Katanagatari

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Sword Story

Japanese: 刀語

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 12

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jan 26, 2010 to Dec 11, 2010

Premiered: Winter 2010

Broadcast: Tuesdays at 01:10 (JST)

Producers: Aniplex, Lantis, Kodansha, Movic, Fuji TV

Licensors: NIS America, Inc.

Studios: White Fox

Source: Light novel

Genres: Action, Adventure, Romance

Themes: Historical, Martial Arts

Duration: 50 min. per ep.

Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

Statistics

Score: 8.31¹ (scored by 214,521 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #249²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #389

Members: 561,610

Favorites: 10,961

Available At

Official Site

@katanagatari

Resources

AniDB

ANN

Synopsis

In an Edo-era Japan lush with a variety of sword-fighting styles, Shichika Yasuri practices the most unique one: Kyotouryuu, a technique in which the user's own body is wielded as a blade. The enigmatic seventh head of the Kyotouryuu school, Shichika lives quietly in exile with his sister Nanami until one day—the wildly ambitious strategist Togame barges into their lives.

Togame brazenly requests that Shichika help in her mission to collect twelve unique swords, known as the "Deviant Blades," for the shogunate. Shichika accepts, interested in the girl herself rather than petty politics, and thus sets out on a journey. Standing in their way are the fierce wielders of these legendary weapons as well as other power-hungry entities who seek to thwart Togame's objective. In order to prevail against their enemies, the duo must become an unbreakable team as they forge ahead on a path of uncertainty and peril.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Katanagatari is a complete adaptation of Nisio Isin's light novel series of the same title with each episode adapting 1 volume. The anime was released monthly, mimicking the release style of the original novels.

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Related Anime

Adaptation:

Katanagatari

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Yasuri, Shichika

Main

Hosoya, Yoshimasa
Japanese

Togame

Main

Tamura, Yukari
Japanese

Yasuri, Nanami

Supporting

Nakahara, Mai
Japanese

Hitei

Supporting

Tomatsu, Haruka
Japanese

Souda, Emonzaemon

Supporting

Koyama, Rikiya
Japanese

Higaki, Rinne

Supporting

Itou, Miyako
Japanese

Tsuruga, Meisai

Supporting

Yuuya, Atsuko
Japanese

Maniwa, Pengin

Supporting

Hirohashi, Ryou
Japanese

Maniwa, Houou

Supporting

Okiayu, Ryoutarou
Japanese

Itezora, Konayuki

Supporting

Hidaka, Rina
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Iwasa, Gaku

Producer

Toba, Yousuke

Producer

Hariu, Masayuki

Producer

Motonaga, Keitarou

Director

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Opening Theme

	"Hakushi Kassai Uta Awase (拍手喝采歌合)" by supercell (noitaminA rebroadcast)
	1: "Meiya Kadenrou (冥夜花伝廊)" by Minami Kuribayashi (eps 1-7)
	2: "Katana to Saya (刀と鞘)" by ALI PROJECT (eps 8-12)

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Ending Theme

	"Koto no Ha (言ノ葉)" by Piko (noitaminA rebroadcast)
	1: "Tasogare no Gekka (誰そ彼の月華)" by Yousei Teikoku
	2: "Refulgence" by Shoujobyo
	3: "Senbonsenyo no Hamariuta (千本千女の刃毬唄)" by Hata Aki
	4: "Kyomu no Hana (虚無の華)" by kukui
	5: "Ai to Makoto (愛と誠)" by Tamura Yukari
	6: "Yuki no Onna (雪ノ女)" by ALI PROJECT
	7: "Mayoigo Sagashi (迷い子さがし)" by Nakahara Mai
	8: "Karakuri Nemuri Dan (からくり眠り談)" by Nomiko
	9: "Akashi (証)" by Annabel
	10: "Ina, to Hime wa Subete wo Katarazu (否、と姫は全てを語らず)" by Tomatsu Haruka
	11: "Bourei-tachi yo Yabou no Hate ni Nemure (亡霊達よ野望の果てに眠れ)" by Faylan
	12: "Toki Sude ni Hajimari wo Kizamu (時すでに始まりを刻む)" by Kuribayashi Minami

More theme songs

Reviews

Nov 5, 2023

szrmx

Recommended

Ka-ka-katanagari is mega cooool, but seriously, this anime is amazing. End of review. No, let me tell you something about it so you can see what's going on here. The main character Togame, on the orders of the shogun, is looking for a few legendary swords, unfortunately everyone she entrusts with this task fails, so with this problem she goes to the son of her father's killer who lives in exile on an almost deserted island with his sister, does it sound logical? this is just the beginning... , during negotiations to entrust this task to shichika (the son of her father's killer), she asks ... him to perform this task in exchange for money? recognition? fame? position? you are ridiculous, of course for love... and this is not about physical love, but romantic love, our hero is too stupid to come up with the idea of using her sexually, because as a recluse he is clearly not familiar with the concept of sex despite his adult age. I would like to invite you to review Katanagatari, if the number of seemingly illogical threads scares you, do not give up watching, I will try to convince you why it is worth it!

Story:
The story, as I have already mentioned, focuses on our two main characters: strategist togame and the swordmaster who does not use a sword, shichika. Seemingly and in reality, the plot is quite simple, the entire action focuses on an episodic pattern of episodes in which each episode involves obtaining one of the twelve swords. For this purpose, the heroes fight or negotiate with opponents every episode while traveling through different regions of feudal Japan, does it sound boring? I completely agree, but this is not the clue to our entire story..

