Samurai 7

Samurai 7 (stylized as SAMURAI 7) is a 2004 anime television series produced by Gonzo and based on the 1954 Akira Kurosawa film Seven Samurai. The seven samurai have the same names and similar characteristics to their counterparts from the original. The series was directed by Toshifumi Takizawa, and its music was composed by Kaoru Wada and Eitetsu Hayashi. There are 26 episodes.

Samurai 7

Samurai 7 tells the story of a village named Kanna. Set in a futuristic world that has just witnessed the end of a massive war, scores of villages are terrorized by Nobuseri bandits. But the Nobuseri are no normal bandits. They were once samurai, who during the war integrated their living cells with machines to become dangerous weapons now appearing more machine than man. Absolute power corrupts, and their reign of terror is increasing its hold on the countryside.

The elder of Kanna Village has decided that to protect the village they must hire samurai to fight against the bandits. However, the village has no money and thus must find samurai willing to protect the village for a payment of rice. Three members of the village leave to attempt to recruit samurai. They travel to the city and search for samurai willing to work, and after finding several samurai and having a few encounters with the local government, they return to Kanna village to prepare defenses against the bandits.

The samurai train the villagers in the use of bows, building walls, and construct a giant ballista to defend the village against the bandits. After successfully defeating the bandits, the samurai then launch an attack upon the capital to defeat a power-hungry ruler who has recently risen to power as Emperor. After heavy casualties for the samurai, and the near-destruction of Kanna village, the capital is finally defeated.

During the great war, there are samurai that had converted their bodies into large fighting machines. When the war was ended by merchants, many became Nobuseri (野伏せり), or bandits. Under the emperor's employment, the bandit units rob farming villages of their rice, and occasionally women and children for the capital. During Capital's journey to Kanna Village, Ukyo orders the court physician to remove the bandits' souls, so they will be nothing more than mindless machines, accepting orders only from the emperor.

After finding several samurai and having a few encounters with the local government the villagers return to Kanna to prepare defenses against the bandits. The story is more than about a small village because, after successfully defeating the bandits, the samurai then launch an attack upon the capital to defeat a power-hungry ruler who has recently risen to power as Emperor.

Hayashida Heihachi is a genial samurai who wishes to avoid fighting as much as possible and prefers to eat rice instead. During the Great War, he took a position as a combat engineer, which kept him off the front lines but also used his mechanical skills. He is discovered chopping wood in exchange for food or devices that interest him. Read more

Cuando el director japonés Akira Kurosawa lanzó en 1954 su película Los siete samurai, a lo mejor no sabía que estaba dando al séptimo arte una historia que, sin ser del todo original, iba a convertirse en un clásico.

Ukyo was born a farmer and suffered attacks from the Nobuseri. These attacks caused him to grow to hate machine samurai. Eventually, he was taken in by Ayamaro who pampered and spoiled him rotten. He grew to enjoy this new life, even gaining his own harem.

While out with his subordinate, Tessai, Ukyo notices a farm girl named Kirara, who he quickly takes an interest in. He attempts to lure her in by promising her a powerful samurai, which she was looking for. However, this was a lie, and Tessai knocks her out, leading to Ukyo berating him on potentially bruising her and lessening her value. When she comes to, she figures out she had been lied to as Ukyo says she doesn't need to return to her farm life.

He refuses to let her go despite her demands, but they are stopped by two inexperienced samurai who arrive to rescue her. Ukyo makes a run for it while leaving two subordinates to fight them off and capture Kirara unharmed. However, Ayamaro finds out about this incident and orders to have Kirara's entire group eliminated, sending Kyuzo and Hyogo, much to Ukyo's frustration. After that order fails, an Imperial Envoy is found dead in their quarters, prompting Ayamaro to put an arrest warrant on all samurai. Little does he know that it was Ukyo that did the envoy in.

Eventually, Ukyo decides to take matters into his own hands and hunt down Kirara's group with intent on killing all except Kirara, yelling at his group whenever they fire shots that could have potentially hit her. However, they are forced to fall back when the samurai enter an area under protection of the guardians.

