| Samurai
7 Vol-1 (2004)
Released by: Funimation
Animation Production: Gonzo
Running Time: 105 Minutes
By Jeffrey
Couto
Introduction
Samurai 7, which is based on Akira Kurosawa’s
very famous work Seven Samurai, is a grand anime production
whose depiction of a futuristic world in which the Samurai
are quickly becoming a relic of the past and mechanical bandits
rule towns with an iron grip, is both gripping and awe-inspiring
with it’s alternate look at the world of 16th century
Japan, as re-envisioned for a new audience with a heavier
emphasis on science fiction elements.
I loved this show so much after my first watch
that I made sure a trailer for it would play before Godzilla
Final Wars during Japan Hero’s first film festival this
past November as I wanted as many people as possible to know
about it. Let’s go right into it.
Story
"A futuristic war-ravaged country on
the brink of collapse. The once powerful samurai are coming
to the end of their rule. Bandits roam the coutryside with
savage intent. A powerless village hires 7 ronin, a samurai
with no master, to defend their way of life. One group seeks
protection, the other, seeks one last chance for victory in
the battlefield. " -- DVD Box
Review
This first volume in Funimation’s release
of Samurai 7 features episodes one through four in the series,
which include:
Episode 1: The Master
In a village not too far from the city the villagers are under
the iron grip of the bandits, mechanical monstrosities who
force this farming community into growing rice for them, leaving
little for the populace to sustain itself on. Having had enough
of the bandits tyranny a decision is made to hire Samurai
to help protect the village and force the bandits out of their
world.
With this mission in mind Kirara, the village’s
young priestess travels to the city accompanied by two fellow
villagers. Will she find the help her village needs?
Episode 2: The Pupil
Now finding herself in the city, Kirara begins her quest by
looking for and talking to several Samurai. Soon her team
manages to find two warriors willing to help them, but still
she seeks the most powerful of the Samurai that she has met
in this city Kambei, an enigmatic man who at this point is
not interested in helping the village with their bandits problem.
However when Kirara is kidnapped and her life quickly is put
in Kambei’s hand he may just start rethinking his stance.
Episode 3: The Entertainer
Gorobe makes his living by entertaining people with his Samurai
skills, but when Kambei approaches him as a recruit for his
mission, which he is undertaking on behalf of the farming
village, Gorobe is quick to accept the challenge. Before they
can start planning their next move though they are attacked!
Episode 4: The Loner
The Merchant lord of the city has had enough of the trouble
being caused by Kambei and his group of Samurai so he is sending
his men to take care of them. Can the Samurai overcome the
challenge? And…who is this loner, this young Samurai
whose skills rival even those of Kambei?
Wow, this is one of those anime shows where
it’s hard to really begin in any one place. I will admit
that I’m yet to see Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai
epic (embarrassing, I know! Everytime I came close to renting
it something else caught my attention at the last minute!)
so I can’t honestly make a comparison between this anime
retelling and the original, although it appears from what
I’ve read that the two share a similar core plot that
revolves around a small group of Samurai banding together
to help a small farming community overcome the tyranny of
bandits who abuse the good people and their agricultural skills.
Samurai 7 starts off with a fantastic sequence
that has Kambei taking on a large armada of robots and airships
using only his sword and fighting abilities. As he flies off
to take on the mothership we flash-forward to the present
where we witness the bandits rule of the land first hand as
we follow one of the recon ships through one of the many agricultural
lands that they have overrun and see the terror they inspire.
It’s at this time that we meet one particular village
which is at present being lead by their priestess to a new
source of water. Having had enough of their oppressors the
villagers quickly turn the conversation from water to what
to do to escape their current situation, which leads to a
bold decision, Samurai must be hired to drive the bandits
away.
This decision is the catalyst that sets many
events into motion and really gets the story kick-started
as we turn our attention away from the village and to the
city, where the priestess we met at the beginning of the show
is now entrusted with finding the warriors that will liberate
her people.
It’s this recruiting effort that lies
at the heart of the episodes in this DVD as we move from episode
to episode looking for new candidates to enroll into Kambei’s
Samurai task force. This makes the character introduction
process a little easier to digest than normal as the writers
made sure to take their time in not only bringing in each
new cast member into the fold, but starting the process of
development for each with a slower than normal pace, with
their back stories being injected as elegant subplots that
don’t really detract from the main proceedings or take
away from them.
In addition to the cast intro we also get
our first glimpses of the world our heroes inhabit and how
it operates. We quickly learn that the ways of the world are
changing and the merchants are the ones that at present time
are wielding much of the power to be had and they will do
whatever it takes to keep it this way, setting up the stage
for what I assume will be a fairly integral-to-the-story conflict
between the old guard, the Samurais, and the new leaders of
the social ladder. Hints of this are dropped in these episodes
and more visibly shown through the hunt that the merchant
leader organizes in episode four as he send his men after
Kambei and the others.
In terms of production quality this is an
absolutely drop-dead gorgeous show that is filled to capacity
with brilliant visual effects, amazing background layouts
and scene layouts that are truly awe-inspiring. With Samurai
7 I found myself enjoying the visuals more than I normally
would with a title like this because so many scenes are unusually
rich in detail and quiet movement that give the show a unique
life that truly jumps out from the screen. The colors tend
to lean more towards the neutral end of the scale, but this
works well in that it makes the under-used pastels stand out
even more, adding to the richness of the drawings and background
paintings.
The soundtrack here relies heavily on traditional
sounding Japanese music, which sets the mood of the show perfectly
and add to the presence of the Samurai characters that are
its focus. The opening and closing themes didn’t really
catch my attention though and felt for the most part as adequate,
but ultimately easily forgotten pieces. The voice acting on
the hand is as usual, with a release of this quality, outstanding.
The casts do a fantastic job at bringing their characters
to life in both the Japanese dubbed and English dubbed tracks.
On the product front Funimation did a particularly
nice job with this one. The DVD box cover (and the inside
of the sleeve) features Kambei in a painted portrait that
is very different from the typical art that adorns anime products
domestically. Inside there is a nice sized booklet with tons
of artwork and line drawings from the series as well as an
interview with the executive producer and the series organizer.
The DVD itself includes a couple of extras including clean
versions of the opening and closing themes, a promotional
video, character profiles and promos for other Funimation
releases. The quality of the audio and video transfers is
without equal with everything sporting a beautiful crisp quality
to it.
Final
Thoughts
Whether you have seen Akira Kurosawa’s
well renowned film or not Samurai 7 is a must see anime series.
From the frenetic Samurai sword battles to the amazing animation
and a storyline that will suck in from the moment the show
starts you can’t go wrong with this anime series.
Extremely, highly recommended!
Jeffrey
Couto
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