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zoroara · 7 months

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Okay, something very important you are about to learn about me: I am obsessive about many things. One of these happens to be swords and sword fighting, among a few other weapon types but mostly those two. (Also hilariously sharks also are one of these things. Some how neither of these were influenced by khr being a VERY long standing thing.) This post is going to be aggressively long.

And I'll save you guys with a read more. But, in essence what I'm going to be doing here if I'm going to be plainly looking at the three swordsmen, Yamamoto, Squalo and Genkishi's swords, weaknesses and strengths as well as things like battle techniques and generally what you would actually want to do in a fight with those swords. For simplicities sake I'm not going to be factoring in things like Squalo's gunpowder bombs, or flames(which affects a lot of genkishi's fighting sorry dude) and generally things like that. Note there is going to barely be a structure and I'll be writing whatever tangent I happen to think of so like. Good luck. But maybe this'll be interesting for writing.

Now with that clarification out of the way let's dig into the meat here.

Okay obviously we're starting with Yamamoto himself.

So, Katana or well standard Katana as there are several classes of Katana. Are about 24 - 31 inches long(or approx 60 - 78 cm long) his blade is a bit longer than this at which point it becomes something known as the "O Katana" set instead of the standard, they're typically used two handed which Yamamoto does use it as a good potion of the time. They're fairly straight blades, and an important factor to note, folding a sword increases it's sharpness, but can make it more brittle and generally depending on the way it's been folded can affect the whole blade to not be capable of blocking hits well, Katana generally are best used when you have clear ways of attacking, though they can be used to block obviously, you'll want to more change the trajectory of the other blade using the curve of yours more than full stop block something you can do more with European blades.

Things I want to point out in the battle this is used before we move on to the irregular swords.

Yamamoto, while I understand doesn't know much about swords, here's the thing. Though it is a common trope, it you were to hit someone with the back of a blade in a position that does not in fact flex, which i want to note European swords do on the flat of the blade, which will come up later on squalo's section. Hitting someone with the flat, and the back will do fundamentally different things. Yamamoto basically turned his sword into a blunt weapon, if that HAD hit squalo, while it wouldn't have killed him, it WOULD likely break bone and cause internal bleeding the same way taking any pure blunt metal object being swung by a baseball player WOULD DO. WHICH BEING HONEST MIGHT JUST KILL THE MAN ANYWAY.(if Squalo of course, could die. God finds him too funny to let him die)

What gets me here in particular is Squalo's reaction to this. The thing is, this is absolutely not an invalid way of holding a sword. In fact, usually in armor that restricts movements you may adapt techniques that are slightly altered, a lot of ways to hold other weapons can be transferred to a sword, and have been. This way would give the same momentum and range of movement as a swing from a baseball bat, and in fact the only thing strange about this is actually the foot stance, for Squalo to gawk at this, he is either in-experienced with more armoured opponents, or has not encountered that large of a variety of sword technique as others claim he has

(it should be noted he never makes the claims himself except with Shigure Soen Ryu everything we learn about him is from other people. Squalo actually doesn't gloat about his accomplishments and in the manga the only time he calls out what attack he's using is in rainbow arc when he's using his special box weapon move with his exec squad. most of what he says is degrading the opponent or taunts. Patting himself on the back is more of a Levi move-).

Also fun fact about Shigure Soen Ryu, the 6th form is never seen in the series. All we know is that it's a defensive technique. Also how lucky is it they were fighting in a water based arena, half these moves would not go well otherwise-

Now! Moving on, as I cannot possibly tell you shit about swords made of pure flame. I'll be talking about the blades they're originally based on.

So these "swords" are actually known as Tantō they're basically small daggers about 6 - 12 inches (approx 15 to 30cm) in that were often carried with a longer sword like the Tachi and the katana as a support to the free hand, generally with the idea that if you have a hand that's empty you're either protecting it or using something. you typically never want your whole body face your opponent. something too many of these idiots do. For obvious reasons you want to minimize the space your opponent has to hit. That's why when you see a lot of sword fighting, even with big heavy blades, most of the time the stand their sides more predominantly facing their opponent than straight on.

Anyway, moving on the the Necklace of Rain version X! It's honestly a shame we barely get to see any actual moves outside of the flame stuff.

Here's something interesting! When dual wielding blades, it's best to actually have two different sized ones, this way you'll be making certain strikes faster and slower, among other things will make it easier to avoid hitting your blades together. You typically do not want to bring your swords in a place where they would meet in a strike, like X motions commonly made in this series, unless they're different sizes or you have enough control to slightly delay one blade more than the other. Otherwise they will clash and depending where the strike would have started, completely prevent the attack!

