ONE PIECE Mihawks Sword is PRACTICAL?! 

We've actually seen Mihawk use the cross guard as an additional handle before.

Fun Fact: theres a reason for Yoru's exceptionally large cross guard. Its also two handles.

Let's be fair ; Mihawk's sword is actually too small for the purpose he intends for it. It's a sword that is used to kill warships.

Shad, all I will say is yes. The write rof One Piece, Oda, 1000% researched European swords and spain in general to factor in the designs. You’d be shocked how deep into our real world this series takes inspiration.

Oda does have a love of swords. It mostly revolves around katanas but he also loves the swords used by pirates, obviously. The anime and manga does go in depth at times with this.

shad still hasn't figured out that the key to using giant swords, provided the presence of super strength, is to wield two of them and always keep them moving in opposite directions, that way you're never off balance.

i think the size also becomes even more reasonable when you consider that mihawk is canonically 1.98m tall and, considering his impressive physique, probably weighs like 150kg, most of which is pure muscle, so using that sword wouldn't be as hard on him as it would for shad.

It isn't the size of the sword, it is how you use it.

With how long One Piece is, I never would have expected so many new people to be able to get into it. The live action adaptation is a huge success in both faithfulness to the original and opening things up to so many more people. It really warms my heart in so many ways.

Another element that is often forgotten is that Mihawk in the anime is 2m tall (6'6") so having a giant sword is less of an issue for him.

Passing a disclaimer along to all viewers. DO NOT purchase anything from Traditional Filipino Weapons - TFW. I ordered a sword from them almost 3 years ago and they never delivered. Constant lying about when it will be done and eventually 0 updates. Now when pressed for a refund they’re not responding. I’m not emailing a pr guy mind you, It’s been contact with the owner! 3 Years, no sight of the sword or my 800$.

"In Soviet Russia, sword swing YOU!" I must remember this for future use sometime...

Mihawk's is what we call a "Dex scaling greatsword"

"They did such a great job with the live action" There's a sentence I never would have expected to hear about an anime adaptation on Netflix prior to the release of One Piece!

We need the Zoro vs Mihawk fight scene autopsy. I would love to see Shad dig into some of the sword fight scenes but especially that one.

I now kinda want to see how you could make anime designed swords functional. Like how far can you go making a anime weapons IRL functional.

Please tell me your doing his little sword next! You know the one where he says the line “I don’t hunt rabbits with a cannon.”

There are alot more European swords in One Piece, try checking out Shanks' Gryphon (saber), Cavendish' Durandel (rapier) Crackers Pretzel (long sword) Most katana's from the series have an origin from Wano wich is a feudal Japan inspired country, so that makes sense. Some cool others to check out Whitebeards Murakumogiri (Naginata) and Laws Kikoku (Odachi) and oc there are many others 😉

The swords in One Piece are generally very good. The main "rule" he sticks to is that only Zoro and characters from Wano (the Japan equivalent nation) use katanas. Everyone else uses a mix of other swords with basket hilt cutlasses, sabers, backswords, and rapiers (most Marines), scimitars (falchions, etc), and various Chinese swords - like the two handed Chinese dao (Trafalger Law's being the most notable) being among most common. Of course it can not seem like that since so many Chinese dao look like katanas unless you look close enough to see the solid plate guards. This is not always clear in the language (as the Japanese often uses the Japanese words as they are more general in used in Japan unlike in the west where we reserve the Japanese names for the Japanese version only - so Oda calls Law's miaodao a nodachi, and the like), but the difference it is clear in the art. That Dracule Mihawk has a cross themed sword based on a Gothic (German) messer makes perfect sense - as his vampire aesthetic and crosses goes hand in hand and it fits a gothic theme. If you were to do Mihawk's sword in real life, narrowing the blade from edge to spine is obviously going to be done. In fact, that should be the starting assumption for making ANY real life version of a sword from art, animation, or even live action film because that is always going to be exaggerated in ANY form of visual media. It is necessary to make the blades clear and visible. Real swords don't do well in visual media simply because they are hard to see. Take a close look at, say, a 3 Musketeers movie - their rapiers and small swords are often RIDICULOUS if you freeze the frames in order to get them to show on screen. Blades bigger than both my thumbs together in many cases - more akin to basket hilt claymores than rapiers. So, anytime you are taking something from cinema to function, you should consider that reduction to be a requirement rather than a concession. I believe Todd Cutler discussed that when talking about swords for The Witcher a while back.

