Rion's Sword Stance and Sword Art

[Cedric]

Her character intrigues me out of all the ones mentioned and seen so far. She has a Gremio-like personality, calm but determined; perfect for a bodyguard. But in addition to that she has a charm like Nanami. (OR if Nanami didn't have any charm for you personally, then Rion has the charm that Konami had intended for Nanami) So I'm trying to get a head start on getting to know her character.

I figure some people would know just by looking, so I have to ask. Does anyone recognize whatever sword stance she's using? A lot of times Konami mirrors some sort of martial art in real life, and I'd like to some small research on her Sword art if it exists. There's a chance she could be like Rikimaru and Zaj and have an art that's impossible in real life, but this doesn't seem to be the case.

And just to shoot down this point of the argument, I'll say this now. I know that we can't always trust everything in a game, but that's all we have here. It never hurts to speculate or talk about possibilities, though.

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Here are a few things I've noticed about the way she fights from the trailer (Which I've watched 1000 times already :D )



Cutscene with the Prince

* She draws her blade with the right hand from her left waist. This indicates she's right handed.

* The hilt of her blade is pretty long. This indicates the use of two hands.

* The blade itself is about as long as the hilt. I still wouldn't classify that sword as a katana or Wakizashi though.

* Normal stance = left elbow locked at the bottom of the hilt; Right arm all the way up front to the middle or tip of the hilt.

* If she's right handed, then her starting stance is unusual. Instead of having her dominant foot back, she has it forward. And when she lunges at the Prince, she uses her left foot even if she's right-handed.



Battle Scenes:

* As she's slashing away at the Blue Dragon, she keeps that dominant foot up front.

Using my horrendous Paint skills, I tried to duplicate the sword motions on her five hit combo she used on that soldier.

Art critics beware

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Legend:

Red Dot = Starting location
Red Line = First slash
Blue Line = Second slash
Green Line = Third Slash
Purple Line = Fourth Slash
Brown Line = Fifth Slash

Arrows indicate the direction of her blade.


Notice that only the first three hits are a real combo. The last two are separate, although it's hard to tell at first because of the trail the swing leaves.

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So that's all I really found on her. There's probably something in Ruroni Kenshin, Bleach, Naruto, etc. that's somewhat similar but I wouldn't know too much about it. The only clue I have is a very small one that may not have much meaning.

In Ruroni Kenshin, Kenshin sets up his Amakakeru-Ryo-No-Hirameki by placing his left foot (Which is his dominant foot) in front just like Rion. That's Kenshin's most powerful move, but I'm not sure if foot placing had anything to do with his move's strength or speed.

The way Rion attacks seem to favor short quick slashes rather than powerful blows. In fact, the only powerful blow I've seen her use was that lunging stab at the Prince. Although it's tough to actually consider that a powerful blow, because they were just sparring. I'm getting pretty curious about it, really.
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[Lord_Tiberus661]

from the art work u did u can tell that her first three swings are a combo. but the last two swings dont fow with it. but from the look of it that could mean that the first set of swings are relativly weaker and her last two sings are the hard hitters. i dont kno if that is a real fighting style or not but that might clear it up some and make it easier to find it. the whole dominent foot in front would seem to put her off balance and confuses the he## out of me. most times you do the opppisite to keep balance when parring and doing the short lunges and slashes. but that could altogether mean a new style of fighting by puting your balence in front of u instead of behind you. another possibility could be that doing this could increase the power of your short slashes but cuts your balnce of parring an attack lower. in mathamattics it would look like this, kinda.

1 being the base

for rione attack x1.5 defence x0.5

but that is only a random speculation and i could very well be wrong. but it could give some clarifaction to her off balance stance.
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The strenght of my Mercinaries will overcome those who stand against me.

[Rai-Jin]

her weapon looks like a huge dual wield katana
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[Fundertaker]

I don't think it is a katana. I know I saw a similar sword somewhere, but I just dunno where. I'll try to do some research and find out which is it.
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Tinto: Kicking Asses is our Speciality


This post is officially Fundertaker Approved

[Admiral Ackbar]

SARS mentioned the name of the weapon type she uses, I can't remember it though. Its a katana where 1/3 of the length is the hilt.
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[Himuro]

Rionne looks like a great character already. I agree.

[Lord_Tiberus661]

[Zeik Tuvai]

Okay.
The initial draw of her sword is actual tradition in most schools of kenjitsu before a duel starts. The way she holds it, low and in front, suggests a balanced stand, offense and defense are of equal importance here. Most cuts in her duel with the Prince seem pretty traditional for most schools that teach the katana, only she seems to be using a sword like a nodachi, but the handle is slightly longer and the blade is slightly shorter. The combo you're talking about (I had to draw my sword and see from my own perspective what on earth you were trying to draw), doesn't really fit into any technique I've seen before. Otherwise, I'd have to say rather traditional schools of kendo and kenjitsu make up for Rion's stances and her non battle techniques. Her sword also appears to be double sided (an edge at both sides of the blade), noticably against the blue dragon when her hand position doesn't change as she slashes upward.

As for Rurouni Kenshin, the left foot forward wasn't because of its dominency. His right foot is dominant. He places the left foot forward and goes into a draw out stance (sword in the sheath, held to the left hip) to grant significant increases of speed and strength to the initial slash. He can use his waist, shoulders, arms, and now his hips for a grand attack that's roughly 1.5 times faster and stronger then if his right foot were forward, and almost 4 times faster and stronger then a regular swing in a standard stance. Basically, what I'm saying, is that it's just body mechanics and not specifically technique in that case.

Hope that helps.
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Those who stray from the path of justice,
Are those who have no courage...
But under the wing of a strong leader,
Cowardice cannot survive.

[Oboro Tennosuke]

I'm not 100% sure about this, but...in the trailer, when you see two shadows fighting in the room with The Queen's statue, one of them is holding his/her sword like Rionne does at the beginning of the duel against the Prince. Since that scene may simbolyze the Queen's assassination, it would seem that Rionne is somehow involved...

Hope I haven't gone too OT. It's hard to type coherently when Ced's awesome signature is before your eyes...Mana...enough said.
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I'm still a hungry peasant....and the Battle-Crazy Tensatsu Star of Harmonia!