Other fun fact, this was a common technique with Samurai(one of the reasons it was common however was due to a Japanese law I'm not getting into here. It was not just because of the benefits to it.) Daishō, is typically depicted with a Wakizashi or a Tantō, however the technique itself is with any long blade and a short blade. Given that Yamamoto was already given four Tantō, I'm almost certain despite the length this was intended to be a Wakizashi.

Now, I could absolutely not tell you why one of them has those gaps though. Well other than the obvious "it looks cool" They could potentially be used as gaps like in other blades to catch weapons and disarm opponents, though, these gaps are very big and would more than likely sacrifice the structural integrity of the sword more than they would be useful. If they are smaller they may see more use in that way.

Other interesting fact, there ARE Serrated Katana blades, but. Well they're against the Geneva convention, but also they don't exist in history and is more of a modern thing that was made for """"fun"""". The reason they don't exist in history is because Serrated blades would get caught in the flesh and would be very hard to get out of an opponent... which is also why they're against the Geneva convention.

Now, We'll move onto Squalo, who because unlike this Section of swords, which the Katana, O Katana, Wakizashi look very similar just in different sizes and the Tantō were pretty much as shown(though you'll find prettier pictures of them), I'm going to have to bring up images of what I'm talking about because no one is going to know what the FUCK I'm Saying.

First off, drives me nuts by the way. As you'll soon find out, neither of Squalo's swords is a Spatha. I do not know WHY this is on the wiki, I do not know it's source, I do not know where this information is from nor who identified his sword as such. If it was a decision by Amano themself to call it a Spatha, it is incorrect. As you've seen above, swords just being different sizes alone despite the rest being almost the exact same makes them different swords, with different names. Additionally when you take this over to European blades, there's also a ton of different guards, hilts, shape, whether the blade is flat or not etc to take into account when identifying a blade.

So automatically, whatever sword Squalo has attached to his arm is not a fucking Spatha if it's referring to this.

Now we'll compare the blade's shape, which as you can see, Spatha actually prefer a round to their edge.

A fairly close shape to this can be argued that maybe it's a 16 or a 13 blade and he just removed it's hilt,pommel and guard. HOWEVER, we know this blade almost reaches Squalo's ankle when he's standing full height. It's REALLY long, as you can see, the 16 and 13 are more on the shorter end of these blades. and they certainly aren't thin enough. The shorter end of these blades before it goes into GladII range is about as long as his calf. These blades are also evidently thicker than what Squalo has generally.

Also Spatha have grooves like this in the sword which isn't depicted in the overall shape, they have these though can be found with only one they're typically more ornamental or smooth if they have these sorts, they're very flat blades so it's not for the shape. Squalo's blade tends to be more than a flat sheet while it's swung sideways.

This thing is custom made to hell and back and cannot exactly be considered exactly one type of sword other than "Vaguely European". However, if I were to tell you what sword he may have taken for a base I would hand you the Italian Arming sword

Very long, clear sharp end, has the correct thickness to the blade among other things. He still would have definitely lengthened it to something that generally you would two hand. Which says something about the body strength Squalo has in his arm. Because let me tell you, it does not matter if you can lift 10 pounds easily. If that is distributed over a long length it gets harder and harder to wield and control. Usual physics stuff you know? If you're writing Squalo remember this dude is fucking shredded to carry a sword that's technically a type of long sword with only one fucking arm and swinging it around as if it's not even there. Now that's a man you don't want to arm wrestle. (well for other reasons than just that but really. Generally you do not want this man within arms reach. He will kill you.)

Now for his other sword that is FOR SURE not a Spatha.(I'm sorry this drove me fucking nuts for the longest time, you have to deal with this too if you want sword facts.) We only see like three panels and OH MY GOD CAN I NOT USE THE FIRST FOR SWORD IDENTIFICATION.

NO SWORD IS FUCKING BUILT LIKE THIS. YOU DO NOT BUILD A SWORD LIKE THIS. ALL THE WEIGHT OF IT IS AT THE END AND THIS IS GOING TO KILL YOUR ARM MORE THAN YOUR OPPONENT. SUPERBI FUCKING SQUALO DO YOU WANT CARPAL TUNNEL? THIS IS HOW YOU GET FUCKING CARPAL TUNNEL(maybe that's why he was fine with cutting off his left arm, but then again then he goes and uses the same blade with his right arm, so if so he learned nothing)

Aside from the VERY obvious blade issue, Spatha do not have hilts pommels or even guards like this, all of them are very kind of, no guard, and shorter hilts, rounded pommels. You absolutely could not get a less Spatha like sword.

