Seiken no Blacksmith

What it's really about:
A big-chested clumsy knight gets involved with a demon problem, as well as handsome blacksmith and his mysterious past.

The Good:
- Excellent production value
- The relationship between the blacksmith and the knight is cute
- The episodes that don't directly further the plot are still very interesting
- The setting has an intriguing history

The Bad:
... - The knight can be viewed by many as "annoying."
- Those expecting a Lord of the Rings experience will be sorely disappointed.

Conclusion:
I think the reason this anime got so many below average reviews is because of the reviewers' preconceptions of what the anime should have been. If you can manage to dispel any preconceived notions you have about this anime, then you're in for a very nice treat. Just enjoy it for what it is.

I find this anime pretty interesting, it's rare to find animes where the main protagonist is not almost an "all-mighty-god" who kicks everyone's butt in less than a second, this makes the anime more interesting to me due to the fact that I want to see that character's progression.

This is a very laughably bad show. Probably the most enjoyment I get from this show is pointing out everything that is just outright terrible about it. The production looks alright, with decent enough music, sounds, and artwork, but after that the quality of everything else goes down the drain.

For starters, the main character is simply awful. Cecily Campbell is perhaps one of the weakest protagonists I have ever seen in anime. She's clumsy and useless at doing anything without the help of other characters, and largely demonstrates very weak initiative throughout series as up til now.

The show largely focuses on sex ... jokes to inspire comedy value. These often involve Cecily being sexually harassed or victimized through various means. Not only does this not make the protagonist look any better, it's very stupid and overdone to the point of becoming stale.

The plot for the large part does not show any more hope either. Very little is done to develop character relationships aside from the multitude of sex jokes, and what little that may resemble a backstory or plot development is often overshadowed by the huge amount of fanservice that is stuffed into this show.

Fight scenes in this show are pretty unspectacular, largely due to Cecily looking extremely incompetent and clumsy during most of them. Luke Ainsworth, one of the supporting characters admittedly does get some cool points for apparently being the so-called Sacred Blacksmith, and an expert swordsman to go with that. The same pattern of him constantly rescuing Cecily from her periods of sucking in combat is pretty darn lame however, not to mention Cecily's reliance on a Demon Sword rather than her own powers to be able to do anything in combat.

As I've stated, the only reason why I even bother watching this show is just to make fun of how awful it is. If for some reason you can overlook the fact the main character sucks (probably literally too, but this isn't an adult rated anime), and you don't get tired of constant jokes about how Cecily's breasts are huge, you might find something worthwhile in this show. It's only twelve episodes anyway, which isn't too unreasonable to endure.

The Sacred Blacksmith is a really mixed bag. This could have been good, with the underlying story being highly interesting. The whole excecution of the story is unfortunately, horrific.

The flaws in the storyline mainly lie with the protagonist. Cecily as the main lead has shown growth but this is unfortunately obscured by her annoying personality. The way her "talk" sequences were done was extremely off-putting, and her jarring voice made things even worse. This links to the lack of a logical flow to the storyline whenever it involves Cecily. One evening, she's in a life-threatening battle, the next day ... she's smiling at her potential killers (twice...same people, same arc!). Another example is excessive, irrelevant chatter during battles. It's as if her speaking has a "freeze" effect on the enemy (yea right!).

The supporting main characters, Luke, Lisa and Aria were highly pleasurable and fun, each having rather interesting backstories as well as a good source of laughter. They fulfill their respective roles excellently.

The art was average-good, with the use of an eye-pleasing palette. Afterall, I started watching after seeing the nice art at the Animesuki season preview. The girls were either cute or hot, depending on age! The monsters looked ugly but aren't monsters supposed to be ugly anyway? The animation sequences during battles were very well done. It's a shame the battles had to be rushed in a short, 12-episode series.

The BGM is very good and it is a pity because of the lacklustre storytelling. This situation is reminicent of Tsubasa Chronicles season 1 where the music was awesome, but too lively for a poorly executed and slow story. The OP seems to have split people but I felt the beat and tone was a good fit. The ED is just awfully cute, and expresses Lisa as a character very well.

Overall, I enjoyed the story because it had such potential, as well as the interesting and likeable supporting characters which kept me watching this rather mediocre series. That said, the lack of logical flow *points at Cecily* is a serious killjoy. People have asked me what I was watching during Autumn 2009. While I gave an honest answer (SnB was the only show I was following!), I have told every one of them to avoid.

Fantasy is all about adventure. It’s about going outside of your comfort zone, seeing a new place and a new facet of yourself, and being changed by the time you return home. Anime like that is filled with believable cause and effect. And then there’s The Sacred Blacksmith.

