Does this pose of raising your sword with your right hand have any significance? For example, is this a famous pose used by a real life legendary swordsman? Both Zoro of One Piece and Erza of Fairy Tail have used this pose.
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Please let me know if the images used are a problem. I will replace them depending on what the problem is. – Masked Man Feb 3 '13 at 6:29
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I don't think the images are a problem based on the replies I got to this meta question. – Killua Feb 3 '13 at 18:10
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The images are not a problem because they are needed to illustrate the question. In other words, they are not a problem because they are not added gratuitously. – Robert Cartaino♦ Feb 4 '13 at 19:47
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good observation, correlating two anime like that. :) – user1466 Feb 14 '13 at 19:08
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I don't think it is reference to anything specific since it's overly common whenever swords are (and sometimes when they aren't) involved in media.
In general:
- it looks cool
it's usually a show of triumph by combining display of:
- dominance (as other poses that make body "unwrap")
- combat impracticality (no one is doing this in the middle of it)
tvtropes call it StabTheSky.
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2And it shows the audience that the user can still rise his sword and isn't destroyed to the bone, maybe. – Tartori Feb 4 '13 at 13:41
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In both the above pictures, the characters took up the pose not during a battle, but to signify a "badass moment", so this makes sense. I think it would look quite lame if someone just stands in that pose for long during a battle. :P – Masked Man Feb 4 '13 at 17:44
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1Yep, that's under combat impracticality point - it can signify "everyone who can take advantage of me doing this posh vulnerable pose is lying around in pieces" - Erza's case. :) – Rarst Feb 4 '13 at 17:51
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Hmm, good to join this site. tvtropes looks like interesting. thanks for link. :):) – user1466 Feb 14 '13 at 19:08
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As said above. I would say it is not specific to anime / manga, Frazetta painted barbarians with this attitude long before manga was popular in the USA... See for example the galaxywarriorsbysungold.blogspot.fr/p/artwork.html page showing several of these poses. – PhiLho Apr 17 '13 at 12:09
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To add on to Rarst's answer, the pyramid-shaped stance naturally channels the viewer's gaze to the sword, especially to its tip. This places focus on the "warrior spirit", typical of a declaration of victory. The "warrior spirit" is raised to a high position by the stance, which further befits the idea of "dominance".
answered Feb 4 '13 at 12:30
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I don't think there is a hidden meaning behind this. In my opinion, it is just a pose that shows determination. It could be also used a salute. For example, a "classical" sword salute looks like this:
The Olympic Flame is also carried this way:
So I would say that this pose means just that, no special hidden meaning involved. And yeah, it also looks cool.
answered Feb 3 '13 at 7:51
