Reincarnated as a Sword (TV)

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 08

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I thought that Blue Cat would last longer..
..damn...

I'm happy we got back to Happy Fran. That's what I'm mostly here for.

My favourite moment in this episode was how Fran drew Teacher - Swung her sword out into the Dimensional Storage and dumped the scabbord into it. Sick.

Not sure what to make of Amanda yet.


(Having watched an ep or two with both translations, I think that Subsplease seem to localise a bit more with their speech instead of translating more literally. I don't really like that. But they do typeset the status menus when they pop up while Billibilli subs does the bare minimum with that)

[Kraco]

I'd say the Blue Cat was almost more than expected. Honestly, what kind of powerhouse would you expect the runaway idiot son of a noble to be able to hire? He probably wouldn't have been able to get even one of the Blue Cat's calibre if the target wasn't a Black Cat. You need either an uncaring mercenary or a real villain for a random, unjustified act of revenge. With the noble's lack of skills, he couldn't have anymore tricked anyone either. Most villains would just rob the idiot or hold him for ransom. Any truly powerful villain wouldn't bother to listen to him. Hiring a powerful mercery could have already been unattainable for the idiot.

I find Amanda quite amusing and her actions understandable: anyone would be charmed by Fran. That being said, if we had multiple episodes of Amanda stalking Fran, things would turn annoying. But they are already going to raid a dungeon.

[shinta|hikari]

I think Amanda just saw how powerful Fran is and wanted to fight her to see her true strength.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 09

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Hahaha, The openning fight was entertaining as hell.
All the type from the Rank E dude's buddies.
Fran being him without the sword, then having to make it all about the sword.
xD.
And the ear twiddle :3

As for Amanda's fight, it only did the following:
-cut Fran's face.
-Have rocks stun her left forearm
-Glanced her abdomen (mana whip version)
-Wind shield (counts as a ?throw)

Yet Fran got knocked unconscious. I can't tell if it's the air shield throw, a whip with paralysis (poison would clash with her character, though paralysis wouldn't), or if Fran just ran out of mana/exhausted from Parallel thought.
Amanda did say that it's supposed to be a 1-hit-KO move though (Subsplease subsequentally calls it a sure-fire kill instead of 1HK)

The examiner guys thought Fran fucked Amanda up lol

Now I get the whole "Don't use fire when there's a forrest thing, but those are fucking rocks. There's nothing "forrest"-y about it The only weird thing is why there are stalagmites without anything dropping from the top.

[Kraco]

It was a funny manzai scene where the adventurers introduced themselves and Fran told everyone she likes to eat curry, only to get straightened out by Teacher noting nobody wants to hear about her favourite dishes. Although that being said, it did look like Amanda welcomed the info. Even if she shouldn't know what curry is.

The fight against Amanda was nothing like the fight against the demon, even though Fran should be a whole lot stronger now. I guess that's the problem with friendly duels. Teacher also didn't participate at all, aside from as a passive sword, probably to keep the whole intelligent weapon issue a secret. But then again, no matter what kind of remarkable finishing move they had come up with, they would have lost anyway because of Amanda's automatically activated life-saving power. Assuming Fran would have still been in any shape to fight, if they had managed to surprise Amanda enough for it to trigger, like happened, after that Amanda would have obviously put all of her Class A skills and experience to use, and it would have been game over in any case.

Now I get the whole "Don't use fire when there's a forrest thing, but those are fucking rocks. There's nothing "forrest"-y about it The only weird thing is why there are stalagmites without anything dropping from the top.

Yeah, that was weird. I was also wondering what on Earth was burning there, since there was nothing but rocks around. It would have been pretty funny if the adventurers had had all of their tents, sleeping gear, and whatnot out, and they were all destroyed in the conflagration.

Out of curiosity, I looked for this scene in the manga, and, lo and behold, they were in an area with trees present. If I had to guess, it was probably such an environment in the novel as well. So, this anime just randomly changed the forest into a rocky desert, yet still had the nonexistent trees catch fire from the spell. A real genius move from the anime studio.

