Vampiric Vampire Hunters…
August 6th, 2007 | 
Author: Anyone who watches their fare share of Japanese animated vampire flicks will have noticed an interesting trend. The protagonists of said flicks usually tend to be vampires themselves. Usually very special vampires, like Dhampirs, (or day walkers), etc.
And they are usually some kind of either half-breed or ridiculously powerful full breed (usually a direct descendant of Count Dracula hisself) who have, for one reason or another, decided to turn upon their own kind. Much like the concept of demonic demon slayers I’ve talked about before, I find the idea of evil being the only way to battle evil (using fire to fight fire as it were) a common and rather interesting theme in Japanese animated culture.
But my goal is not to lecture you about Japanese culture. It is to talk about the weapon of one of the more recent additions to the list of animated vampiric vampire hunters, namely that of Saya from the anime Blood+.
Blood+ - Saya's Vampire Hunting Sword
Now this sword had a very unique design. The blade is actually offset downwards from the handle just after the hilt, and there is an edge on the rear of the bade that extends over the dropped edge and up to the hilt. It is an interesting design, but there is a reason for this particular design feature. Saya is actually a full blown Chiroptera however her blood has the unique quality of being poisonous to other Chiroptera in the series.
In order to maximize the effectiveness of her sword, she cuts her thumb on the rear edge of the blade, and allows her blood to flow into the fuller running the length of the blade prior to a cut. This was to ensure that any cut on an opposing Chiroptera would be lethal.
In practice, this particular design feature would be unnecessary and detrimental. Introducing sharp blade displacements of that nature usually only weaken a blade. it would have made more sense for her to use a straight, double edged blade, and cut her thumb on the rear edge, and then lay her thumb on the side. It would have achieved the same effect and allowed for a stronger sword. But then again that is just the stupid dork in me picking apart a fictional sword from a fictional anime series.
In spite of it’s structural shortcomings, it is a very good looking blade, and the design is very futuristic. It would also have the advantage of allowing cuts slightly closer to the hilt of the blade than would have normally been easy to perform with a straight sword. All in all, a very cool and purposeful looking sword. Worthy of a vampire who… slays vampires… Ahem…
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Category: Claw, Impact, Projectile, Swords | 
Tags: Battle, Blood, Chiroptera, Demon, Hunting, Saya, Slayers, Sword, Vampire, Vampires | 
6 Comments »
Dude, we have already established the futility of picking apart anime blade designs and physics, just let it go and you’ll feel a whole lot better. But the sword is very cool indeed, not for its design but for the use to which it is put.
I try to let it go… I do… But these knife designers… They keep sucking me back in!!! >:(
deep breath hold for five seconds and release
don’t you feel better now? now lets move on to the next embarrassing blade design and pick apart its flaws, you know you want to, why i do believe you enjoy the task lol
Sadly, there is no joy in picking apart blades…
rotf
i have to agree with you there.
There once was a time when you could stumble upon a fine blade and find close to no flaws in its design.
*sighs* sadly the people these days are so cought up in “looks” they fail to see the true beauty in a finally thought out blade design. tsk tsk.