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.

Ever wonder what its like to be in a Kendo club? Well certainly most of us would answer "no" to that one, but after watching Bamboo Blade it just might make you more interested in this old time tradition! As this series does it very well!

Story: 7/10
Pretty straight forward for the most part, basically it starts up with a struggling Kendo instructor and his team leader trying to get others into Kendo, as their club has little to no members at present. As the story progresses they meet/get new club members and then begin a road down to the final tournament to keep the instructor ... from losing his job after a misunderstanding with the school principle's wife. Now while the story remains very linear in this aspect, it doesn't just strictly stick to the whole "Kendo" idea, there are some nice scenes that have the girls struggling with daily life, whether it be confronting old rivals, watching a live action movie, meeting up with long time friends, to just trying to get that one part time job to earn up for a certain anime DVD collector's set that one of them wants. These play out more as sub plots on the side though, while the girls themselves make their way up the Kendo ladder. (sorry, but there is no actual love story in this anime, with the exception of one couple that already are an item from the get go) Which brings us to the Kendo itself, the series does a pretty fair job of explaining all the strategies and ropes of the sport, and never comes off as a gimmick with the whole "Kendo" tag. The first beginning episodes are good for giving decent enough back story on most of the main characters, so you never really feel like they tossed someone in the story just for the heck of it! While this is a comedy anime to be sure, it also contains quite a bit of sincere and touching moments as well between the characters, perhaps even more so than the actual comedy bits, which can also be seen as a negative depending on your perception. The biggest draw back overall, is both its linear plot twist fee storyline and slow pacing. There were times where I just wanted them to get on with it already. Despite this being an all female cast for the most part, I did find it interesting that there was no echhi factors in this title whatsoever. Which is great for viewers out there who are tired of having the usual all female cast that are strictly there for the fan service.

There shouldn't be anything that viewers will find offensive, aside from occasional language and mild violence. (the action is all done in a professional and respected manner, and not over the top)

Artwork: 8/10
Pretty good for the most part, all characters and environments are drawn with good detail and personality. While its not the best looking series out there, it does animate it well enough to catch your attention and not come off as an over kill. I personally found some of the overall color schemes to be a bit on the bland side though, but the great and versatile character design and facial expressions make up for it quite nicely!

Soundtrack: 8/10
The music itself is good! The opening and closing themes are nice and lively, that will fill you with a sense of happiness! The background music on the other hand is pretty much this one soft violin style track, that plays during most of the series. (most of the time on the touching or heavy thought parts) Its good, just not great in the variety department as its pretty much the only real track you'll hear. Now the character's voices are awesome! From the happy and playful Kirino, to the solitary feel of Tamaki. All the voices are varied and add a distinctness to them all, and not one of them you will find annoying.

Characters: 10/10
Truly the heart of the series, Bamboo Blade has some of the best character chemistry that I have seen in a long time. All of them know how to compliment eachother well, and never come off as a cliche. For example: My favorite characters were Miyako (a heart throb that has two personalities) and Dan (a short geeky guy). They are actually a couple, Miyako simply melts whenever she sees him, but acts out more aggressively when around anyone else. Its just little touches like that which make Bamboo Blade so enjoyable! While the characters do a great job to make you laugh, please keep in mind that they don't do it over the top. (well for the most part anyway) Most of the time they'll just get this wacky look to them, and simply make you laugh with their facial expressions! They all grow very close to one another as the story progresses, and by the end you will truly feel the friendship that they all share.

Bottom Line: 9/10
Bamboo Blade is a great title, but unfortunately I can't recommend it to all viewers, especially if you like plot twists and a fast paced nonlinear storyline, as this title has none of those. But if your looking for a fun (and sometimes moving) anime with great character chemistry and amusing anecdotes. Then Bamboo Blade hits the mark just right!

Girls with Wooden Swords

Man, what a ride. Bamboo Blade has it all; comedy, drama, romance, all rolled up into one. By making fun of itself at random places and with the help of very fabulous characters, this show rises from its shoddy animation to join the elite group of anime this season that deserves your time.

I should get the not-so-good things out of the way first. The animation is pretty bad. No, not like Musashi Gundoh bad, but repeated animation, laziness supreme kind of bad. Up until the last two episodes, the same kendo swings from episode one get repeated over and over, with only ... the costumes changed. The backgrounds are nice watercolor pastels, but sometimes the characters look very funky. It`s hard to believe and oxymoronic that this show actually airs in HD.

