I really liked this show but I'm not going to gush over the parts that were generally well received. Instead I'm going to talk about some specific things. If you wouldn't mind taking a whack at my questions I'd appreciate it. And if I missed something about the show that might change my comments please let me know.
Nanami's story was kind of confusing in that I didn't understand the "why". This is my understanding: her body is too weak for the amount of raw power she contains and has slowly been breaking down; she's slowly dying. So she's been copying other fighters' moves to hopefully open up a weakness in her own fighting in order to give someone a chance to kill her. So she wanted to die. Her final hope was handing over Shichika to Togame so that he would be able to become strong enough to find the opening needed to kill her. When she reaches the mainland she figures that Shichika won't progress enough to do the job so she murders two cities to 1) get Shichika to come to her and 2) hopefully complete his improvement?
That's where I get a little lost. I think it's strange that in the first episode she seems selfless and wants Shichika to just leave her so that he can live a more fulfilling life away from the island. She wants him to experience life. Was that just a cover for trying to get him off the island?
In the end she just wanted to die? Did she hate herself that much or was she tired of being sick? Why was she not content with letting the sword keep her alive? The fact that she wiped out that snow village before she picked up the sword nullifies her being turned crazy by the poison.
I liked this character but I was left with several questions. Who taught him since his ancestors had been killed 170 years ago? He said that he had no grudge against the Maniwa group about it.
How did he come under the control of the princess and why was his face covered? It was alluded that he may have been disfigured for some reason.
Was his character simply a contrast to Shichika in that Sōda was the Princess's sword? He was definitely dedicated to serving her.
The fight with the Holy Man, and the episode overall, is close to being my favorite part of the show. However, I don't think I really get the end result of the encounter. The Holy Man said that Shichika didn't know what he was fighting for, who then said it was for love (he fell for her). Then the Holy Man said that it was not love that Shichika was fighting for who then said I know I'm fighting for Togame. Can anyone explain?
Even without fully understanding it I think this is my favorite episode. This is the only time that I really liked Togame. Her story with her father was well done. I also liked the affection between Shichika and her in this episode. It was believable and felt natural.
One of the times that the ending actually lived up to the hype. I liked the ending and the revisiting of the swords was great. Watching Shichika go through them was something else. And when it was revealed what he knew about the armor sword, how it uses the ground to disperse energy from hits, I was taken back. It was just a really solid ending.
That being said I think it was cruel what they did to Shichika. I think the story could have had the same effect had Togame lived some how in the end (obviously they would have had to rewrite some parts of the ending for that to happen). Bittersweet that Shichika was finally able to live a life but without the person he loved. Which reminds me, what's up with Princess Hitei? How was she redeemed at the end and was allowed to just hang out with Shichika on his journey? She was a completely different person at the very end. Did I miss something?
Quite frankly I just didn't like her character. Trying to make her too cute and her "Oh no I'm embarrassed" shtick got old fast. I get that they were doing this to give her final part more weight but again I thought the cute stuff was too much.
Her ending was pretty great though. Her death was a pretty captivating moment. I thought it was well done visually. It was a bit of a shock finding out how damaged she was and the person that she was hiding. Her honesty towards Shichika was admirable, if that's the word I'm looking for.
I didn't like this sword at all when it showed up. I think the doll sword was the limit of suspending my belief about a magic sword. The idea of a sword using projectiles and literally being pistols wasn't something I was keen on. But it kind of grew on me during the fight with Penqin because I mostly liked the encounter over all. Pengin's power was the best out of the ninja's because of how creative it was with his weapon in reference to his ability.
Then when it was revealed that Kiki Shikizaki was a soothsayer that used generations worth of visions of the future to construct the swords it wasn't so far-fetched that one of the swords was a pair of guns. I actually kind of liked it that way.
The best part of this sword was the final fight with Shichika. What a badass moment when he took those shots in order to win. That alone was worth this sword being a pair of guns.
I felt that the type and amount in the show added nothing. It's the reason that I can't say this show is perfect. The simple moments of physical affection were fine such as simply holding Togame, massaging her after she had been digging all day, and messing with her hair. But the straight up fan service was unwelcoming for me.
The early scene where Shichika is helping Togame with her hair while she is completely naked was a bit odd but that interaction actually served a purpose for Shichika's character. I could forgive the slow pan of Togame's naked body for this reason.
The hot spring scene was fine up until the point that Togame wanted to inspect Shichika's entire nude body. I was even fine with the drunk flirting she was doing. Then it went overboard the next scene with the joke of thinking they were having sex when Shichika was actually massaging her. I just thought it was unnecessary and added nothing.
While I liked their episode overall I did not like how they went about humanizing the group. The showing of friendship and loyalty between the group was, I think, necessary and fine. But I thought revealing that Chōchō was going to marry one of the other members was kind of silly. Almost to the point that I rolled my eyes how hard they were trying to get you to sympathize with them to try to gut punch you with their deaths.
And they brought it back up when Oshidori was killed and I felt like it was silly. This is just me being nit picky though.
What was your favorite part?
Favorite episode?
Favorite sword?
Thoughts on the ending?