Seiken no Blacksmith – Episode 01
Today, we are going to play a little game. I am going to describe the plot of this episode, and I want you to think about what it sounds like. Let’s see if we reach the same conclusion.
All right, after the opening song, we have Cecily, the heir to a line of knights. She gets into her first fight, and loses, breaking her sword. Then a mysterious boy named Luke comes to her rescue. She goes after him and finds that he’s the heir to a line of smiths. Cecily makes an impassioned plea to him and to the young girl named Lisa he lives with to forge a new blade for her. Naturally, he refuses.
The monsters come, and Luke again dispatches them easily. A mysterious figure summons an even bigger monster, who then beats Luke down. Cecily makes a courageous stand that finally gets to Luke. He stands up and uses Lisa’s magic powers to forge a new sword. Exeunt.
If you said this sounds like a typical JRPG plot, you’d be right. It feels painfully derivative at this point and to such extent that I didn’t see anything fresh in the art direction until the end of the episode. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be a terrible series. I rarely condemn anything based on the introduction. I have to admit I’m curious where a power like Luke and Lisa’s would come from, and it did have a little bit of comedy to lighten things. However, it does make for a very poor first episode, and it’s going to take a lot of work to break out of that mold.
Episode score: 6.5/10
Objectionable content: Blood and gore. Luke really seems to like cleaving those monsters in two…