But looking beyond the badness of the animation, Bamboo Blade is golden. The characters are a riot. Their voice actresses fit them perfectly. My favorite character out of the entire bunch is Kirino, with her happy-go-lucky attitude and her beautiful relationship with Saya, the hilarious redhead. Seriously, every time Saya opens her mouth, her voice cracks me up so much that I am left on the floor laughing. Kudos to her voice actress for providing her with such an amazing voice. The other characters also pad the show with relevant humor. You have acorn head/pimp Dan, his gay buddy Yuuji, the master kendo practitioner Tamaki, the klutz Azuma, the bipolar Miyako, and their failure of a teacher, Kojirou. As added bonus and hilarity, Kojirou is voiced by the ever-so-manly Kamina from Gurren Lagann, with all the same intonations and vocal gestures. It`s great.

The plot starts off as a standard shounen tournament fest, but midway through the anime branches off from the manga. Unlike most cases which this happens (cough cough Naruto filler hell), the director took very interesting directions in the plot. New characters that are just as cool as the original manga ones appear. Plot points are generally well paced and the comedy is well timed too.

The music is another strong point, with epic orchestral pieces to hot-blooded insert songs. I love the songs that play when the random Bravers appear, and I also love the clack clack sounds of the Kendo fights. I wasn`t very interested in Kendo before watching Bamboo Blade, but now I check out matches on Youtube. They`re even more intense than the anime itself.

Tamaki is sometimes too strong to the point of boredom, but Bamboo Blade always find ways to not fall too deep into that trap. Parodies and references are abundant. Facepalms, sweat marks, falling down in unison, everything`s there. You will definitely laugh at some point while watching, with the sudden bouts of unexpected humor.

The force of lesbian tendencies is strong with this one. Don`t miss it.

This is my first... and last review. Which goes to show you how much I loved Bamboo Blade!

Story -
I thought the story was very good. I usually don't like sports-related anime, but a kendo club full of eccentric girls (and you know they are if you've seen this) and the two lone guys is something that grabbed my attention. It was nice to see how their relationships with each other progressed and what was going to happen with the club.

Art -
I really liked the art for this series. To compare it with other series - the art is a lot like Ichigo Mashimaro or Minami-ke ... (the first season, not the second season where they got lazy and didn't color in the extras); which is the type I enjoy. If you're really into that avant garde type of animation, it won't suit your tastes.

Sound -
I'm not really sure what falls into this category... I'm not one to listen to Opening or Endings... but the voice acting was done really well. I thought all the voices matched the characters and they did well to match their emotions.

Character -
The characters are the best part of this series. Every character is eclectic in some way or another. The most eclectic however is Dan-kun, which... you'll see why if you watch the series. He's special <3.

Enjoyment & Overall -
I thoroughly enjoyed this series. It takes a lot for me to actually WANT to keep watching a series. Bamboo Blade even made me want not go to class because I didn't want to stop watching it. Overall it gets 10/10 from me!

Recommended For: Anyone who likes comedy, a bit of slice-of-life, school settings, and sports series. There is the near loli-factor if you're into that too... boys... I have a feeling a lot of them will like Tama-chan :D.

I'm only 10 episodes into this anime right now - so I'm writing this only on the basis of what I've seen so far. Plus, I'm not really a huge fan of the school/romantic comedy anime genre - so I was surprised when I actually decided to watch this particular anime.

Story
What can you really say about Bamboo Blade? Well, it's a story of 5 girls who are members of their high school kendo club. Their instructor (or sensei.. whatever) makes a bet with an old friend (who is also a rival kendo instructor) that his girls can beat the others at a kendo practice ... match - the prize? A years worth of free sushi. Not the best sounding prize - but a prize none the less. That aside, there are other "mini stories" that take place during the episodes as well. Incidentally, at the very beginning there's only 1 member in the kendo club - so, the first two episodes is taken up with the hilarious undertaking of recruiting new club members. They even end up with 2 male members (despite sensei's pleas to only have female members... the dirty old lech >__>) What goes on beyond episode 10 is unknown to me... so, I suppose that this is all I can say about the story - and it's probably why it only got an 8. Once I've seen more episodes - this will probably be reviewed also. And also, the 5th member of the kendo team has yet to be recruited. So, at the moment there are only 4 female members of the squad.