The series opens with Cecily Cambell, a newly trained knight charged with the protection of the Third Independent Trade City. She is an excitable girl, stubborn, and full of bravado. She wishes to help people, but has little actual competence. The broken sword of her family is as much a symbol of her own need to be tempered ... as anything. Towards those ends she pursues the services of Luke Ainsworth, a standoffish blacksmith with little patience for Cecily’s immaturity. Joining them are Lisa -- Luke’s pint-sized and spunky assistant -- and a woman with a mysterious and tragic past named Aria.

Dark events soon push them together as tenuous companions. Some figure in the shadows is collecting Demon Swords, powerful remnants from the great war that ended forty years ago. The City is threatened and Cecily and Luke have their own reasons to stand against it.

The setting and plot sound clichéd because they are. This is well-trodden ground. The first few episodes promise to offset that imbalance with the characters, but sadly that’s where things start falling apart. As our protagonists quickly find themselves thrown headlong into one problem after another, their relationships become secondary. Instead of friendships blossoming from shared duress, they just seem to ‘bond’ because they shared the same scenes.

Part of the problem is in Cecily’s characterization, which puts light on the deeper issue of Sacred Blacksmith’s incorrect focus.

Two of my favorite moments are when Cecily realizes that her desires and willpower are not enough to become the best she can be and then, later, when she uses that deficiency to overcome a seemingly insurmountable object. That was when the story shined and I thought “yes! -this- is what this show is supposed to be.” Cecily is our protagonist in all her inept glory. Watching her stumble towards being a skilled knight is where the show -should- be focused, how each tiny victory and tiny defeat magnifies her growth.

Admittedly, there are times when Cecily sheds her armor and shows some vulnerabilities in a realistic light, but usually she merely sheds her armor so someone can joke about how wonderfully large her breasts are. I like running gags as much as anyone, but Sacred Blacksmith never really earns the right to do so. They would be complementary features in a series less problem-ridden; instead they merely draw attention to themselves and make it difficult for a reviewer to be objective and not single them out for one whole paragraph. It gets to be a little bothersome when they just pop up out of nowhere.

And, no, that wasn’t a boob joke.

It isn’t that the foundation here is weak, but that it’s uneven. There are some really exciting and insightful moments and yet they are surrounded by plodding uninteresting plot and cloying melodrama. It sometimes feels like a writer du jour was invited on board each week to pen the script. The story is disjointed, populated with mini-arcs that hardly elucidate the main arc at all. Challenges seem incidental. Character development unearned. And then everyone dresses up like a maid.

If that last sentence seemed to come out of nowhere and confused the hell out of you, it was supposed to. That’s exactly how I felt.

The most irksome problem is pacing. The main story arc only gets underway late in the series, ending up rushed. Halfway through the series our cast of characters effectively doubles, but we have no time to get to know them beyond their two-dimensionally flat personalities. Worst of all, two battles are halted in their tracks while our heroes take a break to lollygag. Oh, I mean, “work slowly at making a weapon to continue the fight after all the scene’s original tension has been obliterated”. It felt more concise to say lollygag, though.

Aside from that specific editing choice, the battles are actually engaging. In fact, my greatest praise is what weaponry gets used. For all the adherence to the conventions of the swords-and-sorcery genre, there are some uncommon armaments here. I can’t describe enough how visually refreshing I found this, to see different weapons and fighting styles. Like all the other good bits in the show this too doesn’t last long, but it helps break up the “This is a fantasy; we need more swords!” mentality that plagues the genre.

Overall, the art and animation is of consistently high quality. The city is a vibrant place. Manglobe’s attention to detail in creating a living, breathing setting is laudable and effective (something I personally found lacking in their earlier work, Ergo Proxy). There’s an idyllic peace in the city when all hell isn’t breaking loose and a gritty immediacy when it does. That the city is built at the foot of a mountain covered with an ominous and never-moving cloud is a fantastic addition. The characters too are well-designed and have outfits that are intriguing albeit sometimes impractical. If only they were as cool as they look.

I couldn’t help thinking back to last season as I watched this. CANAAN showed how to put together a compelling ensemble cast, while Spice and Wolf II showed how to dramatically weave the complexities of a relationship about two protagonists. Both lessons are lost on Sacred Blacksmith. There is neither a group dynamic nor a fully realized pairing. The one great friendship we do have between Cecily and Aria gets lost in the shuffle of events and hardly has the emphasis it deserves.

