Review of Katanagatari

My initial experience with this anime was pretty negative. Boring premise, dumb main character, childish humour, each episode having 50 minutes screen time. But that progressively changed. The story itself stays very simple at first. Two people in search of 12 legendary swords. But as you reach the final episodes and fully understand background for the plot it becomes something quite intricate. It made for quite a huge "ooooh" moment once I grasped the full scope of the plot. At times it feels like the anime is playing with you. And it is. Clever meta talks, pop culture winks, archetypical characters with crazy personalities,fan service, some occasional trolling. Subversions clever directing tricks, self-aware characters. The anime is like a big game.
But that’s not all. While the style of writing can get pretty chaotic and all over the place, it also can be very striking, to the point, and emotional as well as intelligent.

Characterwise I would call this anime pretty strong. There is a wide spectrum of minor characters. Each of them has unique personality quirks and some of them even have surprising depth.

The main characters are Shichika, the dumb strong main male character and Togame the tsundere smart main female character. At first I was very bored with those two. Togame with her klutz moments and constant blushing, Shichika with being as smart as bucket of nails. However gradually we see growth of their at first very convenient relationship which later blossoms into something very real, as well as their individual growth. Especially with Shichika who at first kills without thinking about it, but later begins to question not only reason why he must kill but also reason why he must fight. Togame’s development is not as radical as Shichika’s but she also receives some interesting emotional growth and especially her monologue together with Shichika in episode 12 showcases her great character that is not just being smart short tsundere.

Production is…weirdly amazing. I am baffled as to how did they manage to make 12 episodes 50 minute show which span throughout the whole year. The animation is beautiful (btw. this anime has best looking kunais I’ve ever seen.) the style is pleasant and unique. The Openings are fine; the endings are cleverly changing with each episode.

Soundtrack is top notch. From traditional Japanese music, to hip hop beats. Sound design is not something that I usually find myself liking or appreciating but this show sounded amazing. The voice acting is also great.

There are some negatives; the pacing for me felt slow, some of the characters were annoying, the early humour still left me pretty cold, and some of the cliché moments were boring. But it’s not an anime which I could simply classify. It’s much more than that. I have a feeling that there’s a golden mine of undertones that I’ve missed. Quite frankly this anime is a journey. Not only for the main duo but for you the viewer as well. It engages you, it plays with you, entertains you and it also moves you. It does all that while looking really great and sounding really great. What more could you ask?