Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-69.169.149.237-20140108093910/@comment-3250527-20140806175651

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".