Category: Anime

The anime series “Bamboo Blade” has no love triangles, no magical girls, no panty shots or other fan service, no absurdly powerful student council, no cross-dressing, no silly misunderstandings, no amazing power-ups, and nothing supernatural. No one ever carries the idiot ball, and while it is a sports anime, there are no amazing come-from-behind victories.

What it does have is a solid story about a high school kendo team and its members, with believable, three-dimensional characters. Even more surprising, these high school kids actually behave like real high school kids, not like spoiled brats or little adults. The team starts out the year with three relatively inexperienced second-year students and a bunch of first-year students. Over the course of the year, they get to know each other, become close friends, and greatly improve their kendo skills.

While Bambo Blade’s concept is not very original (sports animes being a dime a dozen), the execution is exceptionally well-done. The show does a great job of introducing the characters, and slowly showing you what makes them tick. Over the course of the show, each character has their own challenges to overcome, from the top-notch kendo player who learns how to handle defeat for the first time, to the team captain when she has to make a very difficult decision, to the coach, who wants to teach the kids and keep his job at the same time.

If you’re used to American-style sports movies (Mighty Ducks, et al), remember that this is a Japanese show. Hard work doesn’t always lead to victory, and the underdog usually loses. That’s real life, like it or not. Bamboo Blade’s theme is about team work, discipline, friendship, and handling defeat.

Even though the show has 26 episodes, to me, episode 24 was the last “real” one; 25 and 26 felt like tacked-on epilogues, with forced happy endings. Ignoring them, the rest of the show is an amazing trip with a great cast of characters. I highly recommend it!

I watched the dubbed version, which was very well done. A brief comparison to the subtitles showed that the dubbing stuck pretty close to the original script.

Rating: 4.5/5.0 Shinai

Shuffle! is an example of how to do a harem anime well. By avoiding a lot of the common mistakes for this genre, Shuffle! tells an entertaining story with strong emotional impact about growing up, taking control of your own destiny, and appreciating your friends and family.

The main character, Rin, is surprisingly likeable. He’s not a wimp or an idiot. He’s not accident-prone or unlucky. Rin’s character is fleshed out well. When he ends up surrounded by girls vying to be his girlfriend, it’s not hard to understand why he’s so reluctant to choose any of them. Once you see his history with girls, it’s not hard to understand why he’s so shy around them. When he does finally pick, and yes, he does finally pick one girl and sticks with it, it’s not a surprise at the time, but it’s also not who you would have expected near the start of the show. Even more surprising, his pick and its consequences are not the last plot arc in the series.

Unlike most anime series in this genre, where often times the gaggles of girls are virtually indistinguishable, here all the characters are fleshed out well. Because the series has 24 episodes, there is time to delve into the background of all four females leads and secondary characters like Ama and Miss Nah without shortchanging the overall plot arc. When the show is over, you feel as if you’re friends with Narine, Sia, Kaede, et al. Kaede, especially, reminded me of a girl I knew in high school.

The pacing of the series was also excellent. I’m often accused of having a short attention span, but Shuffle! kept me interested until the end. The middle of series didn’t drag; just as it seemed that this was going to be just another harem comedy, secrets from the past start coming to light, moving the show from comedy to drama. We continue to learn more secrets till the end; one key character’s background isn’t revealed until the next-to-last episode. There is a happy ending, but to get there all the characters had to suffer greatly.

What didn’t I like? Not much. The ocassional breast jiggling was a bit over the top; at points it started to distract from the drama. At the end, the girl who had the most trouble dealing with Rin’schoice ended up accepting it a little too quickly in my opinion, though there was some justification because of other events going on. The initial coincidences about how Rin met both Nerine and Sia as a kid were a bit contrived, though I think the big revelation near the end may explain this somewhat.

Overall, I highly recommend this series.