Characters:
CHARACTERS CHARACTERS AND CHARACTERS are the most important part of this title. This is where the magic happens. At the beginning, it is worth mentioning that the story of the light novel on which the anime was based is the responsibility of none other than Nisio Isin, known from Monogatari, Medaka Box, Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases or JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: OverHeaven. There are many issues that I would like to raise, but first of all it is worth mentioning the atmosphere of the series, which undoubtedly resembles the Monogatari series. What does this mean? Lots of dialogues, there are some classic monogatari inserts interrupting the action for fractions of a second. LOTS and LOTS of dialogues delivered very quickly, which often touch on topics that seem infantile or have no impact on the plot, but very effectively causing attachment to our characters at a quick pace, this is often visible in anime based on novels, but in the works of productions based on the nisio isin's novel this is especially noticeable. The characters are multidimensional and change or do not change, well... this is a field that the creators leave to interpretation. I assess the quality of the characters very positively, interestingly enough, this does not only apply to the main characters, our antagonists are also unique and well-developed for the time given to them, this can again be owed to the artistry of isin. I could write for a long time, but the point is not to read reviews but to watch anime, and I hope you will do that after reading the next paragraph, i.e....

Enjoyment:
The great joy of watching this anime is observing the apparent development of the main protagonists, especially interesting is the development of shichika who, at the beginning, appears to us as a dull killing machine that is incapable of recognizing faces, let alone experiencing feelings other than pain or hunger. During the series, we become a little more humanized. However, the greatest joy brings us the possibility of different interpretations of the series, because the topic discussed in the last episode is very complex, but I will not talk about it explicitly in order to avoid spoilers. However, I can say that the ending is brilliant, it gives us a lot of answers, but also explains a lot of interactions from the previous episodes, which seem to be very strange and far from reality. The series creates a brutally beautiful whole, provided that we do not give up halfway and watch until the last episode. It is also worth mentioning the sharpness of the author's pen, who, with apologies, doesn't give a fuck, he presents the action quite harshly, in which it doesn't matter whether the opponent is a child, a woman, or an entire village, they all die quite brutally. One of the last opponents, who is a child, is memorable. he is shot and begs for mercy, but his opponent puts a gun in his mouth and kills him. Moreover, the series is full of threads and motifs such as fate, ethics, the meaning of existence, human frailty, and love. There's a lot of it....

Overall:
However, I will recommend the series only to viewers who want to see something really new and unique in terms of content, or are fans of Isina's writing style, but the series will not work if we are looking for beautiful animation, which, incidentally, is not the best. The fights are sparse in details and tricks, so they are not the most interesting. I rate the soundtrack as a plus because it sets the mood well and builds tension.

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Mar 12, 2023

Zakuro_Kusuo

Mixed Feelings

(spoiler free) If you are bored of seeing the same show over and over this may be a breath of fresh air, though with twelve 48 minute episodes it can feel slow and fast paced at the same time. This show is very irregular in how it tells its story yet still follows an episodic formula, this is what kept me watching. Enjoyed the moral ambiguity. Though you root for them, the protagonists were not perfect enforcers of justice and the question of whether what their doing is right can be raised.

The character design and art style were unique and looked great. Some ...

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Dec 4, 2023

Poll1t0

Not Recommended

Katanagatari's episodes, much like its dialogue, are unnecessarily drawn-out and tedious. Each one is 50 minutes long, but could easily be compressed to 25 or even 12 minutes without sacrificing much.

It introduces characters (or doesn't even bother introducing them) as quickly as it writes them off.

The soundtrack ranges from annoying to pretty good, though maybe you're more into rapanese than I am.

The fight scenes mostly consist of the same 4 frames repeated ad nauseam. There's more dynamic animation in literally every other part of the show.

Overall, Katanagatari felt like a chore to watch, and I don't recommend investing 10 hours of your time ...

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NIS America Licenses Katanagatari and Arakawa Under the Bridge

According to their official website, NIS America announced their licenses for Katanagatari and Arakawa Under the Bridge. Both series will be released in a Blu-ray Di...read more

Apr 15, 2011 8:38 PM by Naruleach | Discuss (41 comments)

Internal Data of Katanagatari Leaked [Update Jan 7]

On January 5th, a large amount of the production material of Katanagatari was leaked to the file sharing. The data includes the character designs, the draft storyboa...read more

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END SPOILERS - I’ve Never Witnessed Such Epic Implosion deaf_amish_guy - Jun 6, 2020	10 replies	by Nesquikscope »» Mar 31, 1:16 AM
Poll: Katanagatari Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) removed-user - Feb 8, 2010	180 replies	by ariharan_ars »» Feb 3, 10:31 AM
Poll: Katanagatari Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) stevewiess01 - Dec 10, 2010	631 replies	by I_LIKE_ANIME_SO »» Jan 3, 9:06 AM
Poll: Katanagatari Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Hana-kei - Apr 16, 2010	419 replies	by watsym »» Aug 13, 2023 10:05 AM
Poll: Katanagatari Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) removed-user - Jan 25, 2010	333 replies	by Dumb »» Jul 30, 2023 5:55 AM

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Katanagatari

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Yasuri, Shichika

Togame

Yasuri, Nanami

Hitei

Souda, Emonzaemon

Higaki, Rinne

Tsuruga, Meisai

Maniwa, Pengin

Maniwa, Houou

Itezora, Konayuki

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Katanagatari

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Information

Statistics

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Synopsis

Background

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Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

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