Characters
This anime is pretty creative when it comes to the characters - it almost always remains refreshing. And it basically keeps the viewer watching. From the cute little Tamaki-chan who absolutely adores anime (almost reminds me of Konata from Lucky ☆ Star), but lacks some social skills - to the rather psychotic, but beautiful Miya-Miya who shows her "black" side. Then there's Saya - who can be over dramatic at times, but it all adds to he charm. Team captain Kirino appears to be the sensible one - often taking over from the instructor during training. However, both Kirino and Saya make a rather decent comedy duo in some episodes.

Sound
I can't help it! Bamboo Blade has a very catchy opening theme song (which is actually performed by some members of the cast) - as well as a pretty sweet closing theme too (which is also sung by the cast). This is one of very few anime where I don't immediately click on "mute" when it comes to the openers and the closers... so, for me it's a win win soundtrack. Ok, so I have the songs on my iPod... there are you happy now?! >__< No, seriously - I really do like the themes. The only other theme that I openly like are the openers for Gunslinger Girl and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni.

Considering that I've only watched 10 episodes so far - I can quite happily say that I am immensely enjoy watching Bamboo Blade. It's definitely one of the best that I have watched (in the comedy genre) and am quite proud to place it on my favourite anime list.

Overview
It's surprising the amount of insight Bamboo Blade's silly, gag oriented characters provide on the passion for and the meaning of Kendo. Even more unthinkable is the lack of ecchi in a high school girl oriented cast clearly aimed at males. Bamboo Blade is full of wonderful surprises, but the repetitive comedy and weak action elements do nothing to fill in for its uneventful plot.

Synopsis
An unambitious teacher is the supervisor for Murota school's Kendo club. Throughout the years, his club has been whittled down to one hard working and devoted girl, Kirino, who loves the sport but is miffed that her teacher is always so ... lazy. A drunken wager with the teacher's former classmate stakes a full year of free sushi on an exhibition girl's Kendo match, and with this, he is suddenly gung ho about whipping his club into tournament shape, to the delight of Kirino. He pursues ex-members and a new child prodigy, Tamaki, to fill the ranks, and in the process, revives his old flame for Kendo.

Story & Characters
The most striking element of Bamboo Blade is how realistic and poignant, yet varied the characters' feelings towards Kendo are. Azuma, a member of the home Kendo club, adores it as a part of herself and a passion she's held since youth while Kirino enjoys the camaraderie it builds. Each of the main characters find a unique and believable relationship with Kendo, and even some of the minor characters shed words of wisdom. Most of the action elements also follow in this vein of realism. Even though many of the characters improve their skills, it's far from a "powerup" scenario. For instance, one of the home members has markedly wonderful aggression, but little skill and focus. Instead of taking the typical shounen route that would have transformed her into an unconventionally powerful prodigy, her lack of focus is a crippling handicap throughout, rendering her unable to win any matches. Just as in real life, the focus and skill is only be attained through painstaking practice along with multiple frustrating failures.

It's a little too bad that the series revolves around the tiny prodigy, Tamaki. She's a robotic character with her desire to emulate the naive heroism of her favorite Anime characters as her only displayed emotion throughout most of the series. Though she does undergo trials towards the end that expand her emotional range, her completely inhuman nature for the rest of the series had already sabotaged any possible empathy from the viewer. Unlike the other characters, Tamaki's Kendo skill goes beyond the bounds of believability; she is essentially invincible. To a lesser degree, the other characters are similarly simple caricatures for a majority of their screen time, but when Kendo gets involved, their genuine elements come through. Only when they reveal their relationship to Kendo are they not generic, run of the mill anime characters.

