Reincarnated as a Sword

Episode 11

Given that Reincarnated as a Sword is specifically about a weapon, it tracks that the biggest crisis would come from our heroine being separated from her sword. Perhaps I'm just an overly-negative adherent to Murphy's Law. Still, it would have been good sense for Teacher to instruct Fran in some Skills or Spells she could use on her own without relying on his abilities. But then that would undercut a lot of the drama that drives this episode as Fran struggles to survive against that giant sexy spider monster and the urgency that Teacher feels to find her. After how much the technical overindulgences dragged down last week's episode, I've got no problem accepting some breaks in the name of punchier emotional storytelling.

Perhaps most surprising is how much of this episode is focused on Teacher rather than Fran's arachnophobic struggles. That might seem obvious at a casual glance: Teacher is the one whose whole deal is the title of this show, and he's always been our isekai'd POV character. But watching Reincarnated as a Sword the past few weeks, it almost seemed like Teacher was taking a backseat to the progression of the plot, as we focused on Fran's endearing personal quest and interactions with others instead. Fine by me, obviously, Fran is my adorable cat-daughter, and I want to give her all the head-pats she deserves, but it was just a little oddly askew that Teacher seemed to barely register as a narrator for his own story there for a bit.

This episode thus brings him back into focus in a pretty effective way with all that appreciation we've come to have for Fran. We are worried about her now as much as Teacher is, so the race to find a way to track her down feels urgent. Only seeing glimpses of Fran's struggles against the Trickster Spider drives home. The franticness even leads to a potent bit of levity at the expense of key elements of the show's presentation. Teacher realizes his superpowered skill sheet is so over-long that even using Split Mind to try to read through it twice as fast is a fraught proposition. That sort of awareness probably won't stop the show from going back to making rote lists of skills, but in the moment, I'll take it.

Needing to move quickly, to communicate how that has to be done in this situation keeps Teacher and his antics feeling frantic in a way that also sets up some solid shifts for the status quo of the whole story moving forward. So he has to allow Amanda to learn about his status as an Intelligent Weapon and summon a new minion that he and Fran will work with moving forward: The giant, adorable, fluffy good boy known as Jet. The practicality of the situation does a lot for Jet's introduction as well, since the complication of his initial mana frenzy is just one more on the pile of problems that Teacher does not have time to deal with right now.

Jet also works well at tying some of the themes of this story together with Teacher, Fran, and her struggles overall. As touched on with Jet, the names we have for ourselves and others wield intrinsic amounts of power, even more so in a fantastical realm with hard-coded rules for such things. Jet being named by Teacher isn't a case of the latter asserting some ownership or control over his new power-puppy; it's about the wolf having understanding and context for who he is— That's the source of his power.

Fran's initial swordless struggles against the Trickster Spider trigger her to remember her dark, enslaved days when she had been stripped of everything, including her name. The sword gave her a lot of power to use, but it was also the understanding that someone saw her as worthy of a name and agency.

Thankfully, the name Teacher allowed Fran to bestow on him is appropriate enough since she's still not the same person she was before she met Teacher. It is enough to get Fran going again. Believe in the sword who believes in you, and so forth. It's nice because while I was fine watching Teacher's efforts at searching for Fran and how that showcased his character, I was worried for a moment there that Fran herself would be underserved in this opportunity to show her growth on her own. But she does get that chance (pointedly as a means to protect Balz and Victor, which is in line with this show's general tenets on not wielding power solely for your own sake). Wanting to power past her limits on her own aligns her thoughts with Teacher, who is trying to do the same thing simultaneously. That mutuality in their relationship has always been one of its best features, exemplified even in simple ways like Teacher deferring to Fran when she declares that she'd rather defeat the Trickster Spider before getting herself healed.

So yeah, this week, we got The Good Reincarnated as a Sword. Based on how the cliffhanger set things up last week, it can feel a little lopsided, with less Fran focus than I expected. But it provides a good chance to get back to Teacher, and explore the systems of this story in a way that feels brisker and conceptually integrated than simply reading skills off of a list. Plus, it results in Fran having a new big fluffy dog friend to ride around on, meaning Reincarnated as a Sword has at last caught up to SPY x FAMILY on that particular entertainment value index. That's the objective metric that matters in judging something like this.

Rating:

Reincarnated as a Sword is currently streaming on HIDIVE.

Chris is a freewheeling Fresno-based freelancer with a love for anime and a shelf full of too many Transformers. He can be found spending way too much time on his Twitter, and irregularly updating his blog.