After hearing the Ayamaro would be getting removed from his position, Ukyo is amused at gaining the position himself. When the samurai Kanbei confesses to killing the Envoy and attempts to kill the Amenushi, Ukyo decides to pay the emperor a visit. There, it is revealed that Ukyo is a clone of the Amenushi, created to live a farm life after previous clones failed to meet the emperor's expectations and died. In order to ensure Ukyo was worthy, the Amenushi puts him through a three day test of questions. At the end of it, Ukyo is declared worthy. Afterward, Ukyo confronts Kanbei and reveals himself the true killer. He then lets Kanbei know his intent on control of the entire world.

He sends the soulless Nobuseri to fight the samurai, but is disappointed by how easily the samurai ward them off. Instead, the samurai manage to board the capital, so Ukyo forces some other clones that were made to serves as doppelgangers to throw the samurai off. Eventually though, they manage to catch Ukyo and take him down, causing Ukyo to lose his remaining sanity as he falls onto a ship ridden by Kirara. Before he can lay a finger on her though, Kikuchiyo punches him off, and he ends up falling into the chasm near Kanna, bringing his tyranny to an end.

A lot of what makes Samurai 7 a decent watch is pulled directly from the film. Samurai 7 is the story of seven samurai hired by a village of farmers to protect themselves and their crops from marauding bandits. Following the great war, many out of work samurai found a new living raiding defenseless farmers for their yield of rice. Raids which not only resulted in depleting the villagers much needed rice but often resulted in a loss of life and kidnapped women. Deciding to take a stand, the elder of Kanna comes up with a plan to hire samurai for defense. Having no money they decide to bargain with what precious rice they have left. With these grains in hand three villagers set off for the big city in an attempt to persuade some honorable warriors. Eventually a ragtag team of samurai is assembled and they set off to protect the village.

Much of the series is spent developing the farmers and samurai. As the episodes progress I found myself slowly becoming more and more attached to them. It's hard to give the show too much credit as the premise and a lot of the elements come straight from the film. Though, to the show's credit, added and altered character elements flesh rather well. There are also several new characters representing the merchant class of this feudal world. At first they feel weak and tacked on but receive some sudden (and welcome) development for the series' second ending. Yes, that's right, a second ending. The promised clash between the samurai/farmers doesn't close out the series as it did in the film. More on that below in the spoilers section.

Gonzo, perhaps best known for it's random integration of CGI (before it became as inexpensive as Korean labor), decided what Seven Samurai really needed was giant robots. For this they brought in legendary desigern Makoto Kobayashi who's fantastic designs are creativity similar to The O from Zeta Gundam but more fanciful and impressive. In the world of Samurai 7 samurai have the ability to leave their fleshy prison and upgrade to a mechanical body. It's explained that the larger the mechanical shell the higher the rank. None of the technical details behind them are even touched on. Despite it appearing relatively easy to do we only see three different levels of fully mechanized samurai with the largest refereed to as a Benigumo. Oddly enough these new bodies do little enhance their fighting abilities. Worse yet is that traditional swords seem to have no problem slicing and dicing their metal armor. Why would you want to upgrade to a mechanical body that is not only slower and at most equal in strength but does nothing to aid in defense? The series is painfully inconsistent with how it handles fights. For example some cuts result in a clean slice while others result in a shower of sparks, oil, or fire or a mere flesh wound. Toward the end of the series hundreds of Benigumo perish like kerosene soaked cannon fodder. Even more puzzling is that throughout the series the same samurai attacks encounter more resistance from flesh and we never see anyone cleaved into meat cubes.

Bruce Elliott's delivery for the hardened samurai leader Kanbei comes off monotone and dry while Chris Sabat voices the ever outspoken robotic Kikuchiyo. If you ever wanted to enjoy 26 episodes of Kuwabara shouting into a tin can, your dream has come true. Sean Michael Teague tries his best at the immature Katsushiro, only to succeed destroying any sympathy for the character. It's painful in comparison to his Japanese counterpart, Romi Paku.

The other samurai aren't nearly as awful. Duncan Brannan and Bob Carter do very respectful jobs and I actually like Greg Ayres' energetic portrayal of Heihachi. Unfortunately Sonny Strait mumbles through the mysterious Rikichi's very few lines.

Those familiar with the movie will remember that several of the heroic samurai fall and die noble deaths during their battle to protect the village. In the series all of the samurai survive and the show takes a turn toward new material. This change is apparent early on when you realize the final battle against the bandits is roughly ten episodes ahead of the actual series' end. 041b061a72