Bamboo Blade Picked Up

Thank God for Funimation On Demand and Youtube uploads. I'm not a big fan of dubs, but I need to watch something to keep me entertained besides keeping up with the new Summer Season on American TV. Luckily, there were subtitled episodes of this show on Youtube.

Now, in case you don't know what kendo is, good, because I don't either. Judging from the show, it's sort of like fencing except with bamboo sticks (or blades, hence the title). Unlike fencing though, you also get to wear armor, thus it's automatically a sport for pussies.

I take that back.

To put it bluntly, I was expecting this to be another boring slice-of-life that would never manage to make me laugh. I was right! Or at least I was for the first two episodes. I only laughed once, and the show didn't seem very interesting, just another slice-of-life show with your typical character archetypes like a stoic little girl and a dumb genki girl, to list off a few examples. Sounds like the ideal cast for a show about disciplined fighters bashing each other with long sticks (there are too many sex jokes I could make with this).

Behold, the sight of these fierce, noble warriors trained from a young
age and bred from the blood and tears of their ancestors.

Also, the only kendo matches shown consist of a senior who beats up freshmen and gets beaten up in turn by the quiet, little girl mentioned earlier. Oh, and they also have training sessions during which they swing their swords up and down while showing off their proud battle cries.

Yeah.

However, the third and fourth episodes surprised me with the best character ever:

There are several explanations for that.

What seemed like a typical pretty girl with no personality whatsoever actually turns out to have a sort of hidden yandere side that wants nothing more than to be with her beloved. She shows a cruel, vengeful side, and I mean downright murderous. All it needs is a Higurashi art-shift and it will be perfect. Hopefully, we'll see more of that insane side of hers over the course of the show, it's amazing.

Anyway, this isn't supposed to be a full or thorough review (although the length might hint otherwise), these are just some thoughts on the show. A lot can change over the remaining episodes, and I've only seen four episodes so far. Until next post...