Blade on a Stick: Difference between revisions

** Whitebeard wields a giant naginata as sharp as his mustache. According to extra materials it's named "Murakumo" and is one of the 12 Saijo Wazamono (hence one of the 12 strongest blades in the world).

** Also the weapon of choice for Alabasta soldiers, based on the Egyptian fan-axe.

** Katakuri, the strongest Sweet General under Younkou Big Mom, wields a large trident-like spear called "Mogura", made even deadlier by his Devil Fruit abilities, allowing him to stretch, compress and twist his arms to put more oomph behind each strike.

** In the Wano Arc, we have Gyuukimaru, a Benkei-lookalike who wields an humongous naginata as his weapon of choice.

** Kaien Shiba's Nejibana takes the form of a massive white spear with a trident-like set of blades and a blue tassel on one end and a small drill on the other. Aside from using it to summong waves of water out of thin air, Kaien employs his spear in a very peculiar way, keeping a high guard and making it spin frequently.

** Sokyoku is a huge execution halberd, though it takes the form of a giant phoenix made of fire when it's about to perform its duty.

** In the anime of the ''Thousand Years Blood War arc'', we get to see a glimpse of the original Gotei 13, among them a busty, bespectacled woman using a long glaive as her Zanpakuto in lieu of a sword.

** Also, a drawing by Himaruya has [[Media:Kodogre.jpg|Greece]] as another spear user.

* The Beast Spear in ''[[Ushio and Tora]]'' is actually a sword blade grafted onto a spear shaft. It's the least strange thing about the weapon considering it is also {{spoiler|[[Human Sacrifice|made of people]] and [[Emergency Transformation|decorated with monsters]]}}. Notably, the design of the spear is actually based on a real life type of Chinese swordstaff.

** During the climax of the second round of the tournament, the Ogame Ryuu fights the Myojin Ryuu, a school with only four official members who carry the four "Divine Spears": Onidachi (Ogre Splitter, an humongous omi-yari), Beninuki (Crimson Extractor, a custom-made katakama-yari), Ginkan (Silver Gate Bar, a naginata-like kikuchi-yari) and the Kuyo (Navagraha/Cosmic Influence, a kuda-yari or tube spear). Aside from Ginkan, all other spears get a lot of focus and explanation.

** Former members of the Sojin Ryuu hired by the Muhou Ryuu exchanged their original weapon (the juumonji-yari or cross-spear) for the western Polearm, described as a versatile but deadly weapon on the battlefield. Another halberd user, Seiya Zoin, appears in the sequel series, this time wielding a more historically-accurate halberd.

** ''Gamaran Shura'' notably has one of the [[Super Soldier|Genkai Tenpei]] using an unique style called "Twin Partisan Spearmanship", which allows him to dual wield partisans with great skill, performing comboes of wide sweeping attacks and sudden thrusts.

* ''[[Samurai Deeper Kyo]]:'' Red Tiger/Benitora (aka Hidetada Tokugawa) carries with him a collapsible jumonjiyari he calls "Tiger's Wing", and he's skilled enough to basically open perfectly circular holes in his opponents before they can even realize. He later exchange his wrecked spear with the Muramasa Cursed Spear Hokurakushimon/Fomalhaut, an [[Evil Weapon|cursed blade]] which is even stronger than Tiger's Wing, but harder to control. The series also has Gihyo/Mekira, Benitora's former partner who uses a kama-yari with an overly large scythe blade called "Panther's Wing" and uses an hallucination/based fighting style (think of [[Trigun|Dominique the Cyclops from Trigun's anime]]) and Saishi/Tomoe Gozen, who wields an humongous naginata as her weapon of choice.<br />

* In Peter Jackson's ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film)|The Lord of the Rings]]'' Aiglos, the spear of the Elven king Gil-galad, is inscribed with an elvish poem that boils down to: "This is Gil-galad, and [[Badass|he is kicking your ass.]]" Notably, elven spears in the movie trilogy are rather naginata-like in looks.

* In David Eddings's series ''[[The Elenium]]'' and ''The Tamuli'', the character Bevier uses a [[wikipedia:Lochaber axe|lochaber axe]], which is constantly commented on as being a particularly nasty weapon. The fact that Bevier is the most pious and good-hearted of all the knights isn't lost on anyone either. Most of book 2 has Sparhawk carrying around the short spear of King Aldreas (hiding the Bhelliom rings inside the hollow blade) and occasionally uses it in combat, especially when faced against enemies impervious to normal steel.

