Bamboo Blade

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Bamboo Blade
Cover of Bamboo Blade volume 6 as published by Square Enix
バンブーブレード (Banbū Burēdo)
Genre	Comedy, Sports, Slice of life story
Manga
Author	Masahiro Totsuka
Illustrator	Aguri Igarashi
Publisher	Square Enix
English publisher	Yen Press
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Young Gangan Yen Plus
Original run	December 3, 2004 – ongoing
Volumes	10
Manga
Bamboo Blade B
Author	Masahiro Totsuka
Illustrator	Aguri Igarashi
Publisher	Square Enix
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Monthly Shōnen Gangan
Original run	December 2008 – ongoing
Volumes	5 chapters
TV anime
Director	Hisashi Saitou
Studio	AIC A.S.T.A
Licensor	Funimation Entertainment
Network	TV Tokyo
Original run	October 2, 2007 – April 2, 2008
Episodes	26
Anime and Manga Portal

Bamboo Blade (バンブーブレード, Banbū Burēdo^?) is a Japanese manga series written by Masahiro Totsuka, and illustrated by Aguri Igarashi. The manga was first serialized in the Japanese seinen manga magazine Young Gangan starting December 3, 2004. The manga has been licensed for distribution in North America by Yen Press.^[1] An anime adaptation by AIC A.S.T.A was broadcast in Japan between October 2, 2007 and April 2, 2008 on TV Tokyo. The anime has been licensed for distribution in North America by Funimation. The series tells the story of a Toraji Ishida, a luckless high school Kendo instructor, who is challenged by his former upperclassman, also a kendo instructor, to a competition between their female students. The bet inspires Toraji to gather and train a team of five girls. Fortuitously, at this time he meets Tamaki Kawazoe, a gifted young female kendo practitioner.

Contents 1 Characters 2 Anime episodes 3 International media responses 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Characters

Toraji Ishida (石田 虎侍, Ishida Toraji^?)

Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi

Also known as "Kojirō", he is the kendo sensei, and also a teacher of politics and economics, at Muroe High School. He is perpetually impoverished and lives from paycheck to paycheck, often taking handouts of food from his students. He is offered the chance of a lifetime from an old senpai -- a year's supply of sushi if his female kendo team can beat his senpai's in a practice tournament. This inspires Kojirō to put an effort into training his team, much to the delight of his most dedicated student, Kirino Chiba. The only person who knows the real reason for Kojirō's inspiration is Yūji Nakata, who calls him "pathetic".

Tamaki Kawazoe (川添 珠姫, Kawazoe Tamaki^?)

Voiced by: Ryō Hirohashi

Tamaki Kawazoe is a first year high school student who is nicknamed "Tama-chan" for short. Despite being a kendo prodigy, she does not see it as a hobby, but rather just as a chore honed at her home, which happens to be a kendo dojo led by her father. She refuses to join the school's Kendo Club because she thinks it is unnecessary, but temporarily becomes a member in order to fight off a bully. She despises injustice due to her overdeveloped sense of righteousness and fair play inspired from watching tokusatsu (Her favorite being Blade Braver, a show within a show) as a child. She remains a big anime and tokusatsu fan despite her age. She is described as being the strength of the group by Kojirō.

Kirino Chiba (千葉 紀梨乃, Chiba Kirino^?)

Voiced by: Megumi Toyoguchi

Kirino Chiba is a second year high school student, and the captain of the kendo club. Energetic and enthusiastic, she dreams of leading the team to the nationals. Her family owns a deli named "Chiba Deli". Kirino is very happy that Kojirō has finally begun to put more effort into training his kendo team, but she is oblivious to the real reason that her teacher has suddenly begun to train the team so enthusiastically. She is proud that she is the captain of the kendo club and is more responsible than she appears (i.e., picking up the shinai when the other members leave them lying around on the floor, chiding the other members for not picking up after themselves, etc.). Despite that, however, she has great confidence in Tamaki. She is described as being the heart of the group by Kojirō.

Miyako Miyazaki (宮崎 都, Miyazaki Miyako^?)

Voiced by: Houko Kuwashima

Miyako Miyazaki is a first year high school student nicknamed "Miya-Miya". She is introduced as a very pretty and friendly girl, and to the surprise of many, the girlfriend of Danjūrō. However, in reality, she possesses a very dark and sadistic personality, but hides it in order to be together with Danjūrō. When Miyako shows her more sadistic side, she is surrounded by a black aura and acts in a rather eerie and cruel manner, but she instantly switches back to her friendly façade when others are approaching or calling her name.

