Bamboo Blade is such a tease.
With an episode title like, “First Training Camp and First Bath House”, you’d expect fanservice. Right? Well, the episode did indeed provide a bath house scene. It just forgot a few things. Like the kendo girls. And the fanservice. And more than five seconds of animation.
Some viewers might have thrown their TVs out the window, but I fell out of my chair laughing. Talk about a meticulously planned gag.
Then again, Bamboo Blade has been a bait and switch act from the very beginning. What at first blush looks like a generic harem comedy is nothing of the sort. And what looks like a fanservice vehicle is anything but. The show offers far more to the kendo enthusiast than it does the admirer of pretty girls, presence of pretty girls be damned. It’s also a show that’s simultaneously heartwarming, hilarious, and action packed. Bamboo Blade may send mixed signals, but that’s part of what makes it so much fun to watch.
In some ways, the show takes the old school approach. Back in the day (the roaring 90s, that is), it was common for shows to continually maneuver from one genre to the next, trying to be a little bit of everything to everyone watching. The first series that comes to mind is the Tenchi Muyo franchise: was it comedy? Or was it action? Drama? Romance? Sci-fi? Harem? It was all of those, of course, and while the series will always be described in terms of “what could have been”, it’s because it tried to be everything at once that so many anime fans remember it so affectionately. Tenchi Muyo was far from perfect, but it was a lot of fun, for a lot of people, for a lot of different reasons.
Today, however, anime series are more specialized than ever. A moe vehicle here, a slice of life show there, girls with guns sulking in the corner… it’s good stuff, sure, but the more specialized anime gets, the more specialized fans get. It’s oh so easy nowadays for a fan to miss out on good shows simply because they don’t carry the proper labels. Even I’ve fallen victim to that sort of thinking.
It’s because I don’t want to be that sort of anime fan that I gave Bamboo Blade a chance in the first place. And I’m really glad I did.
I bursted in laughter too during that Bath House episode; it was just brilliant! I wasn’t expecting large amounts of fanservice, but the way they pulled that off was just great. Somehow, I felt teased but not deceived; not sure how that works.
I can see people complaining about BB being bland, but it might be because it really doesn’t try to be that specific, as you say. It doesn’t help that its filled with cute girls (which might get it the label of moe from the uneducated crowd) and that the comedy is not over the top (which might get it the label of “not funny enough” from the same crowd).
Hopefully, this will get a R1 release (at a reasonable price) and then it will probably get the love it deserves. It is loved by a bunch of fans already, but somehow I feel the amount of fans (and fanboyism) falls short compared to the quality of show.
And Sayarino banzai!
I rewound because I thought I fell asleep and missed something. Aside from the sheer entertainment value of the show, it’s pretty fun to watch if you actually practice Kendo. Oddly enough it’s made my weekly classes more fun and the show even more enjoyable.
Bamboo blade is an awesome show :D
A lot of bloggers are watching the show, but not necessarily making regular posts about it….not that it’s the type of series that needs a blow-by-blow account; but that may be contributing to the smaller size fan-base
it provides a nice break from all the intense drama thats on this season….ex. True Tears, Clannad, Shigofumi or (earlier in the season) EF: A Tale of Memories
It has some quasi-serious moments, but mostly it just gives me a much needed laugh every week :)
Miya-Miya ftw! :D
BB has moved ahead of Kimikiss in the “refresh every five minutes looking for the new episode” derby. I just can’t find much to dislike about the show at all… I can’t say that about any other series running currently.
Except Clannad, of course, but that’s a different story altogether.
Tama-chan uber alles!
Like the kendo girls. And the fanservice. And more than five seconds of animation.
lol, I was on the same page. It’s like a starving actor who is thrilled about a new commercial they’re in, but when it show, the person is only in it halfway (passing by, or just the feet/arm/pony tail, etc).
