The story is centered around a group of sword-wielding shrine maidens called Toji, who attend school while improving their extermination skills and serve as a unit in the police force in order to exorcise mysterious, hostile creatures known only as aradama.
As the tournament concludes in an unexpected fashion shortly into the series, a multi-layered conflict starts to unfold and develop involving different factions of Toji and aradama, and its mysterious background slowly unveils following from near the end of World War II.
[6] A mobile game developed by Square Enix titled Katana Maidens ~ Toji No Miko: Kizamishi Issen no Tomoshibi was announced and released on iOS and Android devices in 2018.
[17] The opening theme is "Kono Bangumi wa Ura Wakaki Kōmuin-tachi no Teikyō de Okuri Itashimasu" (この番組はうら若き公務員たちの提供でお送りいたします, This Program is Made Possible By Young Government Workers) by Kaede Hondo and Himika Akaneya under their character names.
[20] Titled Katana Maidens – Tomoshibi, the OVA is animated by Project No.9 and directed by Tomohiro Kamitani, with Aoi Akashiro handling the series' scripts, and Daisuke Niitsuma designing the characters.
Chris Farris solely reviewed the English dub version of the episode, criticizing the constant padding through "sparse backgrounds and needlessly overused CGI shortcuts" and poor explanation of the "overwrought terminology" about Toji but commended the performances from the various voice actresses.
Lynzee Loveridge repeated what both Farris and Beckett said about the episode's delivery of its religious terminology and sword fights, saying she found it "pretty boring for what's supposed to be a supernatural action show."
Rebecca Silverman said the series has potential when the episode moves away from its "cute young girls fight monsters" premise to focus on introducing its cast of characters and buildup some internal conflict towards the end of its runtime.
Nick Creamer gave note of the "internal narrative choices" used throughout for raising the show's arbitrary setup, praising the establishment of the world and Kanami and Mai's characters in a tournament setting, but felt it was hampered by weak attempts at building atmosphere through "abominable background art" and action scenes being undercut by poor CG.
[28] He praised the camaraderie amongst its main cast for carrying dramatic weight and interest between the "solid action scenes" but was critical of the unexplored story elements in a complexly savvy but standard plot, quality control of its animation, and unremarkable soundtrack, concluding that: "Overall, Katana Maidens is a watchable but uninspired series beyond a few featured sword fights.