A short animated gif purportedly highlighting the much vaunted efficacy of the katana in comparison to a mere broadsword has surfaced, inciting a storm of controversy.
Needless to say, internationally this short video has inspired much discussion of the merits of the two blades, the test itself, and of course the excessively exaggerated properties of the katana.
2ch for its part is aghast at the soul of the samurai being turned and bent asunder by rude barbarian steel:
They’re using it wrong!
This is probably just an imitation using cheap steel…
Even a katana gets bent and broken. I don’t see the point.
A Japanese blade bends!?
Looks cheap.
Ah, the way the light reflects off it is all wrong – an obvious fake.
It’s no fake. Also, cutting and striking are two different things. If you want to ‘cut’ you need the right technique.
Doesn’t this make a steel shield the ultimate defence?
People really have too many illusions about these blades. Looks cool anyway.
You shouldn’t use all your strength when swinging a blade anyway.
Foreigners really worship katana and ninja a little too much.
Steel wouldn’t bend like that! Is it aluminium?
Steel would never bend like that!
Because a broadsword is a blunt weapon.
Just proving why the spear is superior again.
Seriously? Excuse me while I go to the shop to sell Masamune…
A Japanese blade’s strength lies in its ability to dispatch an enemy in but one stroke, it doesn’t rely on sheer hardness. These foreigners like flashy things so perhaps the harder thing looks stronger to them.
The usual:
All those foreigners have are cheap Chinese copies!
Under these conditions a hammer is best!
After the sakoku [closing of the country to barbarians], the samurai were just playing at swordfighting and the Japanese sword became nothing but a mere decoration. The blades used in the west continued to be honed in real battle – it’s obvious they’d be stronger.
Just the sort of idiotic test some fool barbarian would concoct, eh?
Not a real katana. As for the foreigners leaping to defend it – I laughed!
Aren’t those foreign anime otaku just mistaking ‘the sword that cuts iron’ for reality?
Foreigners absolutely worship katana.
Why? TMNT or something?
Probably Highlander’s fault.
Ideal:
Actuality:
So this ‘katana’ is going to be recalled too?
Who would have thought 2ch harboured so many experts on metallurgy and swordcraft?
Dragonslayer sword > any kind of sword
I have 2 issue’s with this is these two swords should never clash like this. That’s not a straight Katina. It’s curved. Which means it’s supposed to slice. Not chop.
The only reason you should allow another blade to touch it would be to deflect IF you have no other choice but in no situation should you impact a head on collision with it let alone provide more force for the impact like the video.
People have already expressed the other possible issues like these two weapons never having a reason to have met, and were designed for two different types of combat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hy_A9vjp_s&list=FLS4Ff2OUDLoVOLXluNs1obQ&index=35&feature=plpp_video
This is the full video. The katana was hand forged from quality steel, and used by a trained martial artist. Don’t you dare pull the ‘Oh, a real Japanese smith would have made a sword that would have beaten that clunky European one!’. Katana are over-sized razors that were geared for a specific niche. They are not steel-cleaving weapons, no such things exist. Stop fapping to what you think is Japanese culture and pick up a history book,
well, europeans made high quality steel 1000 years longer than japanese did. and europe wasn’t a peaceful and tranquil place like that tiny island either.
and it’s fairly common knowledge that japanese steel sucked, which is why they started importing it from europe since the 15th century.
and european swords are simply not as hyped as katanas because nearly every peasant had one in his trunk. would you brag with the quality of your empty cola bottles?
katana win, no ways broad sword can win katana! 100% sure.