Bamboo Blade

The most popular (aka common) type of animes of the past year has most definitely been school comedy anime with a female cast. And this one is no exception. Thankfully they put emphasis on what matters most character chemistry.




As you should already know it's a comedy about a high school kendo club, mainly consisting of (SPOILER AHEAD!) a group of girls. It all sounds like standard fare from here, and it is. The kids get involved in crazy hijinks, make silly jokes, and even have a decent amout of action in show such as this. After watching the first couple episodes, you'll most likely have ... a feeling if you are going to enjoy the show since the same style of jokes makes their rounds. Sometimes, its even as if they know they're making an uninspired anime and actually puts in gags and jokes that are very cliche` for the genre but leaves minor (and unique) twists for the viewers to laugh. Honestly, I think their jokes get off so well not only because of their 'semi' unique approach to joke telling, but the characters are just perfect for this show.

Like all the other great comedy (and sports) shows before it, this show puts an emphasis on the character chemistry and development. This is where the show shines the most. It's just like how they intentionally make jokes about the the comedy genre its almost looks as if they intentionally mixed the character types around to create their own uniqueness. For example there's a smart looking that is really stupid, a clumsy girl that actually has good orginizational skills, and even a really loud quiet type. Good luck finding out who im talking about, but all the main characters are like that and its one main part why the comedy feels so fresh and unique. It almost feels like they all have double personalities. But the one person that really distracted me the from the others the most is quite easliy Tamaki-chan. She definitely steals the show in my eyes. Usually the show stealing characters arent the main character (Yuki, Osaka, etc) but that isn't the case here. She is the main reason why i kept watching this show. Hirohashi Ryou did a perfect job for her voice because there is no other way to do Tamaki's voice. There are other parts of greatness in this anime but I wont spoil the show any further.

Another good point of the show is how surprisingly good the artwork is in this show for a comedy show. There are various locations that you will see throughout the show, and each are shown with such vibrant color. The backgrounds are pretty detailed, you'll see alot of particle effects, reflections, and sunbeams throughout the show. And the characters are all drawn in the typical super cute borderline sexy style which is usual for a show in this type. Of course, the emphasis was more on the females than the males and you can tell because the all the men (with one exception) all look virtually the same. Another thing, is get used to their eyes as that is what you'll be seeing for the most part.

Sound effects are nothing to be super enthusiastic about. All thought the sound is very well done, once you've heard any high school anime you've heard them all pretty much. With the exception of the yelling and screaming from all the cute girls (extra points from me). They even have the girls singing the opening and ending theme song just like all the others in this genre. Well when you have cute voiced seiyu's use them as much as possible i guess. There is one uinque and hilarious sound but you wont hear it till around episode 20. Trust me when I tell you that it will have you on the floor laughing.

There are so many fun and memorable instances in this show it's hard not to give this a perfect score. They sure did do everything right in making this "slice of life, high schoo, comedy, sports" show different from all the others. But this does follow the same formula as all the other current releases (lots of girls + comedic situations + singing seiyus). Fortunately this is one of the better ones.

This has the worst structure of a show I've ever seen. Despite that baffling aspect, Bamboo Blade is a lighthearted irreverent comedy maybe worth your time.

Let's get the negatives out of the way.

First off, the show's premise is that a school's kendo sensei, Ishida, makes a bet with his friend that his team of girls can beat his friend's, with the reward being a year's worth of eating at a restaurant.

This weak hook to the show is resolved in a handful of episodes. Let me repeat: the reason for this show existing is resolved in a handful of episodes.

After some meandering, the show comes up ... with another premise: after a disastrous encounter with an influential figure, Ishida's job is at risk so he decides to win the national kendo tournament to make himself indispensable.

You'd think this should have been the premise all along, considering the high stakes. Regardless, the show's complete lack of urgency, momentum or adherence to sports tropes almost makes this new premise as meaningless as the initial one.