What disappoints me most is what Sacred Blacksmith fails to do. It fails to do anything exciting with fantasy. It fails to test its characters’ resolve with any meaningful challenges or anguish. It presents so much magic… yet fails to capture any wonder. Once we understand more of Aria’s nature, for instance, a wild world of possibilities opens up. How does her nature impact the way she interacts with the city she lives in? The people she calls friends? Her own inner turmoil? Instead, her character development seems to have the same tedious trajectory that everyone else has: at least one episode devoted to mental struggles, a resolution easily attained, and a sanguine outlook the rest of the time.

The music is a good analogy for the show as a whole. The OP starts strong, is rather catchy, reasonably dynamic technically speaking. The score of the series is standard fare medieval fantasy (recorders, lutes, tambourines, and the like) and other more traditional orchestrated pieces that are apt, but not spellbinding. Finally, the ED is the most randomly bright and unbelievably saccharine thing you have ever heard. While I freely admit my personality isn’t morning glories and sunshine, this outro is so distinctly misplaced and just one more example of Sacred Blacksmith’s disjointed elements.

So who is this anime for? More forgiving viewers, I imagine. The series isn’t high art and let’s face it: it’s not trying to be. It doesn’t want to be a humble, little fantastical tale, but a brief little epic about a lot of different things. About companions trying to help each other, faltering romance, sociopolitical intrigue, freaky monsters, black villains, sleeping horrors. By including too much its scattershot attention span shows, but if you can overlook that and the other systemic problems, want a light-hearted romp with a peppering of drama, or happen to be a fantasy junkie, you might have fun with this.

If there is a second season I can only hope they strip away the extraneous parts, peel back the deeper layers, and leave what remains proudly exposed and naked for all to behold.

And, yeah, that was kind of a boob joke.

First thing is what I think of this anime on a whole. Your first impressions are this is going to be a big disappointment. Sure! it may not be the best but it's enjoyable. There wasn't any surprises, nothing new but it was enjoyable. Don't judge it by the first episode. It really gets better.

Story(6-fair)
Cecily Cambell becomes a knight and she is totally useless. She's all talk. She is saved by Luke Ainsworth and begs him to make a katana like his. And so their relationship begins. The story was like a Déjà vu (literally!!) But it shines! It makes you laugh, sometimes cry and ... feel the feelings of the characters in the story. It wasn't repetitive nor boring. Sometimes the fillers and disappointing. There is only one filler episode but in each episode there is a part that has nothing to do with the actual plot. Either it is at the beginning or the end. Even so, it's no boring or unbearable.

Art(7-good)
the art was exactly like K-ON's sometimes I thought Cecily looked like Yui just in a red version(LOL). I'm very picky about my art. It has to be up-to-date and such. But the animation flaws my eyes just don't see I don't know if there aren't or if there are. But the fights, when the swords are swung and the colors it's really catchy.

Sound(4-Decent)
The theme song matched the anime but it wasn't special in particular. The ending son was very catchy. Also, the background music, which sometimes I don't notice is good and it goes with the whole flow of the anime and it's set date.

Character(10-Outstanding)
I liked Cecily's character. She's useless but she understands others feeling and her feelings are genuine. She isn't one of those big mouth girls who cant do anything or the crappy type of girl she's a strong willed character that I like.
Not only Cecily but all the character's have their share in the spot light, their time to shine. You can feel the feelings of all the main characters.

Enjoyment(7-Good)
As I said it is really enjoyable even without much action.

Overall(7-Good)
Just watch the anime!!!

Seiken no Blacksmith is anime that sounds very good when you look the descriptions. It says that there will be an adventure, but doesn't says that the adventure will be so boring.

Story - 3/10
Fantasy world with demons, demon swords and some mysterious people. Sounds very nice, but the way that the story develops it's everything but nice. The demons are the usual, the sword too, not to mention the main antagonist - "the man in black"... and this is not the worst. The main characters are also the usual strong boy and weak knight, the only "new" it's that the knight it's a female character. ... The development of the story it's boring and predictive, and the end it's in my personal top 3 of worst ends.
Art - 7/10
This is may be the best part of this anime. The characters are drawn very well, and are easy to remember their appearances. I don't really like the hairdo of Luke and this funny "armor" of Cecilly, which seems to be there only to make the viewer lough. The special effects are the best part of the art - lighting, the spells, and my personal favorite - when Luke forges swords.
Sound - 6/10
This is good too. The opening and ending are nice songs, although I wouldn't listen to them (not my music). The seyuus are good too, although they are nothing memorable. Background music it's there, but doesn't make any impression, so it's good.
Characters - 3/10
Compared to the story characters are good, but in fact they are just stupid and boring. Female knight with big breasts and funny armor, who looks like catches sword for first time in first episode and it's yelling "mamoru desu"(I'll protect...) all over, and over, and over again. Male blacksmith, who is kind of bad-ass, but later very emotional and deep character with good feelings. Female demon sword complaining about how bad destiny she have, and how she want's to live peaceful life. Those are the good, and the bad are even worse. Some "man in black" who at the end reveals to be kind of absolutely non mysterious guy and kind of well known bad guy. Even the secondary characters are cliche after cliche.
Enjoyment - 4/10
If this was my first anime, may be I would think it was good, but it's not and everything in it it's well known and I've seen it numerous times before. If it wasn't the good art and the studio I would never end this, and now I kind of regret i did it.
Overall - 5/10
This is one of the worst animes I ever watched, and the worst thing it's that it's made by Manglobe, studio with animes like Samurai Champloo and Ergo Proxy in it's catalog. Really, don't waste your time with this, just go out and bang your head against some wall... it will be less painful.

