(L) Bamboo Blade

[z3phyr.mp3]

Spoiler for ep 13:

is it just me or was reimi's nosebleed colored black?
anyways...
tama turning the other school's team into masochists was fun to watch...
taking turns just to get hit by tama was so lolz...
hmm...
i also want to get hit by tama-chan....

[GoldAlchemist]

Originally Posted by Boohahaha

Tama's dominance is like Roger Federer at the moment... BORING!!!! When is someone going to beat her??

I got nothing against Tama of course, and I still love the show

In a sense, Bamboo Blade has a very strong slice-of-life element in the show. It's not really your typical sports anime. Try to think of them as a group of high school girls who happen to play kendo; rather than a team of kendo fighters who happen to be high schoolers.

So just take a back seat and enjoy the show. Personally i actually quite like the fact that Tama is near unbeatable. Besides, it would definitely be illogical if Tama meets someone who's in her league easily. For one, Tama trains in kendo since very small, lives in a doujo and fights with male adults all these years. In a sport that has witnessed fewer and fewer practioners over years, how many would fit the above descrptions?!

Originally Posted by z3phyr.mp3

Spoiler for ep 13:

is it just me or was reimi's nosebleed colored black?
anyways...
tama turning the other school's team into masochists was fun to watch...
taking turns just to get hit by tama was so lolz...
hmm...
i also want to get hit by tama-chan....

Spoiler for Check in Gimp:

I just catch a snapshot of the scene and check using Gimp. It's like very dark chocolate (so yes, it's close enough to black), the number is 4e4633 if you're interested.

Ever since that infamous scene in that infamous visual novel, it seems that blood is no longer red in the anime world.

[Boohahaha]

Originally Posted by GoldAlchemist

In a sense, Bamboo Blade has a very strong slice-of-life element in the show. It's not really your typical sports anime. Try to think of them as a group of high school girls who happen to play kendo; rather than a team of kendo fighters who happen to be high schoolers.

So just take a back seat and enjoy the show. Personally i actually quite like the fact that Tama is near unbeatable. Besides, it would definitely be illogical if Tama meets someone who's in her league easily. For one, Tama trains in kendo since very small, lives in a doujo and fights with male adults all these years. In a sport that has witnessed fewer and fewer practioners over years, how many would fit the above descrptions?!

The social aspect of the show is why I keep watching and enjoy. The fighting is nothing great, however it is still a fundamental aspect of the series. After all, personal development of oneself is part of martial arts. Hence Tama will only get better with more challengers. Besides Tama winning all the time with just MEN MEN MEN MEN MEN is dull.

Actually there should be people who are around Tama's league, perhaps not many but atleast a few but we may see them later on. I can't imagine going through the whole show without an equal. Oh and a small girl beating adults..hmmm I don't take Kendo but base on my experience with martial arts, size and reach does make a difference, especially in competitions.

Oh well, I wonder what the next ep will bring

[Mentar]

Satori lasted quite a while against Tama in the second bout. It was several minutes of talking between the senseis while we heard the clashing shinai in the background, and in the end, Tama won with a special maneauver when Satori misread a movement. That felt just about right.

I'm definitely looking forward to more Satorin in the future ^_^ ... including more MiyaMiya bullying!

[Boohahaha]

Yeah I thought Azuma put up a good fight for someone who stopped Kendo for a bit. I expected at least that much from Azuma. My initial post was more in relation to GoldAlchemist spoiler on the Manga.

lol I loved Miya Miya's match in ep 13.

[KiNA]

Originally Posted by Keiichi no Hibi

Hmm.. Is there a textless this beautiful christmas image?

[KJlost]

Originally Posted by Mentar

Satori lasted quite a while against Tama in the second bout. It was several minutes of talking between the senseis while we heard the clashing shinai in the background, and in the end, Tama won with a special maneauver when Satori misread a movement. That felt just about right.

I'm definitely looking forward to more Satorin in the future ^_^ ... including more MiyaMiya bullying!

The Manga was more adamant about Tama's dominance over even Azuma during that scene. "Could have beaten her near instantly" or something to that effect. Tama is, after all, holding back all the time.

[fict_ticious]

Originally Posted by Kira_Naruto

Blaaargh, I died.
Miyamiya looks kinda strange in this one, though.

[grey_moon]

Many thanks to AEN for the late Xmas pressie and Merry Xmas to you.

[grey_moon]

Sorry for the double post I forgot I already posted

Originally Posted by Boohahaha

Actually there should be people who are around Tama's league, perhaps not many but atleast a few but we may see them later on. I can't imagine going through the whole show without an equal. Oh and a small girl beating adults..hmmm I don't take Kendo but base on my experience with martial arts, size and reach does make a difference, especially in competitions.

