English Dub Season Review: Reincarnated as a Sword Season One

Overview (Spoilers Below):

After our protagonist (Ty Mahany) is reborn in another world as a sentient sword, he encounters a girl fleeing a band of evil slavers. Young Fran (Melissa Molano) takes him up to defend herself, and together they’ll liberate those in need and exact justice on the cruel of heart.

Our Take:

Reincarnated as a Sword is an anime adaptation of a Japanese light novel series written by Yuu Tanaka and illustrated by Llo. The series is directed by Shinji Ishihira, with Takahiro Nagano writing and supervising the scripts. It was produced by Studio C2C, and Yasuharu Takanashi composed the music. The opening theme song is “Tensei Shitara Ken Deshita” by Kishida Kyoudan & The Akeboshi Rockets, while the ending theme song is “More Strongly” by Maon Kurosaki.

We’ve seen many shows in the anime department involving protagonists reincarnating into another world after they die. However, the problem is that they never know who they’ll come back as until they actually revive. They could come back to life as a warrior, a mage, or even a weak commoner. This latest addition to that category flipped its concept upside down by resurrecting the protagonist into an actual weapon instead of its wielder. The weapon, in particular, is a powerful sword fit for its unexpected wielder.

This concept was one of the reasons Reincarnated as a Sword immediately caught my attention. I’ve watched a few isekai shows that involve people resurrecting in another world, either as themselves or someone else, particularly a warrior or a fantasy knockout. Reincarnated as a Sword refreshes this concept for me by having a person reincarnate into an inanimate object, mainly a weapon specific heroes use to combat evil. It showcases that there are still more possibilities for the characters to reincarnate into, not just the different types of heroes from an RPG game. Heck, they could even resurrect as a magic staff. But is it enough to level up the series’s enjoyment factor? Yes, it does.

Consisting of 12 episodes, the first season of Reincarnated as a Sword consists of an unnamed protagonist reincarnating as a legendary sword after dying in a car accident. While leveling up and gaining powerful skills, the protagonist eventually encounters a black cat-girl named Fran, who lives as an abused and enslaved cat-girl and dreams about evolving fully. After Fran uses the sword to kill the two-headed bear attacking the other slaves and their traders, the protagonist (now named Teacher) frees Fran from slavery and appoints her as its wielder. Together, the mentor/student duo journey to make Fran’s dream a reality, something that no other Black Cat has been able to achieve.

The first half sees Fran and Teacher joining an adventurer’s guild in Alessa. After impressing the guild members with her powerful skills, Fran is sent on her first dungeon quest to prevent a goblin invasion. The season’s second half has Fran encountering the enemy of the Black Cats, a Blue Cat named Gyuran (David Wald), hired by the vice-captain August (Adam Noble) to kill her. Afterward, Fran and Teacher meet an A-rank adventurer named Amanda (Patricia Duran), a half-elf who acts overly motherly toward the black cat-girl. Finally, the duo joins a new party to tackle another dungeon that houses the dreaded spiders’ nest.

If you’ve watched the other isekai shows involving reincarnation, there’s no doubt you’ll get exactly what you expect from Reincarnated as a Sword. Along with its refreshing take on the reincarnation element, the series is another mixture of thrilling fantasy RPG action and comedy involving a powerfully skilled character battling numerous enemies. Coincidentally, I recently got that from My Isekai Life, for better or worse, so I was fully prepared for another round of RPG isekai goodness. Fortunately, Reincarnated as a Sword managed to be a solid improvement over My Isekai Life regarding its execution. It provides enough fun and charm into its concept and generates interest in its tried-and-true formula seen in other anime shows from the same genre. 

One of the major elements I enjoyed from Reincarnated as a Sword is the chemistry between Fran and Teacher. It follows the usual basics of the teacher/student relationship we’ve seen multiple times in other shows and movies. However, it also has an amount of charisma and humor in their relationship that’s appealing enough to slice past its formulaic shortcomings. Throughout the season, we see Teacher attempting to help Fran accomplish her goal while teaching her the basics of RPG-ing. During the process, Teacher also gets a few pointers from Fran through her bravery, determination, and kindness. It’s not going to change the game regarding its formula, but it delivers plenty of charming moments in these characters to provide decent entertainment in the show’s narrative.

Part of the reason for this chemistry is the vocal performances of the main leads. Ty Mahany brought plenty of levity into his role as Teacher through the sword’s supportive and often protective personality. I knew that Teacher would be an enjoyable character to watch after the first episode, and I was right. Fran is voiced by Melissa Molano, who I immediately recognized as the voice of Akari Tokito from The Executioner and Her Way of Life. I was concerned about Molano’s vocal performance at first due to her sounding a bit bland sometimes regarding her emotional range. Fortunately, as the season progresses, I gradually appreciate her performance for displaying the character’s subtlety, cuteness, and determination to a respectable degree.

As for the supporting characters, the cast and humor offer more than enough to make up for their one-note personalities. Molly Searcy’s performance as Nell was one of the more amusing parts of the series. Nell is the guild’s receptionist who seems generous but also carries a dark side that doesn’t take too kindly to adventurers she dislikes. Fortunately, Nell eventually takes a liking to Fran after the cat-girl passes the battle simulation. Patricia Duran’s Amanda is someone who’ll make and break the series regarding her motherly yet obnoxious persona. She spent the second half of episode eight stalking Fran and being obsessed with being her new mother. However, as the season progresses and we learn more about Amanda’s backstory, she gradually becomes more tolerable than expected, with Duran’s vocal performance sealing the deal.

From a technical aspect, the series’s animation is provided by C2C, the company responsible for other shows like Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina and the recently released Handyman Saito in Another World. There’s nothing unique about the style we haven’t seen before regarding the isekai genre. However, it occasionally compensates for it with its vivid and vibrant portrayal of its action sequences. One example I enjoyed the most regarding the animation was its ninth episode, “The Monstrous Rank A Adventurer”, where Fran duels Krad, the leader of the Dragons Roar team, and Amanda. Then, there’s Yasuharu Takanashi’s score, which I also liked for its melody regarding the fantasy and comedy elements. 

Overall, Reincarnated as a Sword used some of its skills wisely to level up its charm and fantasy action to respectable heights. Amid the show’s usual isekai formula, there are plenty of fun elements that make Reincarnated as a Sword a pleasant experience for me, including the chemistry between the main characters and the show’s light-hearted humor. More importantly, it offers a solid approach to the reincarnation aspect of the isekai genre, with the main character becoming a weapon instead of a standard warrior. Even though it still relies on the show’s noticeable cliches, it got me interested in seeing more of this approach in other isekai shows. It also impressed me enough to look forward to the show’s upcoming second season, which was announced after the airing of its season one finale. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait too long to see the young Black Cat and her sword teacher on another massive quest.