Review of Katanagatari

I'm actually astounded by the huge number of people lauding Katanagatari as a masterpiece, with high rating of 9's and 10's popping off everywhere in the reviews, claiming that it is perfect/flawless blah blah blah, listing everything positive about it then exaggerating it further. This makes it appear like it's 10/10 worthy solely from reviews when really, it's far from the truth. While Katanagatari isn't the worst out there which feels mentally violating or makes you want to smack your head against a brick wall or a sharp corner on your table, it is not on the same level as the masterpieces, which feelslike you're having an animegasm or ascending into heaven whenever you watch it. No, Katanagatari is far, far from it.

I'll also mention some other things:

- This is my first review on the site. Normally, I don't bother writing reviews because a lot of what I want to say about a particular anime has been already said in another. Thus, I see no reason to repeat what other people have said. It's also due to the fact that I'm lazy and it's hard to motivate myself to write one. :P

- Characters and plot are heavily weighted.

- Minor spoilers

Art and Sound - Both 7/10

I don't have much opinion on sound, other the opening being interesting and generally working well with the anime overall, which provides atmosphere.

The art I is quite unique. It's quite similar to the one you would find when you're looking at legends on screen, and indeed, Katanagatari is set during the Edo period, the reign of the Shoguns, so it's definitely good that they've used this style. The scenery is nice, though could have a bit more detail. Colours makes it look more vivid and lively most of the time, yet often dips into the darker shades as well, adding to the atmosphere already present . Characters are generally well drawn.

The one problem in this area though is that there has been a few cases where the art quality 'drops'. More specifically, there were cases where I've seen still frames and recycled animation used throughout the latter half of the series (often gives a shounen-esque feeling).

Other than that, the art is generally consistent throughout the show. It's good to see something new used here that's atypical of anime you see nowadays.

Characters - 12/30

One of my first major gripe with this show, and despite it being heavily emphasised through the anime, it hasn't been executed well, regardless of the widespread acclamation that this is the show's strong point.

The very first failure in this case is the HUGE abundance of characters in the entire show. This isn't bad on its own. In fact, as Monster has proved, such a diversity of characters allow for fresh and interesting situation to rise, while also giving us a new perspective for the story to be told. Given that Monster also had PLENTY of time for development, it felt like each character had a purpose in the anime (Johann being somewhat of an exception, despite him being portrayed really well). Katanagatari did not have that luxury. By trying to shove such a huge cast into 12 45-minute episodes, it has inevitably shot itself on the foot, as the said character(s) don't get enough development, and as a result, are forced into 2 situations:

1. Character feels underdeveloped, akin to one saying something like 'What's the point of this character?'
2. Character's development feels rushed and sudden, not gradually over time

The former can be said for ~95% of the entire roster. The development on the side characters, particularly the antagonists, are a joke - they barely had any time to develop before they get killed (granted, for some characters, we do see a slip of their past and how that has changed their outlook, particularly Meisai Tsuruga, who deserves some credit, but that's about it). The Maniwa Corps is the main target of the criticism here - every single character has been killed without been given a chance. A whole episode dedicated to them is not enough to be considered developemtn. I had hope for the penguin guy, seeing that he had the most potential, but nope. He dies. What a surprise. Every member of said corporation, and also a lot of the side characters, can be merely cast off with the question mentioned before, 'What's the point of this character? How is this character significant in the anime'? This is what's lacking in a lot of them. Apart from Yasuri's sister, who also received poor development and Meisai Tsuruga, I see barely any point in them. They're just a running gag in the anime.

And now, we get to the protagonists, Yasuri Shichiki and Togame, hailed by many for having excellent character development. Like... what? If anything, only Yasuri gets credit for 'proper' development, though it was one that could be labelled as 'expected' - a machine is expected to transform into a normal human being, in terms of developing empathy and emotion. It's nothing new here. It's uninteresting at best.

