Good question, I'm sure it will be an interesting, civil, discussion.
I have 2 very much in GENERAL questions for a GENERAL discussion.
1-What is a "new" art needed for? What is its purpose? Fully prepared to accept that it does not have to have a "purpose"--except what I mean is what would a "new" sword art provide that none of the old ones don't?
Would it be like inventing a "new" form of baseball or basketball?
2-In terms of "realism" what is meant by that precisely?
I have always felt the mental/emotional aspects are important in a fight, and my personal experience is that anything "safe" enough to fight with, with current technology won't give a sense of "realism" depending on how that word is defined.
I used to fence saber a long time ago, and I can still recall the feeling when my teacher asked us to take off the mask and jacket and glove and then try to fence. The sudden fear of being exposed to even a non-real blade, made us fight like pure novices, suddenly nobody was willing to risk getting a blade in the eye to even try to score a point. We just moved around each other for a while.
I can't help but feel that a similar problem will exist with whatever someone comes up with until the materials technology will give a weapon that is the same weight and handling characteristics, heavy enough to scare you into taking it seriously--cause enough pain to do so---while not killing or crippling you.
Its not "real" so people would not treat it as such--with even the wooden stand-ins, you still feel the fear so you act accordingly.
I had similar experiences with gendai arts and sparring with people from various schools with various rules people get trapped in the "rules' of their respective systems--myself included.
Since I don't really see myself as going to fight a lethal dual with live blades anytime soon, I'm not sure that overt sword-combat "realism"--depending of course on how one defines it--is really the point. Authentic as possible of course, just it IMO it really depends on how one defines "realism."
Chris Thomas
"While people are entitled to their illusions, they are not entitled to a limitless enjoyment of them and they are not entitled to impose them upon others."
"Team Cynicism" MVP 2005-2006
Currently on "Injured/Reserve" list due to a scathing Sarcasm pile-up.