Tensei shitara Ken deshita

A nameless sword wakes up to discover he has been reincarnated from his former life as a human. With his power of telekinesis, he moves around this new world, acquiring several skills and abilities. When the sword comes upon a forest filled with monsters, he meets a young girl fleeing from a beast. Grabbing the sword, the girl easily defeats the monster. After introducing herself as Fran, she names the sword "Shishou" and officially becomes his wielder.

The two set out to become adventurers, but unfortunately for Fran, she is a member of the Black Cat Tribe—a Beastkin group with a bad reputation. No member of this tribe has ever evolved into a mightier beast, but Fran plans to be the first and achieve her parents' dream. As Shishou promises to remain her sword until she attains her goal, they form an unstoppable partnership of impressive strength.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Fran Main

Kakuma, Ai Japanese

Shishou Main

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Amanda Supporting

Koshimizu, Ami Japanese

Nell Supporting

Ookubo, Rumi Japanese

Gallus Supporting

Tsuji, Shinpachi Japanese

Dovy, Jean Supporting

Uchida, Yuuma Japanese

Dungeon Master Supporting

Sakaguchi, Daisuke Japanese

Allsand, August Supporting

Aoyama, Yutaka Japanese

Elevent Supporting

Yamamoto, Shouta Japanese

Krad Supporting

Yamaguchi, Tomohiro Japanese

Hieda, Kouki Assistant Producer

Kawasuzuki, Ibuki Assistant Producer

Kotaka, Tatsuya Assistant Producer

Takimoto, Rei Assistant Producer

Reviews

Dec 14, 2022

Mcsuper

Recommended

Isekais are a dime a dozen these days, and it’s not every day you find a really special one. I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend this one, but what I will say is, it’s above average by isekai standards for sure, with good animation and lovable characters that make this show very chill and easy to watch. It has some good concepts, but the overarching video game aspects do hold it back a little. There are also some very unnecessary aspects of the show other than the game mechanics, such as the telepathy, which I’ll highlight below.

STORY:

It’s pretty basic, but it doesn’t ... really do anything very wrong, or step out of their lane. The one thing that stands out is that the person who gets isekai’ed isn’t really the main protagonist, but the helper to her. I really wish that the way people get isekai’ed get a bit more creative, but perhaps no one really cares about those few minutes of the plot. The levelling up mechanic is one thing that I can never really get behind in most shows, because it’s just a plot device to skip any sort of training, or more meaningful character development. The characters just get stronger by gaining materials and slaying enemies, not by genuine training.

ART:

Genuinely way better than I expected, but seeing that studio C2C adapted this was already a good sign, given some of their previous work, for example, Majo no Tabitabi, which looked very solid. Some very sharp sakuga in some episodes that could even rival shounen fight scenes, but also some parts weren’t that well animated, especially near the end. Overall, the animation was still a big highlight to this show.

MUSIC:

The OP and ED were very good, although the OP would hint that the show would potentially be pretty dark, which didn’t necessarily hold true. The soundtrack itself was pretty basic, which very video-gamey sound effects and music that didn’t really stand out.

CHARACTERS:

Fran carries this show on her back, and anyone who has watched this knows it. She’s adorable, and just a little cinnamon roll. She has her moments to shine, though I wish things got a little darker than they did. The relationship between her and Shishou was very wholesome as well, though I don’t really get why they talked in telepathy mode, especially since a lot of the time, Fran is talking out loud. I do understand using telepathy to speak during battles, but when they’re just talking normally, the telepathy was quite unnecessary, and because of that, Shishou’s voice actor, Shinichiro Miki (voice of Kaiki from Monogatari and Kisuke from Bleach) had that filter over his voice which made it a little strange hearing it for the whole episode every time.

The side characters are alright, but other than Amanda, none really stood out, as they just kind of existed. As for the villains, once again, they fall into the category of “evil just for the sake of being evil”. They’re just simple bad guys, with no real motives, which is a bit underwhelming but expected, for the nature of this show.

Overall, other than Fran and Shishou, quite a forgettable cast of characters, but it was still enjoyable to watch their shenanigans.

ENJOYMENT:

For the most part, I did enjoy this series, other than a few segments near the end of the series. Very cute and wholesome.

THEMATIC EXECUTION:

I really wish the show emphasized more on the darker themes. We saw shades of them, with the whole slavery aspect in the beginning, and when Fran was killing the villains, but I think the show would have benefitted more from extending those scenes and really fleshing out the world a bit more, because from what I saw in this show, there were definitely a lot of dark elements present in the world.

