Review: Bamboo Blade (バンブーブレード)

Posted by ranpha on 8th April 2008
Posted in: anime review - reposted, sport genre standard. Tagged: . Leave a Comment


This extremely violent but hilariously funny character is the best in this anime.

This review of Bamboo Blade should be the last one for at least a week or so, as I will be dragged down by personal commitments for the next few days. Anyway, with 3 reviews in a week, I think I am doing just right. By the way, this is the latest 2007 anime that will try to get the Best Anime of the Year 2007 award from Nodame Cantabile.

Story:-
A kendo instructor of a high-school club makes a bet with his friend that his kendo club is better than the friend’s. As his club only has one active member, he has to scout the high school for new members, and he finds the gem that is Kawazoe Tamaki. With her entrance into the club, the kendo club changed dramatically.

This anime belongs to the sport genre, thus it will be judged with a higher standard just like I do with romance genre titles. The story surprisingly is not a typical one that you can normally see in this genre, but more like the ones you can see in a shounen anime. The story is good but not exactly compelling, but fortunately there are elements of humour like usage of distorted faces that supports it somewhat. For a sport anime, the lack of over-exaggerated ‘techniques’ is also a breath of fresh air. It also helps that the story managed to stay fresh throughout the series.

The thing that you can see better in this anime is character development, and this allowed us to see few reasonably strong characters in this anime, mainly from the female members of the kendo team. All the female members of the club plus the kendo instructor are interesting in their own unique ways, and I always looks forward to see what they will do next, how they interacts with each other or with other parties and how they evolved to achieve what they wants every time I started a new episode.

The ending is not exactly good, and there are hints of a second season there. I hope there will be one because this anime still has a lot of untapped potential.


Facial expressions are used extensively in this anime.

Character Design:-
Character design in this anime is pretty ordinary actually. As usual, there is virtually no black hair in this series whatsoever.


Our favourite character here is looking for someone to be beaten into a pulp.

Voice Acting:-
A positive point of this anime, voice acting in this anime is great even with a relatively unknown cast. At least it is better than the disappointing Dragonaut. There seems to be no outstanding voice gigs though.

Music:-
Just like Dragonaut, the OST is great but no so for any of the OP/ED themes.


And she is now examining her weapon of choice for beating people into pulps.

Animation/Direction:-
Another positive point for this anime, the animation in this anime is top notch, and did not suffer at all in the very many fast-paced scenes this anime has. Choreography for action scenes (mostly kendo fight in tournaments) are pretty good, at least in the eyes of some who does not really know kendo like me. The directing is decent too, allowing the story to flow freely with minimal flashbacks or fillers.


Her ecstasy as she does what she likes the most is shown above.

Conclusion:-
7 out of 10. Nothing more and nothing less. Too bad that I raised the standard recently after watching Capeta or this anime would have scored more. Nodame Cantabile is still king for the year 2007, and honestly speaking I do not really see this taken away from it.


The terror on the face of one of her victims as she swoops in for the kill.

Review: Dragonaut – The Resonance (ドラゴノーツ -ザ・レゾナンス-)

Posted by ranpha on 6th April 2008
Posted in: anime review - reposted. Tagged: . 1 comment


An action shonen title will not be complete without its emo poster boy.

Another day, another review coming up. Today, it will be for Dragonaut – The Resonance, yet another 2007 anime that will vie for the Best Anime of the Year 2007 title. Let’s see if this anime has that extra special ommphhh that will be able to unseat Nodame Cantabile from its throne.

Story:-
Set up in a futuristic setting where interplanetary travel (and warfare) is common, our unassuming hero loses his whole family to an accident. Two years later, he is engulfed within a serial killing case and he eventually found out about the secret project of a shadowy organization that aims to save the world from being destroyed by an extraterrestrial being that can devour planets.

This is your typical shonen storyline, and when I say typical, it is for sure will not be a masterpiece. Anyway, the anime started very well, filled with action and actually has good plot and character developments plus fluidly flowing storyline. I watched nearly 20 episodes in a day and by the time the Mars arc finished, I actually thought that this anime will get at least 9 out of 10.

Unfortunately, the story takes turn for the worse after the burning Mars arc, and the anime headed towards that train-wreck that is called the ending. The ending is full with typical shonen clichés and is too predictable; I started contemplating going to Japan and shoot whoever wrote the ending.

As mentioned above, character developments are done very well, and that’s about it. It is also very nice for this anime not to have any noticeable filler episodes and putting important flashbacks before the OP theme in every episode is also a nice touch as they will not get in the way later in the episode.


Too much boobs is not exactly a good thing.

