Samurai 7: Renewal Sect 1

Introduction and the Seven

Samurai 7 anime (2004) is based on Kurosawa Akira's homonymous movie (also translated as Seven Samurai) of 1954. Setting in the Sengoku Period Japan, it tells a story of a small poverty striken village' survival counter attack, with seven samurais, against Nobuseri and the after-harvest marauding.

Introduction: A Gonzo production, Samurai 7 is directed by Toshifumi Takizawa with postmodern techniques, accompanied by music from Kaoru Wada and Eitetsu Hayashi. There are 26 episodes, as HD CSPPV braodcast, each costing around ¥32,500,000 ($300,000USD) to produce.  Though Samurai 7 is based on Kurosawa's film, the anime version has creatively reshaped the original setting and appended anime elements. 

The setting is an imaginary post-Sengoku (Warring States) period where huge airships and robot soldiers are replacing samurai as battle machines.  Cease of war makes samurai displaced and become vagabond or lazzarone (rouni). Without regular income, part of them have implanted machinary weapon into their body and become marauders called Nobuseri. Sumurai who will wave their katana to protect civilians is nothing but a legend. In the late part of story, it is disclosed that Nobuseri actually  colluded with the empire to do dirty plays.

The story starts from a small village Kanna that is forced to commit itself to fight against Nobuseri and protect its residents and their fruit of earth. The elder of Kanna thus sent the migo Kirara Mikumari (water maiden)  and the strongest villager to the city (maji, or jō, refering to place where Daimyō and his samurais reside and usually is used as fortress) in searching for samurais that are willing to exchange their military service with rice. During their seeking for help, Kirara and her companions encounter seven samurais who agree to fight for Kanna.  



Top left to right: Gorobei, Heihachi, Katsushiro, Kyozo
Botom left to right: Kambei, Shichiroji, Kikuchiyo

Okamoto Katsushiro, the first samurai who protects Kirara and Rikichi when they are robbed in the city, is a young samurai who has not lost his upright ideal of being a samurai.  He is inexperienced, simple minded and sometimes hotblooded, a samurai apprentice to Kambei. 

Shimada Kambei is the leader of samurai 7.  He is a commander in the previous war but retired when his legion is terminated during a battle. He suffers from his dark and painful past, but still stands proud as a true samurai. He is a very sharp katana fighter and a wise strategist. His presence in samurai 7 is essential for Kanna to survive the attack from Nobuseri.

Katayama Gorobei sees the world as a stage and all the men and women are merely players. Experienced the previous war, he is retired and makes his living as a circus peddler. He is skilled in using archery and darts and sacrifices himself for his company when battling with Nobuseri.

Shichiroji is a subaltern of Kambei during the war and is the one who witnesses how Kambei threw away his fame in order to save more of his soldiers from the war. He buries himself in the Firefly Inn and pretends to be indifferent to the outside world. But when Kambei shows up with the mission to protect Kanna and its people, Shichiroji leaves his love and devotes himself to the battle against Nobuseri. He uses spear as his weapon.

Kikuchiyo encounters Kirara when he is trying to save a hostage in the city. As a cyborg, unlike Nobuseri, he does not use his force against civilians; rather, he has strong sense of justice and pursues fair dual. He admires Kambei after being defeated by Kambei’s katana arts and wisdom. He is a former peasant and the last to complete samurai 7. Though short-tempered and a trouble-maker, Kikuchiyo is popular among Kanna villagers. He has protected Kanna from the collapse of the floating city and dies as a hero.

Hayashida Heihachi, a combat engineer who also fought in the previous war, is a pacifist who prefer to stay at home and enjoy rice. He is very skilful in building fortification and combat gadgets, but was self-disgusted of his treachery in the war. He feels guilty for leading his unit to death. He designed special protection system for Kanna with the help of villagers. When he dies, he is satisfied for his efforts to protect Kanna forgives himself.

Kyuzo is a fierce dual-wield samurai who is extremely strong in fighting skills. As a former bodyguard of the city lord, he is impressed by Kambei’s sword skills and samurai beliefs. He is after Kambei as his target to defeat and joins the battle to protect Kanna in order to have a dual with Kambei afterwards. He is mistakenly hit by Katsushiro during the battle against Nobuseri.

 Samurai 7: Renewal Sect 2 Main Characters, Sect 3 EP1-26 Briefing and Sect 4 Comments are coming soon.
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