Anime: Samurai 7

Hey AniDB, recently finished this anime rendition of the classic film (reversed name, “Seven Samurai”) and like always have way too much to say about it. Feel free to skim, here’s my two cents.

Animation
By the standards of 2004 animation quality, how does Samurai 7 fair?
The visuals are pretty good, but by comparison to other studios releases during Samurai 7’s run (ex: FMA, Champloo, GitS 2nd GIG) it feels as though Gonzo was a bit behind at this time. It’s funny ‘cause Gonzo had just broken new ground with the post CG elements in Last Exile (in ‘03) and would again raise the bar (later in ‘04) with Gankutsuou. Samurai 7 maybe didn’t get the studios full artistic lovin’ as it feels a bit older than it is when you compare it to what was out there, but on its own there’s not much bad to say. It’s enjoyable.

But I heard this rumor each episode of Samurai 7 cost two times as much to produce as a normal series! Doesn’t extra budget usually translate into superb cutting edge eye candy?
Apparently not. Overall this is a pretty series, rich colors, good lines, and the post CG elements are quite acceptable, but a not so skilled eye will notice a quality drop (especially in early episodes) during the swordplay sequences. I guess when the swords are drawn the pens take their sheaths.

What is up with the first half of episode7?
Yeh, it’s a noticeably different style, disrupts the flow a bit. That particular episode has a lot of different credits so it’s most likely intentional; write it off as a guest appearance by a different team I guess.
• Looks/Visuals : 7/10

Sounds
What are the highs and lows of the sound department?
The lows would be the forgettable parts, the op/ed themes and really, all the score. I know it was okay while watching but nothing stuck with me. The highs would be the voice cast.

So the Seiyuu have a noticeable performance?
I thought so. My opinion in fact is this is one of the best Japanese castings I’ve ever heard. The cast is too large to name everyone (use the AniDB cast info) but you can feel that they greatly respect the source material and really put there all into it. A wide convincing variety of noticeably different voices in the cast I could identify with my eyes closed, that’s impressive to me when it’s in a language I don’t speak. My guess is that these performances are where that mythical extra budget went.

Unfortunately you have to score all sounds with one value.
Okay… well the voices are amazing (10/10), the score is standard (6/10), what’s the average?
• Score/Voice Acting : 8/10

Story
“Then find hungry samurai!” The original story is epic because it is a battle for essentially nothing right?
That’s right. When a helpless village tormented by ruthless bandits can finally take no more abuse they go out to hire samurai to defend them who they can only repay for their deeds with rice. Essentially they are asking the samurai to risk life and limb and can in return receive from the peasants no additional honor or land or riches. Just rice; your life for rice… it’s not necessarily a deal any samurai would undertake, only the crazy hungry few.

I’ve heard that Samurai 7 adds onto this tale though?
Yup, Samurai 7 has two primary story arcs. The first is the tale of the village and the bandits which is mostly the original film. The second arc deals with higher powers and the repercussions of their actions. Here now the Samurai “do” gain reputation from their selfless battle. It’s an interesting take… sort of retelling an original tale and like adding a new sequel to it all in one. It’s well executed but for anime in general by comparison to other stories in this medium, it’s relatively simple, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Let’s call it what it is, easy to follow and enjoyable.
• Story : 7/10

Characters
Do we get to know the personalities of each of the seven samurai?
Some more than others, each character has a bit of stereotype in them but also a bit of back-story that breaks them out of their mold.

Can I have a quick summary on them?
Kambei is the leader of the group, wise with a hidden past. Katsushiro is the rookie, too much heart too little experience. Gorobei, Shiroji, and Heihachi are all more gentle natured but experienced warriors each with their own personality quirks. Kyuzo is the silent badass type, best fighter least dialog. And finally there is Kikuchiyo the mechanical samurai, the boisterous misfit of the group.

I assume he was human in the original story, why the change?
Because it’s cool and his character very naturally fits it. In the original film Kikuchiyo is different than the other six Samurai and he makes up for his inadequacies by being the loudest, wielding the largest sword and being the only one to wear armor. He’s essentially trying to make up for his shortcomings believing if he changes his appearance on the outside perhaps he can change the being on the inside as well. He’ll probably be the character that grates most on your nerves throughout the story but that’s loyal to the original character (who makes faces and acts like a monkey, literally) and is fully intended.