By the time episode 20 rolls around there is no sense of escalation or impending finale to the story. The characters are not knee-deep into a tournament or anything like that, in fact there's no kendo in that episode at all, the show is more concerned with inter-relationship dynamics and characters goofing around.

So if you go into this show expecting the traditions of the sports genre, think again.

There's no explanation for newcomers as to what kendo even is. There's no "discovering a sport via a character new to it" structure. There's no shonen/Naruto-esque explanation of the tournament and its rival teams. All this, despite the fact that there are indeed characters who join the kendo club for the first time and need to be taught the sport, and that there is indeed a tournament with rival teams making an appearance. The show just doesn't have the time to treat the viewer as kindly as it treats Dan-kun (a humorously drawn character who creepily sounds like he's 30 years old).

I already knew enough about kendo personally, so I didn't feel in the dark, but I imagine people who know nothing about it, will feel a mild frustration that the show doesn't take the time to methodically explain the ins and outs of the ritualistic martial art.

So, instead of a structure of a sports show, you're just kind of thrown into the lives of these girls who hang out at the kendo dojo. The show's comedy is its highlight. It's irreverent and goofy, with a pleasant cast of characters.

Tamaki is a standout, and ostensibly the show's protagonist. You'd think that would be Ishida, but he's such a superficial character, useless as a teacher and has no character arc, that the actual protagonist is Tamaki. She's the one the viewer goes on a journey with, she actually has a character arc.

Tamaki is an introvert, and in a show tempered with incompetent narrative writing, she stands out as being authentic. My favourite moment is when she starts a job for the first time. The writers nailed what it feels like for an introvert to do that.

On the negative side, there's a subplot involving a stalker that struck me as very odd. Sure there's plenty of laughs to be had during the storyline, but the victim of the stalking is (accurately) portrayed as being freaked the hell out about it, to the point of paralytic fear, and I don't really find that amusing. The whole thing just stuck out like a sore thumb compared to everything else going on in the story.

Also worth noting that Ishida sensei is beyond useless, he doesn't teach anyone a single technique in the entire show. Near the end instead of taking responsibility himself, he decides to leave a pivotal and stressful decision to one of his students like a coward. Garbage writing for a garbage teacher.

So Bamboo Blade has a baffling structure about it, you keep waiting for the plot to heat up, but it never does. Its stuck between being a slice of life show, and one with stakes. It feels as if it was written by someone completely new to the art of storytelling. If you go in with lowered expectations, you might find the show a good time though because it can be quite funny.

Hate to be that guy, but I think this show is absolutely overrated. Why is the score so high?

Is it funny? No, not in particular, I can't recall actually laughing once throughout the entire 26 episodes—maybe at best a smirk?

Are the characters really all the great? No, they aren't that in depth, and many of them are naively annoying!.

Is the action superb? Far from it. I doubt kendo in real life would even be very enjoyable to watch. This isn't a real sword fight... It is with sticks.

The one romance in the show, they blatantly ... make fun of because it is so absurd.

But what took the cake for me to rate this abysmal waste of time so poorly? Episode 23. That episode sums up the worthlessness of these characters.

This epsiode involves delinquents that never show up and end up potentially damaging the club. They are bullies and terrible people, yet these fools contemplate protecting them!?!? WHY!?! I cannot understand this ignorant, naive notion. THEY WEREN'T EVEN THERE FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR, YET STILL CONSIDERED PART OF THE TEAM?!!? HOW????? This show was not great until this episode, but this absolutely RUINED any small trace of passable this anime had left. Naive characters are NOT cute, they are ANNOYING—and this is a PRIME example of it.

Also, Tamaka getting mad at him for taking the tall stance to get her practicing better against it.... And she says "I don't appreciate the joke..." WOW, be grateful Yuji is trying to help you with something you suck at!

AND the way the "sensei" talks all low and slow IS SO GD ANNOYING!

This anime panders to weak emotional strings, with a naive attempt, and an annoying cast of characters.

Bottom-line: if you don't like sappy, unnecessarily long-drawn out animes—then don't watch this.