To respond, Whichever of these I choose to continue forward with (with your help) will have the hips rotate, some torque in the shoulders and a good deal of recoil and bounce both up and forward in the step.  Of course to keep it ninja-ey the upper body should have the appearance of remaining static against the motion of the hips while still moving in a decent fashion.  It is very hard for me to picture what this is going to look like in any detailed sense.  But I'll figure that out when I come to it (or ask for more help).  Chimico: you have touched on my biggest problem understanding animation.  I have trouble interpretting the movement as you call it and making it more dynamic.  I believe I can understand what you mean but I have trouble implementing this idea.  Especially in a cyclic fashion with unrealistic movement in this case.  Things like sword swipes, his back dash, jump and others make a little more sense to me in order to time.  Big sweeps when the motion is fast (with some motion streaks if neccesary) and more frames when slowing or static, right?  I just can't picture whats fast or not here.  would his legs be faster at either end of the spectrum at just before contact or while hes pushing forward of the ground?  I've tried watching ninja scroll, yuma, and I'd like to watch some naruto (but from what I understand on youtube they all run with their hands back and body leaned into the run). I think its something one must practice but I'd love a good edit or some direction.   And I like the katana huge, its sort of a cartoony daikatana.  but if when I animate the slashes its no good for gameplay or too massive i'll shrink it.  Thanks for taking your time to help me out