Namakura Gatana

Well, I have never reviewed before, I don't even rate shows to often, but the score this piece has is ridiculous.

We are talking about history, Nakamura Gatana's quality can't be judged by todays standards, this standards didn't even exist at the time. I wish this short had a 10 score and to see it's a 4 is depressing, and tells a lot about the anime community in general. One would never find a review of a Chaplin movie with a 4 because "it looks ugly and has no sound".

Hopefully trough this year, being the 100 anniversary, more people will find it's historical beauty.

Considering this was made in 1917 before television existed and in the very early days of film, eleven years before Steam Boat Willy came out and is considered by many to be the very first anime ever created, I feel that it deserves at least an average score of 7.

The animator literally drew every single frame by himself and put them together. It has elements of comedy and action and that is why I am giving this anime a 10/10.

I found the comedy to be particularly delightful. In the anime we see the 'hero' go to a swordsmith called "The Dull Sword" and ... it is implied that both the sword and it's owner are very dull.

First, a disclaimer: Make sure you watch the complete 4-minute version of this film. Otherwise you're really not doing it justice.

With that aside, I thought The Dull Sword was a riot. This little film has some excellent comedic timing, taking the time to set a scene and build audience expectations before subverting them with the gag in each of its scenes.

The visual animation is strong for this era, with lots of detail in the character designs. The weapon shop scene' backgrounds were also especially nice. I would have liked to see a more consistent aesthetic between scenes (e.g. why does only the first scene ... have no background?), though.

All in all, I wouldn't say that Namakura Gatana matches the best western animation of this era, but it's not far behind.