The Walking Dead tv series

[Gamerforlife]

No. No no no.

The heck are they thinking?

So who is taking over? If this keeps up, every season of The Walking Dead is going to feel like a different show.

Yea. It already feels that way. Though I've thoroughly enjoyed each and every season up til this point.

Though season 2 was a bit slow, it felt the best to me. Mainly because I thought the CDC part of season 1 was strange. Pacing was weird. And zombie Fight Club in season 3 is easily my least favorite part of the season. The introduction of less realistic characters like Michonne doesn't help. I like her more than most of my friends do, but she needs a weapon in addition to the katana. Katana alone would not get it done during a ZA, IMO.

What I'm going to say is only very slightly spoilery. The comic book does a good job establishing that there are times when melee weapons are preferable to guns, and over time that seems to be Rick's preferred way of killing zombies. So he often signals Michone to kill zombies instead of people in the group who have guns, because Michone can get the job done without making noise and attracting other zombies. Also Andrea really becomes the marksmen of the group in the book. I feel like Michone is her melee counterpart. He sort of has all bases covered with them. Another person eventually joins the group in the comic who wields a very powerful gun for mowing down zombies, so Michone using guns would be a bit redundant. Her katana makes her stand out.

However, she is portrayed a bit more like a normal person in the book. My problem with her TV counterpart is that they have made her out to be a really exaggerated, over the top sort of action movie character. Ironically, the TV version of her is more comic book like than her actual comic book self

[ZenErik]

Melee is certainly preferred. Especially for noise reasons. But the fact of the matter is a katana simply wouldn't LAST compared to a machete or other thicker/larger blades. Is she sharpening it every day? Does she have spares?

[Gamerforlife]

Melee is certainly preferred. Especially for noise reasons. But the fact of the matter is a katana simply wouldn't LAST compared to a machete or other thicker/larger blades. Is she sharpening it every day? Does she have spares?

Good question, but I do know that in the comic book the blade was not originally hers. Presumably its former owner got a really good blade

EDIT: Definitely no spares, but I'm sure you knew that already

[BurningDoom]

Melee is certainly preferred. Especially for noise reasons. But the fact of the matter is a katana simply wouldn't LAST compared to a machete or other thicker/larger blades. Is she sharpening it every day? Does she have spares?

There are katana blades that were passed down in families for generations in Japan and were used. So I wouldn't think it would break that quickly. I doubt she's using a meant-for-display version that you get at collector's shops.

[Luke]

Melee is certainly preferred. Especially for noise reasons. But the fact of the matter is a katana simply wouldn't LAST compared to a machete or other thicker/larger blades. Is she sharpening it every day? Does she have spares?

It's make believe.

The writers aren't. TWD just had the best season yet, why switch it up?

[brunoafh]

There are katana blades that were passed down in families for generations in Japan and were used. So I wouldn't think it would break that quickly. I doubt she's using a meant-for-display version that you get at collector's shops.

Ancient katana blades are extremely brittle due to the poor quality of the natural resources Japan has in the way of steel. In ancient combat in Japan, a samurai's katana would be rendered useless after just a few blows. Thus why they would line the battlefield with katanas and carry several of them at a time. Despite it's iconic status in pop culture, it wasn't really the samurai's preferred instrument of killing until the Sengoku period rolled around and combatants just started using anything they could get their hands on to defend themselves or fight with. (This also extends into the reason why many farm tools are seen as combat weapons, kunai, scythe, kusarigama, etc). These ancient Japanese swords you're talking about are beaten to hell and ready to crumble. They are seen as national treasures in Japan and are maintained very well, which is the only reason they still exist. I've actually seen several dozen of them personally, in a traveling ancient samurai exhibition at the Museum of Natural History a few years ago. They were behind glass and I was still afraid to blow on them, and the handles had rotted away.

Anyway, it really depends on what kind of katana she is using. As far as I've read, it's never really specified. "Modern" Japanese katanas (post WWII) are of high quality, but are extremely few in number due to the strict weapons regulations in Japan. Ancient katanas are in even fewer number for the reasons stated above. The most plausible conclusion to reach is that she's using one of those replica swords you always see at knife/gun shows and on eBay (which would be several times more useful than a 500 year old unusable hunk of brittle steel with no handle). It's hard to really say anything about the quality of those, as I'm sure it widely varies as to what kind of steel was used to make them. Very unlikely these replicas use the folded steel process though, so they probably bend very easily.

The real answer to the question is very simple though. There is no logic behind the durability of her sword but comic logic. "It's cool".

[ZenErik]

Thanks for the info bruno. That's generally what I had heard about katanas. Seems you know quite a bit about Japanese weapons! And honestly, being "cool" is a great reason to have it as a weapon in a comic book.

What some of my friends don't like is that they say the TV version had been on the more realistic side, well, at least compared to other zombie series, and that Michonne's weapon sort of ruined that.

[Luke]

^It's make believe.

I'm confused why we're not talking about the change in staff and talking about fake weapons instead.

[Jrecee]

So the fact that there are zombies running around is more believable than the fact that someone happened to find/have/make a high quality katana?

[ZenErik]

So the fact that there are zombies running around is more believable than the fact that someone happened to find/have/make a high quality katana?

Realistic for a zombie series? What they think.

I don't really care that much, to be honest. I'm okay with Michonne.