The following contains spoilers for Reincarnated as a Sword Episode 1, "Catgirl Meets Sword", now streaming on HIDIVE.
The Fall 2022 anime season has officially begun, and both new and old anime series are airing their pilot episodes one after the other. Reincarnated as a Sword is one of the few isekai titles making its debut this season. Unlike other isekai titles, in which the main character is reborn as some sort of creature or over-powered hero, Reincarnated as a Sword turns its protagonist into a legendary sword.
Reincarnated as a Sword immediately makes it clear that the titular character is an overpowered piece of weaponry. It easily sweeps high-level monsters en masse, gaining both skills and experience during the process. Within the span of a few minutes, the anime dumps enough information to overwhelm most of its viewers. That being said, digesting said information can be a bit tedious during a fast-paced anime episode, so here's everything laid out for much easier comprehension.
Who Or What Is This Sword?
Reincarnated as a Sword doesn't expound as to who the main character was prior to being reincarnated in the fantasy world. In fact, the anime does not even give the audience their name. What is shown, however, is that the protagonist meets their unfortunate end in what appears to be a traffic incident during a full moon. Whether their death is accidental or intentional is still unclear at this point. Obviously, their next memory is waking up as a magic sword.
A mysterious voice greets them upon waking up. After stating that the sword has a long journey prepared for it, the voice vanishes. Given that the voice is aware of the main character's existence, as well as the journey they will be taking, it may be safe to assume that the voice is either the culprit behind the protagonist's transmigration or is aware of how the situation came to be. Nevertheless, identifying and locating the voice may and should be one of the main character's main objectives.
The main character seems to be aware of the trope where an Earthling is transported to another world and reborn as a new entity. As such, they first check their status. They then learn that they are classified as an Intelligence Weapon, though what that means is still yet to be expounded. Based on appearances alone, the main character assumes themself to be some sort of legendary weapon, but that remains to be a mere opinion.
The main character starts their journey as a sword without someone to wield it. It increases its level and skills by hunting, but then, the sword unfortunately gets stuck. That's when it meets Fran, a catgirl. The girl, and her group of slaves and slave traders are being attacked by a powerful beast close to where the sword had been trapped. Seeing the opportunity, the main character asks Fran to wield it. The young girl does and inevitably becomes the sword's owner. After they find safety, Fran decides to name her new sword Teacher.
What Are The Sword's Abilities?
Interestingly, the moment the main character arrives in their new world, they already have a major head start. They already possess Telekinesis, which allows them to move their metallic body despite its lack of limbs, and Self-Recovery. In addition to that, their appraisal skill is already at the sixth level. By killing and destroying the crystals within the monsters, the sword not only gains experience but also skills that the said monsters are proficient in, and it can improve its mastery over said skills by obtaining the same skills multiple times.
The first few skills the sword loots from the goblins are Digging, Dismantling, Sword Art, Clubbing, Leadership, Survival, Kobold Killer, Vigilance and Poison Resistance. All of which are first level abilities. Just like most other fantasy series, some skills require the use of mana. During the sword's debut, it only has enough mana to cast Telekinesis for three minutes at most. However, it quickly overcomes that hurdle after gaining the skills Mana Drain and Float. By combining Float and Telekinesis, it can cover five times more distance than simply using Telekinesis alone. Mana Drain, of course, lets it replenish mana by killing more monsters.
After a series of kills, the sword unlocks yet another overpowered ability -- Self-Evo. It can use Self-Evo points to gain corresponding boosts, and the first one he unlocks is Mana Increase (Min), which effectively increases his mana points by 100, and Attack Increase (Min), which increases his attack by 50. After attacking a Goblin Lair and defeating a Goblin Mage, the sword finally acquires Fire Magic. It also gains Scale Harden, Enhanced Smell, Enhanced Absorption and Enhanced Sight after defeating a dragon. By killing the Area 5 bosses, the sword gains Instant Recovery, Dimensional Pocket, Doppelganger, Air Compression and Air Cannon.
Since the sword earns skills simply by destroying crystals, it seems as if numerous other skills have been obtained off-screen. Viewers will only learn of their existence once the main character puts it into use. Some of these skills are Stealth, Wind Shooter, and Bestiary, which allow the sword to locate the crystal within the monster's body. Needless to say, the titular sword becomes an absurdly overpowered weapon even before the first episode ends. However, the main character does not hog the benefits of their power. Skill sharing allows them to grant their wielder the skills they've accrued, effectively making their wielder overpowered as well.
What Is The Sword's Weakness?
Despite being an overpowered sword that can freely do what it wants using its abundance of skills, it's still nothing more than a sword. Its movement is purely reliant on mana, which is also the reason why it can only fly for around three minutes at first. Once the sword has depleted its mana, it is rendered useless. It becomes a talking lump of metal. Even though it easily overcomes such dilemma by accruing a bounty of skills, the latter part of Reincarnated as a Sword's pilot episode proves there are other ways to seal it.
After defeating the bosses of Area 5, the main character decides to explore further, arriving at what seems to be an empty forest. However, that's where the problem lies. The land turns out to be mana-sucking soil. It renders all the sword's skills useless, as everything simply dissipates underground. As such, the sword gets stuck. Unable to do anything, it can only patiently cry for help. It's still an isolated scenario as of the moment, but there can easily be a catalog of ways to seal one's mana, especially since the world of Reincarnated as a Sword is that of fantasy and magic.