Samurai 7 Part 4 Episodes 13-16

It’s all been building to this.  Seven Samurai and dozens of desperate villagers are all that stand against the all powerful might of the Nobuseri.  As arrows flies, cannons are fired and steel meets flesh and metal, the rain and the chaos herald the days of old for many of these battle hardened warriors.  Against all odds, Kambei and his Seven Samurai make their final stand against the mechanical bandits…and not every one will be making it out alive.

If we were going by the original outline of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, these would have been the final four episodes of Samurai 7.  After all, if we were going based on a perfect recreation of that work, the Bandits have been dealt with, Kanna is safe, and there were some expected but nonetheless tragic casualties.  However, there are still 10 episodes to go.  I’ll go into my concerns over that later but right now, the build up to the Battle of Kanna was worth it and Samurai 7 was in perfect form for this important event.
 
Save for a brief lull in the battle where we got to see everyone having a good time, the Battle of Kanna Village was basically a 4 part mini movie in and of itself.  All of the prep work for the battle paid off, especially Heihachi’s makeshift wooden defenses.  Seeing a Kauji sized tree spear fired from a Kaiju sized Balista into a Kaiju sized Nobuseri Hovercraft is nothing short of awesome.  Equally awesome was the steely resolve of the Kanna Villagers, especially Rikichi, who got to take his own stand against the Bandits who took his wife.  Getting the chance to fire the Ballista and utilize one of the Nobuseri Mecha Rifles against the enemy, Rikichi showed equal amounts determination and understandable fear but he’s far from the desperate man he was in the beginning of the series, he might actually be one of Samurai 7’s better developed characters.  And, naturally, there was plenty of ass kicking for the Seven Samurai to do.  One of the best sequences of this set was watching Kambei, Schichiroji, Gorobei and Kyuzo tear through legions of Nobuseri in the rain.  It might look effortless but you could see the wear and tear it took on everyone.  This was war and while it tired everyone out, it looked like everyone, no matter their walks in life that brought them here, was right at home.  And yes, my man Kikuchiyo was right there to bolster everyones spirits and run down plenty of bad guys himself.
 
If there was one character who had it the roughest during this whole ordeal, it’s Katsushiro and I feel like his problems are only going to get worse as time goes on.  I’m shocked that, right before the big battle, Kambei is only now starting to think that Katsushiro might not be the best fit for the group.  His concerns were justified when Katsushiro went into a manic rage aboard the Nobuseri Mothership and kept looking more and more crazed as he went on a nearly uncontrolled killing spree.  While he did calm down after that, Katsushiro is still super uptight with the rest of the Villagers.  Annnnd he’s starting to develop an unhealthy admiration obsession with Kyuzo.  Don’t get me wrong, Kyuzo is a bad ass and he’s proven that plenty…but yeah as Kiku points out, Kyuzo still worked for Ukyo and has probably done more shady stuff in his past.  He’s cool but not the kind of guy you should aspire to be.  Katsushiro’s idolization of the wrong guys and his determination to become a full fledged Samurai seems destined to head down a dark path and someone is gonna get hurt in the process, maybe Kirara.
 
However, someone did meet their end by the battles conclusion.  This is to be expected because *spoiler alert* no matter what version of Seven Samurai you watch, not everyone makes it to the end credits.  Again, we’re we going for a blow by blow retelling of the original movie, there would’ve been more casualties besides Gorobei.  Still, Gorobei going down is gonna affect everyone pretty hard, especially Rikichi, who probably had the closest friendship with him.  Gorobei was probably the most easy going of the group, rivaled only by Heihachi and Kikuchiyo for all the light hearted chill.  That’s one of the best things about Samurai 7: each member brings something to bolster the heart of the team and losing even one part is a crushing blow.  Thankfully, Kambei and Kyuzo avenged him by taking down the furious Nobuseri leader almost like he was nothing.  Ok not exactly that, he did make Kambei’s life a little hectic during their duel but eventually he went down in a fashion befitting avenging a fallen comrade.
 
So, the Nobuseri are done…now what?  Now, my worries return.  Again, this is where the original story ended and it was a good ending too.  If we were sticking to just the Nobuseri plotline then it actually followed the OG films example of not having a fully fleshed out leader to be defeated (Battle Beyond the Stars and both film versions of The Magnificent Seven had those though and good ones too).  Now that it’s revealed that the Nobuseri have been sending their captured women over to the mysterious Capital, the signs point towards the return of Ukyo and his cronies and setting them up to be the big bads of the final stretch.  Is this necessary?  I must say that despite my doubts, Samurai 7 has been a pretty good ride and the wait for the defense of Kanna was worth it.  I just hope that by trying to fill out a 26 episode Anime it can still pull off an honorable win.  See ya next time everyone.