Merry Month of Manga: THE SACRED BLACKSMITH

Nothing's more disappointing than a series with squandered potential, and this is just one of countless examples. 

THE SACRED BLACKSMITH (Seiken no Burakkusumisu), based on the light novel series by Isao Miura with art by Kotaro Yamada.  First published in 2009 and first published in North America in 2013.

PLOT:

Cecily Campbell is a knight, like her father and grandfather before her.  She has sworn a pact to defend the city of Housman from all those who threaten it, but her resolve is shaken when her heirloom sword breaks during her first battle.  She is saved by Luke Aisnworth, a blacksmith bearing an impossibly sharp sword and incredible skill.  Cecily is determined to have Luke reforge her sword, but both of them are put to the test when a routine fight with some bandits becomes a desperate fight against demons.

STORY:

You would think that Cecily is the hero of The Sacred Blacksmith.  After all, she's the one on the cover.  She's the one with the dramatic backstory.  Hers is the perspective we follow throughout this book.  So why do I feel like Miura pulled a bait-and-switch with the readers?

Cecily may be the protagonist, but she's never given an opportunity to be a heroine in her own right.  She's always ready and willing to fight, but every time the rug is metaphorically pulled out from under her so that she can be saved by the story's true hero: Luke.  Luke is not just the titular blacksmith, but also the one with the legendary weapon and big, flashy fight scenes.  He's the one who gets to save the day while Cecily gets to stand by in awe and occasionally give an assist.

It's frustrating because Luke is not a bad character taken on his own.  He's a little more reserved, snarky, and sad, and he serves as a good contrast to Cecily's earnestness.  He's a talented blacksmith, even if this talent seems to mostly exist for him to espouse the glories of Traditional Japanese Swordmaking.  It's just not fair to either of them that Luke gets put on a pedestal while Cecily is on par with Luke's elven assistant.

The plot itself is not particularly interesting.  It's pretty standard fantasy fare, with a shadowy demon war waged by very evil people that is happening because of Reasons.  Thus, all that's left to prop this story up is the dynamic between Cecily and Luke.  The Sacred Blacksmith will continue to struggle to capture my attention so long as the relationship between these two remains this unequal.

ART:

My fear upon first reading this is that this would be just another dull fantasy-tinged jigglefest.  Thankfully, Cecily's outfit is fairly modest and reasonable as far as ladies in fantasy manga go.  It's just a shame that Yamada negates this by taking every opportunity to either gaze up her skirt or shred her clothes in battle.  He's clearly a talented artist.  You can feel the joy and relish he puts into the sword battles: the rich inking, the dynamic swooping angles, and the exciting page and panel layouts.  I just wish he didn't feel the need to pander to the basest audience while doing so.

RATING:

The Sacred Blacksmith has potential, but it's constantly held back by the sexism that refuses to let its heroine be anything other than a object to ogle.

This series is published by Seven Seas.  This series is complete in Japan with 10 volumes available.  All 10 have been published and are currently in print.