Sayako Kuwahara (桑原 鞘子, Kuwahara Sayako^?)

Voiced by: Sachiko Kojima

Sayako Kuwahara is a second year high school student who is described as being random and spontaneous, often changing her interests and goals. During her first year, she joins the Kendo Club, but would sometimes disappear for short periods of time, claiming to quit. She and Kirino have known each other since elementary school, and Kirino often calls her "Saya". She is one of the tallest members on the team, which others poke fun at by "mistakenly" calling her a boy.

Satori Azuma (東 聡莉, Azuma Satori^?)

Voiced by: Rina Satō

Satori Azuma, a first-year high school student (that is, in the anime), is the fifth and the last person to join the Kendo Club. She is very talented in kendo. In fact, Satori is the second strongest in the club, with Tamaki being the strongest. However, she is very bad with her studies despite her diligence, which is why she decided to quit kendo after middle school--in order to concentrate on her studies.

Yūji Nakata (中田 勇次, Nakata Yūji^?)

Voiced by: Daisuke Sakaguchi

Yūji Nakata is a kind, cheerful, and helpful first year student who joins the Kendo Club. He was a member of his junior high school's kendo club and had also attended the Kawazoe Dojo. He had reached the top eight in the prefectural games during junior high. He is the only person who knows of Kojirō's true reason for training his kendo team with more gusto than before. He also possesses considerable academic skill as he scored fourth out of all the Freshman on the regional exams.

Danjūrō Eiga (栄花 段十朗, Eiga Danjūrō^?)

Voiced by: Akira Ishida

Also known as Dan-kun, Danjūrō Eiga is a round and plain-faced first year who joins the Kendo Club with Yūji. He originally wanted to join the Ping Pong Club, but there was no such club in the school. He shocks Yūji and Kojirō when he brings his pretty girlfriend Miyako to join the club. While he finds the basic training to be "boring" (possibly because he wants to impress Miyako), he is rather proficient in scorekeeping, as shown in one episode of the anime. While he generally comes off as rather dim-witted, it appears he is perceptive to the character Miyako doesn't want him to see.

