Many thanks to Yen Press for providing a review copy.

About the Mangaka

Not a lot of info  available on either Totsuka Masahiro or Igarashi Aguri, though Igarashi does have a website though its all in japanese.

About the Manga

BambooBladeVol3

What can I say, this volume really threw me, finally this series is looking up!!

I like the cover on this volume, though I wish that Yen Press had placed the mangaka’s names in a better place. They cut off part of the shinai and her leg and looks a bit off.

The colour page (or rather single colour page) looks awesome, no other word for it.

The art for the main story has greatly improved this volume, though I feel that’s because we don’t get to see the guys to often, so their bad designs don’t bring the volume down.

The art for the practice meet was a bit off, especially in some of the fights where it feels a bit crowded, to many speed lines and stuff. However overall I admit I did enjoy it, the way the fights played out and looked was pretty good.

The art following on from the meet was equally better than in the previous volumes, or it could just be that I got used to it hehe. Either way I’ll admit that the art for this volume really did appeal to me and helped me settle into the series.

The story was equally improved over the previous volumes, and combined well with the art. The characters had lost the rigid robotic feel, and had become more flexible and likeable.

I really liked seeing Tama-chan developing over this volume. We see her becoming a bit more at home with the girls of the club, though she does become robot girl when she faces off against Kenzaburo, though she loses it a bit when he takes a familiar stance.

I liked this since it hints at a potential story there, why someone with the concentration he has loses it when someone she’s fighting take a certain stance. I hope this is followed up on .

I also liked the next part of the volume as Tama-chan gets her first part time job. I find her love of anime (almost to being an otaku) refreshing. Especially how far she goes to get the DVD’s she wants.

The issues she has with her new job are rather fun to watch develop. I also hope this is something else we see brought out more as the volumes go, as I feel it’s a great way of having Tama-chan develop as a character, rather than just suddenly having her change, or doing it in a lame way. Having her experience things, and show her experiencing them would be a good way to lighten up future volumes.

I was wondering how the story was going to maintain itself after the practice meet, and initially I wasn’t keen on how it was done. However I liked the end of the volume that introduced a new evil guy and has given me hope for the series. I love the sort of run in’s like that one, they’re funny and usually make good story hooks. I’ll be looking forward to how this unravels next volume, and as to how well the hook is used.

Yen Press did another great job with this release, a good smooth translation, good use of fonts and no guttering. That said I do wonder at the way they do some names. Kenzaburo is a good example, for some reason they have it as Kenzaburou. It’s not a biggy, but it is something I’ve noticed with a lot of translations. Wonder if it’s a pronunciation thing?

Either way this volume has saved it from being dropped onto the junk pile, and I now find I’m actually looking forward to the next volume. I’m hoping this is a sign that the series is just a slow starter and will get better as it goes. That said, I do wonder what’s going to happen to the guys in this series, I mean it seems to be an all girl team, so what about the poor guys hehe

Where to Buy

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