PS.
Sorry if there are some mistakes, but English it's not my mother language :)

After watching all of these reviews I decided to make my own.
Every review here says that is the worst anime ever.
That is not true, I liked this show.
I dont have to see a great epic quest with intergalactic battles with sound from mozart and picasso himself drawing the hole thing, to enjoy it.
Well sure it lacks many part to become a great anime, but still.
If you just wanna relax, and see a naive cute "knight" doing mindless s**t WATCH IT.

Dont make hater reviews stop you from seeing a show you might enjoy.

Guard, Save, Belive. No, you didn't just misread that. These are in fact the words etched into the stone of Chester Cambell's grave; spelling errors and all. I guess he must've been a little dyslexic. After he passed away from a serious illness, his daughter and only child Cecily was left with the responsibility of becoming head of the Cambell House, which has long been a prestigious representative of the Independent Trade Cities of Housman. Having now succeeded her father, Cecily enlisted as a third generation knight to uphold the tradition and respect of the family name. However, she is inexperienced and clumsy, and often ... has to rely on intimidation using her title as a knight to hide her weaknesses. Eventually, this strategy ran out of luck, and when her combat skills finally had to be put to the test, Cecily was defeated and her family's precious sword shattered. Now she must seek out the blacksmith Luke Ainsworth to forge her a new sword, which consequently thrusts her into an unexpected chain of events that threatens her life and involves her in a dangerous plot. Between this and the fact that no one can take her seriously because of her huge breasts, it's needless to say that Cecily has plenty of stress on her hands.

Yes, you'll find that there's no shortage of fanservice here. In fact, it's pretty much the running gag of the entire series that everyone pokes fun at Cecily's chest. This is further explored by convenient costume malfunctions and shameless bathing scenes. Thankfully all the pandering is at least tasteful enough that it never interrupts the flow of the story. The writing carries enough wit to know when sexual humor is appropriate.

At a glance, much of Sacred Blacksmith's story is standard procedure for an average fantasy anime. It has all the elements one would expect; knights, magic, demon swords, and giant mythical creatures are abundant. It even comes complete with an angsty tsundere romance. Where the series falls short in originality though, it makes up for this in its near-flawless execution. All of the main characters are rich with distinct personalities and deep backstories that are revealed steadily as the plot unfolds. The story progression also strikes a perfect balance between comedy, drama, and action; constantly keeping the viewer engaged with these three elements while the pacing never stutters or moves too quickly. Even episodes that could potentially be considered filler don't really feel like it, as they serve up plenty of character development to excuse them. Although at its core the plot is fairly familiar and straightforward, Sacred Blacksmith is not without some of its own twists on the genre either. It mixes a strangely light-hearted tone to the story with very dark and mature medieval themes, and while demon swords may sound conventional for the setting, their ability to transform into rather unassuming humans with more nuanced intentions is quite unconventional. Though it may seem like this odd mixture wouldn't blend well at first, the series somehow manages to make it all mesh together nicely.

It's worth noting that Sacred Blacksmith's narrative is heavily character-centric to such a degree that traditional fantasy tropes one would expect to see in its setting are often absent or take a back seat to character development. This may be off-putting for some coming into it expecting to see a Tolkien-esque expansive epic, which is unfortunate because the series does otherwise tell a very good story for what it is, but it often gets a bad wrap from critics who may be judging it based on something that it was never aiming to be. Sacred Blacksmith takes its time to flesh out its characters and doesn't invest much in the adventurous side of fantasy or exploring its world. Although it's clear that there is still a rich history behind it from the brief glimpses we are occasionally given, nonetheless this is not the story's focus.

