Bamboo Blade

Some fight for honor. They fight for sushi.

Note: This is not a trope about the shinai, a bamboo practice sword used in Kendo practice (See Nerf Arm or Wooden Katanas Are Even Better for that). You will, however see quite a few of them in this series.

Kendo instructor Toraji "Kojirou" Ishida was down on his luck. Stuck in Perpetual Poverty, he could barely make ends meet. Then there was a ray of hope. If he could assemble a team of female kendo students to defeat his old friend's team, he'd get free food for a year. Now he just has to find the team. Find it he does, in the form of Tamaki, a young prodigy. The rest of the team is equally eccentric. So begins Bamboo Blade, a surprisingly well-done kendo anime mixed with Day in the Life moments to create something greatly entertaining. The characters sell the show.

Based on a manga by Masahiro Totsuka. There is a Spin-Off with all-new characters, Bamboo Blade B.

Tropes used in Bamboo Blade include:
  • Adult Child: Toraji-Sensei, whose childishness makes you wonder how he got his job in the first place.
  • A Lesson in Defeat: Toraji thinks that Tama-chan needs this.
  • Alpha Bitch: Konishi and her three underclassmen. There was a rumor going around that they would often sabotage her opponents, such as putting thumbtacks in the opponent's shoes, or doing other things to keep them from fighting. While Konishi doesn't seem to be the mastermind behind it, she nevertheless seems to unofficially approve of the things the girls did since it often helps in her matches. Unfortunately for her, those tactics don't work against Tama-chan, and Tama-chan probably unleashed more rage than usual because of Konishi's underhandedness. Konishi's spirit definitely seems to be broken after her fight with Tama.
  • Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: In the manga, Tama-chan's dad wastes no time busting out the photo album when her friends visit the dojo. Tama's silent pleading crosses the line into Woobie territory. Then he goes for the home video of her in the bath...
  • Art Evolution: Present in the manga. The lines become thinner and details better drawn. Tamaki in particular becomes less angular and cuter.
  • Art Shift: One of the side chapters has Dan come out of Super-Deformed mode for one panel in a particularly badass moment of Hot Bloodedness.
  • Ascended Fanboy: Rin and Tama both get to participate in the Blade Braver movie. They then get into an unscripted fight, but from the looks of the Distant Finale, it got cut from the film (along with Tama's line being redubbed due to her flubbing it).
  • Badass Adorable: Tama-chan... just Tama-chan. Squee!! I'm Taking Her Home with Me!! She also counts as a Cute Bruiser and Even the Girls Want Her. During one episode, an opposing kendo squad squees and begs to fight her not to try to beat her but so that they can experience getting hit by her which is played up as very... euphoric. Ahem.
  • Badass Arm-Fold: Shinaider/ Silver Braver in the Blade Braver movie.
  • Balloon Belly: Satori in episode 17.
  • Battle Aura: Miyamiya's black one and Tama's heroic red one, most noticeably. The former gets a lampshade, as it comes complete with spooky laughter. It gets lampshaded a number of times during the series. She also comes in snake/dominatrix mode as seen when convincing Azumi to join the team; the force of her speech actually causes an seemingly audible explosion.

"Am I crazy, or was she covered in a black cloud?"

  • Berserk Button: Konishi seems to press Tama-chan's after it seemed she was trying to help the latter, but then kept gloating about Tama's ankle injury. She totally deserved the fury Tama unleashed on her afterwards.
  • Between My Legs: In episode 14, of Miya-Miya framing Azuma, the shot emphasizing Miya's intimidation of Azuma.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: You couldn't find a nicer girl than Tamaki, but when Konishi succeeds in getting Tama-chan to twist her ankle, then in their match later, forces her to put weight on it, she makes the mistake of gloating over it. Tamaki's subsequent Death Glare nearly makes Konishi step back a pace. Then Tama's Kiai surprises everyone. Konishi tries to respond, only to freeze to the spot in fear when Tama shouts a second time. K's still trying to find an opening when Tama nails her so hard with a throat strike, she's knocked off her feet. You dared to dishonour kendo with your bad attitude? You must pay [dead link] .
    • Yuuji stands his ground when three big, tough looking guys were sent to beat him up. Luckily for him, his Death Glare and Badass Boast with the stick scares them off.
    • According to one of the omakes, angry Kirino is truely something to be feared.
  • Bifauxnen: Maya and Karen can pull this off when they're wearing their kendo uniforms, though Maya looks more thuggish than the typical Bifauxnen character.
    • Saya, of course, nearly quits the team when she misinterprets a compliment from Toraji-sensei to the effect that her height, strength and reach are comparable to a boy's.
