We begin the episode with a little insight into Tamaki’s past as it is revealed that she is a fan of the long running hot-blooded sentai superhero show Blade Braver. Resuming from the last episode, Toyama challenges Tamaki to a kendo “duel”. Tamaki suits up in one of the club’s spare outfits, but the hakama is too long due to her unusual short stature. Kirino suggests that the duel be put off until Tamaki can suit up in her own gear, but the latter decides to proceed with the match. Miyako and Eika try to sneak away in the meantime only to to have an agitated Toyama threaten them to stay for the match.

In the teachers’ lounge, Nakata recounts a story from his childhood to Kojiro-sensei. The young Tamaki that fancied herself a hero of justice saved Nakata and his friends from a group of bullies during a fight that had gotten out of hand.

The duel betwen Tamaki and the sadistic Toyama commences. Toyama remarks that he isn’t taking it the match seriously before rushing quite violently at her. Nakata soon arrives to witness Tamaki being barraged by Toyama’s relentless attacks. Tamaki answers his unpolished style with a swift strike to his torso. Before they can set back up into position again, Toyama presses his attack once again filled with a new rage, catching Tamaki off guard. She still manages to adequately defend herself as she remembers a lesson her father taught her about Kendo being a sport that emphasizes self-improvement and courtesy.

She thinks to herself that what Toyama is doing is not true kendo as she delivers a series of blows to his helmet and torso. Toyama seems undeterred by the apparent gap between their skill levels and continues to attack; Tamaki loses her footing as she trips on the hem of her hakama. As Tamaki continues to lay the smack down on him, he tosses his shinai at her out of frustration. As they set up again, he is determined to prove that he is stronger than Tamaki and is willing to use more brute force to do so. Tamaki remembers another lesson her father taught her. Thrust techniques had previously been forbidden from her arsenal until she met certain criteria to use it in a match. The opponent must be a mature man experienced in kendo, and she herself has to be in high school. Having met all these conditions she thrusts her shinai straight at Toyama’s jugular to end the match. Toyama walks out in a daze as Kirino and the others congratulate Tamaki. Tamaki decides to stay with the kendo club for a while and everyone celebrates, leaving Kojiro-sensei who just walked in quite befuddled.

The next morning, Tamaki catches the latest episode of Blade Braver before heading off to school. In the yard her father notices that she has her kendo gear with her. She informs him that she joined to defend innocent people from the forces of evil. At lunch, the kendo members have a festive meal together outside. Nakata discusses kendo with Kirino as they talk about their prior experience and tournament rankings. Kojiro-sensei is eating alone as he contemplates the team he has put together and the final girl that he needs for the match against his senpai.

After school, kendo practice is in full swing as the regular club activites resume. Kojiro-sensei asks Tama to spar with him to gauge her kendo prowess. She swiftly deals a strike to his helmet before he can even get his footing down. After practice ends, Tamaki drops by the grocery store to purchase ingredients so she can make sandwhiches for her new friends to eat at lunch tomorrow.

All in all, a good episode that sets up a few plot points. Tamaki’s future rivalry with Toyama with a possibility that he will reform his ways. Miyako and Kirino have to train to catch up to Tamaki’s superior skill level. It’s pretty obvious that something will continue to develop between Tamaki and Nakata. We also need to be introduced to the final two members of the team. The action was pretty crisp with plenty of snap as the shinai clashed. I’m eagerly awaiting the next episode.

P.S. I went a bit crazy on the screenshots as you can no doubt tell. Hope you enjoy reading the captions.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 22nd, 2007 at 10:16 pm and is filed under Anime, Bamboo Blade.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.