Blade Master (2022)

Sword vs. Scabbard

TLDR; Unique urban fantasy (emo) drama with fantastic fight scenes and an overall satisfying—albeit crippled by the short runtime—story. 

Whump meter: ▲▲▲▲△ (plenty of good whump).

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【spoiler-free】

SHORT VERSION:

┊┊WHAT I LIKED:
►Stellar fight scenes and a lot of them. Cool, believable, thorough, and with minimal cuts
►Good villains (one-timers and also the main)
►Unique and unusual locations, as well as using the environment.
►Realistic character's abilities (within supernatural context). Everyone is skilled after years of training.
►Interesting themes about hatred, morality, duty, sacrifice, choice, intentions, and ultimately the bond with those around us.
►Interesting approach to the magic aspect. Primarily how it manifests, ends up affecting ML, and how it is ultimately resolved (feels like an anime in the best way).
►Good cinematography focused on enhancing the story. Looks very legit and even poetic at times.
►Satisfying narrative. Satisfying plot twist, progression, and ending.
►Solid actors and acting.
►Some rather interesting character dynamics.
►Potential for more seasons without being open-ended.

┊┊WHAT I DISLIKED:
►Unfortunately, the FL. She mostly just caused more issues for 'heroes' to solve.
►Abysmal choice of an end-credits song... Made me jump every time with how jarringly out-of-place it was.
►How short it was. It's barely longer than a movie (3-ish hours), which does end up leaving a lot of things underdeveloped since it's formatted like a show.
►Under-developed lore. They hint at a lot of background and lore, but we are only ever given crumbs.
►Not much braining going around.

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【!some SPOILERS below!】

LONG VERSION:

┊┊CHARACTERS:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Because the drama is so short and story-focused, this leaves the characters somewhat behind in terms of purpose and especially development. Forget backstory or setup, but even their reason to be there at all. They're more like the background team of cops, but with hints of depth and as the main cast. I'm not saying they were bad; they were just underused and suffered tremendously from how short the drama was. Even the ML felt lacking in depth and attention. We get glimpses of his character, past, motives, and feelings, but they’re usually rather brief, and he’s the one who gets by far the most development. (I understand not everything needs to be character-focused, and for how long it is, it’s acceptable, just very unfortunate since more attention to the characters would’ve made it all the more thorough, rewarding, and entertaining.).

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ This also extends to their dynamics, though I believe this was set up better. At least when it comes to ML and SML, who had a very unique and interesting dynamic going on. There was enough setup for us to know what was up, and enough attention given to it throughout the runtime for us to feel for them. Same goes for ML and the main villain. These two dynamics/relationships were by far the highlights of the characterization.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ As for the FL, she initially seems to be the main character who stumbles into this unusual ‘world’ hiding in plain sight; however, that soon changes into her being merely a POV character until she's sidelined completely and added in with meaningless moments of relevance only ever at the cost of the intellect of the characters around her (aka, the ones that have been doing this superhero gig for the entirety of their lives, lol). I didn't get her purpose in the story and feel like it would've worked better, smoother, and more cohesive if she wasn't added at all.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ The rest of the supporting cast was fine but ultimately also underused. We didn't really get to know much about them; they were just there to serve the narrative purpose and were otherwise sidelined. Even interesting dynamics like that of SML and his father were merely glanced at.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Then there’s the villains: the villain-of-the-week types and also the final antagonist. The former were good; they worked very well for what was needed of them and got enough development, backstory, and setup to feel satisfying without overstaying their welcome. The short duration of the show also made this non-repetitive, so it didn’t drag. The main villain was honestly really cool. Not only was his character cool, but he also actually posed a threat and was genuinely evil. The way he ties into the main hero group is also amazing and adds a lot of good angst and stakes! The only downside was that his reason to be there was glossed over and didn’t make a whole lot of sense with how they set him up. There was some confusion there.

┊┊ACTING:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Solid all around. Even the one-time villains gave it their all for their performances. I’d say the main antagonist, along with ML, were the highlight for me. The villain played such an effortlessly cool badass so well, and ML portrayed the depressed emo-loner nicely.

┊┊STORY:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Generally and overall? Very solid. It’s short, concise, has a good narrative structure, and a proper wrap-up with even room for more seasons without the need to leave things unsolved. The story is rather simple but very well-executed which despite some shortcomings makes it a satisfying watch. Plot twists can be seen coming but are still handled well and thus rewarding even if not particularly shocking.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ The worldbuilding showed promise but unfortunately didn’t deliver quite as much as it could’ve. This is largely in part due to the short length but the world, lore and background of the magic/darkness and everyone surrounding it (heroes and villains) seemed very interesting and like there was a lot more of it to tell but didn’t get to see a whole lot. A shame.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ As for the magic itself, honestly, very cool. It feels like a realistic anime and I’m totally here for it. The way the darkness manifests from humanity’s own weakness/pain is so real and brings up a lot of interesting narrative potential. Not only that, fighting against said darkness ended up affecting ML too, it was magic with consequences not only for the victims but also for her heroes, such a nice detail (and nice whump). Ultimately, the way it was finally wrapped up in the end was very poetic and well executed, I’m glad they committed to a dramatic, impactful ending and (at least temporary) resolution.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Now onto the main themes of the story, which are largely centered around pain and suffering and how that manifests into (in this drama, literally) darkness that can consume the life of the individual as well as everyone around them. It does well in exploring the value of change, growth, intentions, and ultimately peace, showing the importance of duty and sacrifice but also that of choice and the bond with those around us. It was quite interesting, heartwarming, and rather well-executed.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Another highlight is the fact that this isn’t an origin story or zero-to-hero type deal. Everyone is already capable and worked all their life to achieve the level of skill that they have, which not only makes for a refreshing take on the superhero genre but also a realistic one. The heroes aren’t naturally skilled because they are the MCs and/or the chosen ones; they worked for it. ML even struggles when he’s injured and can be defeated!

┊┊PRODUCTION:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Very good. Money was spent where it matters, and it shows. Locations, props, CGI—the whole thing is very, very legit. Cinematography was very good; shots mattered and were structured to add to the narrative, weight, and theme of the scene.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Fight scenes were some of the best I’ve seen: minimal cuts, good choreography, and the unique feature of ML fighting with a scabbard against sword-wielders made for some very unique fights. Locations were also used to the max throughout the fight scenes and they didn’t all take place in a large open space where one could easily fight. The attention to detail didn’t go unnoticed and was tremendously appreciated.

┊┊MUSIC:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Overall, it was pretty good. Worked well for the genre and scenes; however, that end-credits song... It was really out of place. You have some of the most serious moments in the drama, and it just starts playing this extremely irritating upbeat song. It's not even the issue that it's upbeat, since that could work as a statement or to specifically be ironic, but it's just... ugh.

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◇ Was it what I was expecting? I wasn't really sure what to expect, so I was pleasantly surprised.
◆ Did it live up to its potential? Not really
◇ Would I watch it again? Probably, yes
◆ Would I recommend it to others? Yes!!

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