On side note I have to say that character lean his body froward way too much.
that is against every martial art i know.
Force should come from hips legs and arms not from upper body movement.
Whole body should move forward.
This has a much tamer lean than the old stab. (you practically fall over with the old one)
I only have this one leaning so much to give the reach, there is no other way to get similar levels of reach to the old stab.
---------
I think I might know why the length difference is larger than I thought, I don't think the translational part of the anim is used when you move, so the new one would be shorter.
I'll try to fix this, but it will mean more leaning :/.
------
Visibility wise, I can change what the base angle is. I can make it so for a horizontal slash, you would be aiming the stab a bit higher.
This means you would need to look down a bit to stab forwards, hopefully seeing over your characters head.