  • Bishie Sparkle: Miya-Miya is blindingly sparkling before she goes into yandere mode. Turned Up to Eleven in the manga when she hears the club might appear on TV.
    • Erina has an aura of solid bishie sparkle.
    • Tama-chan has these whenever she watches or talks about anime.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Ryoko Todo. Miya-Miya to a lesser extent. Konishi as well.
  • Black Blood Nosebleed: Reimi... somehow.
  • Bokukko: Maya Yokoo.
  • Boring Invincible Hero: For the first half of the show or more, the only one to give Tamaki any trouble at all is Ishibashi-sensei.
    • Also, Tama-chan was defeated by Erina
  • Bumbling Dad: Sakaki's father is dismayed and confused by his daughter's abandonment of kendo in favour of idol (singer)-worship. He resorts to seeing an honest-to-Kami Onmyodo sorceress to exorcise the demon possessing her.
  • Butt Monkey: Kojirou. Though seeing as he starts out pretty selfish and much of the plot is driven by having to clean up his messes (much of the over-arching plot revolves around the team having to make a name for themselves in various tournaments so Kojirou can keep his job after getting into a fight with the neighbor of the principal's wife,) he kind of deserves it.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Standard kendo practice.
  • Can't Catch Up: Miyamiya started kendo later than the rest, so she can't land a single hit on Tama-chan, much to her chagrin. By the twentieth episode, she still hadn't won a match and had only scored one point on Satori.
    • The coach can't land a hit on Tama-chan.
      • Although in Ishida's case it's made clear he's not practiced properly since his match with Ishibashi ten years ago. Miya-Miya does win a match, against Carrie in episode 25. And then their unofficial one with Carrie using two swords - played more for laughs than anything; "Such brute strength!", "No. The 'power of love'"
  • The Cameo: Goro Taniguchi, director of Planetes, Gun X Sword, and Code Geass, plays himself in one episode.
  • Cat Smile: Kirino's standard expression.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Miya-Miya when Carrie shows up and starts smothering Dan-kun, and calling him Anderson. Carrie even threatens to "steal" Dan-kun away if she wins against Miya.
  • Closet Geek: Tamaki, the highly skilled kendo fighter, sure loves anime. She even does part time work in order to save up money for a limited edition series, then unfortunately has to give it up when she realizes that her dad's birthday is up, and buys him a present instead.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Kirino falls into this trope from time to time.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Ando and Konishi are both different versions; Ando breaks rules with tactics like tackling her opponent to the ground or stepping on their feet -- and gets away with it by playing them off as accidents. Konishi has her Girl Posse target her opponents before a match.
  • Cool Big Sis: Kirino's specifically described as an older sister to the other members of the club.
  • Cry Cute: The main girls when they're crying.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Muroe walks all over Kamasaki High's kendo team in their practice meet, winning every single match, including the match between the instructors. Then again, the whole point of the arc was more about the Kamasaki team starting to care more about kendo, as it's stated repeatedly that they could actually match, or even beat Muroe if they hadn't turned into a bunch of unmotivated slackers.
  • Dandere: Tamaki.
  • Death Glare: Several characters exhibit one, but usually Tama-chan or Miya-Miya (often accompanied with a Battle Aura in her case).
  • Demoted to Extra: In-universe example, both Yuuji and Dan-kun are constantly being reminded that they're not that important. They will usually point it out as well.
  • Disturbed Doves: Tama-chan's Kiai against Konishi scares a flock of doves out of the trees near the contest hall.
  • Ditzy Genius: Kirino. Similarly-vague Dan-kun ranks second in his year... of 390 students.
  • Dojikko: Satori.
  • Dreadful Musician: Saya.
  • Dual-Wielding: Carrie outside of tournaments. Dan actually tries to get Korjiro to let him do this at one point.
    • Ishibaki tries to use this in a match against Kojirou in the manga, in an attempt to look cool in front of his team. He quickly gets hit, and then starts the match over with one sword after realizing that losing while Dual-Wielding just makes you look like twice the loser.
  • Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Miya-Miya has them when Reimi is around her too long and constantly taking pictures.
  • Dumb Blonde: Subverted. Kirino may be a ditz but she's ranked 20th in her year.
  • Eagle Land: Carrie Nishikawa.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Satori passes by the Dojo in the first 5 minutes of the first episode. She then has a couple more cameos (and even does a next episode preview) before her formal introduction.
  • Eyes Always Shut: Konishi, before she reveals her true self. Dan-kun also counts, and is just as scary when he opens his eyes.
  • Fan Girl: Tamaki and anime. See Episode 11 for the sparkly proof.