Many of their gags are funny for the first time, but each character has no more than 1 or 2 that repeat, and by the end they become clockwork. Interestingly, the action is often skipped over, either with a simple still screen, or just an announcement of a winner with no visuals at all. The tantalizing bit of Kendo we see animated ranges from excessive still screen usage to beautiful and accurate animation that captures the explosive, almost spastic nature of the matches. Still, even when the matches are just glanced over, we get the primary reward we desire in the reaction of the characters. Their genuine passion for the sport makes me feel their elation when they win, and their heartbreak or frustration when they lose. Watching the characters express themselves in the context of Kendo is compelling, but I didn't care a lick for the rest of the plot. All the minutia that's supposed to give added weight to the results of the matches, which is the free sushi at first, and then eventually the teacher's job, is a boring filler of screen time

--

Bamboo Blade is certainly far from a generic, power up sports Anime, but that novelty alone doesn't make it compelling. It's a drag to sit through at times, but the unmatched insight into Kendo, or perhaps competitive sports in general is worth wading through the other junk.

Have you ever had an empty feeling after watching a good anime? Well that's what happened after i watched Bamboo Blade.

In my country or at least in where i live, there's no clubs in high school, so i'm always exciting to watch series about everyday life in a school club and this show surely delivered it. A very well-executed anime from the start to the very end.

In 26 eps long, Bamboo Blade has got it all what you would ever see in an sport, slice of life gerne: the school life, the hardwork, a little drama, a little romance, the will to overcome hardness, the ... sportmanship... of everyone in the kendo club of Muroe High School. A inspirative story along with a colorful girls cast.

The artstyle of the show reminds me of the midway 2000s with some moe elements that makes the show very easy to watch, great to see something old but gold. The music is rather normal, op and ed is pretty good.

I think Bamboo Blade is a good show to kill your boredom. Why not give it a try? You can thank me later.

Lovable and interesting characters, passionate martial art, great humor and cat cameos. Bamboo Blade has it all.

Kendo instructor at Muroe highschool, Ishida, has a hard time to pay his bills, when his old friend and coleague offers to pay for his sushi for one whole year. That is if his team wins at a friendly tournament. If only there were more than one loyal captain and the other that has not showed up in a while. To win, he would need a miracle. A big miracle. A miracle that, say, easily deflects dangerous stray tennis ball. And baseball... aaand a rugby ball. And principal falling ... from the third floor back up. With a broom.

Do you like kendo? Well this anime is for you! Do you at least know, what kendo is? You might enjoy this series. Have you got absolutely no idea what that thing even is? This show may entertain you anyway. Maybe you will even grow to love this honorable yet energetic art.

I recently watched Bamboo Blade second time after not having seen it in a long time. And I enjoyed falling in love with both kendo and splendid characters. Enthusiastic and always cheerful captain Kirino is my most favourite, although I realized that her bestie, passionate but often distracted Saya is my spirit animal (or should I say anime - AHAHA... maybe I shouldn't... ahem). Even though you are bound to have favourite characters, others are not far behind. Ethereal beauty, with the fierce beast inside her Miya-Miya, bespectacled Asuna, who is clumsy until she grabs her bamboo sword, then she is worhty oponent. An of course, brave captain - tiny and quiet Tamaki, who beats teachers in one blow and then goes to get a bento lunch.

Theme of this anime is not only kendo, but love for anything that you do with passion and for the good reasons. Something that you and your friends can enjoy. It also has great character development and the action scenes, man should I even start. It those moments where there is silence between crucial blow and referees resolution that makes your breath stop.
And finaly humor has all the good anime stuff, super deform, cats and some meta jokes and fourth wall breaks.

I hope you enjoy this show as much as I did. It is one of my favourite. I even love trailer made by funimation. Watch it, have fun and never give up :D

Ok if you are reading this review please listen this is very Enjoyable (AT FIRST) when u reach ep 20-22 it gets really boring

Honestly i watched lots of anime and i wasnt/arent impressed with this one

No seroius plot No Interesting fighting scenes

They just show u kendo NO ACTION

They keep repeating moves

... And i rated the sound 4 Cause they keep screaming like bitches Every freakin Minuate of the anime

Overall its something u watch when u got nothing to watch while youre eating not an anime u watch For fun only!!

Kendo: meaning “Way of The Sword”.

Definition #1: A Japanese form of fencing with two-handed bamboo swords, originally developed as a safe form of sword training for samurai.

Definition #2: Kendo is a modern Japanese martial art of sword-fighting based on traditional swordsmanship (kenjutsu) which originated with the samurai class of feudal Japan.

Defination #3: Kendo is a physically and mentally challenging activity that combines martial arts practices and values with sport-like strenuous physical activity.

