Samurai 7 Vol-5: Empire in Flux (2004)
Released by: Funimation
Animation Production: Gonzo
Running Time: 105 Minutes
By Jeffrey Couto

Introduction

Now here’s a DVD I’ve been waiting for, the follow up to the extremely exciting Samurai 7 series which is being released by Funimation state-side. With the last DVD bringing the series’ first main storyarch to an extremely satisfying conclusion, the challenge that laid ahead for the writers was a toughie, how to surpass the superior work they had done in the first 16 episodes of the show. The answer it seems was to up the stakes in the area of politics and social maneuvering and then mixing it up with the intense and poetic samurai battle scenes that had been such a staple of the first half of the show.

Surprisingly this plays out in a captivating fashion that is not too dissimilar from the social jockeying of a show like Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo. Here it plays out with less of a class-angle to it and more of a political and socio-economic one. Whatever you want to refer to it as though, one thing remains true, this is anime at its finest.

Story

"The once impenetrable band of seven, now diminished to six, was forced to come to terms with the inevitable when Gorobei risked his life to save his brethren. With sword in hand Kambei is determined to find answers. Leaving the surviving samurai behind, Kambei departs on a solitary trek with an even more perilous mission in mind. Based on the legendary Akira Kurosawa classic epic feature film, Seven Samurai." -- DVD Box

Review

This fifth volume in Funimation’s release of Samurai 7 features episodes seventeen through twenty in the series, which include:

Episode 17: The Remembrance
With the battle against the bandits having been won, now it’s time for the reconstruction period to begin. It’s also time for remembering the road that led everyone to this moment and the sacrifices that were made to ensure the liberty of Kanna Village.

Episode 18: The Emperor
Kambei left the Village of Kanna so that he may fulfill the promises he made to Rikichi and Honoka. This leads him on a dangerous journey that ultimately lands him in front of the Emperor in the Capital, where he is arrested for an assassination attempt on his excellency. Meanwhile Kikuchiyo and Katsushiro decide to go after Kambei to help in any way they can.

Episode 19: The Mutiny
Ukyo arrives at the Capital to witness the execution of Kambei, but his itinerary is changed when the Emperor reveals that Ukyo is a duplicate of himself and that he is to be tested for three consecutive days as a possible heir to the throne. If he doesn’t pass he will be killed on the spot. How will this affect Kambei’s situation?

Episode 20: The Execution
Ukyo is now the new Emperor and he wastes no time in using his new political and economic powers. As his first major public act he will hold Kambei’s execution as a public event for all to see. Can his fellow Samurai help him out of this tough spot or is this it for our fearless hero?

We follow up on the brilliant finale to the Kanna Village storyline in this DVD with what is essentially a catch-up/setup episode that is made up mostly of clips from previous episodes that summarize the events of the series up to this point. From how the characters first came together, to their first battles and final war against the bandits, it’s all covered and framed nicely here so if you haven’t seen the show yet this will fill you in with the basics (of course this isn’t a substitute for seeing it all in full!).

After the re-cap the new storyline begins as we catch up with Kambei, who has traveled back to the underground world of the Shikimori in search of Honoka, who he had promised to rescue her sister from the Capital. After a brief exchange Kambei strikes a deal with the Shikimori, who take him directly to the Capital. Arriving at his destination and his target (the Emperor) Kambei quickly maneuvers to liberate all the women who had been taken prisoner, but when Rikichi’s wife tells him that not only does she want to stay, but that she is also pregnant with the Emperor’s child the situation quickly changes and Kambei is taken prisoner.

Meanwhile the other Samurai are still in the Village of Kanna helping to rebuild everything that was destroyed by the Bandits in their final battle against the samurai. Not all is well in their ranks however as Kikuchiyo and Katsushiro are itching to get back into action and help Kambei in his mission. After a lot of back and forth they finally settle on it and take off for the Capital, where they hope to prove their bravery and worthiness as members of the Samurai class.

Running parallel to all of this is a political transition of power as the Emperor chooses Ukyo to be his heir, after the young merchant proves his political and socio-economic management skills and prowess. Now with Ukyo as the top leader in the region the stakes for everyone, including the merchants, the samurai, the villagers, the bandits and local politicians are higher than ever as the young Emperor plays every side against each other for a purpose that is yet to be completely explained.

Herein lies the biggest surprise this series has had to offer up to now. Ukyo up to episode 16 had been played off as a goof off with very little to justify the position he held at the top of the merchant class, choosing to spend most of his time collecting women or simply playing dumb to everything that was happening around him at the time. Now, as we come to learn, he is revealed to be a true master of political discourse, economic models and social issued, skills and abilities that mixed in with this family tree allow him to ascend to the throne of Emperor.

This being the focus of the story this time out, we don’t get to see an awful lot of the Samurai with the exception of Kambei, whose rescue mission gets sidetracked when he gets captured by the Emperor’s guards. So for the most part this DVD is exclusively focused on the political maneuvering that Ukyo takes on to win absolute power, which superficially may sound dull, but in reality is just as interesting as anything we have seen in this show up to this point, which is saying a lot, given how good Samurai 7 has been. That being said we do see the re-introduction of the mission based scenes as Kikuchiyo and Katsushiro setup a rescue mission in the last moments of episode 20, so going forward it looks like we’ll have both political intrigue and lots of action packed Samurai sword scenes.

The production quality here is again absolutely drop-dead gorgeous and the show is filled to capacity with brilliant visual effects, amazing background layouts and scene layouts that are truly awe-inspiring. As with volumes one through four I found myself enjoying the visuals here 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 again 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 features Gorobei in a painted portrait that is very different from the typical art that adorns anime products domestically (the other side of the cover has a larger piece of art that depicts our heroes fighting off their enemies). Inside there is a nice-sized booklet with tons of artwork and line drawings from the series as well as interviews with the production team. The DVD itself features a couple of extras including clean versions of the opening and closing themes 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

Samurai 7 is fair to say in my humble opinion is one of the best Samurai anime dramas to have ever been produced and with this collection of episodes we continue to see why this is the case as the writers bring out another fascinating layer into the forefront that makes this an even richer story.

I still haven’t see Akira Kurosawa’s original work on which this is based on, but you better believe I’m going to before I finish watching this series!

A definite, must-own!

Jeffrey Couto