Summary: Forty-four years ago, a great war ravaged the land. An evil man named Valbanil and his armies ravaged the land, and he, through the use of Demon Contracts, which turn the user into a demon in exchange for their soul, became feared as a god. Eventually, Valbanil was defeated, but only sealed away. Now, in the Independent Trade City of Housman, events are unfolding that could determine the future of the land, and future of Valbanil.
Review
Plot: The Sacred Blacksmith follows a knight of Housman by the name of Cecily Campbell. A third generation knight, whose grandfather helped found the city, Cecily has recently become head of the Campbell house and by proxy, a knight. Her sole desire is to protect the people of Housman, but when her family sword, used by both her grandfather and father, breaks in combat, she is rescued by Luke Ainsworth. She becomes enamored with Luke and his sword, a katana, a type of sword she has never seen before, and constantly is demanding of Luke to make one for her, which he always refuses. Their love/hate relationship is further complicated by the reemergence of Demon Contracts as a Man in Black is working behind the scenes to harm Housman and get his hands on Aria, the demon sword of wind, which has recently come into Cecily's possession. While the series does have plenty of action, it is more about the relationships between Cecily, Luke, Aria, Lisa (Luke's assistant), and the various side characters that are introduced during the series. One thing never explained in the series is what constitutes a 'sacred sword,' (see below) and the seemingly vast superiority of the katana versus normal weapons is also never quite explained. The plot does suffer though from the series' short length. While a manga and light novel series are ongoing, the anime leaves a lot of unexplained stories and a very open ending that begs there to be more, but as of yet, there isn't.
Characters: There are four main characters in The Sacred Blacksmith. Cecily Campbell is a stubborn woman with a kind and noble heart, whose sole desire is to protect all those around her and keep the city of Housman safe. For all of her desire however, Cecily only has a moderate talent with a sword, and is afraid of killing other people. Her weapon, for most of the series, is Aria, the demon sword of wind. Aria is a magical sword that controls wind, and can take the form of a human. She is fun loving, and cares deeply for Cecily, who she considers to be the best owner a sword could have. Aria's past troubles her deeply however, and she is greatly conflicted about her own existence. The two of them become very good friends, leading to some conflicts since Cecily doesn't think of Aria as a sword, but a friend first. Luke is even more stubborn than Cecily, and he is the sacred blacksmith that is the series namesake. His past has caused him to hate Valbanil, and his goal is to create a 'sacred sword' that can be used to replace the current one sealing Valbanil, which has been deteriorating as of late. Luke is having a great deal of trouble making said sword however, much to the discontent of the neighboring nations waiting for him to do so. The last character is Lisa, Luke's ward and assistant. Lisa loves to have fun, but her dedication to Luke is absolute. She lives to help him, and wishes for praise from him whenever she can get it. As such, of the major characters, she is easily the one with the least amount of character depth and in some ways feels more like a mascot than a fully fleshed out character. The many side characters are varied, with a couple of them being real characters, but most of them are really just plot devices.
Presentation: The animation and sound of The Sacred Blacksmith are quite good. I enjoyed watching the movements of the characters, especially in combat, and the backgrounds and scenery were also benefits to the series. The opening and ending themes are both fine and suit the tenor of the series. However, all that being said, most of these aspects are relatively standard in modern anime, and I can't say there was anything that truly stood out.
Entertainment Value: The Sacred Blacksmith is actually an entertaining show. I enjoyed the antics of the various characters and the combat. Some of the mini stories, especially that of of side character Charlotte E. Firobisher, were sad, but interesting. Many of the plot devices, unfortunately, were quite predictable, but their execution, done well, still made them worth watching. There is some nudity, namely of the chest region of Cecily, and a lot of joking by some characters about the size of her breasts. Cecily is very self-conscious of that fact, which makes it more than amusing, especially since in anime terms, her breasts aren't that big. The overall story, being the creation of a 'sacred sword' and the protection of Housman, was also done well, and it was easy to get a sense for the town and the major side characters within it.
Rating: 8/10 - The Sacred Blacksmith is a fun and entertaining show with a good plot and ideas that suffers from simply being too short.
