The Sacred Blacksmith: Series Review

I should start this review off by saying that The Sacred Blacksmith isn't anything special. The story is tells is a pretty generic one, and most of what it does has been done plenty of times before. The characters are pretty stock, and for the most part, the story is predictable. There's filler, and there are quite a few plot threads left dangling. But, in spite of all that, I enjoyed this series.

When I first got into anime, I would watch just about anything I could get my hands on. This resulted in me seeing some great stuff, and seeing some stuff that felt like an animated Dungeons and Dragons game. The Sacred Blacksmith felt like an updated version of one of those animes. It evoked a lot of feelings of nostalgia in me. In many ways, this anime is like watching an old-school, lame but lovable RPG.

I don't think this is a series that will be remembered for long, and I wouldn't recommend it to many people. However, it does have its charms. If old RPGs give you warm fuzzies too, or if you're in the mood for something short and simple with some good fight scenes, you might want to give this series a go. The show does pick up around the third episode, and it has a few genuinely good moments. Maybe you'll like The Sacred Blacksmith in spite of itself too.

Rating: 84/100

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The Sacred Blacksmith, Episodes 11 and 12: Truth and Blacksmith

I know I have a few shows I need to catch up on a little more than I do The Sacred Blacksmith, but I really wanted to go ahead and finish out the series. I almost dropped this series a bunch of times, and while it has plenty of flaws, I'm really pleased that I stuck with it. This felt in many ways like the sort of show I would've been really into when I first started watching anime- but I'll write more on that later.

The Sacred Blacksmith did get back to its video game feel a little bit with these episodes. In the last episode, they did one of the very things that I got annoyed with them for doing in the first episode all over again. I didn't think these two were as good as episodes 9 and 10 were, but I still felt that it was a satisfying ending, and I really enjoyed a lot of the character centric stuff. It was nice to see how far Cecily managed to come.

I'll write a lot more about this and the anime as a whole when I do my recap of the series tomorrow. I was so back and forth on this anime and I feel like I have a lot of thoughts to say about it. For now, I'll bid Sacred Blacksmith goodbye.

Rating: 88/100

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The Sacred Blacksmith, Episodes 9 and 10: Vestige -Lisa- and Double Suicide -Tragedy-

After a nice long weekend, it's back to watching my anime! I am really happy I decided to get back into the groove of things with the last two episodes of The Sacred Blacksmith, because this was honestly some great stuff, better then I've come to expect from this show. Episode 10 in particular was easily the show's best episode to date.

The episodes connect into each other a bit, and I'm glad I watched them together, but all I really want to talk about is episode 10. My little theory about how the better Cecily is, the better the show is has never felt more true. She was amazingly capable in the episode, and I got really excited and involved in her fight. I never had that confidence that you often get watching anime that everything was going to turn out okay, and that makes any fight more compelling. The plotline was tragic but really well done, and they set up some great stuff for the show's ending. 

It's amazing to see how far The Sacred Blacksmith has come since the extremely generic first episode. It looks like they're going to go all out for the last two episodes, and I can't wait to see what is planned. It should be pretty epic stuff.

Rating: 90/100

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The Sacred Blacksmith, Episode 8: Departure -Resolution-

Onto episode 8 of The Sacred Blacksmith. Thankfully, this episode was a huge improvement over last week's fanservice riddled episode. The story arc came to an end satisfyingly, and there were plenty of great moments for Cecily in particular.

Though Charlotte was a cute character, and they did try and tie this into the main storyline of the show somewhat, I can't help but think of these episodes as filler. As I was watching the anime's OP I was thinking about how funny it is that Luke is the show's title character but has played a pretty small role in all of this as a whole. I assume that he'll play a much larger role in the 4 episodes of the anime that are left, but it's pretty strange all the same.

Still, I was throughly entertained by watching this. The Sacred Blacksmith isn't going to be topping best of lists, and will probably won't get many mentions in the years to come outside of anime fans sneeringly referring to it as "The Sacred Boobsmith", but there's something I like a lot about this show.  I'm looking forward to seeing the plot thicken now that things are so close to being over. Here's hoping this one goes out with a bang.

Rating: 85/100

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The Sacred Blacksmith, Episode 7: Clan -Family-

After a brief Thanksgiving day break, it's back to anime watching! Sadly, I thought that episode 7 of The Sacred Blacksmith was a weaker one. I thought that some of the scenes with Charlotte were sweet, and things did start to get a bit more interesting towards the end, but overall, more time seemed to be spent discussing Cecily's boobs then went towards actually story. I'm sure she has great boobs and all, but there are other things I'd rather focus on.

The Sacred Blacksmith is generally pretty generic stuff, but it can be entertaining when it wants to be. It's disappointing to see so much time wasted on fanservice when the show is so far in. I really hope I enjoy next week's episode more, and I especially hope to see more of the Aria related stuff too. To me, that scene was the one high point in this episode, and I really hope it gets as much time as certain other things do.

I do like this anime in spite of itself. I'm not sure how it grew on me, but it did. I hope that next week's episode is a bit more fun and adds a little more plot development then this one did.

Rating: 80/100

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The Sacred Blacksmith, Episode 6: Imperial Daughter -Princess-

The Sacred Blacksmith's 6th episode starts off with a bang. When I began this one I thought for a minute that I might have missed an episode because it opens right in the middle of some action. I'm certainly not going to complain about numerous action scenes, although the show did feel like it was falling back into RPG mode for a minute there.

It's pretty incredible how capable Cecily's managed to become in just a few episodes. I wish that we could see more of her training and things like that, but since this is such a short anime it makes sense that that's the sort of thing they'd cut. I figured we were due for a slew of new characters based on the opening credits for this show, so I wasn't surprised at all the new faces. I hope we have enough time to get to know them a little bit before this anime comes to an end.

