Samurai 7
| Samurai 7 | |
| File:Samurai 7.jpg Promo art for Samurai 7 | |
| Anime | |
| Directed by | Toshifumi Takizawa |
|---|---|
| Studio | Gonzo |
Akira Kurosawa's Samurai 7 is a 2004 anime series based on Akira Kurosawa's classic 1954 movie The Seven Samurai. The series was directed by Toshifumi Takizawa and produced by Shouji Murahama. There are 26 episodes, each costing around ¥32,500,000 ($300,000USD) to produce. FUNimation has acquired the dubbing rights for the North American release. The series has been aired by Animax (using its own dub) in Southeast Asia since April 2005, is airing in America through the Independent Film Channel (using FUNimation's dub) since April 2006 and in high definition on Dish Network's Animania HD channel.
Story
Kanna is a friendly rice village with a problem. Every year during harvest, huge mechanical robots, known as the Nobuseri, come and steal away almost all of the rice that had been harvested that year. Not only that, the Nobuseri are becoming more demanding, now taking women and children in addition to rice.
The elder of Kanna has declared that to protect the village they must hire samurai. However, they have no money and thus must find samurai willing to protect the village for the price of all the rice that he/she can eat. He sends three members of the village out to the city to begin looking. And thus the journey begins...
Characters
Villagers
- Kirara
- A Mikumari ("water maiden", something like the village priestess) from the village of Kanna. She decides to go to help find the samurai to bring back to her village. She possesses a special water in a necklace which allows Kirara to detect the flow of groundwater. In addition, the necklace glows when a pure-hearted samurai are near.
- Komachi
- Kirara's sister who follows along to see the city as well as help locate the samurai. She takes a liking to Kikuchiyo.
- Rikichi
- A peasant from the village of Kanna who is the first to step up and agree to go look for samurai in the city. His wife was kidnapped in a previous raid from the bandits.
- Rikichi is derived from the movie (although there are some differences to the anime version); Kirara and Komachi are original characters.
Samurai
All the samurai are derived from the original movie, and they retain their core personalities. Several changes have been made to each of them in order to accommodate the new environment the story is placed in. Also, most of the anime plot following the initial battle against the Nobuseri is completely original and not from the movie.
- Shimada Kambei
- The wisest of the seven samurai. He is the samurai who assumes the leader position and comes up with the plan(s) to defend the village. He's brave, strong, and has wisdom beyond his years that has come from the many battles he has fought in his life. However, all the battles he fought were for the losing side, and Kambei lives in the shadow of his painful and stigmatic past. He uses a stylized katana, though on several occasions, he uses two swords at once.
- Okamoto Katsushiro
- A young samurai who, until fighting for the Kanna village, had never been in a true battle, but always believed in the honor of the samurai code. He wishes to become Kambei's student, and promises to protect Kirara no matter what. He likes Kirara but seems to misunderstand her feelings for him, and stole a kiss from her before leaving to defend the Kanna village in the final battle. He gains steadily in skill throughout the series; at the outset he cannot defeat a simple thug, but by the end he can defeat several Nobuseri at once, and even deflect an enemy beam cannon shot with his sword. He is one of the 3 surviving samurai following the final battle, and is shown post-battle to have gained significant wisdom and maturity from his experiences. He also continues the life of a samurai, searching for the next war he will partake in. His skills are improved enough that Kambei even shows great respect towards him, and presents him with a katana.
- Katayama Gorobei
- A skilled samurai who has made his living by entertaining people. Because of his skill in battle and acrobatic ability (among them the ability to pull arrows out of the air and dodge other attacks) Kambei makes him his "left hand man" in defending the village. Gorobei is one of the more lighhearted characters found in the anime, often making light of rather serious or dangerous situations. He admits at one point to believe that dying is losing and living is winning. He does not survive the battle, as he protects the others by deflecting a Nobuseri gun blast. Even after his death he is shown guiding Katsushiro through ghostly visions.
- Shichiroji
- Kambei's "right hand man." Kambei and Shichiroji fought in the Great War side by side and thus have become the best of friends. He temporarily leaves behind his successful post-war business, and with it, his "girlfriend", to join Kambei in battle once again. Unlike the other samurai, Shichiroji does not use a katana, preferring a spear-like weapon. He has a prosthetic left hand which has a grappling hook capability. He is often mistakenly called Momotaro, from the traditional Japanese tale, as he was found by his girlfriend badly injured after a battle floating down a river inside a capsule reminscient of a peach. He is one of the 3 samurai to survive the final battle.
- Kikuchiyo
- A robot, once a man, who paid to have his body forged with a mechanized exoskeleton, much like the Nobuseri. He is often looked upon as a clown or a bother; he gets angry easily and often causes trouble. He carries the biggest of the swords, which also acts as a chainsaw when need be. At first rejected by the other six, Kambei accepts Kikuchiyo into the fold when the latter reveals his reasoning for helping the villagers - that he, too, came from a family of farmers. He is a largely sympathetic character, having literally given up his flesh to become a samurai and change his fate as a poor farmer. He is well liked by the villagers, especially by little Komachi.