fun fact, the sword's (which is called Yoru by the way) cross guard heavily resembles a crucifix sadly i failed to confirm if its meant to be but considering he also has one around his neck, which is also a knife, I assume so. but in the 4 kids dub they actually heavily shortened the cross guard to censor the crucifix like appearance.

BIG SWORD GOOD

Next video you gotta do kuro’s multi finger swords.

Love this series of giant sword functionality. Can’t wait for the next titan sword vid

This is relatively realistic. It's the ones like Cloud or Sephiroths blades that are insane.

It should also be pointed out that Mihawk is quite tall, making the rotations a lot easier because he's already further up off the ground and also has a wider range of motion with his arms, which effectively makes the sword smaller in comparison.

It's worth noting that characters in One Piece are not merely superhumanly strong, but also often superhumanly large. Mihawk is well over 6 feet tall and many powerful characters stand in excess of 10 feet tall with the weight to match. Not only do they have the proper builds to weild what would otherwise be outrageously huge weapons, but their physical strength is also far beyond what even Mihawk displays in the live action. A single sword clash between 2 characters on Mihawk's level was shown to be able to split the clouds in the sky above them. So not only are the weapons huge because the characters can use them effectively, but they also need to be so huge and heavy because ordinary weapons would literally crumble in their hands during intense battles.

The cross guard itself is actually probably less of a problem for Mihawk then it is in real life. I know that superhuman strength and stamina are usually the only things that are really relevant when it comes to making giant fantasy swords seem more manageable, but in this case, I actually think that his other superhuman abilities would also come into play in regards to being able to use the sword effectively, specifically in regards to the problems you guys had with the length of the cross guard getting in the way and with it being a single-edged sword. First, Mihawk is the best swordsman in the one piece universe, which would likely already mean he has less of a problem with knowing how to position and angle the sword to stop the cross guard from hitting his arm. On top of that, he also has superhuman movement speed and, most likely, superhuman perception and reaction time. Most anime characters also have these abiltities since they need them to dodge the super-speed attacks of opponents. Many characters are even able to move/react quickly enough to dodge at light speed. So, with that in mind, he would likely be much more capable of seeing an attack coming and reacting appropriately to position and angle the sword so that the edge is swinging towards the opponent and so the blade and cross guard don't get caught on anything. Of course, shortening the cross guard would still objectively be better since then he wouldn't have to worry about that at all, but it would probably at least be a significantly smaller problem for him then for you guys.

The crossguard on Yoru is actually a bit wider as you noted. In the live action, it was the same width as Mihawk's shoulders, in the anime it stretches a few inches past each shoulder.

I would love to see y’all hire a larger person for an episode and have them test out these big swords. Like a body builder that’s 6’5” or higher! It could demonstrate a lot of your points about what is or isn’t practical, basically “what happens when a giant wields a sword?” (I’m aware that 6’5” isn’t a giant, just thinking what’s possible). Also, this is really entertaining because part of the lore of Final Fantasy VII is that Sephiroth is the only person powerful enough to wield his sword, to the point that he even leaves it in President Shinra‘s body without anyone taking it. I always thought that was kind of stupid but at least from a combat standpoint you guys have proven that it would absolutely make a difference how powerful you are. I really enjoyed this episode! Finally, please come up with a name for this “Uber-Falchion” class 😂

Mihawk has a SMALL BLADE in the cross around his neck. He only uses the Black Blade when the opponent is worth it or to cut huge target like . . . SHIPS!

