Story:
I had to admit, the beginning premise is pretty lame. Producing a championship caliber team of 5 girls just for sushi (yes, even sushi) is a pretty stupid plot. Luckily, the story never really gets into that, and the story quickly progresses to how the girls form a team and overcome diversity. I could have done with a little less of the blade braver scenes, which I didn't think really add much to the overall story (they could have introduced Rin some other way). I also would have liked to see a little more from the dudes, who looked like an afterthought; especially since they seem to have hinted at Yuuji and Tamaki getting together. From a kendo aspect, I would have to give Bamboo Blade a 9/10 since almost everything mentioned is correct: Nitto-ryu (the two sword style that Carrie uses) is a real style developed by the famous Miyamoto Musashi and is not allowed in most high schools. Jodan no kamae (which Rin uses), is also actual technique that is very rarely used (as indicated in the anime), and finally tsuki (which Tamaki uses a couple of times), is also real, incredibly hard and illegal move in most high schools (since if you miss you end up skewering your opponent in the neck). The one issue I had was in the ordering of the team, I'm not sure if it was a fansub error (Huzzah-Doremi) or the actual anime, but the actual ordering goes Senpo-Jisho-Chuken-Fukusho-Taisho, which wasn't how it was portrayed.
Art:
Overall, very good. The characters all look different and are drawn with lots of detail, except for Eiga, though that might be for comedic effect. Backgrounds are decent enough, tho I have to say I can't think of an anime with truly horrible backgrounds for a very long time. The kendo scenes are drawn very well, equipment looks realistic and the characters move with a realistic feel.
Sound:
OP and ED were catchy, but at least in my opinion not ipod worthy. I did think, however, the seiyuus did a very good job, especially Tamaki and Kirino; while Tamaki's voice fell into the quiet-moe mold, Hirohashi Ryou actually put some feeling into it and created a character that truly stood out. Kirino's voice on the other hand was just funny, which is good enough for me.
Character:
Nothing really new about the characters, we have the beautiful evil girl (Miya-Miya), the leader (Kirino), the crazy good quiet moe (Tamaki), the super-talented klutz (Saotori) and the insane one (Saya). But the characters do mesh very well together and it makes up for the deficiencies of the characters to create good chemistry between the characters. For instance watching Kirino and Saya plot and scheme was like watching a manzai duo and the awkwardness of Tamaki and Yuuji together was a nice touch hinting at some romance.
Enjoyment:
Naturally, a kendoist watching an anime about kendo is going to give high marks. I'm not sure how much this series would appeal to people not informed about kendo, but to those few who are crazy enough to actually do kendo, this was pure bliss. Honestly, even if you liked the series, you probably are only getting 50% out of this anime, because there are subtleties that you have to be a kendoist to understand. That isn't to say that people who don't do kendo can't enjoy this anime; but to those who do, join kendo and watch it again!
Overall:
A very, very good anime. I would definitely recommend this anime firstly to all kendoist, but secondly to everyone who enjoys a light-hearted high school anime which can be both hilarious and heart-warming when it wants. Now let's just wait for the sequel!