Oh well, I wonder what the next ep will bring

As a short arse I can happily say hell no. Being shorter and slighter gives a definite upper hand in non full contact martial arts. If it was full contact KO then the bigger person might have an advantage, but that depends on the martial arts in question. For example FC kick boxing a backfist to the temple = KO. Most ppl don't have muscles protecting weak spots so its speed and accuracy that wins there.

But the most important advantage is the behaviour that you are displaying in your post. Underestimating someone is one of the worst things you can do no matter what competition you are entering. Also for some people if it is about size then nothing breaks these types of big guys mentally more, then a little guy owning his arse When someone looses in their head that is it game over man...

Actually the bigger they are the harder their training becomes; as lots of competition martial arts is about stamina and if you are too big then your poor little heart and lungs has to carry a lot more weight around.

Spoiler for thoughts about epi13:

Great episode! Event though it looks like all the girls are into SM, I actually know what they are feeling. When someone beats you with overwhelming skill it feels very different from a close win or luck. To be honest I would rather be watching the overwhelming skill then on the receiving end

Tama has now been confirmed to be greater then god, well if god was Kirino

When the newbie hit Tama on the arm, that brought back some memories of this club I joined for about 1/2 a year when I went to uni. Not newbies making mistakes but hitting someone on the wrong spot...

The sensei used to teach us weak point strikes during competition practice. For example if someone roundhouse kicks you, one of the standard defences is you step in, and do a take down. Now he showed us how to clip the knee with your elbow as you step in and block the kick (ouchies). Or when you thrust kick, instead of aiming for the midriff, you would aim for the hip. At first I thought he was teaching us this stuff so we could learn to defend against it, but after a while I got the feeling that it is winning that counts for him and that was when I left...

[Boohahaha]

Originally Posted by grey_moon

Sorry for the double post I forgot I already posted



As a short arse I can happily say hell no. Being shorter and slighter gives a definite upper hand in non full contact martial arts. If it was full contact KO then the bigger person might have an advantage, but that depends on the martial arts in question. For example FC kick boxing a backfist to the temple = KO. Most ppl don't have muscles protecting weak spots so its speed and accuracy that wins there.

But the most important advantage is the behaviour that you are displaying in your post. Underestimating someone is one of the worst things you can do no matter what competition you are entering. Also for some people if it is about size then nothing breaks these types of big guys mentally more, then a little guy owning his arse When someone looses in their head that is it game over man...

Actually the bigger they are the harder their training becomes; as lots of competition martial arts is about stamina and if you are too big then your poor little heart and lungs has to carry a lot more weight around.

Spoiler for thoughts about epi13:

Great episode! Event though it looks like all the girls are into SM, I actually know what they are feeling. When someone beats you with overwhelming skill it feels very different from a close win or luck. To be honest I would rather be watching the overwhelming skill then on the receiving end

Tama has now been confirmed to be greater then god, well if god was Kirino

When the newbie hit Tama on the arm, that brought back some memories of this club I joined for about 1/2 a year when I went to uni. Not newbies making mistakes but hitting someone on the wrong spot...

The sensei used to teach us weak point strikes during competition practice. For example if someone roundhouse kicks you, one of the standard defences is you step in, and do a take down. Now he showed us how to clip the knee with your elbow as you step in and block the kick (ouchies). Or when you thrust kick, instead of aiming for the midriff, you would aim for the hip. At first I thought he was teaching us this stuff so we could learn to defend against it, but after a while I got the feeling that it is winning that counts for him and that was when I left...

The thing though is that a taller person will always have the reach advantage, you will always get hit before he does. So in the end you just have to be BETTER in terms of skill and speed. Tae Kwan Do for instance, it is hard to strike your opponent before moving out of their range if they are taller. These taller people I am refering to ain't giants by any means, but they are skillful lol.

Ah yes I too remember the days when I was holding the kicking bag, and the "oh I wanna impress" person will go full power and hits both me and the bag... hmm.. the joys..

Oh about your sensei, that teaching example on those techniques would be handy in a real life fight. But I do understand if you don't like his method or philosophy, it's the same thing with everyone with their boses.

[grey_moon]

Originally Posted by Boohahaha

The thing though is that a taller person will always have the reach advantage, you will always get hit before he does. So in the end you just have to be BETTER in terms of skill and speed. Tae Kwan Do for instance, it is hard to strike your opponent before moving out of their range if they are taller. These taller people I am refering to ain't giants by any means, but they are skillful lol.