Next, the ones where I could maybe get a proper identification off of it.

Since Amano kind of fucks up his sword in long shots this gives a clearer look at what this is. In the 2nd image it's as thin as a rapier. But I can tell from the length of the hilt this sword in combination to it's blade length is made to be able to switch between two and one hand, one for power the other for reach depending on how you hold it.

This type of sword uh, funny enough is known as a Bastard Sword. This is a category of sword and not a specific type of sword mind you. As is Long sword and other such things. However the categorizing is kind of messy because of different languages using the same word both using the term in the same way and also not. However know now a-days that's how we refer to them, as you can see though

The only difference is in size and shape is it's kind of prettier.

But generally both swords follow more arming sword/bastard sword shape and size

Now lemme explain to you why Squalo kneecapped himself by changing swords.

Already I told you the versatility of how these swords will allow you more power and range. But did you know, many of these swords at the time, would purposefully have a dull area you can grab with your hands for even MORE versatility? Essentially if you got stuck in let's say a cramped hallway, you're fighting near allies, or even your opponent is too close to you or even they're wearing armour, you'd be able to wield it like a dagger and give yourself more focused attacks and precision, that you could do better with less risk(this was great at getting into armour gaps). which is something he cannot do now stuck to only wide swings and stabs.

You think that's a pretty bad deficit already? How about the fact he can't change hands, meaning he can't feint opponents with fake swings as easily, that if his opponent is on the wrong side of him he needs to adjust his entire body instead of just switching hands? Normally that isn't a special problem, but Squalo is logically an ambidextrous sword user from the work he put in before getting his prosthetic! So it's a special waste of an advantage. This needing to adjust his whole body leaves him usually facing his opponent full on by accident too.

Not only that either! You know how I said there's a ton of ways to use a sword and even holding it "Strangely" is a valid way to use them? A technique used against armoured opponents is to use these not sharp areas on the sword and basically use the flexible sword as a flail hitting a knight on top of the head with the pommel. I have seen it used and it DENTS armour. and the person inside usually gets stunned hard enough that within a few seconds they'll need to sit down. Imagine what it would do to an unprotected human skull. So saying that a sword was useless against an armoured opponent is very incorrect. Thankfully for Squalo, he doesn't have to fight those.

But regardless on that part, the inability to have the versatility of all of the above makes it seriously impressive that he's even kept his title so long. Man should have lost it ages ago. But then again, in X-Fiamma it was made clear that the Executives weren't allowed to do anything important at least mission wise until Xanxus got back so maybe he also wasn't allowed to got slaughter other swordsman. Maybe the 101 he killed in future arc was to get the blood lust of 8 years out and that's why he's a little more focused.

I do want to point out something here

This? This is Squalo fucking showing off. and you may not know JUST how much he's showing off here. You see, when you're sword fighting, dodging is the LAST option you want to do. This is because of the fact your brain has an order of operations. Because you know it may send signals quickly but it still has travel time. The LAST thing that will get a message is your feet.

So it is safer and better to block, parry, counter. Dodging also can not only get you injured, it allows your opponent to chase. Because you've moved, you can be pushed backwards further and be controlled that way. Squalo doing this is a taunt in of itself because he should KNOW these things more than anyone else here.

Since Squalo's blade stays the exact same. I'll now just move onto Genkishi's four swords.

So immediately you'll notice, it's our old friend the bastard sword! Meaning while Genkishi doesn't use these techniques I mentioned above he'll be able to if you ever happen to write him.

However! It does appear his Sword is a little thicker than Squalo's in some panels, and with how he moves them it is VERY stiff, so he wouldn't be able to use them as a flail but as a club instead. Still though, pretty damn effective against an armoured opponent.

Also this is very silly. For reasons that should be obvious, this wouldn't do shit. Unfortunately despite his very interesting techniques, my notes on his fighting style end here too many illusions <:). I'd love to expand more.

Also if you have any questions!! I'd love to answer them, absolutely obsessed with this kind of this so not only thanks for sticking with me here, but asking any question will probably get you a very long explanation.

Also the reason I didn't go into sword techniques much, just know we actually have no idea the maximum number of certain techniques for the blade there are, just there's "best ways of practice" and certain moves you'll occasionally see, but most of it is working on the fly. Just for the Katana alone there would be an estimate of 1000+. Insane that Squalo thinks he's seen them all.

#khr #katekyo hitman reborn #khr analysis #superbi squalo #yamamoto takeshi #Genkishi #swords...#long as FUCK post

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