Haven’t watched the channel in years. Glad you are still creating great content AND having fun doing it.

Anime can be surprisingly historically accurate sometime. In fact sometimes even moreso than western productions. For example you have a lot of decently historical knowledge on display in Vinland Saga. And I seem to recall that in Maria The Virgin Witch, even halfswording and mordhau grips are on display in the fighting, which is pretty freaking spectacular when it comes from anime produced in Japan where you wouldn't expect too much familiarity with historical european martial arts or arms and armour.

It's exactly midnight where I live. A perfect time for a video on Mihawk- or his sword ig.

Please do Arlong's Kiribachi! I want to hear your thoughts on such a bizarre "sword"

Then we gotta take in the factor of how BIG humans can get in the one piece world. 4:25 Oda does his research Shad

Has Shad done Monster Hunter yet? My man gonna have a field day.

Okay now you guys really need to look at Tengen Uzui’s nunchuck sword lol.

6:29 “when I got into swords as a kid” gotta respect shad 👌🏾👌🏾👌🏾

BTW , One piece has A LOT of non Japanese Swords. You can see pretty swords and weapons from ALL OVER the world. Oda is insane like that. (but there's also plenty of katanas) For example , Shanks and Gol D Roger both have Sabers.

One of the things they didnt touch as mutch on , is the fact that Mihawk is not only physicly strong but he fought and trained with Yoru for at least 20-22 years (the earliest we saw him with that blade was at Rogers execution in the anime at least )thats a lot of time to get used to one single sword, i dont practise any swordsmanship myself at the moment but thats what i think . If i got anything wrong feel free to correct or add to my comment i bet there are things i might even learn

love u shad dont stop i support you!!

If I was a medieval knight and I saw someone actually using that absolute monster of a weapon, I’m declaring him my new king

I love shad's energy, it's contagious.

Great video guys! Love the analysis.

The size looks very similar to the William Wallace claymore

As a fan of One Piece and a fan of historical realism, this video brings me great satisfaction.

ive always liked the great sword in the monster hunter games. because its so massive, the player literally uses its momentum to perform rolls, flips, and vaults over the sword as they swing it. in fact monster hunter has a bunch of cool weapon types with their own fighting styles. like a shield/lance combo with a functional cannon built into the tip of the lance.

The poor castle still has the dent that Shad put in it from swinging around one of his big swords. Can't really not see that everytime they shoot a piece in front of the castle.

He uses the sword more like a tool than a weapon most of the time. Extra handles, a stepping stool, etc. :D and the occasional chop chop of course

I think Mihawk is closer to being Romanian than Spanish; given his name I assume he'll have some amount of Dracula Tepes in there. I think there's a lot to be said about technique too, as you've demonstrated with the larger sword and using shoulder, etc. as in that fight between Zoro and Mihawk, Mihawk is constantly pressing on Zoro how stregnth isn't enough and he needs control and grace. With the sword I think it's more of a combination of a claymore and a flachion; thematically combining Ottoman and Crusader weaponry.I think this is also reflected in the ornate design the sword has in the anime. I think it makes sense that he uses a large sword that requires long deliberate swings to show off his confidence. Practically, I guess it would be a sword best used for crowd control; it's meant to be swing around.

Big plus of Mihawk's sword, the spine is essentially a giant hand hold. If you wanted the shorten the blade or having trouble controling the wieght, squezzing the back with one hand while another on the hilt.

The anime and manga are considered masterpieces and Shad I'm sure you as a writer would appreciate the level of complexity in the writing if you give it a chance.

As one who is enthusiastic about your channel as well as one piece, I am happy to see you cover one of the more realistic, unusable fantasy swords. One thing of note to Shad or anyone on the team. Why would his sword be classified as a falchion vs messer?

My favorite thing about one piece is that one of the strong characters in the series wields a sword breaker as his main weapon

Shad's titan sword is turning into Brandon's AK 50

Shad is a legend.

The creator of one piece, Eiichiro Oda, is rather well known for his intense level of research. He most definitely did a lot of research on European weapons to create this sword.