This episode didn't quite have the build-up that other action driven stories like the one in episode 4 did, but it still had some great moments. This one did end on a very odd note, but maybe I'm just more used to shounen animes like Bleach and stuff like that. I definitely wouldn't have seen the ending as strange if I was watching a comedy anime. Overall, I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of what this show has to offer in the next few weeks. I hope I continue to enjoy it as much as I am.

Rating: 86/100

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The Sacred Blacksmith, Episode 5: Bond -Together-

In this week's episode of The Sacred Blackmith, Bond -Together-, we get to spend some time with the always adorable Lisa. This episode didn't move along the plot like the last two have- in fact, it almost felt like filler- but I enjoyed it all the same. The Sacred Blacksmith has officially won me over.

I really wished that we could've gotten a little action in this episode, but I really liked that they continued to develop the characters. I've been intrigued by Lisa since early on in the show, and I hope we have enough time to learn more about her. I was also impressed with how well a little dose of horror was injected into an episode that was otherwise quite sweet. The imagery during Luke's explanation to Cecily was nightmare inducing.

I'm sure The Sacred Blacksmith will be back to its normal routine in episode 6, but I really didn't mind the deviation. I'm so pleased with how much this anime has managed to grow on me. That doesn't happen too often. If you haven't checked out The Sacred Blacksmith yet, I implore you not to give up at the beginning. It may start out weak, but it picks up fast.

Rating: 85/100

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The Sacred Blacksmith, Episode 4: Vow -Promise-

I'm now officially a third of the way through The Sacred Blacksmith, and it continues to improve. I was concerned that last week's episode was just a fluke, but the better Cecily becomes as a character, the better the show's gets. Even the action scenes are much improved, which I believe was something I complained about during the show's first episode.

This one did have a fair bit of pure anime fanservice, but I didn't mind it so much. Maybe it's because it came from likable characters, or maybe it's just because it made sense in the context of the show, but I didn't find it at all irritating. I'm also growing to like a lot of Cecily's fellow knights. Going by the OP, quite a few more characters should be showing up in the next few episodes, and I hope I enjoy them as well.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the next episode of The Sacred Blacksmith's next episode, which honestly shocks me. This show has improved so much so quickly. It's honestly pretty incredible. I'm really glad that I didn't drop it before I got to see how entertaining it can be.

Rating: 89/100

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The Sacred Blacksmith, Episode 3: Demon Blade -Sword-

The Sacred Blacksmith's third episode starts off pretty similarly to how the last one did, but this time the anime managed to pique my interest right from the start. I was worried that things would fizzle after the introduction, but the show managed to stay strong throughout. This episode is a huge step up from the last one in just about every direction, and I really enjoyed it overall.

I wasn't a big fan of Cecily as a character prior to this, but they really gave her some nice development and I'll hopefully be able to enjoy her from now on. There were also some excellent additions to the show's cast, as well as some nice call backs to The Sacred Blacksmith's first episode. There are a lot of interesting story elements going on right now and I hope they can make good use of them.

I have to say, after last week's episode, I was pretty convinced that I'd be dropping The Sacred Blacksmith. However, the show really managed to pull it together with this one and I finally feel somewhat invested in the plot. However, my number one complaint- that the show feels like you're watching an RPG video game- still stands. I have a flash cart coming for my DS later this week. We'll see if The Sacred Blacksmith can hold my interest when I have some real RPGs to play.

Rating: 82/100

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The Sacred Blacksmith, Episode Two: The Devil's Pact -Valbanill-

The Sacred Blacksmith continues pretty much right where the last episode left off, with only an intriguing introduction to break up the action. Much of this episode felt the same as what was shown last week, although a few interesting plot points were introduced. Maybe that'll be enough to boost this anime out of mediocrity.

I still can't shake the thought that I'd rather be playing some fantasy RPG than watching a fantasy anime that feels like a fantasy RPG. At the end of a certain fight scene I half expected to hear victory music. As I said in my last review of this show, it isn't particularly bad, but I still can't find much to call good about this show either, and I don't like feeling like I could be doing something better with my time.

In spite of the series short length, I'm not sure I can stay motivated to keep following this show. I'll give The Sacred Blacksmith one more episode, and if that one doesn't win me over a bit, I'm guessing this show probably never will.

Rating: 72/100

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The Sacred Blacksmith Episode 1: Knight

The Fall 2009 anime season is finally upon us, and with that comes new show recaps! The first show I've checked out so far is The Sacred Blacksmith, and while it was not great, I think it was worth giving at least another episode to.

The Sacred Blacksmith takes place in a medieval fantasy world full of knights, one of whom is Cecily Campbell. We see early on that she is not a particularly good knight- the show opens on her having her life saved for a third time by another character- but she's a cute one, at least. Based on the opening and ending theme, the show looks to be full of cute anime girls, so it may be worth checking out for that factor alone.

While watching this episode I often felt like I was watching cutscenes from an RPG instead of watching an anime, and that playing The Sacred Blacksmith as a game would be more fun than watching it. They're not breaking the mold here. The Sacred Blacksmith is fairly bland, typical RPG fare, and when there's not gameplay to break that sort of thing up, it can get dull pretty quickly. However, The Sacred Blacksmith picks up near the very end of this episode and turns into something a little more interesting. If the show focuses more on that sort of thing than standard RPG adventures, I think I'll be able to keep watching The Sacred Blacksmith. For now, it's only a few episodes away from being dropped.

Rating: 75/100

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