Bamboo Blade Review - 71/100
Ah, Bamboo Blade. You had the potential to become interesting when you started, though something went wrong. The flaws for this series are a bit more subtle than usual, and I’m still not 100% sure what it was that really caused the downfall for this series. If I had to guess, then it’s a combination of things. Bamboo Blade in the end had its moments, but remains overall boring.
Let’s take a look at the characters first. At the beginning of this series, they really caught my intention, and I admit having laughed quite a bit at their antics. They get a small share of development during the second half, so what went wrong? Well the characters may have been impressive at first sight, but looking back, the creators just took a bunch of stereotypes and gave them one or two original personality-traits. This leads to a quiet and small but uberpowerful girl who is obsessed with cheesy mecha-shows, a beauty who actually is quite sadistic but has a geek as boyfriend, that geek who has managed to score such a beautiful girl as girlfriend.
This is nice and all, but the characters didn’t feel dynamic at all. The creators were so busy, trying to step away from the stereotypes that they forgot that the silent girl still remained silent, the geek remained a geek, and the sadistic beauty remains a sadistic beauty. In the end, nearly every character couldn’t shake away his or her stereotype. The side-characters are off even worse: there’s the obsessive stalker-girl, the old hag, the rival and several of the opposing kendo-teams who are cookie-cutters at best. Because of this, the characters are funny and enjoyable when first introduced, but they just can’t remain interesting for a full course of 26 episodes.
Then there’s the story. It may be me, but it really felt like the creators were struggling to keep it moving forward. Basically, the show’s about a Kendo-club who fights in a number of tournaments. Every single group of opponents gets progressively duller for some strange reason. Especially the two final opponents feel artificial at best. Seriously, this show takes a real nose-dive as it nears its ending.
I really feel that this is one series that would have been best suited for 13 episodes. At least that way, the characters wouldn’t have had any time to get boring. I’ve praised the past Autumn and Winter-Season for featuring a lot of good shows, centring around high-schools, but this is unfortunately not one of them.
Wow, I really see this show different then you. Using your scale I’d give it an 89 or 92. I really liked this show and it never failed to give me a nice fuzzy feeling inside.
Comment by Koji Oe — April 1, 2008 @ 1:32
I think one of the main selling points of this series are the characters. Even if they are stereotypical like you said, they are pretty likable. And I think the characters have really good interaction between them.
Comment by Vangui — April 1, 2008 @ 5:18
I remember putting this show On-Hold after Episode 17. I hope the last few episodes aren’t that bad; I’m planning on breezing through the final 9 episodes soon.
Comment by BlueYoshi — April 1, 2008 @ 8:13
Haven’t finished watching this (in the 20s episodes), but I’ve already noticed that Bamboo Blade is one of those series that’s easily enjoyed as u watch it thanks to its amusing characters, simple story, etc. but in the end isn’t going to leave much of a ’strong’ impression overall as a show, so I can understand the score. It’s more a fun while it lasts kind of show for me.
Comment by issa-sa — April 1, 2008 @ 9:16
i start with saying that i don’t like sports anime that much mostly because they always have some extreme tactics,techniques and other things that don’t come even near to the sport in real life(i know it is a anime but some don’t even respect basic rules of the game) and so i only watch sports anime because they all have one thing in common:comedy
i remember that in 20007 there were 2 sports anime that looked promising:Bamboo Blade and Ookiku Furikabutte ,i started watching B Blade but when i got to episode 9 i already got bored,the humor was ok at first but after each episode passed i did not find it even that funny anymore,the story nothing we have not seen,characters maybe they should have been the main attraction of this anime but to me they failed and maybe only the kendo fights were good since they were quite realistic (at least until ep9)
while i probably won’t watch the rest of this series i have to say that Ookiku Furikabutte was a lot better,i hate baseball as a game but this anime has indeed likable characters,the humor does not get boring and the sport in a team is simulated perfectly,the feeling of the players are so real when compared to a human in that situation so i loved the later one(not a masterpiece but i very enjoyable anime that will make u care about its characters) and i would not even mind if a second season would b released :D
Comment by Archer — April 1, 2008 @ 10:25
There is one thing that doesn’t translate very well to psgels scores. Issa-sa totally nailed it with his comment, this series is fun to watch and doesn’t have big pretensions. But after watching it you won’t remember all that much, it won’t leave a big impression on you. So I understand the score but I think that “while watching the series the score would be much higher”.
I don’t know if my explanation is very clear, but that’s how i feel about this series.
Comment by Patrick Monti — April 1, 2008 @ 11:05
Well, I felt a bit different. This series is fun to watch at times, but at others, especially in the later half, it left me really bored, and just hoping for the episodes to end. That’s why I rated this series relatively low.
Comment by psgels — April 1, 2008 @ 11:39
I agree with you a little bit, but I watched it again and I really like it now.
Comment by blissmo — April 1, 2008 @ 14:46
Not sure I exactly agree the show being ‘boring’ as its downfall. I agree that they could’ve done things more dynamically and transition the plots better, and character interaction more interesting.
But I think the show’s slight slice-of-life twinge made it worth it in a strange way. I still consider it one of the better watches during the last half year.
Comment by Shippoyasha — April 2, 2008 @ 21:32
i forgot bout other things n just go nuts lmao.
Comment by nahrub — April 5, 2008 @ 18:41
All that huff for a simple yet enjoyable series. I’d give it a thumbs up. It’s not just about the comedy, it also teaches determination and success only found through hard work. Also winning isn’t everything and losing somtimes, teaches you to become stronger.
Good family entertainment comedy, values and lovable characters.
A second season would be nice.
Comment by hing75 — April 8, 2008 @ 1:50
Its a very enjoyable series.
It wasn’t perfect, but it kept me interested till the end.
I’d give it a 90/100.
Comment by shogun22 — April 8, 2008 @ 17:42
I’m going to have to go with Impact magazine on this one. The characters although interesting grew alittle boring I liked the idea that show mainly focused on the girl characters but after awile this became boring. The first arc was probably the best because even though it was mainly about the girls there were other things going such as toyama, kojiro’s bet, etc ,etc. After awile as said earlier it started to get boring. Beginning of show 85/100. End of show 70/100. Unfortunately, what ever any of you liked about this show probably climaxed its equalities after the first real arc.
Comment by DxBreed — July 31, 2008 @ 1:11
Pardon my typo on equalities when it should be qualities.
Comment by DxBreed — July 31, 2008 @ 1:12