What about the supporting cast, or any main non-samurai characters?
Kirara is a new character to the anime adaption and plays a very large role in the story. She is the beautiful water maiden who gathers the samurai (along with the weak Rikichi and another new character, her young child sister Komachi) to defend the village. They also get some good fleshing out in the story, a benefit of the anime being 13 hours of development as opposed to the original materials 3 hour runtime.

Who gets the lion’s share of character development?
In the original story Kambei and Kikuchiyo have the most screen and development time, but in the anime Katsushiro draws a lot of attention and many of the new original elements are directed his way. Kirara takes the primary female role (originally Shino is the main and essentially only female in the story) and the Rikichi/Ukyo element of the original film is fleshed out much more in the anime.

Is there a main villain worthy of so many heroic opponents?
In the original story, no. The bandits are a faceless horde, the most dangerous three have muskets. In the anime another new character Ukyo is an antagonistic presence, he wants to capture Kirara for his harem. After the bandit arc a new threat emerges that’s also all new to the story.
• Characters : 8/10

Value
If I’ve already seen Akira Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai”…
Samurai 7 isn’t a straight retelling of Seven Samurai with different scenery; Gonzo took some liberties with the story, made changes, added original content, etc. If you can accept that (ex: order of events altered, one character performing another characters actions) and don’t spit at everything that’s different I think you’ll find Samurai 7 well captures the spirit of the original material while managing to have a heartbeat all its own.

And if I haven’t seen the Original Film?
That was my boat actually, I watched the anime first, enjoyed it, then went to my local library and took out the original film afterwards. In retrospect I’d say my appreciation for the anime increased due to how seamlessly some of the changes and original content blended with the source material.

Which was better?
Well the film is seen as a piece of groundbreaking cinematography history, the anime is more or less an enjoyable guilty pleasure. It’s a matter of personal preference and opinion, I’d say the film I felt “enriched” me more but I am happy to have seen both.
• Value : 8/10

Enjoyment
I know you usually hate little kids in action/adventure themed anime Chozo.
A lot of times, yeh, I do. But Komaci and Okara turned out to be neat, well voiced and appropriate minor characters. I liked the little intro they would do at the beginning of each episode, it kept the anime from being too serious, gave it a little more light hearted fun.

Who was your favorite Samurai?
I liked every Samurai and enjoyed the entire cast but if I had to pick I’d say Katsushiro, but only after episode 14.

Favorite moment in the series?
The final four episodes are very good, especially the finale battles key moments. The animation quality is solid for these, the twists are memorable, and the ending felt very satisfying. A few episodes were slow but overall Samurai 7 is a very engaging and strong enjoyable series.

Quite highly rated all around
Yeh. I think a few points could be argued to be lower, but Samurai and Sci-Fi are really my thing and this anime has both. It wasn’t dark or violent, which I also like, but I enjoyed everything it was and this series genuinely made me happy to have watched it.
• Enjoyment : 9/10

Overall : 8

Thanks!

Samurai 7 has a lot of fantastic elements, but fails to use them properly. Still, I'd suggest at least watching the first episode, just to see the designs.

Animation:
The animation quality is generally good, but there are notable instances of it suddenly dropping.

The art design is fantastic. Lots of truly amazing character designs, and it has some of the best sets you'll ever see.

Sound:
I can't claim to like the opening or ending, but the rest of it was fine.

Story:
The story can be essentially broken down into three arcs. The problem is that the end of the second arc was already suitably climactic, so the last arc feels unnecessary. The facts that the story isn't particularly engaging and the characters are unsympathetic are don't help.

Character:
Lots of problems here. Of the nine major protagonists, only three, maybe four, have any real depth. And of those, only one of them has any character growth.

Samurai 7 has possibly the least engaging cast of characters of any anime I've seen. The few characters that are anywhere near open with there emotions are annoying. The rest of them are hard to sympathize with because you can't tell what's going on in their head. The character that "grows" becomes less likable as the series progresses.

With so many other reviews on this Anime, there seems little point to write another but I really wanted to write one as this is one the Animes I feel strongly about.

Animation [8.5]:

You can really see why each episode cost around $300,000 USD to make. The animation is lovingly drawn with an eye for detail and animated thoroughly.
There are no times during the series where you feel duped. Never are there any scenes where the action happens off screen like in a lot of cheaper Animes.
There is some CGI used in the film but luckily it blends seemingly into scenes and isn't overused. It's mainly used to animate the ships and the Nobuseri. It's used effectively too to convey the feeling of huge battle scenes.

