Review of Samurai 7: Vol. 3

Introduction

Japan`s anime industry turns to Akira Kurosawa`s classic for inspiration, 50 years after the original Seven Samurai made its debut. With the seal of approval from the estate of Kurosawa, and from the eye candy powerhouse that is Gonzo comes Samurai 7, an animated take on the original story. But this series is set after the second age of the Samurai in the distant future following a devastating war. Once again a village of farmers has had enough of seeing their hard earned produce going into the bellies of giant cyborg bandits, and have decided to recruit warriors of their own to protect their crops. In the last volume, the emissaries from the village, farmer Rikichi, water priestess Kirara and her kid sister Komachi, gathered a band of samurai around them to travel to the village and defend their harvest from the Nobuseri bandits. Led by Kanbe, the motley group included samurai turned entertainer Gorobe, engineer Heihachi, old comrade in arms Shichiroji, and a young trainee named Katsushiro. Also joining them was insistent cybernetic warrior Kikuchiyo. However, the corrupt Magistrate of the city interrupted the recruitment process, and they were forced to flee into the caverns of the Shikimori. But the loyalties of the Shikimori were questionable, they have dealings with both the Nobuseri and the Magistrate, and as events transpired, Katsushiro was injured, while Kikuchiyo was captured.

The story continues in From Farm To Fortress, with four more episodes of Samurai 7. While the English episode titles are given on the menu, the translated Japanese ones are quite different, so for convenience, I`ve used both in my review, English first.

9. The Bandits/Clean In Two!
Leaving Katsushiro behind, the rest of the warriors decide to rescue Kikuchiyo. They get a guide to lead them out of the Shikimori caverns to the Nobuseri, but they walk right into a trap. Surrounded by the bandits, and faced by the magistrate`s men, they realise that they have been betrayed. But honour isn`t foreign among their foes, and Kyuzo, who faced Kanbe earlier on in the city, makes a fateful decision on the battlefield.

10. The Journey/Assemble!
Kirara doesn`t trust their newest recruit, but the band has bigger worries. The bandits know they are coming; so to throw off their opponents it is decided to split up into three groups and travel separately to the village. Kanbe, Katsushiro and Komachi pick up an unwanted companion, and spend most of the journey in philosophical discourse, Kirara, and Kyuzo travel in mutual distrust, along with Shichiroji, all the while dodging Nobuseri scouts, and Heihachi, Gorobe and Rikichi travel in disguise, as women. I guess someone had to draw the short straw.

11. The Village/They`re Here!
The group arrives to an empty village; the farmers see little difference between the samurai and the bandits and have hidden themselves. Oddly enough, it`s Kikuchiyo who manages to smooth over their differences, and soon the samurai are at work fortifying the village. But not all the farmers are happy with the turn of events, and Manzo plans to betray the samurai in exchange for keeping his fields safe.

12. The Truth/Shout!
The emotional cost of Manzo`s actions is high, especially for Katsushiro. Kanbe realises that the young warrior has taken the first step to becoming a samurai. Meanwhile, the rest of the samurai are at odds among themselves, and with the farmers over how to deal with the traitor.

Video

Samurai 7 gets a colourful and clear transfer from MVM on a dual layer disc. As you would expect from a modern anime, it is a stunning mix of traditional 2D and 3D CG animation. The character designs are excellent, and the world design enchants, a future world that is heavily influenced by the past. The animation is excellent, with the action sequences doing the story justice. Of course there are the usual drawbacks to animation on DVD, the odd compression artefact and the digital banding. But none of it is detrimental to the viewing experience.

Audio

You get a choice of DD 5.1 English and Japanese, with translated English subtitles or just a signs track. Both audio tracks boast great surround presence. The world design is reflected in the sound design, with the future world a curious mix of hi-tech and steam punk. Samurai 7 has another couple of fine tunes for its credit sequences, but the incidental music is more traditional.

Features

The usual soupcon of brief extras grace this disc, beginning with text profiles for four of the characters. There is the opportunity to see the credit sequences minus the text, as well as trailers for Gunslinger Girl and Ikki Tousen. Oddly, there are no English language credit sequences for any of the episodes, so IMDB is your first port of call for the actors` names.

Conclusion

My initial impression of Samurai 7 on the back of two volumes was lukewarm, a case of nice visuals but could do better. Well, when the production values are this high, and you can see every yen on screen, eventually the show will wear you down. I wound up enjoying these episodes in this third volume greatly, and it is a significant improvement over the first eight episodes. Fortunately, it isn`t just the awesome visuals and impressive action sequences that have won me over, as the show has started to address some of the complaints I had earlier with regards to character.

The first episode on this disc is much like the earlier eight, although it is greatly more entertaining when it comes to action. We see the samurai finally tested against the Nobuseri, and the fight sequences are absolutely stunning. What this episode finally begins to do is put a face to the villains. Before the Nobuseri was just an ominous threat to the farmers, but now we get to see how they operate, what their organisation is about, and some of the personalities involved. The second episode completes the picture, by devoting the run time to developing the main characters. They split up to travel to the village, and are grouped in such a way to maximise the dramatic interplay between them. Katsushiro travels with Kanbe, and we see the older warrior mentor the young initiate, with comic relief from Komachi. It`s a more philosophical side to the group. Kirara doesn`t trust the newest recruit Kyuzo, so naturally they travel together working out their differences, refereed by Shichiroji. The comedy comes from the final group, but by the end of the episode, the samurai no longer feel like a formulaic collection, rather we have got to know the characters and can begin to relate to them. Before, it was really only Kikuchiyo`s brash nature that stood out. The character studies continue when the warriors reach the village in the final two episodes on this disc, as they face mistrust from the timid farmers, and even betrayal. The drama is deftly handled, as Katsushiro finally learns just what it means to be a samurai, and Kikuchiyo`s revelation about his past is just the moment of honesty that he needs to finally be accepted by the group. By the end of this volume the seven are together and ready to face the trials that lie ahead.

Still, this is a remake of the Seven Samurai, and occasionally a little too faithful. While I admit that I do get a thrill from seeing classic scenes from the film recreated almost identically in animation form, I wonder if the story may have been better served by distancing it a little more from the movie.

Samurai 7 looks divine. If all that were needed to recommend an anime were visual splendour alone, then I would advise you to buy it in a heartbeat. But this volume also deserves attention, because every quibble I had about the series has been addressed by now. The first four episodes looked like a straight rehash of the film, the second volume began to differentiate the anime and add a decent amount of originality, and this volume finally sees the characters get the attention they deserve. Although it`s taken 9 episodes to get there, I can finally say that this series is worth sticking with. The build up has been slow, but the story and characters are now compelling in their own right, and the series has grown on me. With Volume 4 promising the first real face-off between the samurai and the Nobuseri, I can`t wait for the next volume to arrive. Good, solid anime action.