Character Design:-
Let me get my complaint first, and that would be the blatant overuse of large boobs in many of the female characters. It was nice in the first couple of episodes, but it started to become irritating after that. As the anime goes on, I just blank them out of my mind or else it will really ruin this anime. Anyway generally, character design in this anime is good in general, with that prince from Mars and also that blonde computer genius (hahaha, blonde and genius in one sentence) being outstanding.

Moving to the designs for the dragons, they are largely very well done, with one important exception; the design for the female protagonist. When she transformed for the first time into that HIDEOUS PINKISH DRAGON, I thought to myself “Oh God, does this mean I have to watch the hero mounting her for the whole series?”. Thankfully, she is a little bit emo, thus she likes to run away (or being kidnapped or arrested or just being stupid) from the hero, and the hero has to mount a much cooler-looking dragon instead of her for most of the series.

Voice acting:-
With such a good roster of voice actors/actresses lining up for this anime, you may have thought this anime will have an excellent voice acting quality, but unfortunately this is not the case because in general this anime’s voice acting is just average. Fortunately, there is one exception, and that would be that prince from Mars. Voiced by the same person who also does L.A. in el cazador de la bruja, he makes the the prince sound very evil, and his gig is so much better than the prince’s subordinate that was voiced by Hirano Aya. In fact, he is so good, he alone may have scored one point extra for the rating of this anime despite the crappiness of the rest of the cast. I for sure will keep my eye (or ears) for this Mamoru Miyano bloke in the future.

Music:-
This anime has great OST, but why or why none of the OP/ED themes is any good?

Animation/Direction:-
The animation in this anime is superb, even in fast-paced scenes. Choreography of the action scenes can be bewildering and confusing at first in the beginning of the series, but it moderates itself as the series goes on. Integration between CGI and 2D scenes are also done seamlessly. The directing is more of a mixed-bag, as it excels at doing one thing while doing terribly at another.

Conclusion:-
7 out of 10. That ending ruins it for this anime. Nodame is still the undisputed king for 2007.


An action scene from when the anime is still good.

Review: Kimikiss pure rouge (キミキス pure rouge)

Posted by ranpha on 4th April 2008
Posted in: anime review - reposted, romance genre standard. Tagged: . 1 comment


A man in love. His story arc is the best in this anime.

This is a review of an anime that is similar to Myself, Yourself but much superior, titled kimikiss pure rouge. This is a 2007 anime and also belongs to the romance genre, which means it will compete with Nodame Cantabile for 2007 award and also judged with a higher standard compared to titles in other genres.


In the search for true love, best friends like the one above is always the one been neglected in the favor of a new shiny boyfriend/girlfriend.

Story:-
Three childhood friends were reunited after 2 years when one of them returned from overseas. Each of them has to deal with their own separate romantic stories, which will eventually merge themselves into the whole main story.

The story takes quite some time to develop, but when it does the story is actually very good and well worth the wait. The story is also augmented by the great presentation that allows the plot to flow freely. Character developments are excellent for almost everyone, and surely one of the best from all the anime I have reviewed recently. These three factors contributed to each other towards the essence of a very good anime.

Although the character development in this anime is as good as it can be, it is very surprising indeed that this anime do not have a strong character the way Chocotto Sister (Choco) or Nodame Cantabile (Noda Megumi) has. Meanwhile the only complaint I have is the ending which could have been presented better. For God-sake, you don’t dump your girlfriend in the last 10 minutes in the last episode; this will make it hard for the dumper to get his one true love in a believable/natural way, in the term of limited airtime.


A woman in love. Her story arc is the least interesting in this anime.

Character Design:-
Overall, the character design in this anime is good, with the genius girl being outstanding. Also an anime where brown is the new black. Except for the genius girl which has black hair. And that’s why she stands out in this typical Japanese high school setting.

Voice acting:-
A positive point of this anime, voice acting in this anime is excellent, although there is no one that really stands out.

Music:-
The OST is decent and the 2nd ED theme is excellent. The OP and 1st ED theme are not.


Awful acting from two awful actors.

Animation/Direction:-
The animation in this 2007 anime is just as good as most of the other 2007 anime I have reviewed recently. They are fluid, even in the little fast-paced scenes this anime has. No comment about choreography because this is a romantic slice-of-life anime.

Meanwhile, the directing is excellent, and definitely one of the positive points of this anime. Many of my writing in the story section apply here, especially the presentation part. One of the better directing gig I have seen recently.

Conclusion:-
8 out of 10. Pretty decent for a romance anime that is not overbearing unlike that culprit Myself, Yourself. Remember, the handicap is applied here. Nodame Cantabile is still the holder of Best Anime of 2007 though.


If the ending can be visualized, it may looks like this.

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