Ah yes I too remember the days when I was holding the kicking bag, and the "oh I wanna impress" person will go full power and hits both me and the bag... hmm.. the joys..

Oh about your sensei, that teaching example on those techniques would be handy in a real life fight. But I do understand if you don't like his method or philosophy, it's the same thing with everyone with their boses.

That is the thing about reach, it is not just about how long your arms and lets are. For example with WTF you can't punch someone in the head, I know that one as I got disqualified from a charity competition and the other guy after wards goes to me, you Karate guys should learn better self control oO. The bugger actually spotted what my foundation was and used it against me. I have no hard feelings as I'm actually impressed with how he saw through my skill set. If I lost that match with out twatting him on the nose I would have got a bronze, but I ended up with nada

But with the above example, what counts is with big differences like Tama-ou vs an adult. She would have skill and speed on her side and their perceived advantage (aka size) would be offset by her speed and that she has a smaller target area.

Of course if the aim to to hospitalise someone then I think brute strength has a big advantage as I've been hit once by a big drunk thug and I stupidly used a straight block with my elbow instead of redirecting the force. I thought he dislocated my shoulder, my lungs and my hip. Well the good thing was I got off with a bruise but he broke his hand . But I only got off coz it was my local pub and the ijit thought coz it was a builder pub he could pick on the lone tiny China man. That guy didn't even flinch when I felt his hand break on my elbow oO. Thank goodness the locals had adopted me, I think the way they jumped on him and threw him out hurt him more then my elbow did.

Being shorter then someone isn't as bad as a lot of people think it is. I've beaten people just for the reason as I show a lot less good targets then they do. Being taller is offering up your chin for a straight punch up which has a lot more power and is faster then a upper cup

Of course when ppl are close in size then the extra reach does really count for a lot. I used to be 51kgs and at 5'6" my opponents were a little shorter then me, but they thought that their extra bulk would be an advantage to them. This is where I taught them how much skill can hurt. BTW I'm not saying I am that skilled, just that my most of my teachers believed in teaching power though skill. So we used to practice all that punch a garden candle out. Or my favourite backfist a peanut tape to a wall without breaking your hand

You mentioned that you just have to be better in skill and speed, but for me its the skill that trumps. So it would be skill, speed and then strength. Have u ever been shown the tactic where if you are aiming to hit someone on the nose the first half of your punch is actually aimed at their arm so it deflects their punch? Since that is your planned this you can easily adjust your strike to ensure that it hits, whilst theirs will (hopefully) miss.

I think we have seen it at least more then once in BB by Tama. Deflection strikes rule. The look on someone's face when they think they hit a target but it is you who scores is priceless.

The thing about real life self defence, that has to go to my first ever sensei. He was a real bum.... I can't describe him in any other way. His wife divorced him coz I think she thought that he didn't achieve his potential. His son loves him to bits but that understandable, anyone who likes martial arts must like him. He lives by teaching Karate and playing the guitar. He was so laid back it was like he was stoned the whole time. He taught us all the bad tricks, but then taught us how to defend against them. The other sensei taught them so they would be second nature to us, but didn't show us how to defend against them. So in a pressurised situation we would have used them without thinking.

My first sensei got disillusioned with the whole competition karate scene and stopped grading when he got to 2nd dan. The thing is when I was training with him over 15 years ago he had his students who were 4th dan travelling down and training with him before their competitions. I won't drop names but one of them was national level and his kicks were like someone whipping out a wet cloth oO.

[Anh_Minh]

I think it's mostly a matter of using what you have. If you're a midget and try to fight like a giant, it's not going to go well. But - within reason - every body type has its advantages and inconvenients.

[grey_moon]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

I think it's mostly a matter of using what you have. If you're a midget and try to fight like a giant, it's not going to go well. But - within reason - every body type has its advantages and inconvenients.

Knee caps and dangly bits and they have the top of your head and shoulders which is more painful?

*opps I re-read your post* you were talking about using a style that is not to the advantage of your body weren't you?

[Midonin]

13 had a lot of little moments in it that made it fun. The other team wanting to take Tama home (note to self: never invite Rena to Muroe High), Mei's shyness and admiration of Tama (really, who can blame her?), and Reimi nosebleeding over Miya. This, of course, was followed up by Dan chasing Reimi around with a sword in the background. You go, Dan-kun!

Can't wait for more of this fine show.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by grey_moon

Knee caps and dangly bits and they have the top of your head and shoulders which is more painful?

*opps I re-read your post* you were talking about using a style that is not to the advantage of your body weren't you?

Yes. I know midgets can be scary. The strongest instructors at the dojo I used to go to didn't come up to my shoulder.

