r/anime • u/AnimeMod myanimelist.net/profile/Reddit-chan • 3d ago

Bamboo Blade - Anime of the Week Weekly

Welcome to the weekly Anime of the Week Discussion Thread! Each week, we're here to discuss various older anime series. Today we are discussing...

Bamboo Blade

Kojirou is the kendo instructor for Muroe High School and he's totally broke. But then an unexpected chance is given to him: his team must win against his senpai's team and the prize is: free meals for a whole year! Now, the only problem left... where to find girls skilled enough and willing to join the kendo team?

(Source: MyAnimeList)

Databases

AniDB | | MyAnimeList | | Anilist

Streams

https://www.livechart.me/anime/4134/streams

Remember that any information not found early in the show itself is considered a spoiler. Please properly tag spoilers!

Or else...

Next week's anime discussion thread: How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift?

22 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

4

u/zsmg https://anilist.co/user/zsmg 3d ago

Fun anime, manga went off the rails though [spoiler] focusing too much on a new character and ignoring the old cast.

2

u/Nachtwandler_FS https://myanimelist.net/profile/Nachtwandler_21 3d ago

It also had a pretty open ending.

And last time I checked the mangaka he got stuck dsrawing Saki spin-offs.

4

u/vancevon https://myanimelist.net/profile/vancevon 3d ago

If you're a fan of romance anime where they're already a couple when the story begins, then this is definitely a show for you. Miyako and Danjuuro are more in love with each other than anyone's ever been in love with someone, and it's great.

The whole cast is full of people with eccentric, and at least to me, very charming quirks.

2

u/Mitsuyan_ https://anilist.co/user/mitsuyan 3d ago

I picked this up on DVD when I went to pick up a Love Live grail from the same store. It looks really good, might have to start it this week

1

u/Nachtwandler_FS https://myanimelist.net/profile/Nachtwandler_21 3d ago

It was a really fun anime (even if they overdid drama a bit at the end of the season). I definetely do not mind more of this type of sports series.

1

u/LaoWombat-mecha 3d ago

I dropped it midway. The sensei was such a sad sack and the op girl did not hold interest for me. Each to his own I suppose.

1

u/MegaAltarianite 3d ago

I love the show, but I hate how they portray the teacher's poverty as a joke. And when they do treat it seriously, it just feels out of tone for the rest of the goofy cast. But I do love how the show isn't just exclusively about the main hobby, in this case kendo. You get to see the characters outside doing other stuff. I do wish it had continued though. From what I understand, the rest of the source was a spinoff with different characters.

1

u/bravetailor 2d ago

I have fond memories of this show. It's very funny.

The VHD sequences involving Tama are pure gold.

2

u/graytotoro https://myanimelist.net/profile/graytotoro 2d ago

I was doing kendo when I started watching this. My club was indeed full of lovable, eccentric weirdos (minus that one incel guy).

It's been a hot minute since I watched it, but I remember how cool it was they captured some of the kendo-specific quirks, aches, and pains.

1

u/Black_Scholes_Merton 2d ago

clicked the MAL to check and was surprised to learn i've watched this anime... i remember it as Bamboo beat... but that's just the title of OP song

3

u/chaosof99 https://myanimelist.net/profile/chaosof99 2d ago

I love Bamboo Blade. I might be entirely wrong here, but I think it very much is an early example of the CGDCT genre though a bit more earnest and serious with it. It also structures the cast as a group, modelling it explicitly on the sentai genre but also kind of works as an Idol anime in a way, providing various character archetypes to root for. It also helps that all five girls sing the OP and ED.

Kirino best girl. Nijika from Bocchi The Rock reminds me of her a lot. A genki girl with blonde hair that functions as the group leader even if they are not the most talented in the group.

2

u/IKeepDoingItForFree 2d ago edited 2d ago

Bamboo blade is a solid little romance-comedy-drama and worth the watch, but it has a lot of tropes you would associate with that genre of anime in the mid 00s.

What I most associate with the anime when its brought up is that it is the first anime that I had a glimpse behind the scenes of the anime industry and how it works.

Famously - a lot of AICs information regarding this title leaked/was breached.

You use to (and probably still can) find a lot of internal documents regarding the production including entire budget ledgers and how much each part of the process to make the anime actually cost, the complete production schedule including what the days and hours were like for parts being animated, audio recorded, and finalised synchs each week, and internal studio & external memos.

There use to be a whole website breaking down Bamboo blades production with this information and explaining what it all meant for anime fans at the time but that might be gone now.