Review of Katanagatari

THIS IS A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW The "Monogatari Series" is in my opinion one of the greatest fictional works of all time, and a lot of that has got to do with it´s creators specific style. NisiOisin (The name is a palindrome btw :D), is by far the most unique writer in the Light Novel scene, and i have set myself the goal to watch/read all of his works after finishing Monogatari. So, the next point on my list is „Katanagatari“ or "A tale of swords". Story - 7/10 On paper, the story already looks very straightforward. 12 Light Novels, 12 episodes á 45 minutes, 12 swords that needto be collected. This is the complete opposite of the story structure of monogatari, which relies heavily on time skips, unreliable narrators, time travel and all that other fun stuff. Katanagatari introduces the main objective in the first episode and retains a sort of "monster of the week" -type formula, which is a hit or miss for me. I think the concept can be executed well, but the fact that almost every episode feels like a standalone story (because every episode adapts one novel) leads to some inconsistencies. Some of the episodes were amazing, episode 2 was a perfect example of a simple, isolated story executed to perfection and episode 4 scared me with one of the cruellest fights i have ever seen in an anime. However, there were also some misses for me. The finale especially felt very rushed. The whole pacing of the show felt very consistent and moved steady throughout the episodes, but in the finale, they suddenly pushed the gas and sped through 12 (!) fights in one episode. There are also some highly interesting ideas in the final two episodes, that i wish the show spend more time on. If they had done that, this could have lead to some insane world building and really would have made the plot stand out a bit more.
But all that aside, lets talk about the elephant in the room here: the dialogue. This is the biggest factor of the show. If you like it, you´ll like the show as a whole, if not, you are in for a veeeery boring time. I absolutely LOVED the dialogue in this show. Some episodes spend almost 40 minutes just with two characters talking followed up by a 5 minute fight. The writing is snappy, witty and expectation defining and stands toe-to-toe with the monogatari-series. Even throughout the fight everyone is talking, talking and talking. I can completely understand if that is not your thing, and i agree that sometimes they just go on and on for a bit too long, but i still enjoyed it to the fullest.

Art - 8/10

This is just my personal opinion, but i actually really enjoyed the artstyle in this. I heard a lot of people saying it is to simple and sketchy but i think it strangely fits the plot of the show. The backgrounds look great with their watercolour-aesthetic. The animation itself however is a drawback. This is one of the only NisiOisiN works that have not been animated by Studio Shaft. Instead, Studio White Fox („Steins:Gate“, „RE-Zero“, „Akame ga Kill“) did the job, and i´d say it was....fine. I think they ran out of budget midway, resulting in some pretty dumb-down fights, but it was never truly awful. I honestly think i would have liked their work here more if i hadn´t watched the Monogatari Series. Seeing what Studio Shaft can do with NisiOisiNs works really set my expectations way to high. What i have to praise is the character-designs. I think whoever created the design of Togame should win an award. All the other characters look fantastic and unique as well, which is very important if you introduce a lot of different ones to your story.

Sound - 7/10

This is a two sided sword for me (see what i did there :D). On one hand, the BGM does a lot to make the story feel alive. The use of rap seemingly blends in with the samurai-era japan setting of the edo-period. I actually think they took some inspirations from "Samurai Champloo" here. The fights and all of our main characters attacks sound great and the voice-acting, especially Togames voice actor deserves praise. On the other hand, although far from bad, the opening feels a bit too generic for such a distinct creative work. The ED constantly changes with varying quality

Characters - 8/10

Damn, i really should score this category lower because there are some obvious missteps the show took here. Firstly, the Maniwa Corps never really developed to a point where they weren´t just a plot device. Their design was cool and they even have some interesting lore backing them up, but when they just get slaughtered every single episode it just doesn´t make them stand out enough. I also think this show has a little villain problem, because the main villain only really gets introduced in the final two episodes. Every other characters is either just an asshole or someone who genuinely does good things, which leads to some very ambivalent fights.
However, the main three reasons why this rating is so high, are Togame, Ichika, his sister and Emonzaemon.
Togame and Ichikas relationship is the main focus of the show and it really pays off. Every episode gives them some kind of moment and their chemistry is absolutely on point. Togame is my favorite, she is just absolutely hilarious throughout the show. Ichika, our lead, develops very subtle and minute, but steady leading to a very interesting personality shift over time. The show also has some mad plottwists in it´s bag which certainly caught me off guard.
Emonzaemon is the other reason this show works so well. Sure, he serves as the princess´ butler, but he has a backstory as well as his own ambitions. His design is amazing and his actions and tactics become more brutal and relentless as the story goes on.
Ichikas little sister was something of a surprise for me, but for the sake of spoilers, i can´t really go into what happens with her, but let me tell you: You were never that scared of a little sister this much in an anime.

Enjoyment – 8/10

This show was more carried by it´s standout scenes than the overall picture. But it still serves as a great samurai story with a lot of sweet NisiOisN dialogue woven in. If you are a fan of the „Monogatari Series“ or maybe „Samurai Champloo“ this is the rigth show for you. If you don´t like dialogue-heavy series, maybe skip out on this one. My next NisiOsin show will be „The Kubikiri Cycle“ and i have never had such high expectations to an anime before.

- Marco_Yooo

FINAL SCORE - 8/10