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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