Reincarnated as a Sword

Reincarnated as a Sword, also known as I Became the Sword by Transmigrating (転生したら剣でした, Tensei Shitara Ken Deshita) or Tenken (転剣), is a Japanese light novel series written by Yuu Tanaka and illustrated by Llo. It started as a web novel on the Shōsetsuka ni Narō website in October 2015. It was later published as a light novel by Micro Magazine, who released the first volume in July 2016. The series has received a manga adaptation by Tomowo Maruyama, published by Gentosha, as well as a spin-off manga by Hinako Inoue, published by Micro Magazine. Both the light novels and manga were licensed for North American release by Seven Seas Entertainment, as well as the spin-off. An anime television series adaptation by C2C aired from October to December 2022. A second season has been announced.

Synopsis
The hero of Tensei shitara Ken deshita differs from your standard otherworldly protagonist in that he is reincarnated as a sword! Beginning his quest by spawning in the middle of a beast-ridden forest, he encounters an injured girl frantically fleeing for her life. Saving her from her assailants, the pair acquaint themselves, and the girl introduces herself as Fran. She bears a heavy past, having endured the enslavement and maltreatment of her tribe, the Black Cats.

As the hero is unable to remember the name from his past life, the young and tenacious Fran bestows him the name "Shishou" and becomes his wielder. Thereafter, Shishou and Fran become a formidable team, embarking on quests to liberate the oppressed and exact justice!

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Novel
Yuu Tanaka started the series as a web novel hosted on Shōsetsuka ni Narō in October 2015. Micro Magazine acquired and published the light novel series under their GC Novels imprint, with illustrations by Llo. Fifteen volumes have been published as of March 2023. The fifth volume's limited edition was bundled with a drama CD, telling an original story. Seven Seas Entertainment announced their acquisition of the light novels and began releasing from August 6, 2019.

Manga
A manga adaptation by Tomowo Maruyamawa was serialized in Gentosha's Denshi Birz magazine from December 9, 2016 to January 15, 2018. After the magazine stopped, it resumed publishing on Comic Boost. The series is compiled into thirteen tankōbon volumes, with the first volume released in April 2017. Seven Seas Entertainment also licensed the manga for North American release, with the first volume released on December 17, 2019.

TV Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced in the twelfth volume of the light novel on September 24, 2021. The series is produced by C2C and directed by Shinji Ishihira, with Takahiro Nagano writing and supervising the scripts, Atsuki Saitō designing the characters and serving as chief animation director, and Yasuharu Takanashi composing the music. It aired from October 5 to December 21, 2022, on Tokyo MX, ABC, and BS Asahi. The opening theme song is "Tensei Shitara Ken Deshita" by Kishida Kyoudan & The Akeboshi Rockets, while the ending theme song is "More Strongly" by Maon Kurosaki. At Anime Expo 2022, Sentai Filmworks announced that they licensed the series outside of Asia.


 * Staff
 * Original Author - Yuu Tanaka
 * Character draft - Ruroo
 * Director - Shinji Ishihira
 * Assistant director - Kazunobu Shimizu
 * Series composition - Takahiro Nagano
 * Character design/chief animation director - Atsuko Saito
 * Master Design - Shinya Asanuma
 * Monster Design - Hiroshi Arisawa, Itoori Kudo, Ryosuke Kuwabara
 * Action Director - Takeshi Nishino
 * Key animator - Ryo Haga
 * General video supervision - Tomoya Takahashi
 * Color design - Masato Takagi
 * Art director/setting - Masahiro Sato
 * Art board - Koki Nagayoshi
 * Prop design - Ryosuke Kuwahara
 * Director of Photography - Masaaki Onodera
 * 3D Director - Takahisa Ohashi
 * 2D Director - Keisuke Sasaki
 * Editing - Tsuyoshi Sadamatsu
 * Sound director - Shōji Hata
 * Music - Yasuharu Takanashi
 * Music Director - Mitsuhiro Toyota
 * Music Production - NBCUniversal Entertainment
 * Chief Producer - Kazuaki Takahashi, Akihiro Narita, Kimito Sekito, Toshihiro Suzuki, Hiroyuki Hayashi, Ro Suga, Mari Okamoto, Jie Shen
 * Producer - Ryo Hino, Akiyoshi Ueda, Tomoyo Komon, Ryota Kanda, Yuko Matsui, Ichigo Feng, Shintaro Yoshitake, Kumi Nakamura, Yo Kanda
 * Animation Producer - Yosuke Shimada
 * Animation production - C2C
 * Production - Tenken Production Committee (NBC Universal Entertainment, Glee Entertainment, Micro Magazine, JR East Japan Kikaku, BS Asahi, Seishu Yugi, Nikkatsu, Micro House, Gentosha Comics)

This was followed by an English dub as announced at Anime Weekend Atlanta on October 28, 2022. After the airing of the final episode, a second season was announced.

Short Voice Drama
A short voice drama will be available exclusively on ABEMA on October 5, 2022. The illustration used in the voice drama was drawn by Atsuko Saito for the "NBCUniversal Anime × Music 30th Anniversary 24-hour TV 「Turning sword part (転剣パート, Utate ken pāto)」" broadcast on September 25.

Reception
In his review of the first volume of the light novel, Theron Martin of Anime News Network praised the interactions between the two lead characters, saying: "Beyond the action scenes, Tanaka's writing skill is a little above average. Dialogue and character development flow smoothly and world-building, though somewhat limited, does fit with the perspective of the central characters." However, he criticized the story's lack of originality, noting its similarities to So I'm a Spider, So What?, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, and Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon.

Trivia
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