Strangely Episode 7 briefly changes style and everything is drawn in a similar fashion to the uniquely styled Anime 'Mind Games' for a while. This threw me off a little and I'm not sure why this happens. This could be some form of tribute to the afore mentioned movie but I felt it was a little out of a place.

Another note-worthy aspect is that there is no gore. If any dismembering does take place, it is that of robots. Blood replaced with oil. I felt that this was maybe a slight weak point as it maybe took away a little from the impact of some of the fights. On the upside this means that this Anime is really suitable for pretty much all ages.
That being said, the fight scenes are great even though they lack any blood and gore. They appear dynamic and are drawn from various and innovative angles. The fighters move fluidly and convincingly and it's always a joy to watch any of the action sequences.

Sound [8.9]:

This is finally a movie where I have some specific thoughts on the sound, rather than it being one area of the review that I have to fill in just for the sake of it.
The music is very well done and fitting.
For the most part the soundtrack is crafted in the style of old Japanese music. It's been applied as such that it always enhances the setting whether it be sad, melodramatic moments or scenes of action.
The opening and closing themes are similarly memorable. The music that plays during the end credits particularly took my fancy.

Another thing to be noted is that for the first time the English dub is actually good!
I watched this series twice. I decided to watch it a second time but in English.
All the characters are well cast and have their unique voices that really fit their visuals and none of the dialogues ever seems forced. This pretty much a first for me and I am happy I watched this a second time so I could for the first time experience a well dubbed Anime.

Story [9]:

Even though the setting is vastly different from the original 1954 Akira Kurosawa film I was surprised to how close the story sticks to it's predecessor plot and in parts even expands on it.
Time is taken to introduce each character in depth and every subsequent episode keeps building on their stories. This one of the very few series that seems to have virtually no plot holes and nothing seems to happen for no reason. Every aspect of the story seems meaningful and is explained to the viewer.

I was also very happy to see that a lot of the usual clichés were left out of this Anime. No cheesy or predictable love stories to be found here. Not that there aren't any, it's just that in this series they aren't written in a stereotypical fashion which was really a breath of fresh air.
There are also running gags throughout each episode, mainly dealing with "Kiku", which serve to lighten the story at times.

Character [9.2]:

I felt this was a strong point of the movie. The writers managed to keep the character traits of the original Akira Kurusawa characters even though they have been inserted into this new futuristic-old school Japanese setting.
Even though the story is mainly about seven samurai there are a lot more important characters and each seems to have depth. Compared to the original black and white film this Anime actually builds on the Samurai's back story further increasing your understanding for their motives. It's hard to talk about the characters without spoiling the movie too much unfortunately, but suffice to say that the writers have managed to create a bond between you and all the main characters.

Character design is also another very strong point with this Anime. From the beautifully designed Kikuchiyo with his steam punk elements to the cyborg-tech emperor caught in his glass tube with all the pipes leading to his mask all the way to the pleasing design of the Nobuseri and their impressive looking warships.
The designs are adventurous and even though they are often wildly different from each other in style they somehow feel like part of a greater whole.

The characters all compliment each other very well such as the large and oafish Kikuchiyo with his little sidekick Komachi or the pensive and knowledgeable Kambei with his brash pupil Katsushiro.
In fact I really enjoyed the way Katsushiro's character builds throughout the entire series, from a naive youth to a fully fledged and mature Samurai.

Value - Enjoyment - Overall [9.8]:

I greatly enjoyed this Anime and it has to be one of the best I have watched this year. Each episode leaves you longing to know what happens in the next, especially after you reach the half-way mark. It's so hard to put down. Rarely do series pull me in like that, but this Anime managed this.

I thought the ending was great and a welcomed changed from most Anime. I have to bite my tongue at this point as to not give away the ending but let's just leave it with me saying it isn't your everyday ending.
I would class this as a "must-watch" Anime. There is something here for everybody who enjoys the genre.
I know I rated this Anime high in all categories, but I really do feel it is that good.

THE STAFF
- Animated by studio GONZO, which means crap on a CGI stick. These guys are terrible.
- Directed by Takizawa Toshifumi, who is a a bit famous for his work on the original Votoms, but has otherwise produced nothing of interest.
- Based on the homonymous film y Akira Korosawa, and thank goodness he is not around anymore to see what they did with his work.

