Monday, May 9, 2022

Samurai 7 Part 3 Episodes 9-12

Kirara’s search is finally over.  The Seven Samurai have been assembled: Noble veteran Kambei; Street Performer Gorobei; Mechanic Heihachi; Kambei’s war ally Shichiroji; rookie Samurai Katsushiro; silent assassin Kyuzo and the unstoppable Kikuchiyo.  With her party assembled, Kirara returns home only to find the Nobuseri are aware of the challenge being brought to their territory.  Can the Seven Samurai work together as a team and, more importantly, will Kanna Village stand alongside them with the Nobuseri bearing down on them?

Samurai 7 continues to be a show I have concerns about but for the time being, I’ve been pushing them to the back of my mind.  This is mostly because with the city behind us and the challenge of defending Kanna Village in sight, the series has picked up considerably.  Also helps that the titular team is now a full fledged Seven Samurai.  I’ve enjoyed Samurai 7 with caution but for the time being, this is a fun show to watch right now.
 
The journey to Kanna took up half this set of episodes and did a great job of exploring the qualities that unite all the character factions in this world: Samurai, Peasants, Bandits, etc.  Whether it’s the amount of blood spilled or the hardships of maintaining the farmland, everyone has a story and everyone has their own demons to contend with.  Kikuchiyo was prominent in bringing this to the forefront when it came time to decide what to do about a traitor in Kanna Village.  While Heihachi was suddenly gung ho about an execution (weird for a guy who is opposed to violence), Kiku stepped in and vented that it’s because of Samurai and Bandits during the war that made the Farmers and Peasants so scared and desperate that they’ll do anything to surivive: even sell out the Seven Samurai to the Nobuseri.  No matter their classification, everyone is equal.  And at last, Chess Master Kambei finally allowed Kikuchiyo onto the team by being the one to share this enlightening insight.
 
Technically, Kiku is “the final Samurai” of the bunch but before him, we finally got Kyuzo to join up full time.  Until now, he’s been aching to get another shot at Kambei.  But now it seems we’ve reached a Samurai Champloo agreement where Kambei will fight him again after their job in Kanna is over.  Not everyone is so trusting of Kyuzo given his past allegiances to the Magistrate.  Kirara certainly wasn’t giving him any leeway…til Kyuzo saved her from a Nobuseri patrol.  I highly doubt anything will come from concerns of a Kirara/Kyuzo romance cause that’s not in the cards.  However, the look on Katsushiro’s face tells me he might start something because of a misunderstanding.  Orrr he’ll move that to the back of his mind cause Katsushiro had his own trails today.
 
Katsushiro’s first kill was a major character beat, one that left him doubting the path he wanted to take as a Samurai.  I was confused by Kambei striking him but saw the amount of care he took to clean and sharpen Katsushiro’s sword post battle.  Kambei has been here before and im sure he sees some of himself in Katsushiro just starting out on the warriors path.  But now that Katsushiro has taken his first kill, there’s no going back now.  Katsu certainly wants to work on strengthening himself and steeling his resolve.  I wonder how much of a role Kirara will play in that.  She feels bad since she was partly involved in Katsu needing the take a life in the first place.  But her gentle words and desire to cleanse Katsu of the blood still on him definitely hints that there’s a romance possibly in the wings for these two.  Do either of these two realize that though?  Katsu has always been about protecting Kirara no matter what and Kirara’s been hyper focused on getting her Samurai back to her village…or maybe I’m just thinking to hard about this and should just move on.
 
Some other odds and ends from this set.  Kambei might seem cold and calculating but he’s made multiple promises to multiple villagers to help them get the thing they desire most: Rikichi and Honoka’s loved ones and helping Manzo rebuild his home.  Point is, he’s got a big heart, even if he needs to sheath it to be the leader the Seven need right now.  To offset that sternness, we got introduced to Komachi’s best friend, Okara, the girl Komachi’s been writing all the post episode recaps to.  Now that Komchi is home it looks like Okara will be taking over for post episode narrarations and she definitely brings a more dry but equally hilarious take on events.  Plus what’s up with the random baby on Okara’s back that seems to share her same fox like stare?  Lastly, the action was really impressive even if it was mostly relegated to the first half of the set.  The most important moment was seeing all Seven Samurai in battle together.  These guys haven’t spent a lot of time together but they are a well oiled machine, easily capable of cutting down the Nobuseri Metal Gears (OK theyre not Metal Gear but im just gonna keep calling them that cause that’s what I see).  The inevitable fight that’s coming to Kanna is gonna be something worth watching.
 
It also look like we wont have to wait long for said battle to arrive.  The NObuseri are done letting Kanna off the hook and are on their way to burn it down.  Looks like it’s time to see if Kambei and his motley crew are worth the time and effort it took to get them here.  The battle begins when we return for more Samurai 7 next time, right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.

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