The series' character-driven plot does often work to its advantage though, because where Sacred Blacksmith truly shines is in its ability to masterfully craft a cast of characters whose interactions make them instantly likable and constantly engrossing; never leaving the audience with a dull moment. Cecily's unwavering dedication to helping others is interesting to see being put to the test as her inability to defend others frequently conflicts with her convictions. Aria's mysterious past as the demon sword of wind hides behind the veil of her lovable friendliness, making you eager to find out more about her history and motivations. Even the most seemingly loathsome characters can become hard not to sympathize with as more of their histories and backgrounds are uncovered. It is commonplace that conflicts arise between them purely because of of how sharply contrasting and vibrant their personalities are. Luke's cold and dismissive attitude perpetually clashes with Cecily's stubborn determination, which makes for some particularly entertaining dialogue. The script is often written rather heavy-handed, but it helps establish the strong characterizations of the protagonists. Still, Cecily's melodramatic monologues can occasionally overstay their welcome.

The production values of Sacred Blacksmith's art and animation are nothing short of superb as well. Character designs are thoroughly detailed depicting even the subtleties of Luke's fake eye, and animation is consistently smooth and fluid. Couple this with its epic orchestral soundtrack and solid voice acting that fits the characters and effectively brings them to life, Sacred Blacksmith satisfies in nearly every aspect of its design. All of this is accompanied with quality intro and ending segments set to some J-pop tunes. The ending in particular has a rather catchy and cute arrangement, which is further enhanced by the associated artwork with it that really shows off the impressive designs of the characters. In fact, it's possibly my personal favorite ending piece just because it's so adorable and the music and visuals play off each other so well. The intro on the other hand has a decidedly more standard song choice that isn't quite as interesting, but it more than makes up for this with a good mixture of action scenes and beautiful perspective shots of the characters. Sufficed to say, this is one of those rare cases where I found myself watching both the intro and ending for every episode because they were simply that enjoyable.

With everything right that Sacred Blacksmith has going for it however, it's difficult to take notice of any of its major flaws--until it ends. Just as soon as it feels like the journey is only beginning, it is abruptly cut off. This unfortunately is Sacred Blacksmith's greatest shortcoming. By the time the series come to its conclusion, many major plotlines and ambiguities in the story have yet to be fully fleshed out. It's clear judging by the finale that there was still much more of the story to tell, but for one reason or another there appears to be no sequel coming in the foreseeable future. As of the writing of this review, you will need to consort the manga that the series is based on if you wish to delve deeper into its story. Despite this, it's not enough to break Sacred Blacksmith's strong momentum from start to finish. Even with these problems, the anime still manages to deliver as satisfying a resolution as can be reasonably expected while leaving the plot open for continuation. With its colorful cast of characters, high production values, and engaging narrative that has its own twists on the genre, Sacred Blacksmith is sure to entertain many fans of fantasy anime.

I felt compelled to rewrite this review as the previous one I wrote seemed to lack alot of substance.

This story seems to have taken place in a land resembling 15th century England, France, or some other Western-European country. From what I watched, I found this anime great in many aspects because of one of the main songs (not themed) that helped create the atmosphere of the simple yet very interesting storyline concerning the Empire's General wanting to recreate a catastrophe to gain dominance using what they call the Devil's Contract. The devil's contract seemed to use some sort of enchantment to create a ... demon from a human heart. The main villain is blamed for the death of the father of the 2nd main character, Luke Ainsworth, resulting in his will to seal away the main antagonist, Valbanill. The main protagonist is a clumsy knight recruit following her father's footsteps. She wants to live the glory that her father once lived defending the nation against the onslaught of Valbanill's demonspawn. As these demons are spawned, so are the weapons of focus - the demon swords. There are several demon swords, and few of them even were granted the forms of normal humans who have their own stories, personalities, and ambitions. What I found odd yet intriguing about this story is the background of Luke Ainsworth's assistant, Lisa. This story also involves a merging of the knowledge of molded swords and folded swords such as the katana, which is the preferred weapon of Luke. Luke is the believed Sacred Blacksmith who is ultimately the catalyst of stopping Valbanill's wishes of purging the world in to hell as it was once before purged 44 years before this story takes place. How you assume Luke is that Sacred Blacksmith is the use of prayer contracts to create powerful elemental (ethereal) katanas only capable of 3 successful slashes. Some negative aspects of this production involve silly and unnecessary insertions of fan service surrounding the main protagonist, Cecily Campbell. This production is however shorter than most only planned to span half a season and for it's short-lived airtime I personally felt it was worth watching. The story being great and all however may be bumped by the slow progression of the first few episodes. Overall, this anime deserves a 9 overall. Happy watching to all those interested!!!