[edit] Anime episodes

#	Title	Original air date
01	"The Bamboo Broom and The Comrade of Justice" "Takebōki to Seigi no Mikata" (竹ぼうきと正義の味方)	October 2, 2007
Kojirō, the coach of Muroe High's kendo club, makes a bet with his senpai, Kenzaburō, on a practice match between both schools, but the fighters must be 5 girls, no boys. Kojirō's victory would mean he could eat all he wants at Kenzaburō's father's sushi restaurant for a full year. Kojirō desperately needs to find more talented female kendo students because he only has 2 girls in his club. With only a month remaining before his match with Kenzaburō's team, he meets an extremely talented freshman, Kawazoe Tamaki.
02	"Blade Braver and Bento" "Burēdo Bureibā to Obentō" (ブレードブレイバーとお弁当)	October 9, 2007
Tamaki's motivation is presented in the form of her favorite tokusatsu, Blade Braver, and feels happy when toraji nicknames her "Red", the leader of the Club's female team. Her relationship with the other club members develop when they start having lunch together and sharing their bento, her everyday bento, however, consisted of a single umeboshi and rice, which she constantly made in honor of her parents, and couldn't share with the others. She start making "shareable" bento at the end of the episode, even though she feels she's disrespecting her parents a little.
03	"Black and Blue" "Burakku to Burū" (ブラックとブルー)	October 16, 2007
The 4th female member of the Kendo Club, Sayako Kuwahara, nicknamed by Toraji as the team's "Blue", is revealed, and has a painful first encounter with Miyako's "Black" personality. (note: the encounter between Saya and Miya-miya is different in the anime from the manga.)
04	"Pink and Blue" "Pinku to Burū" (ピンクとブルー)	October 23, 2007
Miyako learns that the girl she had thrown in the lake the previous day was actually her senpai in the club, this leads her, in her "Pink" personality, to awkwardly try to hide her identity from Sayako to avoid any confrontations. She starts to enjoy more of the club's activities, even though being forced to train from early in the morning, because of the opportunities kendo give to harm others legally. She is eventually convinced by Toraji to apologize and befriends Sayako.
05	"Muroe High and Machido High" "Muroe Kō to Machido Kō" (室江高と町戸高)	October 30, 2007
The day of the match arrives, however, due to the unique personalities of its members, the Machido High Kendo Club is awfully delayed. The real match starts very late in the episode, and the episode ends with Machido High's members awed by Tamaki's ability, after scoring a point in the first battle.
06	"Tamaki Kawazoe and the Belated Braver" "Kawazoe Tamaki to Chikoku no Bureiba" (川添珠姫と遅刻の武礼葉)	November 6, 2007
After Tamaki's match, which ended in a victory for her, the other matches take place meanwhile she prepares to participate in the last match too. At the end, Muroe High School ends winning 3 wins to 1 loss and 1 tie. Therefore, Kenzaburo challenges Tamaki to a match, impressed of how a girl of her age with such a great talent is in a club like that.
07	"Sushi and Menchikatsu" "Sushi to Menchikatsu" (寿司とメンチカツ)	November 13, 2007
This episode picks up at the end of the previous one, starting with Kenzaburo revealing that he knew the fifth fighter (Bureiba) was actually Tamaki. His challenge to Tamaki is accepted and so Kenzaburo and Tamaki's match starts. Kenzaburo goes all out on Tamaki, and they both score a point, but in the third round, Kenzaburo starts out in Jodan. This forces Tamaki to have a flashback of her mother in the same position. Kenzaburo leaves the match as a tie, and then goes out to a sushi dinner with Koujiru where Koujiru finds out that Kenzaburo's father has given his restaurant away, making their bet void.
08	"Tama-chan and the Part-time Job" "Tama-chan to Arubaito" (タマちゃんとアルバイト)	November 20, 2007
Tamaki sees an anime package on TV that she wants, but later finds out that she does not have enough money for it. At the school's dojo, Tamaki overhears Miyako on the phone talking about how she could not work part-time that day. Tamaki approaches her and inquires about it. Miyako then asks Tamaki to work part time there, to which Tamaki agrees to. Tamaki's father at first disagrees with Tamaki getting job, mostly because the school does not allow students to work part time jobs, but then accepts because he thinks that Tamaki is growing up, and also she will use the money to buy him a gift for his upcoming birthday.
09	"Kōjiro and the Turning Point of Fate" "Kojirō to Unmei no Bunkiten" (コジローと運命の分岐点)	November 27, 2007
Kōjiro has an incident in a public setting that places his teaching prospects at Muroe High School in doubt. With the rest of the club he resolves to get to the Nationals (or some similar honour) in an attempt to improve the club, gain distinction and save his teaching position. A weary Tamaki nears the end of her part time job filling in for Miyako. Then a suspicious customer arrives.
10	"The Melancholy of Miyazaki Miyako and The First Tournament" "Miyazaki Miyako no Yūutsu to Hajitaikai" (宮崎都の憂鬱と初大会)	December 4, 2007