[Boohahaha]

Originally Posted by grey_moon

That is the thing about reach, it is not just about how long your arms and lets are. For example with WTF you can't punch someone in the head, I know that one as I got disqualified from a charity competition and the other guy after wards goes to me, you Karate guys should learn better self control oO. The bugger actually spotted what my foundation was and used it against me. I have no hard feelings as I'm actually impressed with how he saw through my skill set. If I lost that match with out twatting him on the nose I would have got a bronze, but I ended up with nada

But with the above example, what counts is with big differences like Tama-ou vs an adult. She would have skill and speed on her side and their perceived advantage (aka size) would be offset by her speed and that she has a smaller target area.

Of course if the aim to to hospitalise someone then I think brute strength has a big advantage as I've been hit once by a big drunk thug and I stupidly used a straight block with my elbow instead of redirecting the force. I thought he dislocated my shoulder, my lungs and my hip. Well the good thing was I got off with a bruise but he broke his hand . But I only got off coz it was my local pub and the ijit thought coz it was a builder pub he could pick on the lone tiny China man. That guy didn't even flinch when I felt his hand break on my elbow oO. Thank goodness the locals had adopted me, I think the way they jumped on him and threw him out hurt him more then my elbow did.

Being shorter then someone isn't as bad as a lot of people think it is. I've beaten people just for the reason as I show a lot less good targets then they do. Being taller is offering up your chin for a straight punch up which has a lot more power and is faster then a upper cup

Of course when ppl are close in size then the extra reach does really count for a lot. I used to be 51kgs and at 5'6" my opponents were a little shorter then me, but they thought that their extra bulk would be an advantage to them. This is where I taught them how much skill can hurt. BTW I'm not saying I am that skilled, just that my most of my teachers believed in teaching power though skill. So we used to practice all that punch a garden candle out. Or my favourite backfist a peanut tape to a wall without breaking your hand

You mentioned that you just have to be better in skill and speed, but for me its the skill that trumps. So it would be skill, speed and then strength. Have u ever been shown the tactic where if you are aiming to hit someone on the nose the first half of your punch is actually aimed at their arm so it deflects their punch? Since that is your planned this you can easily adjust your strike to ensure that it hits, whilst theirs will (hopefully) miss.

I think we have seen it at least more then once in BB by Tama. Deflection strikes rule. The look on someone's face when they think they hit a target but it is you who scores is priceless.

The thing about real life self defence, that has to go to my first ever sensei. He was a real bum.... I can't describe him in any other way. His wife divorced him coz I think she thought that he didn't achieve his potential. His son loves him to bits but that understandable, anyone who likes martial arts must like him. He lives by teaching Karate and playing the guitar. He was so laid back it was like he was stoned the whole time. He taught us all the bad tricks, but then taught us how to defend against them. The other sensei taught them so they would be second nature to us, but didn't show us how to defend against them. So in a pressurised situation we would have used them without thinking.

My first sensei got disillusioned with the whole competition karate scene and stopped grading when he got to 2nd dan. The thing is when I was training with him over 15 years ago he had his students who were 4th dan travelling down and training with him before their competitions. I won't drop names but one of them was national level and his kicks were like someone whipping out a wet cloth oO.

Just touching on the strength aspect again, like you said in real life fighting it counts more than in semi-contact competitions. Because in Kendo, Tae kwon do and Karate, you do have protective gear to minimise the impact. However the force from the hits and physical presence does take its toll on the opponent both mentally and physically, its toll of course will vary upon different people. Therefore someone like Tama dominating so many people bigger than her especially male adults for a small female can be hard to take in. Yes yes I know.. its only an Anime.

But I am sure you will notice as well, even small size fighters have a solid body to go with their skill and speed. This applies to most sports to be honest. I remember John Alexander (former Australian tennis player) commenting on small size tennis players about 8 years ago. "If you are small and not like Michael Chang, its going to be really hard."

By the way have you ever practice against those wooden type dummies like the one Bruce Lee used in the movies and demos. My brother used to do Kung Fu and the first time he practiced on it was a rather painful experience lol.

[Guardian Enzo]

"Taisho is a little... I'll feel bashful."

<Melts from cuteness>

[ReddyRedWolf]

Azuma's reaction to Tama-chan is gold!

Can anybody say "A Rival Appears!" or something like that.

[NoSanninWa]

Rival? Tama doesn't have a rival. Perhaps though, she might have a disciple.

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

"Taisho is a little... I'll feel bashful."

<Melts from cuteness>

Ditto on that melting. Tama is the only one I have ever seen who is both powerful and moe at the same time.