English Dub Review: Reincarnated as a Sword “The Greater Demon Cheated”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Fran and Teacher face off against their toughest adversary yet, but it’s not just their lives on the line. The fate of everyone in Alessa rests on their shoulders.

Our Take:  

Fran and Teacher have gotten themselves in another pickle once again. Last week’s episode saw the duo come face to face with the Dungeon Master’s secret weapon: a powerful demon proven to be more formidable than any enemy they encountered. If slicing Fran’s hands doesn’t prove its strength, it even has a Skill Taker ability, allowing it to steal Fran’s sword skills. This would’ve been a massive problem for the courageous cat-girl and her mentor. However, as seen in this week’s episode, the demon’s ability was a dud because Fran’s sword skills were borrowed from Teacher.

This is one of the advantages Fran and Teacher take to destroy the demon and the Dungeon Master, with the other being that the creature keeps arguing with one another. Don’t you love it when the enemies’ demise comes from their selfishness? This is another episode showcasing the second half of a high-stakes battle introduced in the previous chapter, similar to the other fantasy anime with the same structure. I still didn’t mind this approach compared to the ones with showdowns lasting for more than two episodes if the fights were thrilling enough to keep my attention.  

Fortunately, Reincarnated as a Sword usually does this element well so far, with the battle between Fran and the greater demon being another example. It delivered an engaging challenge for the cat-girl and represented another turning point in her quest. After the demon states that it’ll destroy everything in its path, including the citizens of Alessa, Fran insists on staying to fight despite being under-leveled. This resulted in Teacher realizing that Fran’s willing to fight to save other people instead of herself, regardless of whether she lives or dies. The fact that Fran is teaching Teacher some lessons instead of just the other way around showcases the distinctiveness of the show’s student/mentor relationship, which I still admire.

But, of course, even though Fran managed to defeat the greater demon by herself, she wound up getting berated by Donadrond for going off on her own. He punishes Fran by stating the Ten Commandments of Adventuring, which humorously traumatizes Fran. Although, she quickly feels better after Teacher soothes her with his promise to make her curry. As a bonus, Teacher also gains Skill Taker, putting him and Fran at a higher advantage despite its cheating nature. Unfortunately, those bright spots are overshadowed when Klimt asks Fran about the greater demon’s crystal, which is more valuable than any other material. Fran ends up lying to Klimt, saying that the crystal got destroyed, but in reality, Teacher absorbed it while killing the demon. Klimt believed in Fran’s little fib, but someone didn’t seem to think she was telling the truth.  

It’s a subtle way to conclude the series’ first half compared to the previous episodes, but it does leave me questioning how that specific someone can see through the cat-girl’s lie. Other than that, I still enjoy Reincarnated as a Sword, based on the first half of season one alone. It may not be groundbreaking regarding the genre, but it offers a unique and charismatic perspective on the teacher/student relationship that outshines some of its formulaic traits. With Fran’s first dungeon quest being completed, it’ll be interesting to see what’s in store for the cat-girl in the season’s second half.