconventional love story, or a sequence of intriguing but longwinded dialogues, Katanagatari is certainly all that, but also much more. Superficially, it is a series about a simple-minded, albeit unconventional, ‘swordsman’ who battles for the twelve swords under the enlistment of an even more eccentric ‘strategist’. Underneath the seemingly cliché premise however, the series has buried within it all manner of artistic treasure: cleverly designed, high-tension action scenes; a subtle love story, nearly imperceptible during its incredibly moving, gradual evolution; and perhaps most infamously, eloquent subtext conveyed within the lovable idiosyncrasies of the characters’ quite expansive conversations. Rarely has a showhad such lengthy yet engrossing dialogue sequences, especially ones so utterly diffuse in their emotional and intellectual potency as these.

Katanagatari has a simple structure. Each episode we are invited to watch our lovely couple trod to the next blade wielder, devise a strategy, and invariably defeat them before they grab the goods. If this encompassed all there was to the show though, it would be certainly not be worthy of the praise and admiration I am so aptly about to shower it with.

The simple minded Shichika begins the series as a… dull character. He replies blatantly to questions, and due to his ignorance of the world outside his island, these answers are often unexpectedly lacking in social understanding and convention. Ominously pointing towards a highly grating and redundant protagonist, these first impressions are dissipated rapidly as experience of the world refines Shichika’s internal ideology, without washing away his accustomed roots. His grasp of the world, while naïve, is nonetheless insightful and grounded in a sound logic that turns out quite wholesome and compassionate in its essence. A refreshing change from the often one-dimensional, “I’ll be the very best!” attitude the standard shonen lead possesses.

Without a doubt, the reason for Shichika’s remarkably enticing character stems directly from our oh so terribly clever female lead, Togame. Always prepared with meticulous counterarguments to all possible holes in her complex machinations, these become hilariously misplaced when used on our completely oblivious male lead; It’s a definite high point of the series. Togame’s labyrinthine thinking plays well off of Shichika’s simplistic personality, creating a combination far greater than the sum of its parts. As the unlikely duo encounter each blade wielder, it is consistently the coupling of Togame’s quick ingenuity with Shichika’s fighting prowess that makes the battles so enthralling. Neither alone has the capability to win each of the fights, quite a contrast to shows where one of the leads is delegated to the background, the mere caricature of an equal teammate. In Katanagatari, neither character jumps above the other, the radical equality a wholly satisfying change from the usual paradigm. As the show progresses, their chemistry shifts unnoticibly from a faint background atmosphere to a highly palpable ardor, each battle entangling them ever further into an altogether quite intensely gratifying relationship.

Using a simple animation style that mixes bold colors, bold calligraphic lines, and whimsical design, the animators created a one of a kind setting for the series, a creative blur between childish and mature, historic and fantastic. Add to that a grandmotherly narrator who introduces us into each week’s episode, her wise yet light hearted tone endearing us to watch the young couple more attentively, almost as if to say that we are becoming their hopelessly overbearing parents. Vibrant modern interpretations of Japanese folk music ties the whole package together, with a wide selection of tracks unobtrusively creating the well balanced ‘old meets new’, ‘simple meets complicated’ atmosphere of the series.

As a whole, Katanagatari comes together effortlessly. The viewer left feebly unable to explain its appeal precisely because it is so finely woven as to have its individual strengths rendered indiscernible. The backdrops of history, simplicity, and tradition interweave seamlessly with creative battles, intricate plots, well developed characters, and a myriad of fresh ideas. All this happening in progressively more and more captivating episodes, and then culminating in an exceptionally visceral, emotional ending that may leave you, as it did me, completely breathless. Highlights include scenes from the shocking and highly entertaining episode four, the tragic and tense episode seven, the mystically profound episode ten, and the entire final episode, which had me absolutely absorbed from the first scene to the wretchedly bittersweet finale. It is unlikely you’ll find a more unassumingly brilliant series than this one in any given year of watching anime, and I couldn’t recommend it more.

Conclusion:

For such an inconspicuous series, it’s unlikely you could do much better. Katanagatari gets my highest recommendations due to its exceptional quality from start to end, perhaps even tantalizingly heightened with moments of true masterpiece.