The sacred Blacksmith (DVD)

Evil beings are scheming to bring chaos to the peaceful Third Independent Trade City in a new fantasy anime called The Sacred Blacksmith. The anime is based on the light novel series by Isao Miura, which was later made into a manga and serialised in Monthly Comic Alive.

Production is by Manglobe Inc, a fairly new production house whose previous credits include Ergo Proxy and Samurai Champloo.

Cecily Campbell is the last descendent in a family of knights, so she takes up her late father's mantle to carry on the Campbell tradition. But Cecily lacks the skills and physical strength a knight needs, and in her first fight, not only is her family sword shattered, but she is almost killed.

Luckily, she is saved by the young blacksmith Luke, who is also, handily, an expert in the use of katanas, or samurai swords.

Cecily begs Luke to forge a new sword for her, but his katanas are very expensive. As they are talking, an alarm sounds, signalling an attack. The two race to the scene to find the city guards being killed by huge wolf-like monsters. Watching things unfold is a mysterious cloaked man. Will Cecily and Luke be able to fight off the monsters? And who is the mystery man and what does he want?

Slated for 12 episodes, this is an exciting, fun and light-hearted anime with an interesting underlying plot and some great action fighting scenes. Keep an eye out for the DVDs.