Reincarnated as a Sword

Episode 4

The issue of wanting to like a series more than I actually do in a given moment can be a prevalent one, and it's particularly odd for a series like Reincarnated as a Sword. I don't think I've ever made a secret of the fact that I've got little love lost for the isekai genre in general, so being presented with another of those series that indulges in all the expected pratfalls oughta be an exercise in criticizing it for falling back on those formulas and just going home. But I honestly can't write it off as being that simple. Apart from demonstrating a clear understanding of storytelling fundamentals amongst all its stat sheets and spell explanations, Reincarnated as a Sword also continues to just be so gosh-darned likable between its cast and tone that I can't completely condemn or write it off just because its exposition loses me in its less-inspired moments. Especially as I recognize how my own personal preferences might make that more of a me problem than for many others in the target audience.

This episode's off to a generally strong start, anyway. We get to open by watching Fran continue to chop up those goblins, the show delighting in depicting her fighting style with all angles of slashes and chops. Her proportions compared to the size of Teacher as she wields him gives the pair a very unique frame of movement that defines the action of this series, meaning it's always distinctively fun to watch even as it's something like fighting a horde of the most generic fantasy goblin enemies possible. And even at that baddie baseline, the show is keen to keep reinforcing how this isn't a cakewalk for Teacher and Fran at their current levels. It feeds into the idea of Fran willingly striding into that adversity, driving home how she wants this in order to prove herself and become stronger.

This whole driving element is what puts Reincarnated as a Sword over that extra little bit for me. Seeking power and ability for its own sake is an aggravatingly common construct across isekai shows, with heroes who manipulate their stats and abilities mostly as a demonstration of role-playing-game thought-experiment exploits their authors thought were cool and wanted to show off. The Sword Show, meanwhile, does have those explanations of status sheets and spell slots, but there hasn't been a lot of 'clever' combining or exploiting apart from the characters power-leveling and getting effective base spells and attacks. Because as the series demonstrates, being strong is a means to an end, for both others and yourself. These goblins don't just exist to grind experience, Fran has to deal with them as they present a threat to the town. The whole adventurer system is clarified in this episode to exist as a way to organize those warriors against potential monster threats, rather than simply being an organization that keeps those sorts of players occupied with the busiwork of disconnected quests. That's simple, but smart stuff that stands out in a field where so many others don't think that far.

That acknowledgement can make it frustrating when, once Fran and Teacher settle down from goblin slaying for the day, the series settles back into the more typical pagecount-padding isekai material. A big disappointment for me, for instance, was seeing that Garrus's method for 'repairing' equipment was no demonstration of physical blacksmithing ability, but simply an execution of a crystal-based magical ritual that restored armor. It provokes an explanation of equipment-repair mechanics that clearly exist as an element of 'game balance' in this flagrant video-game world. And the fact that it immediately precedes an explanation of the world's dungeons that further gamifies their mechanics, complete with Garrus referring to stats like 'INT' and 'WIS' with those abbreviations, was something that took me right out of Reincarnated as a Sword's prior effective efforts to make its setting feel actually cohesive.

On the other end, even the elements of the mythological backstory come off as filler we don't necessarily need at this stage, as we get to hear Nell expound about the multitude of gods and demi-gods behind the creation of dungeons and monsters here. Much of this is in service of excusing the amount of those monsters executed by adventurers; Detailing that creatures like goblins exist entirely as splintered extensions of an evil war god's remaining will, clarifying how a whole race could function as 'inherently evil' and thus not to be worried about our 'heroes' cutting them down by the hundreds. It is another example of the thoughtfulness this show has slightly more of, comparatively, but it's a more boilerplate thoughtfulness than its other elements, and it's still punctuated by the gag of Fran zoning out the same way I found myself doing.

That said, for all my personal disinterest in these kinds of detailings, I am able to recognize that stuff like this is like catnip to the usual isekai target audience. And between those and the stronger presentation, themes, and character work, that crowd is continuing to get a real treat with Reincarnated as a Sword. They're even able to punch up the descriptive dialogue in little characteristic ways, like Nell's animations of frustratedly fiddling with a stick while eating and talking. It's maybe a little more askew when Fran is inviting Teacher, and us, in for a gratuitous bathtime scene, even as I begrudgingly acknowledge this flash of Fran-service as another feature for that audience that isn't me. And it does lead into Nell coming in and getting to watch her chug a big ol' beer, so maybe this show really can continue to cater to a broad audience as it goes.

We pick right back up with another big goblin brawl as this episode ends, promising the pacing of things is going to keep up as the show continues. Yes, much of it is still clearly in service of showing off for us and the other adventurers how cool and awesome Fran and Teacher are, but to their credit, they are pretty cool and awesome. I haven't even gotten to mention how effective the music in this show is during these action setpieces, alongside those other entertaining elements that endear me to this series in its stronger moments. It means the more technical isekai bits I don't care about continue to be tolerable as it continues, even as I still hope things even out more as it goes on, because I want to like this show more than I fully do at this stage.

Rating:

Reincarnated as a Sword is currently streaming on HIDIVE.

Chris is a freewheeling Fresno-based freelancer with a love for anime and a shelf full of too many Transformers. He can be found spending way too much time on his Twitter, and irregularly updating his blog.