The team enters the high school tournament. Only Tama-chan did well enough to win. Miyako meets her middle school classmate, Otajima Reimi who has a crush on her. Miyako as such became troubled and couldn't concentrate on her match. It was revealed that Reimi used to harass Miyako when they were in middle school. The episode ends off with Kōjiro sensei discussing about a fifth member with Kirino, the club captain.
11	"Animation and Dream" "Animeeshon to Doriimu" (アニメーションとドリーム)	December 11, 2007
Miyako reveals to the other kendo members that Reimi has been harassing her because during middle school she refused to go out with the captain of the mens football team, whom Reimi had already been rejected by. Try as she might, Kirino is unable to remember the name of the potential fifth female member who's studying at Muroe high school. Yūji suggests that Kirino should call her friend up and ask for her name again, which she does. Armed with the name Satori Azuma, Kirino and Sayako begin to search for her.
12	"Azuma's Circumstances and Mei's Circumstances" "Azuma no Jijō to Mei no Jijō" (東の事情とメイの事情)	December 18, 2007
This episode dedicates to Mei from Seimei high and Azuma from Muroe High. Mei joined Seimei High's Kendo club to get along with her friends, but many of her friends quit the club as they couldn't take the sensei's strict training. They gear up for the practice match with Muroe High, she had set her mind to quit after the practice match. Kōjiro found out that Azuma didn't want to join the kendo club as her results in examinations were bad. Not because she wasn't able to do it, but she made careless mistakes. Nevertheless, Kirino drags her to the practice match. The episode concludes with Seimei High's Kendo team training against Muroe High's Kendo team.
13	"Teachers and Pupils" "Senseitachi to Seitotachi" (先生たちと生徒たち)	December 25, 2007
Muroe High School Kendo team won all their matches against Seimei high in the practice match. Azuma upon seeing Tama's Strong kendo skills become motivated and took part in the practice match. Before that, Tama had a match with Azuma, despite Azuma losing, she was impressed and therefore became motivated. Mei, from Seimei high who originally wanted to quit decided to stay on as she was impressed by Tama's skills. The episode end off when Seimei High's Sensei competed with Muroe's high sensei and won the match.
14	"Satorin's Determination and Mogyu Mogyu" "Satorin no Ketsui to Mogyumogyu" (さとりんの決意ともぎゅもぎゅ)	January 9, 2008
Kirino and Sayako continue their attempts to persuade Azuma to join the kendo club. Their attempts end only in tears. As they run through and around the school, Miyako hears their mobile lamentation and springs into action. She offers an excuse that she has cleaning duties, then sweetly dumps said duties onto her classmates. Alternating between a good friend, salesperson and snake cornering a frog she attempts to win over Azuma. Miyako's tactics eventually convince Azuma (and later her parents) to join the kendo club with the expectation/condition that it will lead to improved grades. With the team set (and the boys ignored) a training camp is announced. Due to a lack of funds, this intensive training will take place on the school grounds. Tamaki's father is perturbed especially when Tamaki confirms Yūji Nakata will be there.
15	"First Training Camp and First Bath House" "Hatsugasshuku to Hatsusentō" (初合宿と初銭湯)	January 16, 2008
It's training camp at Muroe High, jointly with the five Machido students that they had a practice match with. Tama's father sneaks around worried about the boys while the group cleans up the pool, fights over who gets to train with Tama, and takes a break at the Bath House. After that, they have to deal with one of them sneaking away, pillow fights, Saya's guitar, and even getting freaked out by the sleeping habits of their fellow students (like sleeping with eyes open!). The episode wraps up with Tama and Kirino, the latter who can't help but stay up and hold her shinai a bit longer. Camp ends and everyone returns home, but for Kirino, something more than a warm welcome awaits...
16	"Kirino's Absence and the Preliminary Tournament" "Kirino no Kesseki to Yosen Taikai" (キリノの欠席と予選大会)	January 23, 2008
Kirino is worried by home troubles while the rest of the team worries about her. Saya, sharing a deep connection with Kirino, is prepared to step up for the win and ease Kirino's burden. Despite these troubles, however, Kirino seems even more focused than ever. Meanwhile, Tama is pulled into a deceitful web...
17	"Light and Shadow" "Hikari to Kage" (光と陰)	January 30, 2008
The tournament continues, with Tama seemingly in trouble with the other team's treacherous plots. Satorin (Azuma) encounters a little bit of stomach troubles while Miya-miya is continuously haunted by Reimi's face. Saya does her duty to relieve Kirino's burden, and Kirino does her part as the team's captain. When Tama steps up, she has a little payback in store for her opponent...
18	"The Tournament and the Subsequent Muroe High" "Taikai to Sonogo no Muroe Kou" (大会とその後の室江高)	February 6, 2008
Kōjiro and Tama have a little talk and wounds are tended to. Kirino must stand up in order for the team to keep fighting. The tournament ends and the team is back to base as usual, with Saya off somewhere and Tama alright.
