Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-69.169.149.237-20140108093910/@comment-69.204.51.67-20140807081221

1caiser wrote: First off, you misunderstood me. "The blade" can also be used to refer to the sword in its entirety. It's called synecdoche. If I truly meant 4' blades, the sword would be near 5' in length. Which defeats the purpose, I'm replying for shorter sword lengths. (But for your sake, I shall refrain from using such a synecdote.)

And are you going to argue the drawings of an anime studio that (probably) didn't employ Reki as an advisor against the works that Reki himself made? Let me ask: if you wanted to figure out the capabilities of a rifle, would you rather ask a soldier who used the gun for ten years (and is quite skilled with it) or ask the company that made the gun?

Also, employing the measurements you put forth, there are a few inconsistencies. An adult human (male) in reality is approximately 7.5 head lengths tall. One of Kirito's arm lengths, which is just sorry of being 3 head lengths long, would result in a 27" long arm. I measured my own arm, which is about 26" long.

Taking these lengths into account and using your scale of 7.5" blade and 5.5" arm length, with a 27" arm length, the blade would measure about 36". For the hilt, I will add a maximum of 9", unless you wish to argue that Kirito's palm spans (not hand spans) are 5+ inches. This results in a sword length of about 44". First off, the 7.5 head height is the "ideal" proportion for the adult human, not the actual head height. Proportion varies widely from person to person. For example, at 5'6" I'm only 6 heads tall and have a very long torso compared to my legs or arms. So, 7.5 heads is not the "universal" head height proportion of the adult male. It is only an ideal. So head height alone is not a good measure especially if you're trying to apply the "ideal" head heigth measurements to someone with different proportions. I also just counted Kirito' head height based upon hiis model sheet drawing on his page here, and he too is only 5.5-6 heads tall, not 7.5 heads. His arm length  is also only about 2.25 heads long, not 3.  Kirito's shoulder width is also 1.125 head heights wide. Speaking of proportions, unless a person has disproportionately long or short arms, the arm-span of an adult measured from fingertip to fingertip is equal to their full height, and this is what I primarily used for my comparisons. Thus, Kirito would have an arm span equal to 67.72 inches (5'7.72") (his height). His shoulder width is one half of the lenght of one arm, thus, it is equal to 1/5 his total height. Divide 67.72 by five and you get his shoulder width of 13.544" and, multiplying that by 2, you get an arm length of 27.088" long measured from shoulder to finger tip. Given that the blades of his swords are between to 125%-150% the lenght of one arm, that puts the blade length at 33"-40" long. I measured the arms at about 5/7 the length of the blades, maybe a little less, so that puts the blades at  approximately 130%-135% the length his one arm. At 27.088" for the arm length, that makes the blade 35.2"-36.5"—so about 36" in length, which your own measurements agree on. However, I also measured the hilt of each sword, measured from the cross guard to the end of the pommel, at exactly 1/4 the overall length of the swords, meaning the blade of each sword is exactly 3/4 the overall length of each sword. Thus, with a 36" blade, that equates to a 12" hilt each, not 9". This means that both swords each measure 48" in total length, not 40", not 44". They're a full four feet in length.

And, yes, I would argue that Kirito could easily have hands with a 5" hand width. I have very small hands, even for a typical man of my 5'6" height, and have a 4" hand width. Kirito is taller than I am and has corrispondingly larger hands. His hands are also proportionately larger, so yes, he could easily have a 5" hand width. This further adds up to a 12" hilt.