The Sacred Blacksmith review: Otaku Trauma

This edition of Otaku Trauma I’m going to talk about recent release Sacred Blacksmith, a 12-episode anime from Funimation.  Plus news for your everyday [otaku] life!

There are many things I can forgive an anime for:  poor plotting, subpar animation, bad music.  Anime is a constantly evolving medium, just as any other, so of course styles change.  Something “so cool” in 1990 may not be as slick or stylish as something made in 2010, but there could be a redeeming value.

I’m finding it rather hard to find a redeeming value in The Sacred Blacksmith (Seiken no Katanakaji), which was made in 2009.  Based upon an ongoing light novel series by Isao Miura, The Sacred Blacksmith chronicles the adventures of Cecily Campbell, newly minted Knight Guard for the Independent Trade City of Housman.  As misfortune has it, Cecily falls into possession of the Demon Sword of Wind (Aria), and things go poorly for her thereafter.

As I understand things, the Cecily we see in the anime and the Cecily of the novel series are opposites.  Cecily of the anime is borderline criminally incompetent, unable to wield a sword or strategize, and spends a lot of time embarrassed.  I can forgive this, lord knows some of the…compromises I’ve had to make on shows.  And she does gradually improve, plus her determination and loyalty is faultless.

I cannot forgive, however, the poor pacing or the haphazard conjunction of slapstick comedy in the first half of the episode followed by deep dark secrets for the plot.  Or vice versa, depending on how the episode ends.  The show itself is set up in kind of arcs–Cecily meeting Aria, Cecily defending Aria from Princess Charlotte, and lastly The Truth.  I won’t say much more than The Truth for the last arc, because it would be a bit of a spoiler.  When the show stays on track, it’s thoroughly engaging and interesting.  When the show strays into five minutes of boob jokes or angst over whether he likes me or not, in the middle of somewhat important plot points, it gets aggravating.

It’s rather telling that we don’t learn what the series title refers to until episode 10.

This isn’t to say there aren’t good points to the anime.  It has been a while since I watched a truly fantasy oriented anime like The Sacred Blacksmith (dubbed, at least), and I was intrigued by the greater majority of the world’s mythology.  But 12 episodes?  12 poorly paced episodes?  It frustrated me more often than it gave me answers.

As for the dubbing, it’s hit or miss on the characters.  I thought Luke and Lisa were well cast, but Aria sounded a little too old for her appearance and mannerisms.  Realizing she’s (much) older than she looks, the voice still felt…off.  Cecily’s was alternately okay and unenjoyable (mostly when she’d screech at Luke).  Funimation’s translation was fine, though I do wonder at some of the insistence to constantly repeat things (Cecily seems incapable of just saying “My name is Cecily.” Instead it’s almost always “My name is Cecily Campbell, Knight Guard for Housman!”).

Getting down to brass tacks–I don’t feel this is worth the $65 retail pricetag.  There’s not really any extras to speak of (trailers, textless opening and ending) and it’s only 2 discs long.  Do yourself a favor and view the episodes via Funimation’s video channel (though I can’t guarantee how long that’ll last).  If you end up enjoying it–buy it.  Otherwise, thank me for saving you a nice chunk of change.

Why I Wish I Lived in Japan

Thanks to Dezeen (and Shelf Awareness) I’ve found my dream home: a Shelf Pod.  It’s shelving everywhere.  Can you imagine?  I can finally organize my books perfectly!  Also it looks the perfect size for me.  I really don’t see how I could lose with this!

New Release I Want

Yuki Kajiura “The Works for Soundtrack”

Technically speaking this came out last year, but, honestly, I don’t care, I want it.  With the recent notice that Yuki Kajiura is releasing a second solo album (Fiction II, a follow up to Fiction, released in 2003 originally), I went searching for other CDs of hers I am missing.  Not too many, thankfully, but there is this one that escaped my notice!  It’s just a compilation of her best tracks from the anime she’s worked on over the years (most of which I own the OST’s for to begin with), but I’m an obsessive completist, so I need.

Interesting Anime News to Note

Following up on the new Last Exile anime coming from Gonzo later this year, Gonzo released a statement announcing that Last Exile ~Fam of the Silver Wing~ will premiere at Anime Expo.  Out in California.  Where I do not live. I’m not bitter.

Madhouse released a trailer for their upcoming new Marvel anime–about the X-Men!  Mind you I thoroughly hate the Wolverine and Iron Man animes, despite loving Madhouse as a production company (so many of my animes come from there!), but I’m a bit more tolerant of X-Men.  You really can’t make me hate something more than the third movie.  You can check out the trailer here (warning, it’s in Japanese).  G4 will be bringing the anime to North American shores sometime later this year.