With that being said, have you ever wondered what it was like to be in a Kendo club? Well, if you didn’t know what kendo was until now, the thought has probably never crossed ... your mind. But after watching Bamboo Blade you might be more interested in this old time tradition.

Bamboo Blade is pretty much one straight forward anime. In the beginning Toraji Ishida (a politics and economics teacher, also known as the Kendo Club instructor of Muroe High School) and Kirino Chiba (a second year high school student in Muroe High School and captain of the Kendo club) begin their search for new members for their club. As the story progresses they get/met new club members and soon their journey down the road to becoming and elite Kendo team begins. There are small twists and turns along the way but its not just about kendo. It’s also about the characters lives and the problems or challenges each character has to get past so they can form an elite team. This anime will make you laugh and maybe even cry, its very cute. But sadly, It’s an anime that not everyone could get into especially if you like plot twists and a fasted paced story line. But if your looking for a fun slow anime with amazing/lovable characters, then Bamboo Blade just right for you.

As far as the art work goes, all the characters and scenery were drawn with a good amount of detail and the color scheme for the outfits and stuff wasn’t bad either. Mind you its not the best looking series out there, but hey if you get caught up in the story like I did you wont even notice. Plus, the cute characters and their facial expressions make up for it!

Music wise Bamboo Blade has a very catchy opening theme song and a sweet closing theme as well. The opening theme is definitely a song you will sing along to. As for the background music (which is a soft violin during most of the series if memory serves) is a good mood setter. The character voices are awesome in Japanese and English! Best part is their voices aren't annoying (in my opinion).

Lastly the characters, they are truly the heart of the series. They have the best chemistry and amazing personality. The characters always make you laugh whether it be by a silly comment or just there facial expressions. They all grow very close to each other as the story progresses and by the end of the series you’ll truly see/ feel the beauty of the friendship they all share.

I rate this quite high, not because it had a bunch of girls, but because it attracted me as a swordsman, and for my love of everything swords but also my love for the art and sport of Kendo.

To be honest though I was sceptical when I began watching this, because like most Japanese anime that included sports, normally liked to over exaggerate the characters abilities with sure kill techniques that cause explosions and lightening to appear.

So I was pleasently suprised when it turned out to be quite normal.

The story starts like most kendo anime, with someone practicing swings. the story basically centres around ... 5 girls, who join the kendo club which had only one active member, the advisor which is a substitute or deputy teacher, is poor and always hungry (No money to buy food), he makes a bet with his old friend who is a kendo instructor at another school. that his team of girls can beat his team. The Prize a night of free Sushi.

So the story begins with the active kendo loving member running around with the teacher to search for potential applicants. and stumbles upon a Kendo master Shoujou. The story therefore begins...

The anime starts of slowly, but at a good pace, introducing the characters, and focusing on character development for them all. the action is precise and well executed, I find myself mesmorised by Tama's battle cry and TSUKI attacks.

Overall it is funny, some scenes of romantic development, and growth into maturity. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.

An anime about a kendo club in school. When I first saw the name and read a synopsis of Bamboo Blade I wasn't too sure about it. I was no really fan of sports anime and I thought it was just another one of those which were shown here in TV. A friend of mine asked me to watch the first episode together with him and I'm quite glad that I did it. I really enjoyed this warm and heartfilling anime.

Story: To be true there isn't that much story in this kind of anime. The girls go to school, practice kendo and participate in kendo ... tournaments. So far there is nothing special about it. The way that rather stereotypical story is told is ok though. The fact that the story is negligible doesn't make this anime bad. Imho anime like Bamboo Blade don't really need a good story to be entertaining.

Art: The animation of Bamboo Blade is good just as expected from an anime from 2007. The character design is cute and fitting, the backgrounds are drawn well , the kendo matches are fast paced and quickly over. Nothing like other sports anime where running scenes for example are way too long and you can see the earth curvature while the characters are running over the sports field.

Sound: Imho the strongest part in Bamboo Blade was the OST. With "Bamboo Beat" and "Star Rise" Bamboo Blade has rather usual opening songs/ending songs vocaled by the female seiyuu crew which actually did a good job in voicing the characters, imho they all fit. But the best thing about the OST is the BGM. The BGM of Bamboo Blade is full of fast paced drums which fit the atmosphere of the kendo matches. On the other hand there are also slow paced songs without drums which fit the more laidback atmosphere when the girls are not doing kendo.

