There have always been protectors, stretching far back as memory will allow. Ever since the first sword was forged, there have always been Sword Saints. This is the story of Soujiro Taki. His life, his dreams, his training, all guided by his blade.
-Introduction to The Sword Saint
As the introduction says, the story is about the titular Sword Saint, Soujiro Taki, and his day to day efforts at living up to that legacy. This includes going to highschool, which is bad enough on its own when you DON'T have things out to kill you.
Spoiler alert; Demons are involved. No troper should be surprised by this. Surprise twist; Humans CREATED Demons long ago. All of this is revealed within the first page.
It is a work in progress, and can be found on Fiction Press. At this point in time, it clocks in at sixteen chapters, and is roughly the size of the average paperback novel is a complete novel, with the promise of a second on the waycurrently in progress.
This series provides examples of:
Book One: Acceptance
- Ass Kicking Pose: Used anytime someone with a sword decides to get serious.
- Awkward Ability: Firmly established by the second page. Overlaps a bit with I Just Want to Be Normal.
- Badass Back: Surprisingly, used as a DEFENSIVE move. Several times in the story, Soujiro has turned away in the middle of a fight, prompting his opponent to make a hasty attack against his obviously exposed back. He refers to this as 'blind-blocking (his) dead angle'. Overlaps with the Reflexive Response trope, for obvious reasons.
- Body Motifs: To the point that some characters are practically represented by a body part or a particular gesture.
- Asuka's is her feet. The character herself might be aware of that, given the amount of time she spends talking about them.
- Boy Meets Girl: Oddly pulled off as; Boy meets girl, girl taunts boy, boy impresses girl by kicking ass, girl wants to fight boy, boy avoids girl, girl won't leave boy alone.
- Calling Your Attacks: Happens pretty much anytime someone uses a technique, which thankfully, hasn't happened too often.
- The series Tastes Like Shounen after all.
- Character Tics: Each character has them, or have slowly adopted them, or abandoned them as the story went on.
- Asuka gradually began to crouch down, rather than sit, as the story went on.
- Soujiro constantly tapped whatever weapon (improvised or not) he was holding against his shoulder. This tic slowly spread to the rest of the cast, as the various teenagers seemed to pick it up.
- Soujiro also tends to huff to himself a lot when he's displeased, as the story went on.
- Clothing Damage: Asuka suffers this after her 'change', and meshes it with Under Boobs to boot.
- Deadly Lunge Used a few notable times by Soujiro, as well as rejected as an option during a non-lethal duel.
- Eye Scream: A Squicky example; Soujiro stabs a Demon in the eye, then flings it into the air, using his shoulder as a fulcrum and his wooden sword as a lever.
- Even the Girls Want Her: Kikuko combines this with Hot Mom, to great effect.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Soujiro's grandfather, is known only by his description, really. Soujiro refers to him as 'Ojii-san', and the Gramps himself suggests Asuka call him 'Gramps', then wonders if it's too western.
- Face of a Thug: Soujiro, who by his own admission looks 'nondescript' at best, turns this on when he's back into a corner. It seems to be only useful for intimidation, since that's all he's used it for.
- Fanservice: Sprinkled liberally throughout the story, in ever-increasing doses. Soujiro's dream seems to consist of about 80% of this trope.
- Nearly every scene involving Asuka and Mina tends to involve this too.
- Fiery Redhead: Asuka, and how. Given the name, this is a big You Should Know This Already.
- Flash Step: Used shamelessly near the end of the first chapter. After that, it's used a bit more sparingly, and always over short distances.
- Foe-Tossing Charge: Used once or twice, to great effect on otherwise normal jock students.
- Fragile Speedster: In comparison to other Sword Saints, Soujiro fully embodies this trope.
- Heroes Want Redheads: Subverted; Soujiro wants nothing to do with Asuka. Comically, Asuka seems dead-set on seeing this trope enforced.
- Hot Mom: HELLO Kikuko.
- Soujiro nearly snaps when his sister is threatened, before he realizes it's his MOM that's being talked about.
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Ho Yay: It seems that any time Rally is around, the scene starts to drip with this. Asuka and Mina's relationship started with a heavy dose of Les Yay, but it turned out... Different. - I Am Not Left-Handed: Used literally when Soujiro injures his right arm. Used more regularly after that chapter, as his arm heals.
- Informed Ability: Averted in the case of Kikuko and SERIOUSLY averted in the case of Soujiro's father. Both are VERY proficient swordsmen, the latter proves it by knocking Soujiro out in a single blow in a textbook example of Curbstomp Battle.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Justified, perhaps, because Soujiro IS Japanese, as is Gramps. A fair chunk of the cast is made up of fanboy/girls, so expecting one of them to be called on this in the future is fairly certain.
- Averted by the Templar, who claims that the Epee is the perfect weapon.
- Mêlée à Trois: To the tune of; Soujiro, Rally, William and Asuka and Mina. That's three sides, with the third side having THREE members.
- Nakama: Not quite there yet, not in terms of how the characters act as of chapter 16, but it's well on it's way.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Frederic, assuming you make him mad enough to go Papa Wolf. Nobody in the story has yet.
- Yet.
- No Fourth Wall: In the author's notes section at the end of every chapter, characters occasionally comment on their own Bio stats.
- Sometimes literally; Asuka rips up her bio when it's about to reveal her real name. Soujiro apparently slashes his bio apart with a sword in another chapter.
- Inari edits the authors text at the end of one chapter, cutting out at least half of a paragraph, and inserting in a line, directly addressing the reader.
- Sometimes literally; Asuka rips up her bio when it's about to reveal her real name. Soujiro apparently slashes his bio apart with a sword in another chapter.
- No Guy Wants to Be Chased: Played straight at first, later subverted.
- Only One Name: Averted with most of the cast, played straight with Asuka.
- Shout-Out: In the first gym battle, Soujiro makes a reference to a song by The Offspring.
- Weak, but Skilled: About midway through the first book, Soujiro reveals that he's pretty much a Glass Cannon among Sword Saints. Every single other one he meets greatly out-powers him, usually on several levels.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Machi Nari. He's mentioned roughly half a dozen times through the story, as if he's an important historical figure (to the Taki clan, at least) but other than starring in the first page 'flashback', he never appears again, nor is mentioned by anyone other than Soujiro.
- The spirit wolves seem to just up and vanish, too.
- WoodenKatanasAreLessLethalThanSwordsAndAreOnHandFairlyOftenSoTheyArePutToUseFrequently
Book Two: Heart
- Shout-Out: Asuka sings John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads", in a key Soujiro describes as "Off".