SCRIPT

The first arc is the same as in the movie. Peasants asking for help from non-greedy samurais to protect their village from being looted by bandits. The themes are how honor is a lot more important than money (sparkling rice in the show) and how the peasants are spineless wimps who have to stop asking others to help them and aid in the solution of their problem. Differences include:
- The world is not the feudal Japan but a semi-industrialized, futuristic land. This makes the story a lot catchier as all those flashy machines are a lot more interesting to watching only trees and meadows. Plus, it makes the gap between rich and poor a lot bigger.
-Instead of human bandits, there are huge mecha. This is not a complete difference, as the original story featured a gun, which was a lot more deadly than the samurais’ swords.
-The end of the first story gives space for more story, and the conclusion of the movie is taken to the end of the third arc.

The second arc is about the merchant’s son becoming the emperor’s successor. This arc is low on action and plot and aims to show how the rich are treating the poor and scheme amongst each other. It also shows how the world is rapidly changing and how folklore traditions and honorable samurais give their place to profit-centered machinery and laser-carrying mecha. High on intrigue, low on interest, very boring.

The third arc is the conclusive battle between authority and honor. Very high on action, there is some romance included and the conclusion is almost the same as in the movie.

This series was successful at making me feel the same excitement I had with the original. The unrealistic battles and the middle ark though were overall very weak in atmosphere and drama; they damaged the whole script conciderably.

PRODUCTION VALUES

The setting is depicted in quite the fantastic way. Cloths, buildings and vehicles are detailed, artistic and lushly. 3D models and lightning/shadowing effects create a dreamy world. The CGs of the mecha are of course very bad because GONZO made them. They move in very robotic ways… and I mean that in a negative way.

Voice acting was generally fitting with the characters and I found no real problems with it. Music themes are a combination of traditional Japanese music with westernized action elements. During summaries and peaceful times, the first kind of music is played to build up some atmosphere. During battle scenes, the second kind takes over. It is a worthwhile attempt, if you don’t mind the sudden changes in the origin of the musical tones.

Action scenes and camera angles are very Hollywood-made. That means that they are very well made but are also unrealistic. I mean, a few humans with swords defeating armies of huge, laser-armed mecha is unbelievable, no matter how much you try to reason it. But they are awesome if you are still young and will not disappoint those who like epic battles. Other than that, the GONZO effect ruins most of the fun.

CAST

There wasn’t much character development in the movie and there is not much here, either. When it comes to the samurais, this is rather acceptable, as they are supposed to be strong, determined and seasoned enough to have stopped needing any further maturing. We can even say that they stayed true to their beliefs and didn’t gave up when the new emperor tried to make them join him and become robots. So, it’s not as if their personality was never challenged. It’s reasonable to expect flowing personality from immature teenage characters in anime; but here they already were middle-aged from the beginning; and so they were stabilized.

The young ones, Kirara (the peasant priestess) and Katsushiro (the samurai in training), on the other hand, do mature. They both feel love, disappointment and taste the cruelness of the world for the first time. And so, they are very unstable with their emotions, as expected.

Plus, all characters look, act, talk and think differently, so none are without personality. Some have a very weak presence but even that is true in real life. So generally, good characters, without much philosophical questioning of their motives.

LEGACY
Overall, the series was ok. A lot more complicating and action-based than the movie but not so concrete or realistic. The slow-paced plot and the excessively unrealistic battles ruined a lot of its appeal for me, but there was still enough to enjoy. Compared to the total crap GONZO has made over the years, this is quite the watchable show if your expectations are not very high.

SUGGESTION LIST
Samurai Champloo
Rurouni Kenshin
Katanagatari

Samurai 7, a tribute to the 50th anniversary of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, is probably Gonzo's, no, Japan's most expensive anime series ever made thus far. And it's worth the moolah. Samurai 7 may not be the best adaptation of Kurosawa's show, but it's an excellent series on its own.

Samurai 7 would have received a full 10 for animation if not for the inconsistency in some episodes. However, its overall animation is praise-worthy. The art style may not be as beautiful or detailed as the likes of Scrapped Princess and Full Metal Panic, but Samurai 7's simple artwork and smooth 3D composition make every scene interesting. The action sequences are awesome (sometimes downright ridiculous, but cool nonetheless) and both character and setting designs are unique, quite unlike any other samurai shows around.

The opening and ending themes are nice, but the sound effects steal the show. The familiar flute tunes commonly heard in samurai shows are present, as well as traditional Japanese themes. These audio elements add to the suspense and thrill of the story very well. The well cast voices liven up the characters and make each scene interesting.

