There isn't much of a "superior" weapon. each has it's own pros and cons.
Axes/Mace depend on the strength stat for their damage and do 1-3 attacks a round depending on how you set your strategy and the height of your agility.
Blades have a big variety of speeds which makes you able to fine tune their attacks per round/damage.
Exotics have a limited amount of fine tuning compared to blades EG: 1.45,1.7 and 4.2 speed but I think (though not fairly sure as im not using them at the moment) they are capable of giving more bleeds to the opponent.

I agree with nova it does feel like glads have a specific preference to weapons. Both Yukimaru and Belca suck at using hatchets so they use 1.65 speed hammers instead which they do seem to like