Mine is the Way of the Sword: let's talk about Full Metal Daemon Muramasa

Writing reviews isn't really something that comes naturally to me, and when the subject is such a large-scale work, that becomes even harder. I went in with expectations that were, frankly speaking, ridiculously high— I was expecting something on the level of my favorite route of my favorite VN(that being UBW in Fate/Stay Night)— and reader, it delivered.

In a world where smiths forge themselves into living robot armor that join their pilots through henshin poses, our story opens in a battlefield. The first of many fight scenes takes place, followed by the plundering of a village—and the descent of an otherworldly silver-colored musha that puts an end to it all…before abruptly cutting to a slice-of-life story about a group of teenagers looking for their missing friend. These are the actual protagonists and through their all-powerful friendship they defeat—just kidding. FMDM loves pulling the wool over your eyes. This is not a story of heroes, the title card says, but not everyone gets the memo.

Our (actual) protagonist is the police inspector Minato Kageaki, who pilots the crimson tsurugi Muramasa. Some call him a hero of justice, but he calls himself a demon. His actions are initially inscrutable—just what is up with that guy? I spent most of the common route wondering about this question—and so did everyone around him. What a character.

Now, what's the difference between a hero and a demon, anyway? What is justice, what is revenge? In this world where the flames of World War II are being stoked, whether a hero shows up or not, whether sins get punished or not, people keep fighting as best as they can.

The fight scenes in this VN are a spectacle in and of itself(and according to the Liner Notes, around ¼ of the final product!). They're beautiful, carefully written—you can tell Narahara really cares about kendo. Graphics illustrate the blows and the mechanics of aerial flight, making it feel like I was being taught a class in musha combat—a class which I was tested for(and found rather lacking) in the Nemesis route impromptu kendo exams(⁠-⁠_⁠-⁠メ⁠)...but I digress. Some of the battles are breathtaking with their paragraphs describing form and intent before any swords clash, and others shine through their epic proportions, finishing off with short animated cutscenes that had me cheering like crazy.

Hero route was one of the best routes I've ever experienced in a visual novel. Ichijo is such an amazing character. I was incredibly hyped for it, and it delivered even more than I expected. The debate rages on…

Nemesis route felt kind of lacking in comparison. The thematic core is not as strong as in hero route, and I never really cared about Kanae as a character. The route also feels kind of oddly put-together, what with the random kendo exams and weird adventure game-esque segment. It's just kind of meh in general…

Conqueror route, the last one, felt like it dragged on a bit here and there, but I was on a roll so I didn't really care. From the moment I started the game I wondered if I could romance Muramasa(and throughout the routes, I wished her relationship with Kageaki was more developed) so it made me really happy to see that she now had an affection meter. I went in pretty much blind so I was surprised to see her as such an important character in this route. I never would've expected to have scenes from her POV. She's so cute…ahem. This route’s scale is absolutely insane, and two months later I still kind of feel like I haven't quite processed all of it. It's a story that makes your stomach churn all the way through.

After a kind of mysterious epilogue, we actually get another route—demon route, that is. It's a direct continuation of the conqueror route—the ending, basically It's also very short. I didn't know this route existed beforehand, but you could also say I was hyped for it since it's where the Muramasa h-scenes are.Eh, who am trying to fool with that strikethrough. They were the only fun h-scenes in the whole VN…but half of that might be because I really like Muramasa. Of course, it can't be all flowers and sunshine. No one can get away from all the violence, as much as I wished they could. This is not to say the ending wasn't peak, though. The debate rages on, once again.

Whenever a VN affects me so deeply, I find it hard to say goodbye. At the same time, I feel like I need to delete it as soon as I can, so I can free my soul from it, or something along those lines. What I can say after the end is that I'm really glad I finally got to experience it. Now, let's all listen to Uzuki and do cool henshin poses together!