The Sacred Blacksmith is a decent anime that I really enjoyed; partially due to a load of crap I happen to be watching, and also I had really low expectations of this show. When I heard of that this series is gonna get animated, I went ahead and read a few chapters of the manga and frankly, the story isn't anything impressive. Any many other similar works becomes worse when animated so yeah... that is what I've expected out of this series.

Now, I don't remember the studio Manglobe nor remember if I've watched any series from that studio, but it turns out that Manglobe does ... a damn fine job with it. Even if the manga wasn't good material, I'm glad they stuck with the pacing of the story instead of going inventive, which usually sucked. The colours are brilliant and the animation are crisp; and for once, the action scenes are actually pretty good. I don't know how a series like this got that kind of budget but hey, I'm not complaining.

I didn't think much of the story but I really love the characters, even Cecily, who I thought was irritating in the beginning for being really useless, but her really cool action scenes towards the end made up for it. The ending of the story feels like one of those last minute addition to create a finale (I don't know because I didn't get that far in the manga), and though the main villain is a pretty crappy character the ending ain't too shabby.

A fairly nice series to watch if you're a fan of medieval settings, like me.

Plot/Concept: Fairly Good
Story Style: Great!
Audio/Visual: Great!
Value: 7

First of all, I have to say that this anime reminds me of a series that my younger sister used to watch called "winx club".
In the beginning it all looked nice and cool but after two episodes that becomes really bad and more "slice of life".
No action at all, the fights are bad, and most of them are just talking.
There is no storyline almost at all, I've watched an episode, and another, and another, waiting for something to happen, but it is yet to come.
It is set in a world where there are demons and magic swords and these, there isn't "good" and "bad" who ... fight each other, it's just people who meet the main character and stay for some episodes and then go.
The main character, Cecily is an annoying person who is weak and always lecture about boring things.
Luke, is boring as well, he doesn't care about anything but his goal.
There's a major issue in this anime- the nudity which comes out of the blue.
It looks like the creators had no idea what to do now so let's just put nudity! Her armor got shattered so of course! We'll see her breasts. The girls are ALWAYS talking about boobs and Oh God, why?
It's pretty much pathetic.
Another issue is the design of Luke, he looks like a mashed up potato, and there's a serious matter about his left eye.
The soundtrack is just.... bad, I've seen many animes which you can't ignore the soundtrack, but not this one.

Bottom line: Not recommended, I gave it 6 because I can't "admit" I've seen such a bad anime like this, it can be for little girls who don't care to see some nudity.

Overall, the show is not as bad as it seems at start. Yes, it starts off pretty slow and not all that interesting, but around episode 7 it picks up the paste. I was just about to drop this anime last night, until I decided to watch the new episodes. Witch by the way caught me off guard. The story line seems to get more and more interesting as the episodes go on. And NO, its not based on Cecily's breast like the guy above me says. Its pretty good and the fighting scenes are awesome and attract me a lot, and it has potential. ... Check it out and don't give up on it so quick.

When you think of blacksmiths, you think of large, strong men who make swords, horseshoes and other appliances for a medieval world. What you normally don’t see is a kid doing all this with a smaller kid as an apprentice. That’s what happens when you watch this one.

The characters seem not fleshed out enough, and we barely see a back story to any of them except Luke and even that happens a little to late in the game. By that time, the characters felt a bit stale, and hard to relate to. In a 12 episode show, they shouldn’t be dinking around like they ... do, mostly bringing up jokes about Cecily’s breasts and her strange breastplate that seems to be way to close to her to not of been molded on her breasts. And what’s with her mother even bugging her about it? Really? It’s not enough that the whole town talks about her breasts but her mother too? I’m not fond of how this show seems to move a bit too slow this show gets, but once it gets to the point, it is pretty good, and then it ends... Really, they spend more time talking then fighting and nothing really gets said.

It seems that everything leans up to the climax but many of the things are lost in the first part. For instance, the only time I find out that that Luke has a fake eye is to the second to the last episode. If it was a big thing with the story then it should be said earlier in the story along with Luke’s story. I feel like I only got half the story through the show and I wish there was much more to help me see the lines. It just screams second season to and from what I know of, there isn’t one.

The artwork is pretty nice though some of the characters look familiar to other shows. Little Luke reminds me of Sora from Kingdom Hearts and I can pick out little things hear and there that felt like rip offs. And don’t get me started on the creepy monsters that attack. It plays out mostly like a monster of the week style though the story makes it hard to watch them out of order. The comical parts in the art seem forced in whenever we have a serious point and trust me, that happen way to much for this show. I wish they chose a side, ether comical artwork with comical plot, or serious artwork with serious plot.

