Sword Gai

Sword Gai (ソードガイ) is a Japanese manga series written by Toshiki Inoue with original character design by Keita Amemiya and scenario by Wosamu Kine. The first twelve episodes ("Part I") of an anime adaptation titled Sword Gai: The Animation were released on Netflix worldwide on March 23, 2018. Part II was released on July 30, 2018.

Plot
Gai is a young man who is an apprentice to the blacksmith Amon, who found him as a newborn with the legendary cursed katana Shiryū, which drove his mother to commit suicide rather than be consumed by its bloodlust. Shiryū is revealed to be one of many cursed weapons that turn their wielder, who is known as a Chrysalis, into a thrall who embodies their murderous impulses. Over time, a Chrysalis gradually loses their humanity until they transform into armored monsters called Busoma. After Gai loses his right arm when a ceremony to subdue Shiryū goes wrong, Amon forges it into a prosthetic limb for Gai. Becoming a Chrysalis with the ability to fuse with his weapon, Gai attempts to retain his humanity while fighting the Busoma, which seek to exterminate humanity.

Characters

 * Gai Ogata (緒方 凱)
 * User of Demonic Sword Shiryū. When he was born, his mother committed suicide to avoid being consumed by Shiryū's bloodlust. Soon after, Amon found and adopted him, taking him in as his apprentice. After losing his right arm in a failed ceremony meant to subdue Shiryū, he gains the ability to fuse with it after Amon forges it into a prosthetic limb to replace his arm.
 * User of Demonic Sword Shiryū. When he was born, his mother committed suicide to avoid being consumed by Shiryū's bloodlust. Soon after, Amon found and adopted him, taking him in as his apprentice. After losing his right arm in a failed ceremony meant to subdue Shiryū, he gains the ability to fuse with it after Amon forges it into a prosthetic limb to replace his arm.


 * Seiya Ichijō (一条晴也)
 * User of Chakram.
 * User of Chakram.


 * Sayaka Ogata (緒方 さやか)
 * Amon's daughter.
 * Amon's daughter.


 * Amon Ogata (緒方 亜門)
 * Gai's adoptive father, who adopted him and took him in as his apprentice following his mother's death.
 * Gai's adoptive father, who adopted him and took him in as his apprentice following his mother's death.


 * Kigetsu


 * Naoki Miki (三木 直樹)
 * User of Fallgon Sword.
 * User of Fallgon Sword.


 * Marcus Lithos (マーカス・リートス)
 * User of Azoth Sword.
 * User of Azoth Sword.


 * Mina Haraya


 * Takuma Miura (三浦 琢磨)
 * Former administrator of the Shoshidai, User of Zsoltgewinn.
 * Former administrator of the Shoshidai, User of Zsoltgewinn.


 * Kyōka Kagami (鏡 京香)
 * Current administrator of the Shoshidai.
 * Current administrator of the Shoshidai.


 * Midoriko
 * A Underground Idol and User of Flanberge Sword.
 * A Underground Idol and User of Flanberge Sword.


 * Yasuko Tanaka
 * User of Gallon's Hammer.
 * User of Gallon's Hammer.


 * Issei Ariga
 * User of Nebestigma.
 * User of Nebestigma.


 * Arnys


 * Shin Matoba


 * Kazuma Matoba


 * Rie Matoba


 * Kuromaru


 * Kagatsuka


 * Himiko
 * Leader of the Gabi.
 * Leader of the Gabi.


 * Kazumo


 * Grimms (グリムス)


 * Hakim


 * Tatsumi


 * Kiyomi


 * Kei

Manga
It began serialization in Hero's Inc.'s seinen manga magazine Hero's in 2012 and has been collected into six tankōbon volumes. A sequel series, titled Sword Gai Evolve (ソードガイ エヴォルヴ), was released in 2016 and ended in 2019.

Anime
An anime adaptation originally developed by DLE and Fields was scheduled to air in April 2016, but it was delayed indefinitely until Netflix streamed the series worldwide on March 23, 2018. Tomohito Naka directed the series while Takahiro Ikezoe served as the chief director, Inoue himself wrote the scripts, Atsuko Nakajima designed the characters, Toshiki Kameyama was the sound designer, and Kotaro Nakagawa composed the music. Sword Gai: The Animation was animated by LandQ Studios. The opening theme song is "Sadame Goto" (サダメゴト) by Yūto Uemura. Sentai Filmworks will release the series on home video.