Bamboo Blade

I remember at one particular time, I was obsessed with sports-related anime. In my craze, I picked up Bamboo Blade and was glad that I did. It even makes me interested in kendo. Too bad I'm too old to pick up a sport, or to learn martial art.

Bamboo Blade is pretty straight forward in terms of the story line. We have a struggling kendo club looking for new members to ensure that the club will not be canceled. Of course, as the story progress they managed to gather new members, including two boys. The instructor is kind of good for nothing sensei. One day he met with an old friend, another instructor at another school, and bet that his club can beat the other kendo club in a practice match. The prize is one year supply of sushi (didn't I said he's good for nothing?). Anyway, somehow the practice match leads to the final tournament. There are nice mini stories, trials and tribulations in between that completed this story.

Bamboo Blade does a fairly good job explaining what Kendo is, the strategies and the ropes of the sport. As a total noob when it comes to Kendo, I didn't get lost in the plot trying to understand what has taken place.

Each of the members have eccentrics personalities which make this show so fun to watch because they are such a riot! The members of the club is the heart of this series and totally has the best character chemistry ever. Tamaki got to be my favorite character in the series. She's small and seems to have a quiet personality but she's one of the best at Kendo. Also she's an otaku, so she wins big time. Kirino is the responsible captain of the kendo club and have a close relationship with Sayako, the hilarious red-head. There is also Satori is the timid girl, Miyako who have split personalities and is totally in love with the very eccentric, very geeky, Dan the pimp. Let's not forget Yuuji who is the only sensible male around and seems to be the closest with Tamaki (I was hoping for some romance), and their failure of a teacher, Kojiro.

Despite this being a all female cast for the most part, there is absolutely no ecchi or fanservice to the pervert, which is something that I appreciated.

Kawazoe Tamaki. She might be small but she can so kick your ass to oblivion.

While it may not be the best looking series out there, I think AIC A.S.T.A, FUNimation Entertainment and Studio Tulip did a pretty good job with the art. The characters were designed with their personalities in mind and has such versatility to them. The overall animation is well enough to catch your attention and does not come off as an over kill. Only the background is lacking in character, imo.

The OP of this series is pretty catchy and lively. It will give you a sense of happiness. It also has a sweet ED too. Both songs were done by Hirohashi Ryou (the seiyuu for Tamaki). The background music too is pretty awesome, with epic orchestral pieces to hot-blooded insect songs. The voice actors did at awesome job to add personalities to the characters. They also did well in matching with the characters' various emotion. Did you know, Kojiro is voiced by the same guy who voiced Kamina-sama from Gurren Lagaan, with the same intonations and vocal gestures. It was sheer hilarity and full of epicness!



Bamboo Blade has it all: comedy, drama, romance... all rolled up into 26 episodes. If you are looking for a fun anime with great character chemistry and amusing anecdotes, then Bamboo Blade hits the mark just right. However I can't recommend it to everyone especially if you like plot twist and a fast pace non-linear storyline.

Personally I thoroughly enjoyed this series though :)

Art 8/10
Story 8/10
Characters 10/10
Sound 8/10
Enjoyment 10/10
Overall 9/10

Torrent: TokyoTosho
Fansub: Huzzah-Doremi

Air Gear

Ok, so the story in Air Gear is as follows. All over the world there are this popular air trek skates, that teenagers use in order to race and fight. The main hero of the series is Ikki, who is a middle-school boy, and is the toughest street-fighting punk on the east side of town, on top of that he lives with 4 gorgeous sisters that took him in when he was a kid. But what Ikki doesn't know is that the girls are part of one of the most infamous A-T gangs, 'Sleeping Forest'. The early parts of the story carry out the introduction of characters that eventually join Ikki. As the story progresses, it focuses on their roles as Storm Riders, the team that Ikki created with his friends, and their quest to be on the top of the Tropaion Tower, some kind of ranking system in the world of Air Trek. Being a fantastic combination of comedy, action and ecchi, Air Gear is incredibly fun to watch. I can't explain it to you why Air Gear is so cool. I was practically hooked after the intro, which is one of the best intro I have ever seen. Nothing sets the mood for some skating like the song they picked.



What Air Gear lacks is an ending. It's only flaw I discovered is an ending, which is kind of cool, as long as all the fans know the fact that the manga is still ongoing, letting us know that there might be a second season. What the creators of Air Gear do well is set the mood for an ending. With Ikki's team rising towards the top, and different "kings" making appearances during episodes, you would probably think that by the end of the series you will have Ikki fighting for the crown. But no, there is no "I am the best"-ending, which makes the series a little disappointing.
Overall this was a great anime, and by the end of it you'll be left wanting for more. The graphics are gorgeous and the music is incredible, but again, lacking an ending is what makes Air Gear not one of the best series out there.




Graphics 9/10
Sound 10/10
Storyline 8/10 (no ending)
Characters 9/10
Overall 9/10

One Outs

After the release of the final 2 episodes, I decided to finally watch this anticipated Madhouse production. It was incredible. Although highly underrated, because of the baseball amount in the series, One Outs is a fantastic production, offering the fans everything they ever wished for in an anime: strong characters, cool graphics, amazing plot and great sound. One Outs tells us the story of Tokuchi Toua, an amazing pitcher and a gambler. He has an incredible talent in manipulating people and uses his skill to crush his opponents. He joins the team that finished last in the Japanese baseball league, because of a bet he lost with the captain of that team. He then helps the team to overcome their problems and become one of the contenders for the championship. Although it offers a great plot with some amazing twists, what One Outs actually lacks is a great ending. It leaves you wanting for more, being already trapped in Tokuchi's mind games. I couldn't believe that the 25th episode was the ending. The way it ended you would really think the series will go for minimum 10 more episodes, or at least a second season. But no, that's it. The characters, as I already said are great. The way they all participate in the plot, leaving no questions unanswered. The whole point of the series is that, Tokuchi, being a gambler, signs a secret contract with the owner of the team. He will be paid 4000$ for every out he makes, but will have to pay the owner 40000$ for every point he gives away. The owner agrees, but later, after seeing Tokuchi's mindgames, he tries to destroy Tokuchi. The music and the sounds are awesome. It is the regular stadium sound, because the series has NO moments outside the stadium, except for some dialogues and meetings the owner participates in. The graphics are also beautiful. The players and the game moments are all nicely animated. I practically didn't find any flaws. Overall it was a great anime, and although not everyone is a sports fan, I truly recommend this anime to any person that loves mind games, the thrill of a good anime that leaves you guessing what will happen next.



Graphics 9.5/10
Sound 8/10
Storyline 8.5/10 (disappointing ending)
Characters 9/10
Overall 9/10