The voice acting is pretty good but I am a little put off by one or two of them. Lisa isn’t that great a voice, making me sigh at the high pitched sound from her mouth. Some side characters really need deferent voices because sometime it makes them feel way too important then they should be.

I was actually looking forward to Sacred Blacksmith it seemed to have many elements I like in anime. The story centres around Cecily a female Knight who not particularly good at being a Knight. She is saved from certain death one day by Luke (the sacred blacksmith) who has the ability to forge magical Katana swords in the heat of battle.

Lets get one thing out of the way first, the English dub is awful. Cecily’s voice grated on me so much I switched straight to subtitles. Most of the voice cast sound like they have just walked off the set of high school musical. ... Avoid the dub.

The story itself centres around a town which Cecily protect and the rising demon hordes that are causing trouble around the town. Luke is often called upon to save Cecily as she so inept and then like a sulky teenager disappears back off to his workshop with his apprentice Lisa.

This is only a short series so you expect it to stick to the main story which centres around the revival of a demon god and how people are entering into demon contracts effectively turning themselves into demons. It doesn’t. Instead we get the ridiculous Charlotte Frobisher story arc as well as an entire episode dedicated to shopping (seriously). We then have supporting characters like Aria who is a demon sword who can also take human form (seriously). This is never fully explained so you just have to go with it.

The character designs are good but nothing amazing and the battle scenes are pretty average as well. The show also suffers from the –I’m going to do a speech so all fighting stops problem. Enemies also seem happy to let Luke forge his Katana mid battle.

Cecily as a character is quite shouty and annoying while Luke spends much of his time sulking and trying to avoid Cecily. Its only in the last four episodes do we get some character and story progression. We find out why Luke has a face like a slapped arse and also see Cecily progress from being useless to reasonably competent as a knight.

The series has some decent ideas like the forging of magical swords but they are poorly executed. The story is not particularly original, couple this with some rather annoying main characters, the series pushes the boundaries of your patience. There is some mild nudity which seems a bit out of place and the constant referencing of Cecily’s ample chest wears thin after the first episode. The animation quality is fairly fluid and sound is ok with a very cheesy closing song which sticks in your head.

It’s difficult to recommend Sacred Blacksmith if it wasn’t for the final four episodes this series would have been a total waste of time. The series also doesn’t have a conclusive ending and you feel there is much more of the story left to tell which makes it all the more puzzling why so much time was wasted with side stories at the start of the series. It’s unlikely we will see a second season but based on the first this is no great loss.

There is so much wrong with this series it is hard to remember it all. From reading the short description on Netflix I concluded that this would be an adventurous series with the possibility of a good plot. I was wrong…very wrong. I’m going to try to tell you why NOT to watch this series and keep it short at the same time.

I am not sure what the plot is or if it ever existed at all. The plot is supposed to be continuous from episode to episode but, it is impossible to tell how the plot reached the current point ... from the previous. It seems like somebody wrote a series of short random events modified and arranged them into a short story board putting forth as little effort as possible.

Character development is a far more serious problem than the plot itself. Characters make leaps and bounds forwards in one episode then might regress twice as fast back in the following episode. Or you wonder where the characters came to a certain conclusion and can only conclude that it was in between the episodes when there was a massive plot jump. This makes it even harder to understand or relate to the main character. The character all seem to be drawn the same as well and then modified. Copy and paste is not working in their favor. (I was wondering if this was just me but then I saw it in somebody else’s review as well.)

Theme; tits. I’m sure this is the theme…every episode seems to finish off talking about Cecily Cambell’s breast size. One episode has entire dinner scene talking about Cecily’s boobs… as well as a pool scene and many others. Boobs are actually shown in this series which does nothing to enhance the show. It is a poor and failure of an attempt at comic relief.

Dialogue is horrible and when it is not horrible it is so absurdly cheese it is intolerable. Music enhances anything and everything that is cheesy and is vastly overused. The animations are possibly the only redeeming fact about Seiken no Blacksmith.

If you still want to watch this series after reading this review be my guest, but I do not recommend a 4/10 rated series to anybody. Somebody wanted to make some fast easy cash off developing this series and, therefore put no real time into it.

Not going to go into the details, as it will ruin it for you, but wanted to voice my opinion. I really enjoyed watch blacksmith, it is one of the recent animes i have enjoyed watching, as all other new animes are made just to show bras and panties so "pervs" would atleast watch them, and that makes their t.v rating go up even though they have no base story, or a really shitty one. But blacksmith isn't one of those animes, it isn't ecchi at all, theres comedy, and a bit of romance, but its mostly an action based-slice of life anime, with considerable ... strong story. One of the best things about this anime is that art. It is very colorful, and one of the best "new" animations i've seen. In the end its your choice to follow all the negative reviews under mines, or give it a chance. I say GO FOR IT! its awesome!