Samurai 7's story is well, based on Seven Samurai. Peasants from a village went to hire seven samurais to protect them and overthrow the tyrant who had been pillaging their harvest every year. However, be in for a surprise with plot twists and discoveries. Not only is this ancient Japan filled with flying ships, there's even the breed of samurai robots. Before you click the 'back' button, please wait. Despite the unique if not weird world concept, the story is not incoherent or lacking in any way. There's even a new plot at the later half of the series. You would find this a more than satisfying watch. The only flaw I noticed was probably the repetition of certain animated clips and flashbacks, making some scenes a tad draggy, but they're not frequent.

There's a lot happening in the story and with action scenes aplenty, character development is inevitably reduced. It's quite disappointing to finish a series and still being unable to feel for the characters. However, they're all overall a likable cast...well, most. Each of the samurais have distinct traits and personalities, but there's not enough limelight to give them depth. Out of the seven samurais, only Katsushiro seems the most realistic and only he showed growth throughout the show. Small tidbits of information and past of the others are revealed through the series, but there wasn't much to colour them with. Just like another reviewer, I find Kanbe rather disappointing. He is one of the main characters with heaps of screentime, but at the end of the day, he's still the hardest to grasp. The same goes for Kirara, but I suppose the logic of women being complex creatures apply here. However, Ukyo is quite intriguing and probably the most defined, thus making the show a lot more interesting.

Buy this series if you got the cash. Broke people can borrow from friends or rent. By hook or by crook, you should give this show a try. Be it for the action or story or just plain samurai frenzy, this show is worth keeping.

Samurai 7 is extremely good at cliffhangers, making you hunger for the next episode at the end of every episode. It's a show that most anime watcher would get hooked to, even if they don't like it. If you're a samurai or action fan, you would love this show. If you're an anime fan, you'd like this show. If you're neither, you wouldn't be reading this. Miss this and you'll miss out.

I really don't know how to start this. I have just finished watching the show. And I really dont know whether to say it was a bad one or a good one?

Ok, Lets start by analysing the animation. When I started watching Samurai 7 for the first time I was really amazed by the quality of the drawings. For unknown reasons, when I reached episode 7-8, I noticed that the quality became crappy all of the sudden. This was the case till I reached Episode 14 where it went back to be acceptable. Overall, I could say, that although Samurai 7 used computer very widely, It was successfull in conveying emotions as well as battlescenes. Also, one good thing about Samurai 7 animation was maintaining the backgrounds during the fight scenes.

Sound: For me, The best thing the anime introduced was the OST. And by that I specially mean the ending theme (Fuhen). Voice casting was good for almost all the characters and the actors themeselves maintained a steady level of performance, which gave the series a lot of credits.

The Story (Warning: Spoilers): Samurai 7 basically involved 3 main stories: The first one was about saving the rice village from the mecha-samurai by hiring human-samurais. At the end of that part, a war took place between those two teams. I really Couldn't feel the time passing me by. Those events consumed the first 16 episodes of the show and were the successful side of Samurai 7. After that, the show was directed to handle the story between the samurais and the governor's son (who was found to be the next capital's emperor in a made-to-believe story) as those samurais were trying to rescue captured women from a previous war. This part was extremely dull and to some extent, boring. And as you can see, this was the ugly face of samurai 7. The 3rd story included within Samurai 7 was about a young samurai (Katsushiro) who fell in love with Kirara (A water priestess sent to search for samurais). This story started in the 2nd episode, and was very well "woven" untill somehow, the producers decided to kill this story in episode 22 (when we discover that kirara was in love with Katsushiro's teacher, Kambei). What annoyed me was that along the course of 22 episodes, not a single hint was exposed to us (poor viewers) to anticipate such a thing. And I think that, the developers recognized the plot got weaker and decided to make something in order to enhance it. And my thoughts were confirmed when I saw the huge development in Katsushiro's fighting skills in the last three episodes (as a compensation for his lost love).

Characters: Almost all of the characters developed very well. But still, this was rather slow. Also, some of the characters were ignored, such as kuzyo.

Value: I will definetly rewatch the show in the future. and I think that Samurai 7 is a must-to-see show to any anime fan.

Enjoyment: I have to say this: I watched the first 18 episodes without stopping. I Enjoyed the first 20 episodes of the show very much. But after that, I really disliked what happened with Samurai 7.