OVERALL:

Not the most unique show by any means, but a good effort here for sure. Pretty great animation, and seeing Fran and Shishou’s wholesome relationship develop was a nice treat to see. I would definitely be happy if a Season 2 ever was announced, because Fran eating curry is life!

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Dec 14, 2022

ZeroMajor12

Mixed Feelings

Rather than me talking about the pros and cons of this show, allow me to list a few of the anime's elements and how to enjoy it despite it being quite generic.

How to enjoy this anime:
1. Do not go into this having high expectations. It plays off as a generic isekai for most of the part. Such as characters taking plenty of time to grant exposition dialogue to the audience as if they want to listen, characters playing certain tropes just for character development, no matter how rushed or forced it is (mean dude, supposed cool dude but actually has secrets, a girl with a ... weird fetish, etc.), which also means the side characters are nothing but stepping stools for the main duo. Just like the classic isekai setup.

2. If you are expecting a good main duo relationship, it does a decent job of that. Unlike most of the side characters who are barely anything and are abysmal to the main plot, the sword who does nothing but brag about his skills while moving on really fast from his past life just decides to let a catgirl use him and eradicate any threats in her path. First of all, while the sword's personality and dialogues may seem a bit generic for starters, his chemistry with Fran made the series easier to swallow than what you will usually get in your generic, stale and boring isekai (the girls always support the nice guy no matter what, nice guy gets a harem, never proceeds to get laid until it ends). Moreover, the heroine's approach and the main guy being a weapon would mean that there are no girls dripping wet at every corner, protagonists actually putting out effort other than using one OP skill and proceeding to win every match, and an actual power system that makes sense although quite basic. Therefore, it is safe to say that there is actual character writing rather than resorting to the same recycled crap we've been digesting for years.

3. Is it a good power fantasy? Of course not. For it to be good, it needs to have some spicy animation and crispy visuals, which this show definitely lacks of. A sensible power system without any sakuga shots will make the series quite dull and stale. Only important movements are animated and the visuals are not amazing either. The characters' faces don't seem to have their noses animated and do nothing more than look basic. For that reason, the action sequences won't wow you in any way and should tell you that it's nothing more than a basic power fantasy isekai.

Other than that, think of it as your run-of-the-mill anime. It's nice enough to pick up and pass up some time, but that's all you're going to get from it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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Dec 29, 2022

eviIDragon

Not Recommended

Funny

Imortant points:

-Not an Isekai (the story goes - The gods took a soul from another world, wiped his memories and made him into a sword. If you remove the "another world" part, everything stays exactly the same because his memories were wiped clean anyway)
- No fanservice, harem, echhi. At all. Fans of aforementioned genres should skip the title and head to the garbage dump where they belong.
- Generic RPG fantasy world - elfs, gnomes, magic, skills, classes etc.
- Extremely poor/dumb/lazy writing. The worldbuilding, characters, motivations, dialogue, well... everything really is just dumb.
The core ideas are not bad, their execution is.
- It ... is Wholesome. The heroine and the sword are OP AF and nothing bad can/will happen to them.
- The hero of the story is not really a sword but the catgirl


I decided to watch it because of the "wholesome and nice story in a grim world' idea. "Getting stronger, overcoming challenges", "Brutal murder of terrible people" and other things that make you feel warm, nice and fuzzy inside. And all of it is indeed there.

However! My god does the writing sucks. The sword is basically just what it is - a sword not a person.
He does not have a personality. He has no memories. Do not have a name, no personal goal or any real human thoughts or responses. In Pathfinder RPG there was an adventurer whose mind was trapped in a weapon and he acted as a person. Here the first thing the sword thinks after getting a generic lvl up by killing monsters around him - It would be nice to find a master who will wield me. Yes he is just an intelligent sword. Nothing more.

The world is DARK. Or rather it should be dark. Widespread slavery, genocide, various persecutions based on race or social standing, a world full of monsters who kill a lot of adventurers and regular people alike.

And at the same time, it is all friendship, pink ponys and rainbow atmosphere. People do not behave in an appropriate manner in such a world. Some residents of this "grim world" have morals appropriate for a peaceful developed country of our day. Not the brutal world where they exist.

It would take too long to list all things that could be improved by simply dedicating some effort to write a logically sound narrative without changing the main storyline. The bottom line - Extremely poor/dumb/lazy writing.

If you can turn off your brain and you want a wholesome and nice story in a grim world. Then I can recommend this.
For everyone else, it is a low-quality anime that you probably should skip.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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