Katanagatari: Difference between revisions

{{quote| ''"Don't get me wrong. [[Bait and Switch|I'm doing this for your sake]]."''}}

 

 

[[Ultimate Blacksmith|The legendary swordsmith Kiki Shikizaki]] made 1000 swords in his career. His skill was such that entire wars were won on the amount of his swords a given state had. When the Shogun emerged victorious, he collected the first 988 of those swords... but those were just practice for Shikizaki.

* [[The Atoner]]: Meisai gave up the bandit life to care for the girls of the Sanzu Shrine after {{spoiler|the previous Meisai Tsuruga used his dying breath, not to curse her, but to beg her to forgive the broken girls of the shrine}}. Because of this, she uses Tsurugi as a healing agent for the girls. Suffice to say, this is an incredibly unusual use for a spiritually poisonous Deviant Blade, and it's unclear how helpful Tsurugi even is for this purpose. But as Meisai is bound by the taint of the sword, this was likely the only way she could go on living without having to continue to kill people.

** Also, Shichika {{spoiler|for Togame at the end. He denies it, however.}}

* [[Awakening the Sleeping Giant]]: The Maniwa ''really'' shouldn't have sent the Insect Squad to attack Nanami. Now she has both the motivation and the means (thanks to her newly acquired walk-on-water technique) to get involved in the sword hunt -- which could also be bad for Shichika and Togame.

** Certain events that transpire towards the end of the series make Shichika a prime example of this. Perhaps quite literal considering his stature.

** Shichika mops the floor with {{spoiler|every last one of the Shogun's bodyguards in his [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] after Togame bites the dust}}. Bonus points for the fact that they are wielding {{spoiler|the Deviant Blades. Emonzaemon is the only one to put up a decent fight.}}

** {{spoiler|Well, he spares the little girl who can't use her sword to fight, only knocking her out.}}

* [[Cute and Psycho]]: {{spoiler|That sweet [[Yamato Nadeshiko]] [[Ill Girl]] of an older sister we see in episode 1?}} She's a powerful martial arts prodigy that even scared her father and {{spoiler|forced her brother out of his nail-biting habit}} by ''tearing off his fingernails when they were both still children''. In episode 4 she busts out [[Curb Stomp Battle|Curb Stomp Battles]], [[Slasher Smile|Slasher Smiles]], and [[Cold-Blooded Torture]] galore against the unlucky [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] sent to capture her. [[Dissonant Serenity|All with the same sweet tone of voice]].

** Then she goes on a little tour of Japan, leaving a bloody trail behind her.

* [[Ill Girl]]: Nanami. {{spoiler|Despite this, she's still insanely powerful.}}

** Backwards. {{spoiler|She's an [[Ill Girl]] because she's SO INSANELY POWERFUL that learning a new technique makes her WEAKER. So powerful that the human body can't contain it. Her efforts at [[Mega Manning]] actually make her weaker, read: healthier.}}

* [[Infant Immortality]]: Episode 11 ''looks'' like this is going to happen with {{spoiler|Pengin}}. Then he gets a gun shoved into his mouth.

** Played straight with {{spoiler|Konayuki and Saraba}}. Though Shichika probably would have killed them if he thought it fair.

* [[I Was Just Passing Through]]: Subverted. Togame gives Shichika the order to protect himself, stipulating that she's ''not'' giving this order because she cares if he gets hurt, but because she can't gather the swords if he dies... she then immediately gives him a ''second'' order to protect himself, stipulating that this one ''is'' because she cares if he gets hurt.

* [[Lampshading]]: Many examples so far, but one that hasn't yet been mentioned; {{spoiler|when Dokutou Mekki is first encountered, before they know about the memory effect, Shichika and Togame mock it for actually being a katana, saying stuff like "At this point, I was expecting a liquid sword or something, that blade is way too normal"}}.

** The light novel sometimes comments or references on the genre savviness of characters, and starts hanging the lampshades around.

** Shichika in episode 11 as well, when the pair are speaking to Maniwa Houhou/ {{spoiler|Shikizaki Kiki}}.

* [[Mugging the Monster]]: The Insect Squad attacked Nanami thinking she was at best a "mere" Kyotouryuu practitioner weaker than her brother (who is technically the head of the family) -- a fatal mistake.

* [[Named Weapons]]: All of the Deviant Blades.

* [[Never Trust a Trailer]]: The next-episode preview in the third episode shows snippets of the battle between Shichika and Sabi Hakuhei... which then happens entirely offscreen in the fourth.

* [[Normally I Would Be Dead Now]]: {{spoiler|Shichika when fighting Emonzaemon. Despite being shot countless times and slashed to bits, he manages to come out of the fight victorious with only a scar on his face.}}

* [[Princess Curls]]: Togame goes for broke by combining these with a [[Hime Cut]] and [[Rapunzel Hair]] with some shots of [[Godiva Hair]], even. Oh, she's also a [[White-Haired Pretty Girl]]. Now what do you think the odds are she's a main character? Also followed by her rival, Princess Hitei.

** Subverted, as halfway through the series, {{spoiler|Togame gets a [[Close-Call Haircut]]}}. Hiteihime {{spoiler|cuts hers too}}, although not until the very end.

* [[Rapunzel Hair]]: Almost every plot-significant character in the series has hair down to their ankles.

* [[Retirony]]: Used ''hard'' in ep4, where one of the ninjas goes on for several minutes about his plans to go home and get married after this last mission. His companion even starts to interrupt and tell him that saying all that is a bad idea... then stops, since there's a strong sense that they both know he won't survive.

** Subverted {{spoiler|when you consider the Aesop qualities of the ending.}}

* [[Shout-Out]]: Episode 7 has a scene where {{spoiler|Nanami's}} attack on the monks in an overhead view very similiar to the game ''Pocky and Rocky'' (''Kiki Kaikai'') for the SNES and GBA. Earlier in the episode there's a conversation between three portraits of the characters as if it were a [[Visual Novel]].

* [[Skintone Sclerae]]: Several characters, noticeably Shichika, have this.

* [[Slasher Smile]]: When Nanami gets one of these, you ''know'' you're screwed.

* [[Strange Syntax Speaker]]: "'Shirisagi talk-reverse' me call people." Much, much worse in the Japanese version, where the kana as a whole are reversed, as opposed to neat words in backwards order.

** He speaks normally {{spoiler|after Ginkaku cuts him in half}}.

** Every Maniwa ninja is named after an animal, starting with Koumori meaning "bat" and Shirasagi meaning "white heron".

* [[Too Dumb to Fool]]: A villain in the first season uses a complicated technique to take Togame's form... only to get foiled by the fact that Shichika can't distinguish between people at all anyway.

** Not that it seems to bother anyone much at the time. In Shichika's own words "I guess it doesn't really change anything. It's just like, 'Who cares', you know?"

* [[Tragic Keepsake]]: In episode 12, Shichika keeps {{spoiler|a lock of Togame's hair}} that he loved so much. {{spoiler|Princess Hitei}} also starts wearing {{spoiler|Emonzaemon's mask}} as a hair decoration.