Samurai 7 (2004– )

Set in an alternate feudal Japan where mechas and giant airships are a common thing for humans to see. With in this time period is a small village that gets raided by bandits during every ... See full summary »

Stars:

R. Bruce Elliott, Christopher Sabat, Sean Teague

Cast

Series cast summary:
R. Bruce Elliott	...	Kambei Shimada (26 episodes, 2004)
Christopher Sabat	...	Kikuchiyo (26 episodes, 2004)
Sean Teague	...	Katsushiro Okamoto (26 episodes, 2004)
Colleen Clinkenbeard	...	Kirara Mikumari (26 episodes, 2004)
Luci Christian	...	Komachi Mikumari (26 episodes, 2004)
J. Michael Tatum	...	Farmer Rikichi (26 episodes, 2004)
Toru Kusano		(26 episodes, 2004)
Kong Kuwata	...	Kikuchiyo (26 episodes, 2004)
Fumiko Orikasa	...	Kirara Mikumari (26 episodes, 2004)
Romi Pak	...	Katsushiro Okamoto (26 episodes, 2004)
Chiwa Saito	...	Komachi Mikumari (26 episodes, 2004)
Masaki Terasoma	...	Kambei Shimada (26 episodes, 2004)
Bob Carter	...	Gorobei Katayama (24 episodes, 2004)
Greg Ayres	...	Heihachi Hayashida (22 episodes, 2004)
Duncan Brannan	...	Shichiroji (21 episodes, 2004)
Kyle Hebert	...	Farmer Mosuke (18 episodes, 2004)

Storyline

Set in an alternate feudal Japan where mechas and giant airships are a common thing for humans to see. With in this time period is a small village that gets raided by bandits during every harvest season. The villagers can't take it anymore, so they decided to send out some volunteers to the city to recruit some samurai to help defend their land. In exchange for defense, the samurai that get hired for the job will receive rice for free of charge. Since the village is too poor to offer any money, the only samurai who would accept their proposal would be the kind who are down on their luck. Will the villagers find any samurai who would help free them from being robbed by bandits?

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Plot Keywords:

remake | hand to hand combat | chop socky | kendo | katana sword | 

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Details

Official Sites:

FUNimation [us] Gonzo [jp]

Country:

Japan USA

Language:

Japanese English

Also Known As:

Akira Kurosawa's: Samurai 7

Box Office

Budget:

JPY 32,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

G.D.H., FUNimation Entertainment, Gonzo Digimation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

25 min 25 min (26 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Stereo

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Remake of Seven Samurai (1954)

User Reviews

Very well done variation on the original Kurosawa film

First of all, this high quality anime series comes from the Kurosawa company so it has the blessings of the Kurosawa family for whatever that's worth.

At first I was skeptical about the transference of the story to some sort of fantasy future. The city setting is impressive while similar to futuristic cities seen in other anime. The film "Metropolis" is one. In fact the whole production is of the highest quality in terms of art direction. This is one good looking anime series. The music and soundtrack are really good also. But it would be meaningless if the story and the characters didn't have something to offer the viewer. And something they do. While not in league with the strong characters of a "Cowboy Bebop" or other top animes, Samurai 7 has a well thought out and developed crew. The story is paced for a full series so your memories of the film have to be tempered. There is a new sub-plot and a number of invented incidents. The whole production has the integrity of the Zatoichi film series and other classic samurai dramas.

The creators of this series do experiment at some points with mixed results. One early episode seems to have been done entirely by an artist from the "Fooly Coolly" series. The expressionistic loose art style works and doesn't work at the same time. There are some other anime concessions (beautiful girls, mega destruction) but overall it doesn't hurt the series.

Some notes on the US DVD release: The video quality is excellent but the sound and translation are a mixed bag. The dubbed track is different compared to the subtitle track. A lot of dialog is dumbed down or changes the original intent of the Japanese writers. I recommend avoiding the English track for this reason although the voice actors are very well cast and do an excellent job. The sound mix is sloppy at times. With episodes 5 - 8, the Japanese track has the sound effects turned way down, giant crashes sound like small drops, but the English track has the music and sound effects overpowering the vocal track.