Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire is a title of a japanese light novel that had already adapted into a manga and an anime. It follow a story about a kind and benevolent king who was about to passed away and before his time comes, he asked for the guardian angel to be reincarnated in the future with a sole mission of mastering the blade martial arts. Meet Inglis the benevolent God king from the kingdom of Silvare. In his young age, he joined a mercenary guild in order to polish his skills and applied his swordman-ship. Even to his wildest dream, he never thought that he was destined for something greater than being a sell sword. His mercenary work lead him into a path of heroism which eventually turning him into a God king. Not only that he was very good in fighting, he also proficient with a magical ability and had knowledge on the usage of Aether which in the end made him started a magic school in his kingdom (Aether itself is described as the origin of every matter in that world which means that manipulating it was like manipulating a God power). Nevertheless, despite his great achievements as a God king, he was still a mortal. Such a good king he was that during his dead bed, the Goddess Alista herself visited the palace and accompanied him for his time to come. The only regret that he had in life was he didn't have enough time to master his martial arts skill due to his royal duty. The Goddess said how she was truly grateful for him and she gave him a special gift as she told him that she would fullfil any of his last wish. The king knew he already achieved everything in life and only one thing remained. Therefore, he asked the Goddess to reincarnate him as a commoner so that in the next time he would be able to fulfill his "selfish' dream. To master his blade martial art skills.
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EEEE I forgot to tell her my gender preference |
Far in the future, a baby was born in the country of Ymir. "He" was instantly remembered as the reincarnation of the God king. However all of "his" happiness suddenly turned into a shock when "he" learnt that "he" was born a girl π. Due to the circumstances, lets omit the word "he" and we used "she" from now on ππ. The good thing of this anime was how funny it could get. While the idea of gender-bender was not new in the anime's world, the idea of "his" sexuality turning into a girl could get funny at times. Maybe "she" was hoping that being a young man would give "her" the peak of human strength again yet, the Goddess gave "her" a girl body instead which somehow limited "her" physical prowess LMAO. To be honest, It was not the Goddess' fault either because "she" didn't ask to be born as a boy so the choosing of the baby's gender was up to her. Nevertheless, whether liking it or not, she was content with her reincarnation as she learnt first hand that her godly Aether power remained. Which means, despite not being born in the line of nobility, she still can activate her "cheat" in life. First thing first, she remembered everything from her previous life; including basic courtesy, profound wisdom, knowledge of using aether (like levitation and aether spirit strike), and she even knew the path of her choosing at the very young age.
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fighting the boss since 8 years old |
The anime follow suit with the introduction of other characters including Raftina or also known as Rani. She was the first daughter of Marquis Bilford to whom married with her mother's sister meaning that she and Inglis was cousins. Raftina also had an older brother named Rafael. who might be only a few year older than Inglis but he was quite mature for his age , brave and hard working. More importantly Rafael had a special rune on his hand which symbolizes hope and heroism. The important thing here to note here is that magical knowledge had been diminish tremendously and by the times the king born, she realized that the presence of the Goddess' had gone. The usage of Rune for using artifact itself seemed very different with the aether magic during her previous lifetime..and it seemed that everyone who was blessing with a certain runes symbol will be adept to a specific kind of artifact (weapon imbued with magical power). Something that Inglis did not remember during his past life.
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Mirror-mirror on the wall..Who is the fairest of all |
During her infant time, the monster known as magicite beast ran amok and attacked the country. They decided to take a shelter on the castle. It was no surprise that the little King already felt curious with the magicite beast as she had an instant urge to deal a finishing blow to the monster. In other people eyes, she looked like a terrified baby but in reality, she couldn't contain her excitement to fight the magicite beast when she grew up. The part when the magicite beast attacked the castle truly show how good Inglis potential as a hero. Even as a baby, she knew very well that she could still use an aether strike to blast the magical creature. In retrospect, Seeing Rafael's determination to help people in trouble made her touched with his will and selfless act. She was once a hero too, so seeing her cousin had a similar selfless quality on him made her realized that supporting him would produce another great leader in the near future. Since she just could not let a potentially great hero dying due to the monster 's attack, she went closer to the monster and use an Aether strike to send it flying. And the funny thing was she made the monster gone when she was still an infant no less. In my opinion, she was already making too much hero work despite how much she tried to stay low. It might be inevitable for her to follow up her old path as a hero.
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Getting excited for a merchant job because it was dangerous GG king |
The scene moved forward six years in the future and that little "gramps" already turned into an adorable little girlπ She really liked how she turned up as a cute lady although she was against being a girl at first. It is really funny that she still think herself as an old man despite she had reborn completely as a girl. Well they managed to bring a good finale for the first episode by pitting Inglis against her first human opponent. Back to the story, a group of merchant asked for a friendly matches between them and the knights (which was lead by Inglis father's; Luke). The merchant's son (Rahl) secretly chanted a spell to bind his opponent movement which restricted her opponent reach. After a succession of win-streak against the knights, the boy started to become more and more haughty and he wanted to challenge Rafael as he was considered as the best knight at the Knight's team (only a bit weaker than Inglis 's dad). In term of skill and power, Rafael obviously stronger than the boy. However, since Lindis told him to close his eyes in order to avoid the spell, he had limited movement to counteracts his opponent. Rafael lose and since it would make the knight lose their face against the Merchant, Inglis challenged him on one on one duel. They made a good fighting sequence for Inglis as with her skill, she could predicted his movement and evaded his attack even if she closed her eyes. Being a six years old girl didn't make Inglis worried at all because her skill in compliance with the Aether talent already proved too much for his opponent.
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What you see here is the old king beating the arrogant Kung Fu guy |
It was a nice opening act for the anime with the action sequence proved better than what I predicted. It incorporates the zooming camera movement; switching the side of the duelist, which we can see from Inglis and Rahl Duel. In addition, the parody was spot on and quite funny; ranging from the king realization to her gender swap to her antics of wanting to beat the monster. It was quite a humble beginning and the world building for the king had been nicely done.I am pretty much sure that the king will encounter the path of heroism once more despite her unwillingness to be a heroine and her preference to walk in a more down-to-earth path. Next stop we will see the more prettier version of her π