

In a manga called Soul Eater, one of the characters - a fighter known as
Mifune - is carrying a box of swords with himself. [![Mifune, a character from
Soul Eater, holds a rectangular box with roughly 15 swords in his left
hand.](https://i.stack.imgur.com/C4SPl.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/C4SPl.png)

A striking visual piece.

In a manga called "Attack on Titan" a similar yet substantially different
device is used: a rectangular blade holder. (The characters use sword handles
with replaceable blades; if a blade gets broken, they throw it away and get
another one from the box).

[![Two character form "Attack on Titan" shown. Both hold a sword in each of
their hand. Attached to their hips there are large rectangular boxes, each of
those having around five blades that can easily be removed at
will.](https://i.stack.imgur.com/gyPCv.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/gyPCv.jpg)

While both devices are substantially different, they do appear to be similar
in many ways. So I was wondering - were they inspired by something from an
even earlier manga, or possibly a historical japanese device that actually
existed?


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question
attack-on-titan tropes soul-eater
Where this "box of swords" design comes from?


Not a proper answer but I did get around to reading Soul Eater and something
to note is that Mifune's "box of swords" is an anime thing, it isn't in the
manga. In the manga he just totes around a bunch of katanas tied together by
their scabbards using caution tape (without the bin).

[![Mifune
idle](https://i.stack.imgur.com/1RooT.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/1RooT.png)

[![Mifune draws his
swords](https://i.stack.imgur.com/udJGn.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/udJGn.png)

No idea why this was changed for the anime, if I had to hazard a guess it
might just be animating a mass of scabbards jangling about or a long piece of
caution tape with the words "keep out" repeatedly is more tedious than
animating a box containing that mass of scabbards and a plain yellow band.


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answer