19	"Armadillo and Pangolin" "Arumajiro to Senzankou" (アルマジロとセンザンコウ)	February 13, 2008
Miya-miya and Dan-kun shops for a new Shinai at the Kendo store. There they meet Carrie, an expatriate living in Japan, who falls in love with Dan-kun at first sight. Miya-miya challenges Carrie to a duel.
20	"Braver and Schneider" "BUREIBAA to SHINAIDAA" (ブレイバーとシナイダー)	February 20, 2008
Yuji invites Tama to go to an amusement park that's hosting a Blade Braver concert. At the venue, She meets a girl called Rin who's a fan of Braver's rival, "Shinaidaa". They enter a fan-quiz to win Blade Braver dolls.
21	"Kawazoe Tamaki and Suzuki Rin" "Kawazoe Tamaki to Suzuki Rin" (川添珠姫と鈴木凛)	February 27, 2008
Rin and Tama along with the production crew go on location to film the new Blade Braver movie, where an incident gets both of them the replacement roles in the new film. The rest of the Kendo club members either practice or take the day off doing what they want. The episode concludes with Kōjiro returning from his business trip.
22	"Loser and Winner" "Haisha to Shousha" (敗者と勝者)	March 5, 2008
Muroe High goes to the Kanto High School Kendo Tournament. Miyamiya shows her improvement in practice, but fails to defeat Carrie in the tournament. Muroe makes it to the 3rd round, where Tama is finally defeated by Rin, and Muroe is pushed out of the tournament. Meanwhile, Toyama and Iwasa, two former members of the kendo club, are caught fighting in a video game arcade and destroying two machines.
23	"Lie and Silence" "Osu to Chinmoku" (嘘と沈黙)	March 12, 2008
The principal of the school tells Kōjiro that the kendo club will be disbanded because of club members engaging in suspicious or risky activities--specifically, Toyama and Iwasa, who, ironically, have stopped attending kendo club but have not turned in any resignation forms. Kirino and Sayako are distraught when Kōjiro reveals the news to them, and they protest the principal's decision, calling it unfair. Meanwhile, Miyako has an emotional breakdown over her failure in the competition and, surprisingly, refuses Danjūrō's comfort. Tamaki, also unhappy over losing the competition, quits the kendo club, much to Kirino's dismay.
24	"Sword and Way" "Ken to Michi" (剣と道)	March 19, 2008
Kirino attempts and fails to prevent Tamaki from resigning from the kendo club, the latter already having decided to give up. Neither she nor Miyako decide to attend kendo club, and nobody knows Miyako's whereabouts. Eventually even Kirino decides not to attend, and the only members left are Satori, Yūji, Danjūrō, and Sayako. Satori manages to convince Miyako to keep up with kendo, while Sayako dissuades Kirino from quitting kendo. Yūji comforts Tamaki, telling her that losing is not as bad as she thinks, and Tamaki decides to learn jōdan to help improve her kendo skills. Eventually she decides to come back to kendo club, and the members are reunited.
25	"Kendo and The Thing It Brings About" "Kendou to sore ga motarasumono" (剣道とそれがもたらすもの)	March 26, 2008
Muroe High goes to a national kendo competition and meets with many of their former opponents. Miyako, having watched footage of her previous kendo match filmed by Reimi in an effort to improve her kendo skills, manages to beat Carrie Nishikawa, the latter of which calls the former out for a match of their own and is beaten again. Tamaki fights Rin Suzuki again and wins by using the thrust attack. Kōjiro, on the other hand, has emptied out his apartment, and in the last few minutes of the episode is shown getting on Nobu-chan's motorcycle and going to a different place--presumably his new home.
26	""After That" and "After This"" ""Sorekara" to "korekara"" ("それから"と"これから")	April 2, 2008
It is a new year and several months have passed since the National competition. Two freshmen show up to join the club. The members one by one appear trying to convince them to join the club only to perform sideshow tricks leaving the freshmen unimpressed. The club later have a sparring match which causes the freshmen to become enthusiastic about joining the club. Its later revealed that these two new members are the siblings of the previous members that quit. Kojiro returns back to school having settled the problem with the old lady that forced him to leave. At the very end of the episode Tama-chan encounters a long purple haired woman with blue eyes, hinting that Bamboo Blade may have another season to come.

[edit] International media responses

"The recent series from anime production house AIC A.S.T.A is a surprise - and yet not really one at all," wrote Andrez Bergen in the June 2008 issue of U.K. magazine, Impact. "While Bamboo Blade follows the travails of a bunch of high school girls in one very special kendo team, rather than boys, the producers were previously responsible for Gun Sword, a series in which one very special woman - Carmen 99 - also pretty much stole the show." ^[2]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Manga official website (Japanese)
• Anime official website (Japanese)
• AIC A.S.T.A's website for the anime (Japanese)
• TV Tokyo's website for the anime (Japanese)
• Bamboo Blade (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia