THAT Fall Review: 1st episode of Bamboo blade, Blue Drop and Sketchbook

Yes, after a zillion people have done their summary of sorts on the new offerings of the fall season, I finally got my hands on the following three animes. To be honest, I am not really keen on any of these shows except for Blue Drop. However, I think I am in a pleasant surprise for two of the three shows that have been listed in this look. For now, we have an interesting mix of school life and kendo in Bamboo Blade, a group of artistic painters in Sketchbook and an alien with female yuri hot love in Blue drop.

Let’s see if they are going to be a pleasant ride for Impz, or he will squirm in total agony and asking “WHY, WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE! YOU BELONG TO LAST SUMMER!”.

Ok, bad joke, let’s go into the real details.

Bamboo Blade

Summary

In a kendo club where there is only one second year student (and the captain) Miyako, she is faced with a completely out of sorts advisor in Toraji. Ishida Toraji decided to improve his little penniless life by having a bet with his senior. His senior has a group of excellent kendo students, and they have a bet on a free year supply of food as the reward. With that, Toraji became much more committed, surprising even Miyako as he needed to find four more female members. However, he chased away some male students who are interested in joining kendo. Nakata and Eiga, friends of Miyako came over to look.

Just when Toraji was about to reject them, Miyako gave him a swift shot and they were forced into the kendo club. In the streets, Miyako and Toraji was hoping to have a talented student to join them, and Miyako wondered if they could do a test of throwing tons of things at a person and getting her to parry. As they said that, things started to fly toward them and a small loli-like character parried them with a broomstick. However, she said she was not interested to join the club. It seemed that Tamaki learnt Kendo in her dojo as part of her family work, but she was not interested at all.

The next day, they trained, as Eiga wondered why he could not practice like Nakata. When Toraji realized that Nakata was in the same dojo as Tamaki, he begged him to get Tamaki and told him about the bet. Nakata met Tamaki on the way, but did not tell her about the recruitment. The next day, Eiga brought his extremely beautiful girlfriend to the club, shocking both Toraji and Nakata due to his chibi fat looks. As the gangsters of the kendo club came in to bully Eiga, Tamaki who was approached by Miyako was annoyed how the strong was bullying the weak. Hence, she spoke out as a temporary club member, due to her sense of justice.

Thoughts

I actually enjoyed this quite a bit. I mean, the story is not exactly the most complex ever (and will never be in my speculation of the future). However, Miyako and Tamaki are pretty interesting characters and they are lively enough to capture my attention for the show. It is not exactly good as well, as I find that there is little substance in the show. It is the kind of show that you watch just for the fun of it, to pass time decently. However, this is not taking away any credit from the show, because it made me laugh.

The graphics are consistent, with little loose ends most of the time. It is not top notch for sure but at least the graphics have been bloody much smooth for the whole time. The OP is quite a nice catchy song, and I like it quite a bit. The ED did not do anything to me though, since it feels like rather generic pop. I am hoping for a better ED at least but nothing can really kill my eardrums like the Zombie Loan OP. Oh good, no hard rock please, thank you.

On the whole, this show will be good to watch if you want a few laughs, decent characters that will not annoy you that much and you are not looking for something that is too deep in symbolization.

Sketch Book

Episode summary

Not bothering. (read Jaalin’s review of it)

Yes, slice of life series are just so darn hard to do summaries.

Or the motivation to do it when you do not feel like doing one.

Thoughts

Some anime fans have called this an Aria that is snappier. I cannot disagree more on it. People who read this blog will know how much I adore Aria, but I really do not feel any vibes at all from this show. If you do remember, I really love such slice of life shows that are therapeutic in nature, but it has to do with loving the environment, as well as the characters that are surrounding the plot. That is perhaps the good and bad thing about slice of life: The characters and environment are the life of the characters. Not one main character must annoy the viewer, for it will result in the depreciation of the series.