Character: The characters in Bamboo Blade are all very likable. They are not as flat as in other sports series because they all have other unique character traits besides loving kendo and you actually get to see it even though the anime shows about 70-80% of the time the girls in kendo practice or kendo matches.

Enjoyment: I really enjoyed Bamboo Blade because of it's atmosphere which was calm and nice in the non-fighting scenes and fast and quick in the battle scenes. The comedy part of this series is also quite good. The girls are all moe. It's a good anime to watch when you want to watch something where you don't have to think too much about what actually is happening and you want to lay back and relax.

Overall: Bamboo Blade was an quite refreshing anime, easy to watch and simply just nice. I highly recommend Bamboo Blade for people who like sports anime, school life anime and comedy anime ... Other people should also give it a try.

One last personal thing: I am sorry for my poor grammar and vocabularies but English is not my native language and so I had some troubles writing a longer text in this language.

If you want to watch an anime that would leave you feeling warm, happy and heartfelt, look no longer!

The story line isn't as exciting, but the character and the development of the character was lovely and charming. Full of light hearted and charming sense of humour, that would leave you smiling.

The art work is decent. The setting of the dojo brings a traditional theme into the modern school setting, which is nice to watch.

I strongly recommend this anime. It is one of those anime that would leave a smile when you finish it :)

I would like to preface this by saying that I've never even heard of Bamboo Blade, let alone watched it.

Bamboo Blade is a comedy that comes around only once every very often. Let's face it, you've seen all of this before: Broke teacher looking for a quick fix to his problem, lovable cast of female characters who just want to train in kendo and have a fun time, all wrapped up in a comedy school setting. By no means is it anything new in the anime world, but it is still a wholly charming and fun little show.

Story:
Honestly, the story isn't all that fantastic. It's ... very predictable and cliche, and while that isn't bad, it certainly won't win any awards. I think it's best to just accept that the story is just a setup for the truly great cast of characters to interact in, rather than a driving force for the anime.

Art:
Character design is fantastic in Bamboo Blade! Each and every character is immediately recognizable and really left a deep impression on me. I still can't look at Kirino's face without smiling, what a beautiful character. Animation is surprisingly good, you can tell that while they knew this wasn't making any major leaps in the world of anime, the animators were dedicated to their work and wanted this to look really nice, and honestly, my hat's off to them. Well done! I'd also like to point out the lack of ecchi - there were a lot of times in this anime that could have focused on cheap panty shots and questionable ecchi situations, but it did a good job at not offending me at all.

Sound:
The soundtrack to the anime is kind of weak, but it makes up for it with the fantastic voice acting. Both the English and Japanese versions are very well-done, although I prefer watching in Japanese with subs. All of the voice actresses really capture the style of the anime very well, from the comedy scenes to the more serious ones, I was captivated the whole time by their voices.

Character:
And here's the major selling point of this anime. Really, when it comes to writing characters, there's nothing more frustrating than a good character that has poorly-written interactions with other characters. Bamboo Blade doesn't have this problem though, as all of the characters are well-written and enjoyable, but also their chemistry is superb and all of their interactions really make sense and contribute a lot to my enjoyment of this anime.

It may be a pretty typical style of anime, but that didn't keep me from thoroughly enjoying it. I would recommend this to anyone who wants a nice, fun anime to sit back and enjoy.

So, now that I've finished this review, I've decided it'd be a good idea to actually watch Bamboo Blade and see if it matches up with my review.

I don't always watch sports anime but when I do, usually the first few episodes are deciding factor on whether keep watching or not. Bamboo Blade is one of the anime's that has hooked me in and didn't and kept me going until the very end, but that was just my experience.

Story/Character:
The story about a high school kendo club that is mostly comprised of girls, I won't get to much into details but despite have a few male members in the club the story mostly centers around the girls but there really isn't a main character as the focus of the show tends to shift ... from one character to the other.
Now being a sports anime the plot isn't the most complicated thing in the world and is pretty straight forward and the characters are probably the main meat of the story aside from the kendo (sword fighting) matches. For the most part the characterization and character development are pretty good but aren't perfect.
I feel like they could have went into more detail about some things, especially the kendo matches which really help move the characters along, the characters really change but a lot of the girl's matches are summed up in a quick 2 second transition on whether they won or lost which was a big deal for them, and I would have liked to actually see the all fights in more real time and it also would have been cool if they had actually broken down some of the strategy and the techniques they used during the matches and they could have also emphasized some of the work and training they characters had to go through and make the stakes for each fight feel as high as they actually were.
However that is really the only complaint that I have about this show and even after having that said about the kendo matches and such fights are still entertaining and there really isn't to much wrong with this show.
This anime isn't a 110% super serious show and it does have is laid back moment of comedic relief and slice of life but over all it's relatively well balanced.

