Swords, boob jokes, maid outfits, and demons. Sounds like a pretty standard fantasy anime. The Sacred Blacksmith turns these themes just enough to make a decent and interesting anime. Not great, but it is an entertaining romp.
Cecily Cambell is a knight of the Housman, just like her father. The knights protect the city and the citizens. Only Cecily is the weakest of the knights. One day the point is driven home when a blacksmith, Luke Ainsworth, happens to save her from a certain death at the hands of a mad war veteran. That meeting plunges Cecily into a conspiracy.
The Sacred Blacksmith shifts the usual roles. Cecily is the headstrong, impulsive protector instead of the male. Luke takes the cold shoulder role. Interestingly, the world has a different take on demons. Humans enter into demon contracts when they read their death song, a mystical song written on the human heart. That involves cutting open the chest. There are also demon swords. Demons swords are demons turned into swords. A few can turn into human form, like the main character and friend of Cecily, Aria.
The anime is about friendship with some romantic interest thrown in. Cecily is forgiving, firm in her ideals, and seeks the best for everyone. She also has a rather large chest: a source for much heckling and humor.Luckily, the jokes are not overdone like in many anime.
The pacing and action is decent. The animation quality breaks down time to time, but the fights are fast paced with little of the usual dialogue that plagues action anime. The characters are convincing. They just fall a little flat at times. The setting is a bit mixed. It is roughly medieval Europe, but the dialogue feels too modern. Many of the uniforms also look like they are from World War I.
The old Knight Captain is an impressive character! He is a war vet from the Valbanill War, a war where people made Demon Contracts. The grizzled warrior stares down massive demons and bodily tosses them around like a gigas. He is a rough mountain of oak with a fatherly aspect and one of the most interesting characters in the series despite his short screen time.
The Sacred Blacksmith is a good anime, not great, but good and entertaining. It has problems: uneven pacing and some believability problems. On the whole, it is a refreshing take on rather tired elements.