[Kraco]

Episode 10



- - -- -



This is actually the best thing that could happen to Fran. She's got her attitude of pushing forward and never giving up, so nothing will test her true mettle better than this. After all, if her whole prowess depends on wielding Teacher, she's not fully getting stronger as an individual of her own, nor would she prove anything about the Black Cat tribe. A Black Cat wielding a super sword can be strong is not quite the same as a Black Cat being strong. Everyone would question her part in that strong. Of course she's still a kid, so being unreasonable is to be expected, but that makes it all the more important that she can recognise what's her own strength and what belongs to Teacher. Otherwise she will hopelessly get ahead of herself and eventually meet her doom.

Other that all that, I quite liked Fran and Amanda getting along. It was quite funny Fran was just hanging with her most of the time, not participating in the fighting, as if this whole examination didn't have much to do with her.

[DarthEnderX]

Their combination elements reminds me of the one I made up:

[Buffalobiian]

It was quite funny Fran was just hanging with her most of the time, not participating in the fighting, as if this whole examination didn't have much to do with her.

It technically wasn't her exam because this was a promotion for the 2 Class E groups. She was asked to join just so people will see that her rank isn't boosted. She didn't actually have to prove herself, and really this has happened already.

[Kraco]

Their combination elements reminds me of the one I made up:

It seems to be quite burdensome to come up with these, especially a full spectrum of combination elements.

It found it quite peculiar how, when asked about the magic, Amanda listed the four elements and that's it. Then later, when specifically asked if that's it, she added holy and dark. They might be rare, but you'd think that would make them all the more relevant. Maybe the reality of dealing with children has made Amanda too matter-of-fact. Although that hardly shows in her personality otherwise, such as stalking Fran relentlessly, trying to hug her, and get her to call Amanda a mama.

[DarthEnderX]

11

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SIF!

[Buffalobiian]

The summon felt a little Deus Ex.

It went berserk, but Announcer doesn't tell you that immediately and also doesn't mention the naming thing.
Once Ammanda tells you that, it gets pacified and Announcer automatically evolves it with excess mana?

The whole "going beyond the limit" thing doesn't quite carry the same weight if Teacher doesn't nearly destroy himself doing so.
I remember when he used all his mana to impale the Greater Demon and simply got lucky in absorbing its stone for mana. We've lost that sense of dread now. And I thought he put all his mana into summoning anyway.. so where's this mana for the elemental sword coming from?

Fran was lucky that the Trickster Spider was more interested in playing than killing. For someone that did such a great job fucking them over with various disarm and teleport spells, it didn't do a very good job when it counted.

Teacher should totally find one of those "instantly rearm" spells now.

[DarthEnderX]

I believe his mana regenerates fairly quickly.

[Kraco]

I reckon using all of his mana was just an expression he used. Kind of like a strong man could use all of his strength to push open a heavy door, but it doesn't mean he would drop comatose afterwards and not move for a day.

I found it hilarious a couple of times during the episode when all the hurry to find Fran seemed to disappear in exchange for magic lectures and whatnot. In the meantime we saw poisoned Fran using her last bits of HP to try to resist the spider monster to live a few minutes longer. That was such an absurd dissonance in how the episode was constructed.

Fran was lucky that the Trickster Spider was more interested in playing than killing. For someone that did such a great job fucking them over with various disarm and teleport spells, it didn't do a very good job when it counted.

On the contrary, I felt like the Trickster Spider was living up to its name. It was enjoying its various tricks and traps more than it would have enjoyed simply killing Fran and the two stooges.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 12

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This is how I feel now that weekly Fran is no longer a thing.

[DarthEnderX]

Amanda is a killstealing hobag!

[Kraco]

It's not like spider boss would have been reserved for Fran alone, but it was still quite nasty to steal the kill, and destroy the mana crystal, when Fran was already in the middle of fighting the thing and not even losing or anything.

It was, for sure, better for Amanda to see Fran like this and not as a slave, if she's the daughter of two young people Momanda used to know and take care of.

Seems like the series will be getting a second season. Probably summer 2023, if I had to guess. Usually the pause is along those lines.

[Ryllharu]

I'm really not a fan of the wolf, Jet, especially with the reveal that it would be Rank C.