I can't wait to see how Shad takes to all the other swords from One Piece.

Shad, interesting point about giant sword you might want to test. In some fantasy books I've met mentioning of kicking the sword. It might sound ridiculous at first, but if you think about it, kick with toe (sword in front), heel (sword behind) or side of your sole (sword on the side) may give some additional momentum and/or simplify changing position from low to high. I suppose, one should kick a flat side of a blade, to avoid injuries. Would you care to test this theory?

The One Piece Is Real. So is the value in this video. Cheers, Shad.

Shad, love your work. Could you do a review of the castle of in Jack the Giant Slayer, after watching your videos on castle design, I recently rewatched the movie, and I've noticed it has several elements that make it a really good fortress,, drawbridge, moat, etc, but I also noticed several weaknesses, after the giants pull down the drawbridge, they smash down the single portcullis, and then their in the main entrance courtyard, and was wondering if you could do a deep dive into what makes it a good castle, point out the flaws in the design and how to improve them.

"You can take them a lot of different ways" That's what she said.

Two franchises I'd like to see you guys take a look at for this kind of analysis would be the disposable blades in Attack on Titan and specifically the viability of their "cut out the nape" attack plan. The idea behind those weapons is that the Titans can only be killed by having a rough 1.5m chunk of their nape cut out, and they regenerate relatively quickly. Quickly enough that you can't feasibly cut it out in multiple passes, you need to do it in one go. The titan flesh itself is difficult to cut through but not impossible, so they go with incredibly sharp but fragile flexible blades that can be disposed of and replaced the moment they dull to the point of unusable. The materials aren't really testable as they're made of a fantasy material, but the technique is something I'm curious about. Can you feasible make two cuts with one pass that actually "cuts out" an area. Presumably each cut forms a curved shape, like ( and ) but overlapping each other. But can you actually do that in one pass or is that motion just not practical? Could you think of any other way to perform the required damage (sever the roughly human sized area of the nape) that might be more practical? As tech in the setting progressed they moved on to just blowing the nape up, but I'm curious as to whether other methods might have worked. Maybe even methods that wouldn't have required the spiderman style grappling hooks. Could a team of men with polearms for targeting the joints and weighted nets bring a Titan down and then deploy something designed to cut out the nape in particular? The other franchise I'd love to see you take a crack at it Monster Hunter. Thats another case of impractically large weapons and just like the Attack on Titan example, the twist is that they're not designed for fighting humans, but rather fighting monsters.

you should see the ax from gate: thus the JSDF fought there. it doesn't look like much but it weighs a ton. that was a safety feature in case it was ever stolen. The ax however isn't too crazy in design other than slight decoration on the finial and its paint job it looks like a medieval soldier's pike axe. the ax however is very fast and has a lot of heft to take people down fast. the author did a good in researching medieval weapons.

Record of Lodoss war is so good on the medieval represention because it is literally a Dungeons and Dragon's Replay that was serialized, basically it was a Dungeon's and Dragon Campaign that actually happened and was written in a format that people could read. It was a popular genre in Japan for quite some time, it's just that Lodoss war got hugely popular to absurd levels because of how good it was.

Eiichiro Oda is known for taking heavy inspiration from different time periods from all over the world for his story, I have never seen anything take so much inspiration in a single medium than one piece do some research on the anime’s inspiration it’s amazing.

I kind of feel like practicality isn't something you should look at with One Piece. I mean Mihawk can casually cut a battleship in half with just the air pressure from his sword.

You should look into Brook’s cane sword from One Piece

I mean, to the answer of what kind of sword it is, my brain immediately spat up the answer "a fecking big one".

About the tiitan sword: have you guys heard of carbon kevlar? it could be a replacement for carbon fiber if durability is an issue. from what i've been able to look at it's heavier but more durable, also no it doesn't have bullet resistant qualities.