    • That's nothing. Check out episode 21.
  • The Fake Cutie: The idol Ryoko Toda. One of her manager's duties is to let her beat him, brutally, every time she gets upset so she doesn't hurt herself or her image tearing apart dressing rooms and other people. She isn't throwing weak shots either, he's just enough of a tank to take it. When she's not doing this she's a perfectly calm and polite young woman.
  • Fan Nickname
  • Five-Man Band
  • Foot Focus: Taken to extreme amounts. It's harder to find an episode where there aren't close-ups of the girls' bare feet (if there even are any).
  • Foreign Fanservice: Carrie. Just Carrie.
  • Furo Scene: Cruelly subverted in Episode 15: wherein fanboy expectations are built up by its title, only to have 3 shots of shampoo bottles appear in the actual episode without any of the expected Fan Service.
  • Gainaxing: Miya-Miya jogging in Episode 21. Funnily enough, Saya, who has visibly the best-endowed bust of all the girls, never falls victim to this trope.
    • She does, in the opening. It's nothing compared to Miya-Miya's scene, though.
  • Gaming and Sports Anime And Manga
  • Genki Girl: Both Saya and Kirino qualify.
  • The Glomp: Poor Tama-chan gets double-glomped by Kirino and Saya in episode 7. And again in episode 25.
  • Gonk: Dan-kun and Reimi's mother.
    • Really, as far as gonks go, Dan-kun is not too bad, possibly could be considered Ugly Cute. I mean, he's short and has a head that looks like an onigiri, but other than that he looks alright.
    • There's also the girl that Saya and Kirino initially mistook for Satori, who basically looked like a gigantic middle-aged crossdressing man with a schoolgirl's voice.
  • Harsh Word Impact: A Harsh Word Laser Beam, courtesy of Black Miya.
  • Heroic BSOD: Tama-chan goes through one in episode 23, which causes Kirino to suffer one as well in the next episode. Both recover at the end of episode 24.
  • Hot Mom: Almost every mother who has appeared onscreen, notably Tama-chan's practically angelic young mom. Astoundingly enough, even Toraji-Sensei's, who is in her mid-fifties, resembles (and acts like) an extremely cute Christmas Cake who is fond of collecting teddy bears like a teenage girl.
    • Subverted with Reimi's mom, who is a Gonk and an annoying, hateful bitch.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every anime episode is titled with "X and Y". Manga chapters are generally titled with 'Character Name And <His Or Her> X'.
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: Everyone is stopped in their tracks by the awfulness of one of Satori's puns.
  • Kavorka Man: Dan. He takes it on himself to dispense pearls of wisdom concerning women to Yuuji and Toraji-sensei, who are predictably upset.
  • Kendo Team Captain: Kirino, officially.
  • Kiai: Tama-chan uses one when she faces off against Konishi. It is fearsome.
    • It is used less spectacularly in every match. Tamaki's Men! is the most common.
  • Large Ham: Saya, especially when she's in drama queen mode.
  • Last-Episode New Character: At the end of the ending credits, even. Given that Rin took her place, one wonders how Sakaki Ura will fit into the anime continuity...
  • Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Famous director Goro Taniguchi plays himself in the anime, replacing a lawyer un-friendly cameo by Hayao Miyazaki in the manga.
  • Male Gaze: Used consistently throughout. A very obvious example is the beginning of episode 11; Saya and Kirino discuss their potential fifth squad member, while the camera focuses exclusively on their breasts and thighs. However, it's implied that it was because Kirino was jealous of Saya's bust size (as she folds her arms to accentuate them)
  • Meganekko: Satori, subverted by the fact that her glasses are fake. She thinks wearing glasses will make her smarter...
  • Missing Mom: Tamaki's deceased mother, a kendo practitioner -- which is a plot point.
  • Mood Whiplash: The end of episode 15 compared with the rest of the episode.
  • Morality Chain: Dan. Whenever he's not around, Miya-Miya's Yandere tendencies surface.
  • Noblewoman's Laugh: Kirino does one after revealing her plot to cause Azuma to reignite her interest in kendo. She also puts a fan over her mouth as well.
  • Nosebleed: Reimi suffers them around Miya-Miya.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: "Miya-Miya" is only a persona Miyako takes on when her boyfriend's around -- she's really a sarcastic Delinquent.
    • Coupled with Willfully Weak, Erina practically emits these tropes. That is, until Tama-chan forced her out of it and brought her back which resulted in Tama's loss.
  • Official Couple: Dan and Miya-Miya.
  • Oh Crap: Konishi's face is priceless. You did make Tama-chan angry.
