Katanagatari Series

Overview

Works

Anime

Characters

Timeline

Gallery

Katanagatari Series
Japanese Title	刀語シリーズ
Romaji Title	Katanagatari Shirīzu
English Title	Sword Tale Series
Series Information
Start Date	January 10, 2007 (Original) November 27, 2018 (English)
End Date	December 1, 2008 (Original) August 25, 2020 (English)
Type	Light Novel
Volumes	13
Publisher	Kodansha (Original) Vertical (English)
Imprint	Tankobon Literature
Illustrator	Take

The Katanagatari Series (刀語(かたながたり)シリーズ, Katanagatari Shirīzu), translated in English as the Sword Tale Series, is a light novel series written by Nisio Isin and illustrated by Take.

Background

The Katanagatari Series began publishing on January 10th, 2007, released by Kodansha under the Kodansha Box imprint. It continued publishing for one year, releasing one book a month for a total of 12 volumes. The series ran alongside the "What a Perfect World!" Series by Ryuusui Seiryouin, making it the first time in the world that two authors wrote a monthy novel series for an entire year, released by the same publisher. After the end of the main story, a year later, a spin-off novel titled Maniwagatari was released on December 1st, 2008, going into more detail about the Maniwa Corps. An anime adaptation, produced by Studio White Fox, debuted on January 25th, 2010, with a total of 12 episodes. On March 30th, 2018, during their panel at Anime Boston, Vertical announced that they would be licensing and releasing the novels in English, in an omnibus format, with four volumes, each containing 3 of the original volumes.

Premise

Katanagatari is the story of Yasuri Shichika, a swordsman who fights without a sword, and Togame, an ambitious strategian who seeks to collect 12 legendary swords for the shogunate. The son of an exiled war hero, Shichika is the seventh head of the Kyotouryuu school of fighting and lives on isolated Fushou Island with his elder sister, Nanami. At the request of Togame, Shichika sets out on a journey across Edo-era Japan to locate the Deviant Blades, all wielded by formidable opponents. But in order to prove his loyalty to Togame, who has been betrayed before and relies on neither money nor honor, Shichika must fall in love.

Main Cast

Shichika

Togame

Nanami

Hitei

Emonzaemon

Concepts

• Twelve Possessed
• Yanari Shogunate
• Maniwa Ninja Corps
• Aioi Ninja Corps

Title

The title of the series is a portmanteau of the Japanese word for "sword", katana (刀), and half of the word for "story", monogatari (物語). Each of the twelve books is named after one of Kiki Shikizaki's 12 Deviant Blades.