Having another overpowered companion animal throws off the narrative of Fran growing, since it's also absurdly strong, and unlike Teacher, has significantly more autonomy and independent action.

There's no equivalent of having to hide that Teacher is an intelligent weapon, there's no risk of it being helpless like Fran is. Jet is so strong that it negates the opportunities for Fran to develop independently of Teacher. The better solution would have been to have her find a subpar weapon in the trap spider's den, and for Amanda to bring Teacher back to Fran (while still having him reveal himself to Amanda).

It gets even worse that Jet has sky-stepping powers and now also functions as a flying mount for Fran. Especially when the undermine it in the post-credit scene by having her fly on Teacher. Where's the journey aspect now that she has a flying mount that isn't Teacher (using him being a risk of not being able to use him as a weapon at the same time at least has some balance).

Amanda being her parent's previous guardian was much better done, so I have no complaints with that. It builds Amanda's character nicely, and also allowed her to overcome her grief and overprotectiveness by seeing Fran succeed in her parents' stead. Amanda learned to let go, not just for the comedic sake of Fran pouting at her, but also that she can be a mentor instead of just a guardian.

At least there's a 2nd season to look forward to, and hopefully they won't fuck up the airing schedule so badly next time. If we're lucky, it will air at the same time as the Vending Machine Isekai.

[Buffalobiian]

I have that issue with summons in general, in video games as well. They're very good for engaging ads and trash mobs though, because fuck ads in a boss fight.

I downloaded the soundtrack, and overall I'd say it feels like a less impressive version of Fairy Tail. There are a few tracks that are a banger, but the rest are less so. The character is very similar to FT, whereby I actually stop to think for a second about which OST I'm listenning to. The difference is that FT soundtracks are great from the first to the last track, so in comparison this feels like leftovers by Takanashi Yasuhara.

Regarding subs, I agree that the release scheduled disrupted discussions. After going back and forth between the two releases, I am sure Subsplease is the inferior one though. There's more localisation or just down right errors. Maybe Bilibili reads the source?

They translate more literally (I prefer Urushi than Jet), plus the subs seem to match the meaning more.

I went back to Ep 1:
-Bilibili subbing "Shuntensatsu" while Subsplease used "Heavenly slash" - I do prefer subsplease in this instance.
-Teacher being stuck in the ground and panic levelled fire magic to level 10. Subsplease simply say that he's now got "a new fire spell" while Bilibili mentions that he now has Flame Magic Level 1. Clearly more accurate in the latter.
-Teacher calls Fran Mofumimi, which is left as-is in Bilibili, while Subsplease translates this to catgirl. I'm alright with either version, but it irks me when it should really be Fluffy Ears or something.

I think localisation can be good when it works, it's just that when it doesn't it stands out and my immediate thought is "should have just left it alone". Sentences I feel are beter left alone than localised. Words/nouns really depends.

Subsplease typesetting the status menus is great. I just wished they combined their strengths.

[DarthEnderX]

Subsplease typesetting the status menus is great. I just wished they combined their strengths.

Should point out that Subsplease is not actually a fansub group. All they do is rip the official streams from Crunchyroll/Funimation/etc. and post the rips. So Subsplease is usually good quality because it's the official subs being put out by the company.

[Kraco]

I have that issue with summons in general, in video games as well. They're very good for engaging ads and trash mobs though, because fuck ads in a boss fight.

What are these ads you are talking about? It can't be advertisement, haha.

Should point out that Subsplease is not actually a fansub group. All they do is rip the official streams from Crunchyroll/Funimation/etc. and post the rips. So Subsplease is usually good quality because it's the official subs being put out by the company.

Official translations were more often than not guilty of needless localisations. It has certainly got better over the years, at least, or maybe I just don't care anymore. Hard to say. Nevertheless, translating character names is most of the time a bit iffy, unless there's a special consistency and system for the names, like every name is supposed to describe the character in a very descriptive manner. It could be a tribal tradition, for example. The name could be earned later in life due to achievements, like von Richthofen was called the Red Baron. Translating such nicknames could be quite essential.