Katanagatari
Plot and setting. "Katanagatari" is the story of Yasuri Shichika, a swordsman who fights without a sword, and Togame, an ambitious young strategist who seeks to collect 12 legendary swords for the shogunate. Shichika is the son of an exiled war hero and the seventh head of the Kyotouryuu school of fighting who lives on the isolated Fushou Island with his elder sister, Nanami. Togame seeks him out because his bare-handed fighting style means that he will not be corrupted by the power of the swords. Togame, who has been betrayed before, convinces Shichika to accompany her on  a mission to locate the Deviant Blades. They embark on a journey together across Edo-era Japan to collect the Deviant Blades, all wielded by formidable opponents. Media. Light novels. "Katanagatari" was released one volume a month throughout 2007. A spin-off novel, "Maniwagatari", was released a year later. During their panel at Anime Boston on March 30, 2018, English light novel publisher Vertical announced that they had licensed the series. They released it as four 3-in-1 omnibus volumes from November 2018 to August 2020. Anime. The anime is composed of a dozen 50-minute episodes and follows the  two main characters while they are searching for the katanas, except for one episode that is centered on Nanami Yasuri. In each episode, Shichika and Togame collect a katana or a new one will be introduced. The length of the episodes is unusual since most anime have 24-minute episodes and run weekly instead of monthly. A new episode would be released every month, beginning on January 26, 2010, and finishing on December 11, 2010. For the first half of the series (episodes 1–7), the opening theme is "Meiya Kadenrō" (冥夜花伝廊) by Minami Kuribayashi while the second half of the  series (episode 8–12) is "Katana to Saya" (刀と鞘) by ALI PROJECT. However, the ending theme changes for each episode. For the noitamina rerun, the new opening theme song was "Hakushukassai Utaawase" by supercell, and Piko performed the new ending theme song "Kotonoha". Drama CD. An Drama CD in twelve chapters, titled "Episode 0: Kyotō Yasuri" and written by Nisio Isin, was released with the DVD/BDs of the series. It is set during the rebellion twenty years before the events of the series. Each chapter has a character from the series narrating the episode. Reception. In 2019, "Polygon" named "Katanagatari  as one of the best anime of the 2010s.