Togame didn't really change much, considering how much screen time she had. Essentially, she was emotionally scarred due to a past trauma that left her walking down a path of veangence and looking to carry out her father's wish. As a result, to hide this fact, she puts on a 'mask', a show where she's rather expressive and reluctantly collects the 12 swords for the 'Shogun'. During her travels, she falls in love with Yasuri. However, at the end just before she died, she openly admits WITHOUT hesitation that everything she worked for was for revenge and that she planned to kill Yasuri after collecting the 12 swords (12th is a gun by the way...). Really, all she had done was that she held onto her past trauma, put on a mask and embark onto a journey to collect swords. While all this time, she did not change her mindset... Nice development... It's static.

Story/Plot - 10/30

My second gripe with the series. Before I get into a rant, let me say that I consider Katanagatari to have 2 plots at work here that goes hand in hand: Togame collecting swords for the shogun and the other is Yasuri developing empathy, turning from a machine into a normal human being.

Now, for the people who say that the plot is 'so complex', or so 'simple that it's so good' and give a whopping 9 or 10. Like..... No... Just no... No matter how many times I rack my brain, I can NOT understand how the plot is 'complex' as people say (and I do have an eye for subtlety if I focus). Perhaps it was the excessive dialogue that switched me off (more into this later), or perhaps my expectations quickly died out after 3 episodes feeling like a grindfest trying to finish... Only God knows.

On the other hand however, the plot being simple does not mean the plot is good. A plot being simple has to compensate in other areas, such as subtlety in thematics or in this case, characterisation. Otherwise, the whole anime suffers as a result. Due to characterisation, its saving grace, being quite lackluster, the plot was forced to suffer.

First, the sword collecting. While it does sound plain, lame, simple and boring, again, this isn't bad on its own. It had potential to change the direction of the narrative when needed. It had potential to add in twists and turns to keep the plot fresh. What is bad about it however, is seeing CONSTANT repetition of the following formula for 11 episodes STRAIGHT:
Arrive at new place -> meet new antagonist -> talk -> fight (?) -> win sword
It got so predictable to the point where I wasn't expecting anything new to show up. Turns out, from episode 3 onwards, up to 11, I was right. There were no twists, none of that unexpected event that puts you into a state of shock, none of that 'gamechanger'.

Second, Yasuri's development. This one is more important than the sword collecting part, and where people get the idea that the plot is quite 'complex'.

Let me say that having dialogue is fine. In fact, it's quite important, as it fills in the gaps when there's no action in the anime. It gives you an idea of what a particular character is thinking about another. It gives you an idea of their personality based on how they speak and interact with others verbally. However, there is a point where the amount of dialogue can become excessive. This has the effect of making the plot feeling like it's dragging on forever and stagnating in progress.

That's Katanagatari in a nutshell. There is a plethora of dialogue that shows the interaction between the 2 protagonists. Of course, with characterisation as it's focus, this was bound to happen. They needed to show how Yasuri and Tagome develop as protagonists. This, they did relatively well. You can see, through their interactions, how they change (?) throughout the course of the show. But they went over the top and added more dialogue that contributes to almost nothing. For 45 minutes. There's even dialogue in the action scenes for some reason...

Additional thoughts - 10/20

This section covers any additional thoughts I might have about the anime. This includes enjoyment and other comments I might make if it doesn't fit under the other major sub-topics. It also makes up the final 20 points available to bring up the total possible marks to 100.

For the first 3 episodes, I was drawn into the anime. But the interest was lost quickly due to how repetitive the plot was and how stale it became due to the excess amount of dialogue in 45 minutes.

For an anime listed under action, there's barely any actions and those actions aren't really well done.

I would've expected them to choreograph the scenes in a way that looks realistic, rather than being shounen-esque in looks or slinging multiple arms around while the torso remains in 1 spot... Something like the fight scene between Lancer and Archer in ufotable's work Fate/Stay Night - Unlimited Blade Works.

TOTAL - 46/100 = 46% = 5/10 on MAL