Might be a little out there but can a vending machine be a good weapon to swing around and throw? It’s surprisingly good for damaging dungeon bosses. Only caveat is that you need super strength to wield them. Based on a recent anime that came out.

It’s kind of funny to see shad getting so excited talking about the length, thickness and functional proportions of other people’s “swords”.

the thing about One Piece too is, there's that power called Haki. Mihawk's sword could actually be paper thin and he'd still be able to thrust through literal iron with it by coating it with Haki, making it extremely hard and durable. So the mentioned 'problem' at 11:20 isn't really a problem in the context of the show

What's funny about this is a year or so ago I commented on your Kriegmesser post saying the sword you were using looks like a shorter version of Mihawk's. Glad the Live Action brought it to your attention.

Made a playlist to compile the full Giantsword saga and related things to the topic like enchantments. Glad to hear the Titansword get mentioned again finally. You mentioned before doing a video where you use the props to recreate Siegfrieds moves. I went and watched his move list while thinking about reality for the first time and a lot of his moves clip halfway through the ground or are absurdly fast and not doable IRL. Would love to see y'all attempt to do and fix his move set. I need more Giantsword content! I hate!! OP and Mihawks sword is, like you said, almost historical in design, Boring. So this isnt really scratching my itch. ru-vid.com/group/PLRoUeiwtkPmDLSw4Y6KwQg9Rw_ekzZvtp

I love your videos shad. Don't let the woke twitter luddites silence you

I’d class this kind of sword as α “Pantsmesser,” because that’s what you’ll be doing when Mihawk rolls up to you with it.

I deff needed this video to see if it was practical. THANK YOU

hey shad do you think that with its mass the blunt side of the sword could be just as effective a weapon as the edge and if so does that mean you could theoretically make that part of the fighting style?

Expecting realism from one piece is like expecting legibility and complete sentences from Joe Biden.

"This one's very long, Shad" "YyeEeaH" 👹

I'd love to see a blacksmith make this one out of steel for you to try out. With some smart geometry I think it would be wieldable and usable

When will the rest of the castle vlogs are coming? Im waiting for the Warwick castle, i was there when you filmed it and took a picture with you

The cross guard is super important to be big though because it’s supposed to look like a crucifix on his back.

Well, Oda is a big history enthusiasts and he makes sure to include a lot of historical details in his work

yoru is one of the coolest sword in anime

"I'm not really into One Piece" One Piece Fans: "So you have chosen death"

Thank you for this channel i love yall vibes

12:46 OMG Shad!! 😱 Yes!! It is a classic!!

4:06 yes Oda knew what he was doing. for those who haven't or have watched one-piece. not sure if you ever noticed but the entire show is HEAVILY inspired by our history specifically anything between the 1500s and 1800s and maybe just a little into the 2000s but that's speaking tech wise. most of the weapons and things of that nature "even characters" are inspired by our world history. still waiting for someone to make a video about this because the correlations between our own history and that show is kinda nuts.

I love ALL Shadiversity videos!!!! ❤

Adding a sharped false edge to that design would make chaining Zwerchhau style cuts more possible. Falchion on one side, falx on the other!

Shad if I could give you a million likes for this episode I would… You mentioned my favorite medieval fantasy anime and no one knows about it anymore…

12:17 The swords in the 2016/2017 Berserk anime remake are really cool ! Quite dark anime but definitely worth seeing.

At one point it sounded like you said you visited some armouries in England, if that's right I hope it was Leeds armoury, when I went there it was overwhelmingly amazing, I spent hours and hours there

Totally waiting for a video of them all trying to swing around kne of ashmanathletics dragonslayers. The one dude swings one around on the daily and is Shredded. It can be done people! 😂😂

Ngl the guy with the glasses is the only one who kept me sane watching this 😭😂

That moment when you just move past your boss's really bad joke only to be forced to laugh at it.

Another important thing about weight in sword is the distribution, if the distribution is bad or there is too much weight the sword can break.

It’s pretty simple for maneuvering the bigger sword… you just gotta be strong enough to cut through the ground when you swing upwards !