Still, its great fun, and well-rounded. ^^
My fan service is Tama-chan kicking arse…. This show is funny, gets you excited, always leaving you wanting more….very good stuff….
I think I stand somewhere alongside voodoomage’s statement. When starting a new episode, I look forward to seeing Tama-chan unleashing her finely-honed skills far more than I look forward to fanservice in the T&A aspect of the term.
Oh, yeah that reminds me that I didn’t say anything about that bathhouse scene. Oh well. Yeah, when I saw that I’m like, “Haha whoa that went fast. Bathhouse episode and no fanservice.”
I’m glad I gave Bamboo Blade a chance as well. Makes me want to try Princess Nine another sports anime with a bunch of girls that I’ve heard is a good watch as well.
Koji, the main difference between Bamboo Blade and Princess Nine is that BB is good, P9 is not.
Yea, this is one of those shows that I find hard to fit into some genre, because it isn’t trying to fit itself anywhere.
It’s not a show that I would go out of my way to watch (like TT), but certainly glad I checked it out.
I’ve heard good things about Princess Nine, but I think it’s supposed to be more drama-oriented than Bamboo Blade. It’s been on my, “maybe I’ll watch it someday,” list for what seems like years now… I think my ambivalence about baseball is the reason I haven’t watched it yet.
Although, on that note, I’ve been thinking of giving Ookiku Furikabutte a try. Momotato got me interested.
“I’ve heard good things about Princess Nine, but I think it’s supposed to be more drama-oriented than Bamboo Blade. ”
It is, and a nice story of how a team comes together, but it’s very over-dramatic to the point of unintentional comedy. That and you can pretty much tell how things will pan out. It’s a “typical sports anime” with girls at the helm, but it’s still a decent watch.
I think one of the reasons why I like Bamboo Blade is that it really isn’t trying to be anything, but it just is. And you can take that or leave it.
This show renews my love of Anime. nuff said.
I never once even remotely thought of bamboo blade as being anything near a harem or a fanservice show, and you’re absolutely insane (or overly negative) if you ever had that impression.
My first impressions going into Bamboo Blade were, “This will probably be a typical sports anime.” and “Haha wow the main girl is such a Rei clone.” How wrong I was. I like how Bamboo Blade isn’t really your typical sports genre anime with the super unbeatable dude and all his friends comment on his abilities and what not. Sure, Tama-chan might be very good at Kendo but even the Kendo matches haven’t been a big focus. It’s like a slice of life show as well. You know what I’m talking about, and I suppose that’s why I am attracted to it. Also it has a nice female cast.
I really started to watch Bamboo Blade on a whim and I’m glad I gave it a chance because it’s one of my favorite shows right now.
SPRITES BANZAI
I’m not sure I understand your comment, Digitalboy. Obviously, if you watch a few episodes, you’d realize fairly quickly that Bamboo Blade is neither a harem nor fanservice show. But I think it would be very easy to mistake it for one prior to watching a few episodes. After all, it has that appearance.
Nor do I see why it would be “insane” or “overly negative” to make that sort of assumption. Unless, that is, you always view “harem” and “fanservice” labels as insults. I know a lot of anime fans like to use genre labels as code words when insulting shows they don’t care for (i.e., instead of simply saying, “I don’t like this show,” they say, “It’s just a harem show,” with the implication that harem = bad), but I don’t play that game.
Mm. Well, when I first saw the previews for Bamboo blade and read the initial plot description, I said ‘this is going to be interesting and probably awesome’ and by the end of the first episode, I was expecting something like Hayate no Gotoku and from the 2 episodes I’ve actually seen, that’s what it reminds me of.
Before it started, a lot of people seemed sure it would be ‘just another harem’ and it pissed me off somewhat because I was looking forward to it being something unique. You can almost say I was reluctant to admit it might not be, and I’m glad I kept that train of thought because I got to feel good about myself when I was right.
But about my post, I apologize for not making it evident that I was grossly exaggerating, but I was.