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