    • Happens in the anime as well. Tama's fury essentially caused Konishi to suffer a Villainous BSOD.
  • The One Guy: Yuuji.
  • Only Six Faces: Five or so new characters introduced since the end of the anime, aside from the side characters. Telling them apart is difficult.
  • Otaku: Tamaki and Rin, both on the subject of Blade Braver.
    • In a broader sense, every main character can be seen as a kendo-otaku. Miyako actually convinces (read as: bullies) Satori into rejoining the kendo team by saying, "If you're going to be a loser anyway, be a kendo-obsessed loser!"
    • Sakaki Ura and her idol obsession. Creepy.
  • Out of Focus: The main cast of all people end up getting pushed to the side for a while at the start of the Burning Dash arc while the manga focuses primarily on the other girls who'll be participating.
  • Overprotective Dad: Tamaki's dad has a hard time letting go of his little girl, especially if it concerns Yuuji.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: Yuuji Nakata qualifies for this, as being The One Guy isn't sad enough. It's clear that he has remarkable skills and discipline in Kendo, is one of the strongest students in the dojo as the few fights he has been in ended with him beating the opponent with little to no effort, but this show/manga is mainly about cute female kendo practitioners and their everyday life. In the end Yuuji is more of a possible love interest for Tama than anything else.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: During the first practice match, Tamaki is asked to leave and return, pretending to be a different student. Despite Toraji's obvious Blatant Lies, Kenzaburo and his students see right through the disguise. He even calls them out on it after her second match.
  • Post Episode Trailer: Chibi versions of the characters deliver a short skit, followed by the next episode's title. Quite fun to watch.
  • Psycho for Hire: Miyako's main reason for kendo is that she enjoys inflicting pain on people.
    • Which is oddly ironic given that the person she seems determined to kill, Toyama, also fits the bill as a Psycho for Hire who really likes inflicting pain. Some time, we might see who is the better Psycho.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Shinaider to the Bravers in the Show Within a Show, Blade Braver.
  • The Quiet One: Tamaki
  • The Power of Love: Miya-miya uses this to defeat Carrie during their unofficial duel.
  • Recurring Extra: Much like Trigun, a cat appears at least once in every episode.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Averted with the friendly, likable Kirino.
  • The Rival: Rin to Tamaki, Carrie to Miya-Miya. In the manga Sakaki Ura seems to be getting set up for this role over Rin.
    • In the last volume of the manga Erina requests Tama to become Sakaki's rival because she needs one to keep interested in Kendo and Tama is just about perfect for the role.
  • Rival Dojos: Ishibashi-sensei and the Machido High girls serve this function to the Muroe team, but their second appearance has them attending a training camp (read: having a sleepover) with Toraji-sensei's girls.
  • Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: Saya and Kirino have been really close friends for a long time. When training, they're almost always together.
    • Saya also seems to have a mild crush on Kirino, causing Love Bubbles to appear when she thinks of her.
  • Room Full of Crazy: Ura Sakaki's room, which is covered floor-to-ceiling with pictures of Junya Takigawa, the idol who plays Black Duran.
  • Rubber Face: Happens quite a few times with Tamaki.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Connections: The old hag who uses her position as the superintendent's next-door neighbor to pursue her vendetta with Toraji-sensei.
  • Save Our Club: At the start of the series, Kirino was the only member who regularly showed up to practice.
  • Say My Name: Constantly, complete with Love Bubbles. Although the occasional variation does creep in.
    • "Miya-Miya!"
    • "Dan-kun!"
    • "Miya-Miya!"
    • "Anderson!"
    • "Anderson?"
    • "Carrie?"
  • Sentai: Not just Blade Braver; Toraji assigns the girls team colors early on. Tama is Red, Saya is Blue, Kirino is Yellow, Satori is Green, and Miyamiya is Pink/Black.
  • Sempai-Kohai: Satori and Tama are psyched to have kohai in the three-months-later final episode.
  • Sequel Hook: The last shot of the anime shows Tamaki and a long-haired girl turning their heads toward each other.
    • The unknown girl is Sakaki Ura from the manga, who is fated to fight Tamaki some day soon.
  • Show Within a Show: Chouken Sentai Blade Braver[1] and its spinoff, Super Space Squad Cosmo Thirteen. There's a few others, like Material Puzzle and Magross, as well.
    • Big Bad: Death Armor
    • Humongous Mecha: Braver Robo
    • Noble Demon: Shinaider
      • He also has an "only I can defeat you" attitude towards the hero -- one episode shows several instances of him saving the team before he invokes this trope almost word for word as he dies.