This is an almost excellent anime for the trad community. I stopped watching at episode 6 (was long ago Ill have to figure out for sure) because I didn't want to risk watching more for it to ruin.

The female character is feminine, but not totally, her dad had no sons to carry his legacy so she wants to. She tries so hard, and in episode 1 or 2, in front of the strong male character saving her, her hilt breaks. Just as she says she is trying to make father proud. This is symbolic to show that the daughter cannot carry her fathers legacy, and ... she now belongs to the strong male character in front of her, having to fully rely on him now with her shattered hilt, her last connection to her father.

I'm looking for recommendations like this.

When I started on this anime, I kind of regretted watching it because I felt bored at the first episode, but, since I've been looking for an anime that has a strong male character, I decided to watch on and I'm glad I did.

Story - The story is very poor or rather, like most animes, rushed. The series is more about the main character's daily life and interaction with other characters of the series rather than the main character itself. They focused too much on the main characters that the story was neglected and at the end, it was rushed to complete the series. If ... there were just one more episode, I believe that the anime could've ended on a nicer note.

Art - Like most of the anime that are currently being released, character designs and animations for them are pretty good. I particularly liked the designs of the houses like they were in medival times. Other than that, nothing much to say here.

Sound - The only music worth mentioning is the opening and ending songs. Other than that, I have no impression of any noticable music really. Which is also one of the main flaws of the series. Although fights need not necessarily require music, it does add to the flavour and feel of the situation at hand.

Character - Character development is fantastic. The main character does grow over time and slowly gets people to acknowledge her, though of course it's not like she was ostracized, bullied or looked down upon by the community in the first place, just that she wants to prove a point and she did. The only flaw is that we don't get to actually see the character become strong since everything was rather rushed towards the end.

Enjoyment/Overall - Aside from the flaws I mentioned, I rather enjoyed this series and I do hope that a season 2 will be made. I think that the series will do very well in season 2 should there be one.

“The Sacred Blacksmith” is what happens when You create something that should be mentioned in the Britannica Dictionary under “subpar”.

If there ever was an anime that has little to no originality, uses cheat tricks to force an emotional reaction in a viewer and has barely any logical sense plot wise… this is it.

Apart from very few exceptions we witness the plot from the perspective of Cecily Cambell - a young, a bit naive, idealistic and energetic knight. Despite having the heart to protect people of the city she lacks the skills and mental fortitude (at least in the beginning) to make difficult decisions. After losing ... her father’s sword in a fight and witnessing the power of a katana he pesters Luke Ainsworth - a skilled blacksmith with an attitude problem, to forge her one. After being trusted with one of the demon swords her life takes a pretty wild turn.

The main cast consists of 4 forgettable cardboard cut-outs that have one trait each that was turned to a pseudo-personality. Luke is a cold, reserved prick, Lisa is a mascot with a pretty poorly hidden secret, Aria is a sword with a life crisis and Cecily is an annoying, energetic, loud mouth with deficiency in the brain department.
There is a silver lining. Despite the character themselves being pretty boring and subpar their interactions, especially Luke and Lisa, and Luke and Cecily, are rather well written. Not good but passable. At least there was effort put into writing it and the clash of personalities. Shame they didn’t extend that effort into showing how the characters grow on each other. One episode they have a pretty nice banter but still keep their distance and in the next Luke is spilling his guts to Cecily about his past. I call that lazy. I get that exposition dumps are a standard in anime and organically showing growth and development is hard but damn… this is taking laziness to a whole new level I thought was reserved only for the likes of Sword Art Online.
I will give the writers this: There is visible growth in Cecily. During the 12 episodes she grows as a person and as a knight. Yes, it’s not much but it is still progress. Something a lot of anime protagonists don’t really get. This shows the writers weren’t total hacks and given enough time they probably could create something worthwhile.

But that’s about it. The rest of the writing is mediocre at best. The dialogs are lazy and full of cheap tricks to make viewers care, the fight choreography is practically non-existent and a pretty interesting aspect with demons, demon weapons and pacts is treated as an afterthought for most of the show.

The show feels more like a fantasy slice of life with a little bit of action than anything else. Despite being called “The Sacred Blacksmith '' the whole blacksmith thing and Luke himself are pushed to the background up until the last 3 episodes.

I truly don’t recommend this show. It’s boring, predictable and lacks anything original. Everything in it was done in other shows and far better.