Japanese: バンブーブレード
English: Bamboo Blade
Type: Manga
Volumes: 14
Chapters: 107*
Status: Completed
Published: Dec 3, 2004 to Sep 3, 2010
Genres: Comedy, Martial Arts, School, Sports, Seinen
Authors: Totsuka Masahiro (Story), Igarashi Aguri (Art)
Serialization: Young Gangan
Synopsis: Kojiro is an impoverished young teacher and the supervisor of his high school’s kendo club. He doesn’t have the leeway to spend time on his students–he can barely feed himself as it is. So when an old friend makes him a bet with an entire year’s worth of deluxe sushi on the line, Kojiro finds a new purpose in life: to beat his friend’s kendo team! But before he can arrange a kendo meet for both schools’ kendo teams, he needs to actually put together a five-woman squad–and the first girl he needs is Tamaki Kawazoe, kendo athlete extraordinaire and daughter of an elite kendo dojo master. The problem is, she isn’t really interested in doing kendo for fun. What can Kojiro do to convince her to join the team? (MAL)
Baka updates: Poor, in debt, and living on instant noodles, high school kendo instructor Kojiro makes a bet with an old friend on a practice meet between the all-girls’ teams of their respective schools. The prize: a year’s worth of free sushi! It’s too good for the desperate Kojiro to pass up! But with only one active member on the kendo team, Kojiro must move quickly to put together a squad before the meet. He’s got his eye on Tamaki, the daughter of a kendo master and a skilled swordswoman herself. The only trouble is…she’s not interested. Kojiro’s willing to try anything, but what will it take to win her over?
*Note: Originally published with 117 chapters, but was collected into 102 chapters in the tankoubons. There are also 5 special stories, which makes the total chapter count - 107.
Related Series
Bamboo Blade B (Spin-Off)
Bamboo Blade C (Spin-Off)
Bamboo Blade (Adapted form)
Anime Start/End Chapter
Starts at Volume 1, Chapter 1
Ends at Volume 6, Chapter 57
Groups Scanlating
CXC Scans
Fifay.net
Gievmoar
Shinai-Scans
Licensed in English
Yen Press (14 Volumes - Complete)
Bamboo Blade was published in English by Yen Press from May 12, 2009 to August 21, 2012, and digitally on April 22, 2014.
Source: MAL Manga info, Baka updates
Main characters
Toraji Ishida (石田虎侍)
Otherwise known as "Kojirou," Toraji Ishida is a politics and economics teacher, and also the Kendo Club instructor of Muroe High School. He is perpetually broke and lives from paycheck to paycheck. He often does not have enough left over for food after paying bills and debts, so he ends up taking handouts from his students. At the beginning of the series, he is offered the chance of a lifetime from an old senpai, who wagers a year's worth of sushi if Kojirou can form a female kendo team to beat his senpai's team. Because of this, Kojirou starts putting in more effort in training his team, much to Kirino Chiba's delight. The only person who know the real reason for Kojirou's new devotion to training the team is Yuuji Nakata, who calls Kojirou "pathetic." His parents own a convenience store, but it is revealed in one episode of the anime that they used to run a store that sold sake. Although he calls them old, Kojirou's parents look younger than their age (and in his mother's case, act younger than their age, considering the fact that Kojirou's mother collects cute things). Despite the fact that Kojirou is broke, he somehow still manages to own a car. He was a kendo club member of his high school. In his high school years he beat his senpai, Kenzaburou, at a kendo meet and won a trophy for it (although he doesn't actually want the trophy). Kojirou told Kenzaburou that his winning the kendo meet was due to luck, but eventually came to believe the win was because he was stronger than his senpai.
Satori Azuma (東聡莉)
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. It is revealed her glasses are fake; she thought she would get smarter by wearing them. Due to the fact that she is rather naïve, she is tricked by Miyako Miyazaki into joining the club, thinking that Kendo will help her improve her studies. Satori is comically clumsy, as demonstrated in the ending sequences and some of the previews in the anime.
She plays the position of Vanguard (senpo) in the competition.
