The animation of the series were unique. Smooth during combat, The OP and ED were not that good in my view, but it certainly synced in with the feeling that the story gives. The environment music really matched the setting, making it sometimes unnoticed, which is good.
The Ups and Downs of this anime depends on the viewer. As mentioned by a lot of other reviewers, the anime is too wordy. Wordy in the sense that dialogues are long, but substantial, witty, and carefully planned. Usually a battle here wouldn't show the action because of the fast speed of swordslashes, Leaving the viewers to see only conversations in a lot of times. As per usual martial arts genre, a lot of unusual tactics, wits, and schemes are shown. Pointing out the weakness of one another, and yes, that adds up in the conversation.
The factor that i really liked about this anime is its uniqueness. The 12 perfected deviant swords were unique, the 12 Maniwa Head Corps were unique. Ichika's Sword style was unique, every perfected deviant sword owner was unique. Every Character backgrounds were unique in their own ways. Even the romance between Ichika and Togame was unique. I have to say, never seen anything quite like this.
Overall, Katanagatari reminds me of Inuyasha, collecting pieces of the shattered jewels. Instead of shattered jewel pieces, they are trying to collect the 12 perfected deviant swords of Shikizaki kiki. Of course, other factions are also searching for the 12 swords, one of those factions were the maniwani, and as the story passes, more factions will rise in collecting the swords.
The story and plot twists were awesome, which i find very outstanding. May i also say that on the some revelations of things made me cry. One advantage of this anime of being wordy is that it left no question unanswered. After finishing the 1 hour~ per episode of the series, it left me satisfied and happy that i watched katanagatari. Am actually considering to watch this again. Highly recommended for anyone.
