Samurai 7 Recommended

Director
Toshifumi Takizawa
Production
Gonzo Digimation
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
26 episodes
Year
2004

Samurai 7 Volume 4: The Battle For Kanna

By otaku_kei
20th Aug 06

As the title for this latest volume of Samurai 7 would suggest, these episodes deal with the Nobuseri's assault on the village of Kanna, and the battle the samurai wage to protect these poor farmers. Just how will these seven samurai stand up to the might of the army of giant killing machines ranged against them? And what of the village? In the previous volume more danger to the samurai came from the villagers themselves, will they now stand firm in defence of their village or will they try and sell out their would be protectors? There really is only one way to find out, so I sat back with a bowl of microwave popcorn put this on and got whisked away to a place where city destroying robots can be taken down by a lone samurai with a katana, giant guns face off against weapons that would make the ewoks proud, and at least one member of the ruling class is some perverted little weirdo with a personal harem of kidnapped women. You just cannot trust those people in the ruling classes, can you?

When it comes to seeing off the unwanted attentions of the Nobuseri, Kanbe and the other samurai certainly know what they are doing. In the first act of this ruthless battle the samurai marshal the forces of the village to fight off the initial wave of bandits. This sees not only the samurai engaged in battle against the Nobuseri, but also all of those worried villagers firing flaming arrows down onto the charging ranks of bandit infantry. Now don't get me wrong, clearly the samurai would need to get the villagers to also pitch in and do there part in this war, but flaming arrows? Could you see Robin Hood wannabes taking down a Gundam unit? Well that is where the suspension of disbelief comes in, and you can relish the villagers joy at passing through this first trial by fire. But truly the early stages of this engagement have been won by Heihachi and his ingenuity when building weapons of war, most notably being the giant log crossbow that manages to hurl one of the sharpened tree trunks straight into the heart of a Nobuseri flying fortress! From this one act the fate of this village is sealed. There will be no forgiveness for this outrage, either the samurai must defeat the Nobuseri or Kanna village will suffer a worse fate than they ever imagined!

Yet even with all that has happened there is still so much more on offer in this latest volume. From the continuing battle on a rain soaked night, to Katsushiro's development as a samurai and man, to the fall of one of the seven during this fight! This is an action packed volume from start to finish and yet there are moments of tranquillity when the characters of this cast are fleshed out just that bit more. Most notable of this development is the growing attraction and feeling between Katsushiro and Kirara. This young love against the backdrop of almost certain doom is all the more poignant, certainly more so as it becomes quite clear that Katsushiro may not be the perfect samurai apprentice. As much as this volume is concerned with the war, it also wants to develop what it is doing to the people who must face this war. Really for a Gonzo studios production Samurai 7 is getting pretty deep and introspective here.

Samurai 7 is quickly becoming one of the highlights of my reviewing months. This show manages to entertain with its mix of sci-fi samurai stories, the character development of a broad range of individuals and also as a new interpretation of the classic Akira Kurosawa film on which it is based. In amongst all the new additions to the plot, it is nice to see so many little nods to Kurosawa's masterpiece, such as the swords standing in mounds of heaped earth, or Kanbe planning the defence of the village in exquisite calligraphy. Samurai 7 is great entertainment for many reasons, but don't just take my word for it I recommend going out and getting this show as soon as possible!

R2 DVD Notes

Features: English Language 5.1; Japanese Language 5.1; English Language Subtitles; Episode Commentary with Chris Bevins, R Bruce Elliot & Sean Michael Teague; Textless Opening & Closing; MVM Trailers

Release information: Coming Soon - 18th September 2006

Notes: Samurai 7 is once again given a quality presentation by the guys at MVM. This show I'm sure would look glorious if it ever gets a High Definition release over here, but that is nothing less than dreams for the future. As it stands this show looks and sounds as good as it can get. Once again we get another commentary track where the actors get to just muse on all their idea about the show, and makes for a nice enough diversion for half an hour. Nothing else of note about the rest of the extra features.

-- otaku_kei 20th Aug 06

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