I found that the importance of Aria is that even though it has an idyllic environment, it is not boring. They also do not have an extremely annoying main character in Sora, that literally annoys the hell out of me with her character. I really dislike this show big time. Sora has one of the most significantly ridiculous characters. I do not know why but characters such as Sora inhibits all the good points about the show. I actually like the other characters, but they are overshadowed by how much annoyance I got from Sora.

It’s like how Mugi is made to seem like a talkative chatterbox. That is never a good sign when you want to make a silent character, yet having rather ….well annoying monologues. It is a kind of bias from me, and I really think that this will be an excellent show if you like Aria. It is just the same reason why School Rumble is so hilarious, but Tenma annoys me so much that I do not watch it to avoid her presence.

I find that the production values for the show is very high, and I can really see why some people enjoy it. I also feel that the OP is really comfortable and nice (even though I do wonder if the accompanying music is the OP). Due to my hatred of the main character, I am not going to watch any more episodes of this. However, if you are fine with Sora, this show is a must-watch.

Blue Drop

Summary

Mari was forced to move to a dormitory after her grandmother sent her to a faraway school to study. She did not want to leave, as she felt that she was being thrown away by the family. On her travels, she saw a flock of birds, with a mysterious girl standing among rocks on the water. She finally reached the school, but was clearly not in the mood to listen to the disciplinary master, Maiyama when she explained about how prestigious the school was. That earned a retort about her attitude, but she simply said sorry nonchalantly. The principal tried to diffuse the tense situation by saying that Mari had not experienced campus life and asked a girl gardening downstairs to guide.

However, Mari was not interested in Michiko since she did not want to stay here, and ran off. She wanted to leave the place but realized she had no place to go as she stood alone in the classroom. Michiko brought Mari to the dormitory on Maiyama’s instructions, while Mari’s teacher Yuuko discussed about how Mari had no memories of the incident five years ago during the third war. Mari was in her room alone when Hagino introduced herself. As they shook hands, Hagino had a vision of a large ship, and a young crying Mari around a fire. Hagino’s eyes glowed blue and tried to choke Mari but returned to normal when a vision of Mari crying appeared.

Mari finally regained her breath and was reasonably angry. However, Hagino kept quiet even with Mari’s questioning and Mari was so frustrated that she knew the hydrangea flowers at Hagino. As the dorm leader came, Mari ran off crying, stating how she could stay in such a place. Michiko ran after her and found Mari sitting by the lake. Michiko revealed that she was from a normal family, and passed the exam for the school even though most students here were upper class ladies. Michiko felt that it was definitely a misunderstanding, and Mari eventually returned to the dorm. However, when Hagino tried to shake Mari’s hand, Mari slapped the hand away and threw water into Hagino’s face. The other girls in the dorm were annoyed at what Mari did and got into a fight but was stopped by a senior. Late at night, Hagino ran out of the dorm and Mari gave chase, only to see a giant spaceship appearing…

Thoughts

This is everything I expected, and it is as good as it gets. I can truly say that this is the anime that is good at least for the first episode. There are interesting mysteries that are not that complex as yet, as well as curious subplots that bodes well for the show if it is done effectively. I find the premise to stand out quite a bit, simply because I like how there is perhaps a yuri twist to it. I am not the biggest fan of yuri to be honest, but hardly the biggest critic as well.

The graphics are not the best that is available, but it’s pleasant to the eyes. I like how there is little graphic degradation and it seems like a good deal for now. I do not think that it will fall that badly by any chance, since there is quite a bit to cover. All the characters are actually very interesting, and there is quite a complexity in each of them that endears them to me already. There are no standout characters currently since Mari seems like just an emo girl, Michiko the classic weak spectacled gal, while Hagino is just downright queer.

The senior actually catches my eye. When I meant the senior, I mean the one that stopped them and punished with a “no dinner” clause due to the fight. I actually like how Hagino had seemingly no clue what is going on previously, especially when she tried to strangle Mari. Is it part of a supernatural power, or that she is unconsciously trying to kill survivors of something? To add on, I love the OP AND ED a hell lot. I am so waiting for it to be released!