* Also in ''[[Samurai Warriors]]'': Sanada Yukimura, Maeda Keiji, Honda Tadakatsu, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Azai Nagamasa. Maeda Toshiie also carries two spears on his back, but they're not his main weapons. With the 5th Game's reboot, we now have three different weapon types: naginata, spears and "great spears".

** Most notably, the Druid class is one of the few cases in which polearms (including scythes) have a fast attack speed, making them viable weapons).

** ''[[Dark Souls II]]'': extends the roster by adding new weapon types such as making Scythes and Machetes their own weapon category (reapers), Double Blades and Lances, the latter being heavier than spears and often used for powerful short-ranged charges. Lances were changed to "Pikes" in the following title. There's also the unique Santier's Spear, a unique weapon with absurdly high durability which actually becomes much more powerful and versatile if you wear it down to zero.

* Deimos from ''[[Dungeons]]'' wields a poleaxe which doubles as his scepter for casting magic spells.

* ''[[Wakfu]]'': like all Enutrof, Ruel Stroud carries around a broad, fan-shaped shovel (with a hook-like extremity) as his weapon of choice. He can throw it like a boomerang and, occasionally, sends massive quakes. Yugo's adoptive father Alibert has a shovel that resembles a partisan more than anything else.

** Naginata blades were made using the same costly and laborious process as katana blades, but were often made longer, or at least had longer shafts. So if they broke, they were re-made into katana/wakizashi/tanto depending on how much blade was left. There are also several types of naginata, including the oversized oonaginata and the axe-like tsukushi naginata (the blade isn't connected to the shaft by a tang, but by a side ring, like an axe)

** Although the sword was "the soul of the Samurai", the naginata was actually their primary battle weapon for much of their history; along with [[Bow and Sword in Accord|the bow]] when fighting from horseback, using length and weight to deliver deadly blows. With time it gradually faded from the battlefield, mostly replaced by Nodachi, Nagamaki and Yari.

** The naginata wasn't the only spear available to the Samurai. Popular amongst Samurai and Ashigaru (peasant levies) alike was the yari spear. Longer than the Naginata and with a shorter blade, the Yari ranged in size (from about 3.3 feet to 20) and was a popular weapon for large formations of Samurai and Ashigaru during the Sengoku Jidai era. Samurai tended to wield shorter versions of the Yari: Ashigaru wielded the longer varieties. During the Nanbunchoku Period, the local chaos brought to the appearence of Ashigaru's formations and keeps, hence the widespread use and variety of Yari. Yari themselves have so many variety in size and shape that sometimes calling them "spears" feels insuficient. Common variants include the Jumonjiyari (with side blades forming a cross shape) and kamayari (similar, but with the blades curved downward like a scythe).

** Less remembered than Yari and Naginata is the grandparent of all Japanese polearms, the Hoko: a simple spear of medium length with a sharp point meant exclusively for stabbing, often paired with shields.

** Many modern schools of martial arts lists the "Bisento" as a bigger and heavier cousin of the naginata. In truth, Bisento is actually the Japanese reading of the Chinese weapon "Meijiandao" (Brow-edged Sword), which is pretty much the same as a naginata, but with a slightly longer blade.

** The Guan Dao, a large blade fixed to the business end a long pole. There are countless variants, collectively known as "Dadao" (Great Sabers/Glaives).

** Some of the polearms become rather creative, such as the shou (a spear in which the shaft thickens significantly below the blade and is full of spikes, like a morningstar), zhao (metal clawed hands on a stick) and several types of rake-like weapons.

* Scandinavian warrios got not only the long Dane Ax, but also a cooler, unusual weapon known as "Sverdstaf" or Swordstaff, pretty much an arming sword with a spear-like shaft for a handle.

* In medieval Russia, the Sovnya (a glaive with a pronounced hooked tip) was a very popular weapon to use on horseback.

* Not as popular as the proper polearm or halberd, the glaive (at its core a cutting blade on a shaft, often ornated or improved with hooks and back spikes) was pretty much used by all soldiers and militiamen in medieval Europe.