Reincarnated as a Sword

Episode 6

It is typical of the kind of serial storytelling the sword show is pursuing. However, it still comes off like a cop-out when this episode begins near-immediately, nullifying the central problem of last week's cliffhanger. The Greater Demon stole Fran's skills? No problem, as the power of mutually-shared abilities between her and Teacher doesn't inconvenience the duo at all! I'm already having a good enough time watching these kids in action on their terms. The series has otherwise done a strong job of portraying them as competent but not overpowered fighters. So, to try to leave us hanging on a seemingly suspenseful swerve for a whole week only to shift the battle back to its more normal state immediately feels just a bit cheap.

But that is one minor gripe, and fortunately for Reincarnated as a Sword, the amount of nitpicks is decidedly reduced this week. The stat-chatting is still relevant to the battle at hand, but it feels closer than ever to its use in episode two, where it's just briskly covered in context during the fight. Even when things get a bit more complex in execution, the diagrams they break out go by quickly and are cutely-constructed little instances that make sense in the moment. Fran and Teacher get a little more chatty on the subject of stats and skills in the aftermath of the battle, but I like how it's presented here, the type of thing adventurers would best need to talk about on the trek home after a quest. Plus, it leads to a funny little aside about not stealing skills from their friends. There's just enough rapport and a window into their mindsets to let me accept it at that point in the episode.

So absent so much of that chaff, Reincarnated as a Sword delivered a continuation of that Big Fight Episode action; Fran and Teacher wrapped up their battle and solidified why we like them so much in the first place. Much of that is just further confirmation of what we already knew: they aren't powerful enough that victory is guaranteed, but they also care enough about protecting the town and its residents that leaving them in danger to retreat and come back later isn't a respectable option. The label of 'Hero' is applied to plenty of isekai leads rather broadly, cast as they are as default protagonists who fight enemies and monsters on behalf of kingdoms and organizations centered by the storytelling. To some degree, Fran is a hero for herself, determined to prove her evolutionary abilities, making good for her family and her former self.

That's a pursuit that gets to rub up compellingly against her other motivations as Teacher and we see that she's willing to put herself on the line to protect the city of Alessa and its inhabitants. As we've seen, Fran has only spent a brief time with those people, but her little flashback to the good times that endeared her to them still works because those felt genuine. It's a neat way to add more profound storytelling to parts that previously just worked (entertaining as they were) as faffing about between adventure and combat portions. We know how many of these were good people who were good to Fran, so apart from the base heroic compulsion of simply not wanting a town full of people to be destroyed, we get a sense of that personal connection that drives Fran to her more desperate, dangerous decision.

Reactive to the base genres as isekai often is, that lets Reincarnated as a Sword show the way Fran's actions run counter to the idea of what people both in this story and consuming it might expect from fantasy action heroes. Fran winds up chastised for her risky decision to confront the Greater Demon alone; others like Donadrond presume some showboating in her actions. But not only do we know that her primary motivation was fighting for her friends, but we also understand that Fran was never alone in the first place. Her willingness to rely on Teacher's deeper reserves of power in the do-or-die moments of the fight speaks to how selfless her goal is at that point. She no longer has to prove her power or achieve evolution. Instead, it's all about finishing the fight to protect people. That's played up in their strategy when they decide to forgo trying to best the Greater Demon and wipe out the Dungeon Master to nullify the whole instance. Work smarter, not harder.

It's apparent in how the actual presentation of this battle plays out as well since, hey, this is still a pretty cool-looking fight. Sometimes the Greater Demon's spell-slinging can come off a bit too disconnected from Fran's reactions to them, but her sweet spinny sword moves are as slick as ever. Her triumphant hurling of Teacher as the make-or-break blow, with his last-minute swerve to directly dueling the Demon, makes for an incredible climax with over-the-top explosive energy effects that might feel more at home in a big shonen-battle blowout than an isekai fantasy fight. I ain't complaining. It lets Teacher show off as a protective Sword Dad and demonstrates why our characters will seek more direct skills in favor of technical magic hacks as they work on their character builds. One more point that endears the series to me, anyway, since, as we all know, martial skills are where it's at, and magic is for nerds.

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.