Anime Review: Bamboo Blade

Sorry this is a little late this time around. I've been busy with school work, namely a project that is due this Tuesday that I haven't worked on at all until this afternoon. But hey, at least I didn't wait until the very last minute to complete it. Anyway, recently I've noticed that my view count has sky rocketed, which is good, until I realize that most of that is people viewing my April Fools joke post. It feels nice that I've breached the 1,000 views mark, but it also feels kind of hollow since a good number of those was looking for Spice & Wolf porn. Anyway, it's time for the new review and this time we have slice of life anime about a girl's kendo club. It's time to jump right into Bamboo Blade.

Tamaki Kawazoe: equally deadly with a shinai and broom.

The Muroe High School Kendo team is in dire straits. Most of it's members have either graduated or are busy with entrance exams, leaving their sensei and adviser,  Toraji Ishida, with only one active member. Living pay check to pay check, Ishida finally gets the chance of a lifetime in the form of a bet between him and his old high school friend Kenzaboru Ishibashi. If the female members of Ishida's Kendo team can beat his girls, then Ishibashi will give Ishida a year's worth of sushi from his father's restaurant. Now Ishida must pull together five girls to join the Kendo club and get them into fighting shape. But such a thing seems impossible until fate throws him a baseball, tennisball, soccerball, and a vice principle and a small girl deflected them all. Her name is Tamaki Kawazoe, a Kendo prodigy and complete anime and Power Rangers nerd. With such a strong Kendo master in his mists, Ishida has a chance at all he can eat sushi. Unfortunately for him, Tamaki doesn't want to join the Kendo team. Will Ishida gather his five girls? Will Tama join the Kendo team? Will we see every episode of "Blade Braver" before the end of the series? Find out in Bamboo Blade!

So, which one would you bang?

The series can best be described as a Slice-of-Life Sports anime, that is if Slice-of-Life means has absolutely no resemblance of real what so ever. It's more of a situation comedy, if your situations involved very eccentric characters. From the optimistic schemer Kirino, to the Jack-of-all-Trades and complete-failure-at-them-all Sayako, to the most desirable accorn shaped man Donny and his ridiculously hot and terrifyingly evil girlfriend Miyako, there is not a single "normal" person in the entire series outside of Yuji who can scare bullies away just by holding a twig and bluffing like crazy. Of course, that is why you watch the series, to watch cartoonishly outrageous characters interacting with each other in what is otherwise a rather mundane sport. All of the characters, and more importantly their unique "traits", are all different and play off of each other perfectly for pure comedic gold.

The short one is Tama.

There isn't much bad to say about this series. It is a really funny series about really interesting characters competing in a series of Kendo matches. Now if there is a downside to this it would be that outside of how incredibly funny the series is, there isn't much else going for it. While the drama is nice and grounded in reality, that isn't the focus to the story, and if you want something with a little more weight to it, then this isn't the series for you. It is a pure on comedy, and if that doesn't appeal to you, well then I have nothing to say that would convince you.

That being said, as a comedy it is one of the best at making you laugh. It might not be as over-the-top ridiculous as My Bride is a Mermaid, but there is a lot of fourth wall breaking, convention shattering, and very subtle gags that keep you laughing from one moment to the next. If you're not in the mood for something hilarious or want to see something that is more serious, then try something else. But where else are you going to see a SEGA Saturn rooting for a forgettable girl during a Kendo match? Bamboo Blade is Highly Recommended.

Until next time.

 -Crescent, and another anime geek is born!