Sword sequence (Critiques would be very appreciated)

Gigoba

Hello everyone I tried to do something different. I tried to do something a bit stylized but still somewhat realistic but I'm having trouble pushing it to look better. I still have a few issues to work out with the sword and polishing some of the movements but it would really help if I could get some advice on this one. Please and thank you! https://syncsketch.com/playground/5cf6a714cb5648bab3ec19f2e0c51079#156832

Tengou

This is a cool practice piece. There are some nice arcs forming on the tip of the sword as he is swinging it around which is good. Right now I feel like the best thing you can do for this piece is to push all your poses to make them more extreme. It doesn't look or feel like he is swinging with deadly intent, just kinda flailing around. If you go to reference with video and pictures it will help.

Also, on the realism front, he should be keeping his back straight. When I took kendo that's the first thing they had to teach me was how to keep my back straight as I have a hunch from being at a computer 24/7 lol. Keep his back straight and bend the knees more. Hope this helps, keep at it!

Hito

I'd watch some videos of Iaido masters, don't think about what you plan to animate, just observe closely. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WkwFCXfCkQ Pay close attention to how they move their feet when they step, how their torso moves when making a cut, how their right hand contact and grip the sword. The grip is essential to the "fluid" feel of a cut, but it is very easy to overlook. http://www.twinoaksforge.com/BLADSMITHING/Get%20a%20(Hammer)%20Grip.htm

Take some swings with a stick, close to a katana's weight if possible, around 2lb, or 1kg. doesn't sound like much til you actually try to swing it around quickly. pay attention to what part of  your body is tense and when, what part of your body is relaxed and when.

as for the animation itself, I think it'd be better if you reduced it down to ~150 frames: draw-horizontal cut, vertical downward cut, sheath. a possible example would be the kata from the above video at the 3:25 mark. He draws, makes 3 cuts in two directions, sheath; in the space of roughly 90 frames. the kata directly after shows a very nice two hand horizontal cut followed by a vertical cut, pay attention to the transition from horizontal cut to the final vertical cut, he lets the sword momentum carry the tip behind and his hands move from horizontal position to vertical in plane of the torso, while the blade tip remains behind the body.