- Hayashida Heihachi
- An amiable samurai who would rather eat than fight. During the Great War he avoided fighting by taking a position as a combat engineer and has since then taken up chopping wood for food. He is most helpful within the group as their mechanic, and orchestrates the construction of medieval-type weapons (such as a ballista) to fight the giant mechanized Nobuseri. He loves rice more than any other person in the series and can tell where it's from just by the taste. He hates traitors, and is uncompromising in that respect due to the fact that he has once betrayed his comrades, though he grows to become a more forgiving and understanding man due to Kambei's influence.
- Kyuzo
- A mysterious blond man who wears distinctive crimson-red clothing. He formerly worked as a bodyguard for Ayamaro ("Merchant" in the English translation). Kyuzo wields double blades that fit into one sheath on his back, and has skills matching, or exceeding, Kambei's. He ultimately becomes part of the team and helps to defend the village, as well as to refine his swordsmanship. However, he has another reason for joining the seven - he wishes to challenge Kambei to a duel to the death after the bandits are defeated.
Oppressors
- Nobuseri
- Former samurai/ronin (masterless samurai) who have converted their bodies into large machines during the previous war. Now, in the Akindo period they call themselves the Nobuseri and act as bandits since there is no longer any use for warriors in times of peace. These bandits now rob farming villages of their rice and occasionally women and children. Because of their huge size they encounter little resistance, and when they do, they will exterminate them quickly.
- Ukyo
- The young heir to a powerful Merchant ("Ayamaro" in the original Japanese) in the city where Kirara begins her search. His shielded lifestyle leaves him with a somewhat self-centered yet playful attitude on life. He falls in lust with Kirara upon first sight and seeks to add her to his harem. He had always disliked mechanical samurai, especially the Nobuseri and Kikuchiyo. (SPOILER) It is revealed that he is actually the heir to the Amanushi, as he is a genetic clone and was raised as a peasant farmer in order to gain important life experiences that would aid in his wisdom as the new Amanushi; however, Ukyo is a very deceitful and somewhat insane person, and he makes it his goal to manipulate the samurai, the nobusheri, as well as the farmers; this leads to the final confrontation.
- Tessai
- A grim-faced bodyguard of Ukyo. He carries a tanto throughout the series, but in the final confrontation uses a katana. He is a considerably powerful fighter, possibly on the level of Kambei or Kyuzo.
- Amanushi
- The name given to the head of state in Samurai 7 , he takes the place of a shogun in the futuristic feudal government. Due to the previous great war his body is only able to be sustained within a special chamber.
- Ukyo, Tessai, and Amanushi are characters original to the anime.
Others
All these characters are original to the anime.
- Masamune
- An older man who often has to make repairs on Kikuchiyo.
- Sanae
- Rikichi's wife, abducted by Nobuseri (in exchange for preserving the Kanna village) and taken to the capital to become one of Amanushi's harem.
- Yukino
- A youjo (courtesan) who works at the Hotaruya (Firefly House), an inn at Kougakyo's pleasure quarter, where Shichiroji is first introduced. She is responsible for finding him and caring for him after the war left him severely injured. A romantic relationship, and possibly an unconsummated marriage, between her and Shichiroji is implied.
- Honoka and Mizuki
- They are sisters, survivors of an attack on another farming village. Honoka is introduced as a refugee at the Shikimoribito lair; Mizuki was taken to be a servant for Amanushi's harem.
- Hyougo
- A samurai serving as Ayamaro's guard, along with Kyuuzo. The first among the major samurai characters to use a gun-like weapon. He is killed by Kyouzo.
- The Guardians (Shikimoribito)
- They are people (some or many of them are former samurai) who have opted to live in relative obscurity in exchange for a peaceful life without alliances. They accept refugees into their underground lair. The community trades rice and batteries with merchants above ground for goods. They ultimately help the samurai in their cause by showing the way out of their underground caverns, but do so in secret.
Episode List
DVD Episode Titles in parentheses with what number disc it is on
| # | Title | DVD title and number | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Slash! | The Master | 1 |
| 2 | Eat! | The Pupil | 1 |
| 3 | You Must Be Kidding! | The Entertainer | 1 |
| 4 | Let's Go! | The Loner | 1 |
| 5 | Lame! | The Drifter | 2 |
| 6 | Leave it to me! | The Fool | 2 |
| 7 | Cure! | The Friend | 2 |
| 8 | Anger! | The Guardians | 2 |
| 9 | In Half! | The Bandits | 3 |
| 10 | Gather! | The Journey | 3 |
| 11 | They've Come! | The Arrival | 3 |
| 12 | Cry! | The Truth | 3 |
| 13 | Hit! | The Attack | 4 |
| 14 | Go Wild! | The Offering | 4 |
| 15 | Soaked! | The Gun and the Calm | 4 |
| 16 | Death! | The Storm | 4 |
| 17 | Cut! | The Remembrance | 5 |
| 18 | Evade! | The Emperor | 5 |
| 19 | Disobey! | The Mutiny | 5 |
| 20 | Change! | The Execution | 5 |
| 21 | Fools! | The Rescue | 6 |
| 22 | Slap! | The Divide | 6 |
| 23 | Liar! | The Lies | 6 |
| 24 | Promise! | The Oaths | 7 |
| 25 | Fall! | The Last Battle | 7 |
| 26 | Plant! | The Era's End | 7 |
Theme songs
- Opening: "Unlimited" by Nanase Aikawa
- Closing: "Fuhen" by Rin