    • Power Trio
    • Punny Name: Shinaider. It sounds a lot like 'Schneider', but he uses shinai. Geddit?
      • 'Schneider' is a relatively common name in German speaking countries, similar in origin and meaning as the English surname 'Taylor'. However, the name derives from the German word 'Schneiden' which means 'to cut' (as in cutting cloth). Thus his name may also mean 'Cutter'.
    • Fourth Ranger: Silver Braver AKA Shinaider.
    • The Movie: Tamaki gets to be an extra.
    • Blade Braver is just part of a massive Super Sentai/Kamen Rider-ish series, the latest one, Black Duran, playing an equally prominent role in the manga.
  • Sickeningly Sweethearts: Danny and Miya-Miya.
  • Skilled but Naive: Tamaki is an absolute prodigy when it comes to swordplay, but is hopelessly naive in other situations.
  • Sleep Cute: Happens with Tamaki and Rin in episode 21.
  • Stance System: Variation: the use of the ascension stance is a plot point. Tamaki's mother used to use it; when Toriajou switches to it in his match with Tamaki, she's so distracted by the sight, she loses.
    • In the manga, Koujiro recommends it to Saya, to make use of her height and strength.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Reimi. And in recent chapters, Sakaki Ura.
    • In fact, the whole reason the latter quit kendo was she thought the actor who played Black Duran was sending her secret messages that he doesn't like girls who practice kendo.
  • Stepford Smiler: Kirino doesn't have much to angst about, but when her mom passes out due to overexertion and the kendo team is at risk of being shut down, it's revealed that she breaks out the Type A routine when things like this happen (usually when she gets sick.)
  • Surprisingly Good English: Carrie Nishikawa speaks English with a strong, but not horrible, accent.
  • Super-Deformed: To emphasize their upbeat and extremely immature personalities, Kirino-Sempai and Saya spend over half their screentime in this form, with Tama-Chan occasionally doing so to accentuate her already adorable innocence.
    • Also, as a possible form of Painting the Medium, Dan is permanently in Super-Deformed state as a source of his Gonkiness. He is even called deformed in-series, and requires special equipment because of it.
    • The one time Dan isn't in super-deformed mode, the manga has to point out that it actually is him.
  • Title Drop: Saya wears a shirt that says "Bamboo Blade" at one point in the anime. It's also dropped during the training camp episode. Neither occurrences have any significance.
  • Tournament Arc: Several tournaments throughout the series.
  • Tomboyish Sidetails: Argubly Tamaki.
  • Took a Level in Badass: In preparation for his match against Ishibaki, Kojirou gets back to training and manages to regain enough of his prior kendo skills to effortlessly beat him (then again, Ishibaki was distracted with trying to look cool in front of his team.)
  • Tranquil Fury: Tama-chan most of the time. Kirino does this when her mother was hospitalized, and then inadvertently fell out of it when her brother shouted to her before her fight that their mother was going to be okay after all.
  • Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Except for not being married, Dan and Miya-Miya clearly qualify.
  • Unknown Rival: Ryoko Toda towards Erina Sawamiya, through and through. Genius Ditz Erina consistently thrashes Ryoko in anything athletic, but when Erina mentions that she's never tried kendo... well, you can see where this is going.
  • Valley Girl: The dub turns Carrie into one, her heavy use of slang terms preserving the language barrier between her and Miya Miya since they're both speaking English.
  • Violently Protective Girlfriend: Miya-Miya towards Dan-kun usually.
  • Wham! Episode: Episode 23.
  • What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: In the manga, Giving Someone the Pointer Finger. Scholarship Point-Making BEEAAAAM [dead link] ! Also occurs in the anime with even more theatrics. Even Miya Miya is somewhat amazed at her ability and that Satori will now do whatever she wants.
  • Yandere: Miya-Miya and Sakaki Ura. To a far lesser extent, Danny; when the sensai tries to push Miya-Miya harder than Danny feels is necessary, Danny cracks open his eyes and we see the exact same evil aura that Miya-Miya gets. It's entirely possible that both, ironically, are hiding their Heroic Sociopath tendancies from each other.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Both Yuji and Rin's hair is blue, Tama's is purple, and Azuma's is orange-red.
  • Your Head Asplode: Tamaki does this to a training dummy that looks like Kojirou with a head strike, complete with Delayed Explosion. They point out that it's a bad omen, which Ishida-sensei tries to brush off, as he's likely to lose his job because a run-in with the Gonk lady at the supermarket who happens to be neighbors with his school superintendent's wife.
  1. ↑ Despite the similarity of its name, it has nothing to do with Kamen Rider Blade('s first theme song).
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