The Sacred Blacksmith: 12 episodes
Notes: With this review, I have also added Saints Row: The Third under the video game tab. As a further correction, I have changed part of the notes section for the review of Fate/Stay Night (Game). It has come to my attention that Fate/Tiger Colosseum is not available in the United States, and my copy is a Japanese import.
Review
Plot: The Sacred Blacksmith follows a knight of Housman by the name of Cecily Campbell. A third generation knight, whose grandfather helped found the city, Cecily has recently become head of the Campbell house and by proxy, a knight. Her sole desire is to protect the people of Housman, but when her family sword, used by both her grandfather and father, breaks in combat, she is rescued by Luke Ainsworth. She becomes enamored with Luke and his sword, a katana, a type of sword she has never seen before, and constantly is demanding of Luke to make one for her, which he always refuses. Their love/hate relationship is further complicated by the reemergence of Demon Contracts as a Man in Black is working behind the scenes to harm Housman and get his hands on Aria, the demon sword of wind, which has recently come into Cecily's possession. While the series does have plenty of action, it is more about the relationships between Cecily, Luke, Aria, Lisa (Luke's assistant), and the various side characters that are introduced during the series. One thing never explained in the series is what constitutes a 'sacred sword,' (see below) and the seemingly vast superiority of the katana versus normal weapons is also never quite explained. The plot does suffer though from the series' short length. While a manga and light novel series are ongoing, the anime leaves a lot of unexplained stories and a very open ending that begs there to be more, but as of yet, there isn't.
Characters: There are four main characters in The Sacred Blacksmith. Cecily Campbell is a stubborn woman with a kind and noble heart, whose sole desire is to protect all those around her and keep the city of Housman safe. For all of her desire however, Cecily only has a moderate talent with a sword, and is afraid of killing other people. Her weapon, for most of the series, is Aria, the demon sword of wind. Aria is a magical sword that controls wind, and can take the form of a human. She is fun loving, and cares deeply for Cecily, who she considers to be the best owner a sword could have. Aria's past troubles her deeply however, and she is greatly conflicted about her own existence. The two of them become very good friends, leading to some conflicts since Cecily doesn't think of Aria as a sword, but a friend first. Luke is even more stubborn than Cecily, and he is the sacred blacksmith that is the series namesake. His past has caused him to hate Valbanil, and his goal is to create a 'sacred sword' that can be used to replace the current one sealing Valbanil, which has been deteriorating as of late. Luke is having a great deal of trouble making said sword however, much to the discontent of the neighboring nations waiting for him to do so. The last character is Lisa, Luke's ward and assistant. Lisa loves to have fun, but her dedication to Luke is absolute. She lives to help him, and wishes for praise from him whenever she can get it. As such, of the major characters, she is easily the one with the least amount of character depth and in some ways feels more like a mascot than a fully fleshed out character. The many side characters are varied, with a couple of them being real characters, but most of them are really just plot devices.
Presentation: The animation and sound of The Sacred Blacksmith are quite good. I enjoyed watching the movements of the characters, especially in combat, and the backgrounds and scenery were also benefits to the series. The opening and ending themes are both fine and suit the tenor of the series. However, all that being said, most of these aspects are relatively standard in modern anime, and I can't say there was anything that truly stood out.
Entertainment Value: The Sacred Blacksmith is actually an entertaining show. I enjoyed the antics of the various characters and the combat. Some of the mini stories, especially that of of side character Charlotte E. Firobisher, were sad, but interesting. Many of the plot devices, unfortunately, were quite predictable, but their execution, done well, still made them worth watching. There is some nudity, namely of the chest region of Cecily, and a lot of joking by some characters about the size of her breasts. Cecily is very self-conscious of that fact, which makes it more than amusing, especially since in anime terms, her breasts aren't that big. The overall story, being the creation of a 'sacred sword' and the protection of Housman, was also done well, and it was easy to get a sense for the town and the major side characters within it.
Rating: 8/10 - The Sacred Blacksmith is a fun and entertaining show with a good plot and ideas that suffers from simply being too short.
The Sacred Blacksmith: 12 episodes
Notes: With this review, I have also added Saints Row: The Third under the video game tab. As a further correction, I have changed part of the notes section for the review of Fate/Stay Night (Game). It has come to my attention that Fate/Tiger Colosseum is not available in the United States, and my copy is a Japanese import.
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