Subculture Anime Blog

Irasshaimase~!

Summary:

Ishida speaks with his mother about heading home, but she quickly hangs up after he gets in an argument with her about the food she is providing him with. Tamaki is working her job again, but she embarrasses herself in front of a customer while thinking of kendo. Tamaki notices that this orange haired girl, Azuma Satori, is from the same school as her. Tamaki is given more work to do after she makes a simple sale to Satori, and is greeted by Ishida who enters the store. Ishida reveals to Tamaki that he will be visiting his mother, and makes an affordable purchase as a gift for her. Before leaving, Ishida gives Tamaki some advice for her work and his hope that she will show herself in club once in awhile. When Ishida makes it back to the clubroom, Yuji confirms that Danjuro will get stronger. Miyako is aggressive as ever, and is even warned against her violent moves towards Sayako. The team is assured of their improvement, while Tamaki appears in order to participate at least a little bit. Tamaki’s father wonders how he should react to Tamaki’s giving him a present at home, and he is unable to calm down about it.

Ishida’s parking spot is stolen by a rude old woman before he enters a grocery store to buy his essentials. He is further angered inside, when she takes the sale item he wants right before his eyes. Ishida attempts to beat the woman at the register, but this event turns out to be more troublesome than planned. As Ishida leaves, his car even collides with the old hag’s. As a crowd gathers to witness their confrontation, Ishida reveals his name to the woman. The next day, Ishida is devastated to find that he he is in danger of losing his position at school. The kendo club finds that Tamaki is exhausted from work when they start, so Yuji has her rest. Sayako begins picking on Danjuro for not knowing the troubles of an upperclassman, but she is quickly defeated when she finds that Danjuro is a lot smarter than he appears. When the group wonders why Ishida is so late, they finally discover that he has been there the whole time. Almost disappearing, Ishida explains his circumstances to the members. The group does not believe that they can do anything for him, but Kirino finally decides that his chance will be the upcoming tournament. With this, Ishida places all of his hopes on that. A mysterious green haired girl shows up at Tamaki’s workplace later, and Tamaki senses her strong aura.

Preview: Dang Dan-kun, you’re classy!

Impression:

“Um…..what? Oh WOW.” Yup, that was pretty much my reaction to this episode. I almost called this episode a filler, but then I realized that this is just the kind of pace this show moves in. Honestly, it’s a nice break from all of the dialog driven shows I’ve picked up this season. Summaries for Bamboo Blade are so easy! There was a lot of humor in this episode, the bulk of it definitely coming from Ishida’s encounter with the old woman in the grocery store. As soon as I heard Kujira’s voice, I was already cracking up (this is the female voice actor who does all the generic voices in Lucky Star). By the time they inserted the slow motion after the already ridiculous events, I was ready to hit the floor. With the only real conflict we got out of that being Ishida’s losing his position at school, this episode served more as slight development for all of the characters.

Tamaki was as cute as ever, especially with all of her embarrassment. I love how she barely moves her mouth when she talks. Even Ishida noticed this, as he gave her a big pull on the cheek! I think the reason so many people like her is because they can relate to her shyness. Danjuro and Miyako’s potential was brought up again, which probably makes for a good transition into the upcoming tournament. When Kirino blushed at Dan-kun, I was dying. Miyako is probably still my favorite character at the moment, as it seems like I have a strange attraction to psycho girls. Hey, it’s just anime! I’m still loving Sayako and Kirino’s :3 mouths too. It’s just funny. We continue to get hints of Satori’s entrance to the kendo club, so the only question is when that will happen. With the appearance of the green haired girl at the end of this episode, it looks like the plot will move forward a bit faster next week.

Also, the OP and ED are out! Unlike a lot of other singles, the full versions of these really do well to keep the feel of the TV sized versions.