Kasumi Kaoru: An Anime Blog

Title: Bamboo Blade
Director: Hisashi Saito
Original Creator: Aguri Igarashi (art) Masahiro Totsuka (story)
Number of Episodes: 26 (complete)
Plot Summary: Toraji Ishida is a high school kendo teacher. His friend and fellow kendo teacher makes him a bet: if Ishida can assemble a girls’ kendo team that can defeat his girls’ team in a practice match, he’ll treat Ishida to free meals at his father’s sushi restaurant for a whole year. Now Ishida must find five girls to join the team.

REVIEW: sigh I blame my manager of my department completely for perking my curiosity for this anime. It was all he talked about at the last two meetings and after I got home from the last meeting weeks ago, I immediately got to work downloading the entire series! I have always been an avid follower of sword fighting (be it metal, wooden, or bamboo) and was immediately drawn in by the first few seconds of the anime.

And thus my love for Bamboo Blade began.

The animation has a clean, modern CG look to it which makes it pleasing to the eye. Colors are beautiful and fun to watch. The art work is very nice; clean edges, high school girls with big… pretty eyes. Haha. Even though there are some parts in the series that feel very hentai-PC-rom it’s actually pretty clean. And although sometimes the art director got lazy, there’s enough fresh scenes that the mishaps along the way are easily forgiven.

Music wise, the series has a very upbeat feel and the soundtrack provides great tracks to reminisce on my favorite scenes and episodes. The two themes that were featured are both very catchy and the lyrics are not that bad either.

As for the story, it follows the story of Ishida-sensei, high school teacher and kendo club advisor, and his lovely ladies (and guys!!) of the kendo club. Whether his quest is to score big (free sushi for a year) or keep his job, he must push the girls (and guys!!) of Muroe High School to victory after a rocky start at the beginning of the series. Full of quirky craziness that can only happen in a high school anime, Bamboo Blade has a very strong and fresh story with interesting and fun subplots that make the series truly one of a kind. So often the anime community could come across an anime solely dedicated to kendo and this one hits the nail right on the head!

And, man, are there lots of hits to head in this series. The characters, although stock at the beginning of their character development, all grow into fun, intriguing characters with depth and soul to each and everyone of them. If I were to only choose one character that I enjoy watching the most… it would have to be the spunky and sweet Kirino Chiba (followed very closely behind by Tamaki (Tama-chan) and Reimi)! Her unbridle strength and faith resonates very prominently within me inspiring me in surprising ways.

My one and only stipulation with this series is… lack of story of Dan-kun. Not that I like him all that much during the series but I want to know what is so special about him. I want to eventually like him… but the series did not provide for me any more depth for him than his character past episode 5. I wonder if that is going to be available in the “potential” second season.

Overall: This entire series left me in stitches with its light hearted “slice-of-life dramedy” (drama/comedy) and stole my heart with its heart pounding kendo action. The characters are fresh and engaging making each episode a treat to watch. A simple story of everyday characters and a subplot of everyone’s journey towards self discovery can be found within these kendo walls. So, opposing forces beware the ladies (AND GUYS!!) of Muroe High School! They have been sent here to protect your smiles by the blades of their swords!

Overall (dub) : n/a
Overall (sub) : B+/A-
Story : B+
Animation : B+/A-
Art : A-/B+
Music : B

Title: Kino’s Journey
Director: Ryutaro Nakamura
Original Creator: Keiichi Sigsawa
Number of Episodes: 13 (complete)
Plot Summary: The story follows the travels of Kino, a young adventurer who rides a talking motorcycle named Hermes. They explore the people and cultures of different places throughout their adventures, spending only three days at each location.

REVIEW: I remember the very first time that I saw the series sitting idly on the anime shelf at Best Buy, I thought to myself, ‘That anime series will one day be mine. Kami-sama, the artwork is sooo beautiful.’ But for over 2 and a half years I always placed the series back on the shelf everytime that I picked it up. It seemed it was as if Fate believed that I was not yet mentally prepared to appreciate such a series. And it was true…

I recently bought Kino’s Journey and found that it was fascinating just by looking at the BOX! >_< Oddly enough, I wasn’t thrilled the every first time that I heard/watched the opening theme on youtube just because it looked so obscure and depressing, it prolonged my inevitable purchase of this anime. Eventually, I suppose I was sick of being bored and bombarded with irrelevant things since one one random Thursday, I bought the series (knowing that I could have gotten it for cheaper online) right off the shelf of my local anime store.

The package was beautiful in it’s sweet and sleek thinpack packaging. Would make a great collection to anyone’s collection. The thinpack has it’s advantages as it’s a lot cheaper than the original distributing package but because of the smaller price (I suppose) that that is the reason that it didn’t have any extras except a few trailers but that was it.

The animation was fascinating! It blew me away from episode one. It was a more flowing (less ragged edged) animation. It made the whole series very pleasing to the eyes.

The story itself was confusing at times but there were definitely no questions that were left unanswered by the end of the anime. What a complex and fascinatingly simplistic story. Filled with contemporary issues that many modern day countries struggle with as it is played out on more exaggerated and larger scale. Each and every story brought me to a more intellectual state of mind as I was being unintentionally educated of the world in which I live in.

The characters were all very interesting in their own way. Kino and partner Hermes were the ones to steal the show with their witty remarks and chill way of life.

I think the only thing that I would critique on is the ending. It felt very abrupt and open-ended. If that was Nakamura-san’s intention, then he definitely achieved that aspect of the anime.

Overall: This was a beautifully crafted anime that will leave you breathless from it’s animation to its heart wrenching stories of a traveler who knows not where the road will lead to nor how long it would take them to get there. The greatest of adventures lie solely on the open road… won’t you drift along for a ride?

Overall (dub) : B+
Overall (sub) : B+/A-
Story : A-
Animation : B+
Art : A-/B+
Music : B

A decision

Well then… it seems as though this would be my first entry here at WordPress. I’ve never actually had a blog that I updated everyday… but it’s fun to give it a try since my xanga account died on me awhile back (2 years ago to be exact) and my LJ account? Well, that one is picking up some speed but then again I have no clue how long that will last me…

I haven’t truly decided what I’m actually going to do with this blog… I suppose I’ve always wanted a blog to rant about my latest anime obsessions and do some reviews here and there for the anime series that I watch. ^_^

Yea, that sounds pretty good.

I think I’ll do just that… AS OF TODAY… THIS BLOG WILL BECOME THE BASIS OF ALL MY ANIME REVEIWS/RANTS/FANGIRL~SQUEALS!

Consider yourself warned. *_*v