Kirino Chiba (千葉紀梨乃)
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 Kojirou has finally begun to put more effort into training his kendo team, but she is oblivious to the real reason why 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.). Kirino seems to find Tamaki quite adorable, as she and Sayako will often treat Tamaki as a "little sister" type (i.e., playing with Tamaki's hair, not listening to her kendo lectures, making Tamaki fight merely because she wants to see her fight, etc.). Despite that, she has great confidence in Tamaki. She is described as being the heart of the group by Kojirou.
She plays the position of Second-in-Command (fukusho) in the competition.
Tamaki Kawazoe (川添珠姫)
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 household 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 (Blade Braver) as a child. She remains a big anime and tokusatsu fan despite her age. At first she is very shy and unsociable, but after holding a part-time job at Miyako's acquaintance's store she begins to overcome her shyness and open up to her teammates more often. Kirino and Sayako (and for that matter, most girls in the story) find her very cute, often putting Tamaki's hair up in ponytails or making her fight in kendo matches just because they want to see her fight. She knows Yuuji before the series's beginning, and has been called "Tama-chan" by him since their childhood (although she does not like the nickname very much, since it makes her seem childish). She is described as being the strength of the group by Kojirou. Tamaki lost for the very first time in the Kanto High School Kendo Tournament to Rin, Tamaki's arch-rival stemming from the Blade Braver series. Her lost was partly due to the fact that Rin used a stance which reminded her of her late mother causing her to lose focus and concentration temporarily.
She plays the position of General (taisho) in the competition.
Sayako Kuwahara (桑原鞘子)
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. In the storyline, she was seen to improve her footwork tremendously after a brief teaching session from Tamaki. Sayako, like Kirino, thinks that Tamaki is cute, as she and Kirino will sometimes do silly things to Tamaki (i.e., playing with Tamaki's hair, not listening to her kendo lectures, making Tamaki fight merely because she wants to see her fight, etc.). She is rather pessimistic, and always claims to pursue death the moment she fails at something. In the anime, her writer's hobby is seen when telling stories, like explaining why Asuma quit kendo in a dramatic fashion (although her friends gave her three points since they found her "story" uninteresting).
She plays the position of Center (Chuken) in the competition.
Miyako Miyazaki (宮崎都)
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 Danjuurou; however, in reality, she possesses a very dark and sadistic personality, but hides it in order to be together with Danjuurou. (In the manga she also smokes in school and hangs out with two girls that are possibly delinquents, but in the anime she is not shown smoking or hanging out with those two girls.) 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. Having only joined the Kendo Club because Danjurou was in it, she initially finds it boring, but would later enjoy it after realizing she likes to hit people. She has rather quick and powerful strikes, but in the beginning of the series she does not use any other moves other than attempting to strike her opponents in the head (that is, in the anime). In one episode of the anime, however, Miyako was shown to strike at the other areas on her opponent, although none of the strikes counted due to incorrect posture. She is very afraid of her middle school classmate, Reimi Odajima, due to a love relationship incident which got Reimi stalking her ever since. As the series goes on, her kendo skills begins to improve tremendously and she finally managed to score a kote point against Azuma in the 22 episode.
She plays the position of Second-Vanguard (Jiho) in the competition.
Yuuji Nakata (中田勇次)
Yuuji 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. In the Q&A of the manga, Tamaki asserts that he is stronger than Toyama. He is almost on par with Tamaki in skill, and he has defeated Satori Azuma once. Yuuji has used kendo to scare away some gangsters, although he panicked after the gangsters had run off. He is also the only person who knows of Kojirou's true reason for training his kendo team with more gusto than before.
Danjuurou Eiga (栄花段十朗)
Danjuurou Eiga is a round and plain-faced first year who joins the Kendo Club with Yuuji. He originally wanted to join the Ping Pong Club, but there was no such club in the school. He shocks Yuuji and Kojirou 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 score keeping, 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. In Episode 11, he was hinted to also have his own "dark side" during a staring contest he had with Kojirou, although his "black mode" was subtler than Miyako's "black mode" and his aura only showed in his eyes. He has no past experience with Kendo but is improving very quickly, even to the point where Yuuji thinks Danjuurou might surpass him before they graduate. Yuuji has even remarked (in one episode of the anime) that Danjuurou was "made for kendo." Eiga is arguably the smartest member of the Kendo club because he scored second place in the Muroe High School Regional exams for freshman. By the end of the anime series, it is revealed that he is the new captain of the Kendo Club.
Source: MAL
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