Product Description: The Legendary Epic ContinuesBased on the legendary Akira Kurosawa classic epic feature film Seven Samurai.Set in a futuristic world that has just witnessed the end of a massive war scores of villagers are terrorized by Nobuseri bandits. But the Nobuseri are no normal bandits. They were once Samurai who during the war integrated their living cells with machines to become dangerous weapons now appearing more machine than man. Absolute power corrupts and their reign of terror is increasing its hold on the countryside.But one group of villagers has had enough deciding to hire samurai to protect their village. Kirara is a young priestess who travels to the city seeking out protection. One by one she encounters brave samurai that the war has left behind. These men of skill and valor are each unique and not without their quirks. But can they come together as one to defend the helpless village?With its futuristic but rustic atmosphere well-developed characters incredible CG animation and high production value Samurai 7 is poised to be an instant classic.Episodes:The MasterThe PupilThe EntertainerThe LonerSystem Requirements:Running Time 105 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ANIMATION/ADULT SWIM UPC: 704400058028 Manufacturer No: FN-05802
Amazon.com: The 2004 broadcast series Samurai 7 borrows the premise of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954): driven to desperation by bandits who steal their crops, the inhabitants of a small village try to hire unemployed samurai to defend them. With nothing to offer as wages but their precious rice, the villagers send a delegation to a nearby town to recruit warriors poor enough to accept the dishonor of working for peasants. Samurai 7 moves the story into the future: the bandits and some of the samurai are robots. The village delegation consists of "water priestess" Kirara, her loud-mouthed little sister Komachi, and diligent Rikichi. In the first four episodes, they find four samurai willing to work for them: grim Kambei, eager Katsushiro, street performer Gorobei, and blustering mecha Kikuchiyo. But Kirara's beauty attracts the effete son of a wealthy merchant, adding a lot of predictable complications.
Seven Samurai is widely recognized as a masterpiece of international cinema; Samurai 7 is a lavish (it cost a reported ¥32,500,000--nearly $300,000--per episode, an extremely high price by Japanese standards) but derivative sci-fi saga that should have been allowed to stand on its own limited merits. Stressing its ties to Kurosawa's work only invites unflattering comparisons. (Unrated, suitable for ages 12 and older: violence, tobacco use) --Charles Solomon
It has gripped my interest I found this video in the television section of my local Hollywood Video and decided to give it a shot since I'm rarely disappointed by this genre. True to form, this series starts us off with interesting and strong characters with a nice story to keep me wanting to see more.
This is the first disk and first four episodes of the series. It starts off with a rice village, Kanna, who realizes that they are about to lose all their food to "the bandits" again but in a townhall type meeting they decide that they are not going to take it anymore and are going to fight back. With only the payment of rice, three villagers head to a large city to find Samurai who are willing to fight for them.
This introduces who I believe are the first four or five Samurai to join the cause. All of them are interesting and I look forward to learning more about each of them (even if I can't spell, pronounce correctly, or even remember their names). One of them is actually a robot and he just cracked me up with his attitude towards everything, his quick temper, and his seeming ability to underestimate his own strength and capacity for destruction.
The local video store only had the first store, go figure, so I'm awaiting the rest of the collection from Netflix. My family and I can't wait for this story to be continued.
Great DVD!! Great DVD for a great series! You should have the collection! The music is great, the menus are excellent, the costumes are very nice, there are a lot of thing to watch in this DVD!
Heart Breaker I don't know how to rate this series. The artwork, color, animation, music, costume design and camera angles make this a classic and a "must have" in my collection of animes. I like the way they combine the old Samurai tradition with futuristic machines. I thought that was very brave and a risky move but it is very well done. I like the way they present Ukyou the villain. The fighting scenes are awsome, I've never seen such elegant battle scenes.
I like Kambei but I love Kyuzo and his death is unacceptable. So ladies beware, if you want to watch this series, please take my advice: Never fall in love with a Samurai because the last episode will break your heart.
Am I being too harsh in giving this series a 3 star rating? I don't know, but it is certainly not a masterpiece.
Awesome series, EPIC Between this series, Hellsing, Full Metal Alchemist and Naruto i have to say that are the different idealisms of anime and/or animation. Normally i prefer continuos series like Naruto that develop the characters greatly but this series did all that within 24 episodes, true i think the only drawback was that there were only 24 episodes in comparison to Naruto which is 200 episodes and Full Metal Alchemist which is 49 episodes but it was an EPIC series that i think anyone and everyone that gets a chance to see should see, in no way will you be disappointed because there is something for everyone
LOOKING FOR HELP FROM HUNGRY SAMURAI Samurai 7 is not a straight up adaptation of The Seven Samurai but a bold new sci-fi take on the original plot and theme of a band of villagers who lack both the means and the spirit to fight off cruel and ruthless bandits who do not steal their money, but their crops, which is worse. For without their crops, the villagers will starve and their way of life will pass away. The difference here is that the bandits rumble around in giant flying fortresses that would be at home in the robot world of the Matrix's bombed out Earth. The desperate peasants come up with a plan to hire samurai to kill the bandits off but the only thing they have to pay with is their rice. But this is good enough because there are lots of hungry samurai in this world, as their power is slowly being eroded by a rising merchant class that has infiltrated the government and sees the samurai as an outdated and useless class. Even the bandits were once samurai but in order to survive they chose to steal and pillage. Kirara, a young water priestess, volunteers to travel to the city to find some samurai along with her little sister and a young man from the village. Little does she suspect how hard it is going to be to find true battle hardened warriors that are willing to fight not for money, but out of justice, in an age when the way of the blade is dying. And watching her and coveting her in secret is the foppish son of the merchant who runs the city, who lives only for pleasure, and would stoop even to kidnapping to make Kirara his.
Samurai 7 is a beautiful animation with lots of depth. I don't mean the characterization or story per se. I mean in terms of the world that fills your screen. Most anime do not bother with long shots but Samurai 7 revels in them ala John Ford or David Lean. It's really something to see these characters moving across these endless horizons of city environments. Even though most of Volume 1 takes place in one locale, you really get a sense of hugeness. The storyline of Samurai 7 has already been proven as surefire winner so it's a no-brainer to say that it is well-plotted, but in it's simplicity is its genius. Each samurai that we are introduced to his their own personality while overcoming the stereotypes of the jaded veteran, the hotheaded swordsman, or the idealistic youth. While the samurai have these elements, their characterizations and voice acting are done so well that you realize there is more to them than that. This anime has all the makings of a classic by addressing what meaning there is to life to a warrior when there is no war.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