Art/Sound:
I don't have much to say in this category other than the art wasn't bad but I have seen better and to be honest the sound track was kind of forgettable, though there were moments where I wanted to replace some of the soundtracks with that of Hajime no Ippo; another sports anime about boxing but that's just me.

Sub/Dub:
Yes there is an english dub and compared to it's subbed counter part, I could care less about which one you watch, granted I have my personal taste but to be critical here, I can't really say that one is better than the other at this point, however I will say that the dub pretty solid with no awkward moments within dialog that I tend to find in other dubs and the voice acting was passable and I didn't have any problem with it. As for the japanese voice acting, well I don't have much to say other than it sounds like a the vast majority of anime in japanese and I wasn't particularly moved by it, but for this anime I could care less which version you watch.

Final verdict:
Overall I would rate this as an 8/10 and I think it's worth a try.

I enjoyed watching this anime.
Anime based on the manga, where as girls make up the majority of a school's kendo team. A school kendo teacher starts up a team in his efforts to win a bet against his rival's school team in a kendo match competition. His reward, free meals for a year. As far as the story goes, I have to say it is pretty straight forward, but much obliged as it is still fun watch. As far as character development goes from you expect from a sports anime, the characters progressively improve. You got your typical shy but BADASS girl, Tamaki, voiced by ... Hirohashi, Ryou [Alice - Aria, Kyou - Clannad] . Kirino, voiced by Toyoguchi, Megumi [Revy - Black Lagoon, Nishino - Ichigo 100%] the lovely ditzy, blonde bishoujo Kendo Captain. And other characters such as your tsundere and megane characters. I hope you enjoy this school sports comedy as much I did. I give it, 8 shinai (kendo swords) out of 10! XD

I'd be all personal about it and say it's DA BEST THING EVARRR!!!! and give it a 10 across the board like a typical MAL fa...uh, not-so-objective member. But then I'm simply not that type.

STORY
Pretty simple premise: guy in charge of the club looks to make a group of kendo chicks to compete with his ex-kendo mate's team, so that he can have a shot at his buddy's promised reward: free food for a year.
Not terribly exciting, and the way the teacher just manages to put together a team of skilled kendo experts screams plot device. Plus the couple of filler episodes distract from the ... main storyline, and not at the best times either.
Still, having a simple plot means there are no big plotholes to drop your balls over, and the progression in the story is for the most part smooth.

ART
The main weakness of this anime. The animation quality is at best functional, and at worst, obviously flawed and jarring. It gets readily apparent that the studio had typically thrown its budget at the first episode; the quality degradation after that is obvious, with many features out of position, and the background detail a bare minimum. Fortunately it does pick up a bit near the end (as expected).
The designs aren't very eye-catching (with the notable exception of the oh-so-moe Tama-chan), but the characters have been drawn very distinctively, with no chance of mistaking a person for anyone else.

SOUND
Functional. The OP/ED is typical, and the BGM (a decent if apparently hackjob-style effort) doesn't vary much.

CHARACTER
Here the anime really shines. Every character's personality is distinctive, refreshing, and surprisingly believable, the chemistry is great, and the voice acting is also excellent. The character development, while skimpy for most characters except 2 (the only markdown here) is sufficient to endear one to the characters.

ENJOYMENT
The whole ride was fun. Even though the story wasn't exciting, and it looked to be going nowhere at times, I found myself looking forward to the amusing interactions of the kendo club and its happenings. The down-to-earth and (mostly) realistic tone of these interactions (with the exception of Miya-Miya and the two side characters related to her) really drew me in, and at the end of every episode I found myself in better spirits.

OVERALL
The animation was comparatively plain bad, the music was forgettable, and the story wasn't great. But these glaring errors somehow were little more than side distractions in a wonderful viewing experience with the amazing characters and chemistry. Certainly worth a watch.

