did you see that? he's not using an umbrella. So Setsuka will have at least one iado in her weapon selection!
Ok, sorry to be Mr. Pedantic, but this is about the eighth time I've seen this particular mistake in nomenclature used here recently and it's about to make my brain explode if I don't point out the distinction! :) "An iaido" is not a thing, nor is an "iaido sword": iaido is the martial practice devoted to the technique of unsheathing and sheathing a sword (usually before and after--and ideally, seamlessly with--a strike) itself. It can in theory apply to the use of any kind of sword, although as a historical matter the actual traditional Japanese art of iaido was/is practiced with a katana (or wakizashi, tachi, ect.). There is a kind of (typically blunted) practice sword sometimes referred to as an 'iato', but here again, the sword doesn't need to be of a particular type, form, or morphology: it is typically in the form of a katana, but technically any sword would be an iato if it were a practice sword utilized in the pursuit of iaido.
So, what Setsuka's master is using here is not an "iaido" (which is a concept), nor is it an "iato" (which would be a probably blunted sword used primarily for practice in iaido and some forms of kata); rather what we see in that video is merely a katana that may have a straight edge (sometimes called a chokuto in modern parlance, although this is a bit of an anachronism as 'chokuto' actually has a more complex traditional meaning in both technical and historical terms). Anyway, I'm not sure its presence in a couple of frames of video confirms that it will be available as a CaS item. I certainly hope that is the case though. I'm a little guarded about the possibility considering some of those parasol animations though and how prominent it seems to be not just in many normal strikes, but also the CE and and intro/exit animations. Fingers crossed they just decided to ignore all of that and leave a non-umbrella'd version in anyway, knowing it would have big CaS functionality.
That little bit of gratuitous nit-pickery done, I'll add my voice the chorus of those who like Setsuka's redesign: it's certainly more drastic than I was expecting, but considering it seems to tie into her story thematically in several respects, and given we still get at least one of her classic outfits, and considering that the new look is just basically really slick, and adding the possible CaS uses in on top, I have to say I'm all for it.
On another matter, I've been trying to figure out what to make of the promotional phrase in the trailer "discover newly coordinated looks". Is this just an awkward Engrish construction saying that there are new custom parts beyond those being separately enumerated in the trailer? Or does this wording hint at some other new feature regarding some of the CaS content? I will say I like the notion of the return of the Tiger Lily Armour (I think I am remembering the name right?). That will be useful in recreating some older designs--always something that will be appreciated be a few older CaS fans.
!