The show is enjoyable, but his overall takes its time [in other words, a little slow]. That's not meant as criticism as I often like slower paced shows, just be aware that, despite being about kendo, this isn't a driving action series. It's more about the 5 girls, their teacher, and the 2 guys that are part of the high school kendo club. I especially like the fact that the characters, particularly the boys, are NOT the usual Anime stereotypes, and obvious "potential romantic connections" don't occur, which is good. I think there could've been a lot more character development, but it's still a good ... series and has several very memorable characters; which is more than I can say about a lot of shows. The show also is appealing because it avoids silly panty shot [fan service] type scenes and other irritating clichés, which keeps the story on track and free of irritating nonsense. .... The show definitely grows on you, and I found myself disappointed when I reached the final disc because I was looking forward to more, which means its pretty good. The animation is good. They obviously had a budget, but I'd say the animation doesn't suffer. .... Overall an interesting story and I recommend it. I also recommend another series [a personal favorite] "Princess Nine" which is also a particularly well done high school sports Anime series. If I had not seen Princess Nine I probably would not have watched Bamboo Blade; and I can see that the genre of sports Anime can produce very good shows, which is surprising, because the general idea sounds awfully boring to me. But I'm now looking forward to renting more sports Anime series.

I believe a good sports anime should be able to make the viewer enjoy the anime even if they have little knowledge about the sport. Bamboo Blade manages to do this by making the characters the driving force instead of heavily focusing on the sport itself.

The plot is pretty simple, which is basically a school comedy revolving around the kendo club, they practice, go to tournaments and recruit new members along the way. Although the plot is simple, it also works because of the characters. The series is light hearted and has a fairly large amount of comedic moments which are actually pretty funny. The ... pace is also just right for this kind of show. Other than there is nothing really spectacular about the plot but for this kind of show, it doesn't have to be.

Like I mentioned before, the characters are what drives this series. Each character has their own very unique personality (for example Kirino is very energetic but also very responsible and very caring too) and they are each explored very well. All the main characters also develop a lot during the series (such as a Tamaki opening up more) and by the end of the anime, each of the characters have grown in different ways. The chemistry developed between the characters is also unmatched by most. Each character is likable and most of the comedic moments work because of them. Without the amazing characters and development, this anime would just be another average anime with nothing memorable about it.

The art does have it's fair share of good and bad moments, the backgrounds are detailed and generally drawn pretty well but colors don't really scream out. Also many of the hits look the same in the kendo matches.

The sound does a very good job. The opening and ending really fits the kendo theme and the voice actors do a really nice job with each character.

Like many other series out there, not everyone is going to enjoy it. If you are looking for intensity and a complex plot then this genre as whole is probably not for you. However if you are looking for a good comedy, this more than holds up it's end of the bargain, as this series will have you laughing in a lot of places.

Bamboo Blade shows that unique and well developed characters can really push a series far. Even though the plot is very simple and isn't great, as a whole, it really delivers.

I'm writing this review right after finishing the last episode of the series, and, generally speaking, I act like this just when I really enjoyed a show.
So I'll state right from the beginning that I really loved Bamboo Blade, for more than one reason.

First of all, it's actually funny. The charatcers are nice shaped and mixed. You can find one for all flavours. Given the case that we are speaking of a group of friends, you have all the anime classical girls, from the shy kuudere Tama-chan, to the violent and loving yandere Miya-Miya. For most of the time I've been watching it, I had ... a smile on my face, and that's surely something important.

Second thing worth mentioning: this show has a nice pace. Apart from some brief slice of life episodes, the focus is pretty much always mantained. You will enjoy the developing every single member of the club, and their progress in the way of the sword. And this brings us to the most important thing:

Kendo.

This anime is about kendo. It truly is. I'll speak as a kendoka about this: letting alone the fact that the technical features of kendo are nicely (though not too thoroughly) described, I think Bamboo Blade can give someone who's never tried this beautiful martial art an idea of what it's like. It's something that makes you grow, and gives you the opportunity of meeting and getting to know incredible people. And it's damn funny (and during summer it makes you stink :3 But Kirino-senpai will explain you why this is also a funny part). It's not about swinging bamboo sticks.

So if you're curious about kendo, and you want to learn something while enjoying a nice show, give this a try!