Description: Based on the legendary Akira Kurosawa classic epic feature film, Seven Samurai. A futuristic war-ravaged country on the brink of collapse. The once powerful samurai are coming to the end of their rule. Bandits roam the coutryside with savage intent. A powerless village hires 7 ronin, a samurai with no master, to defend their way of life. One group seeks protection, the other, seeks one last chance for victory in the battlefield.
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
We'll need seven It sounds like the ultimate sacrilege -- take one of the best movies Akira Kurosawa ever made (also one of the greatest movies EVER) and turn it into a sci-fi/steampunk anime.
But "Samurai 7" shocks in every way by not only being respectful to Kurosawa's original work, but being a brilliantly plotted, exquisitely animated work in its own right. And "Search for the Seven: Volume One" is a brilliant kickoff to the series, introducing a feisty water priestess from a doomed village, a cluster of elite (and unemployed) samurai and a creepy antagonist.
The poor village of Kanna is being regularly raided by vast mechanical bandits, who steal all their rice and leave them nothing. They have only one choice: hire some samurai, who are hungry enough to work for rice alone.
So the water priestess Kirara (along with the farmer Rikichi and her little sister Komachi) heads for the nearby city of Kogakyo, but they don't have much luck. They encounter and recruit two samurai -- the boisterous robotic Kikuchiyo, and the naive young Katsushiro -- but Kirara's dowsing crystal "chooses" the mysterious Kambei. Unfortunately, he insists that every battle that he's ever fought in has been lost, and that he will not help.
Then Kirara is kidnapped by Ukyo, son of the merchant magistrate, who wants her a part of his harem. Though Katsushiro and Kikuchiyo fight hard to save her, she ends up being rescued by Kambei. As the new (reluctant) leader of the group, Kambei declares that they will need six more samurai, and he doesn't consider the robot or the newbie to be acceptable. But there are many kinds of samurai in the city, and it turns out that not all of them can be hired...
"Samurai 7: Search for the Seven" takes the basic, simple concept of Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" and gives it a slight twist. So rather than a straightforward historical anime, the creators of this series made a world that is both traditional (lots of Japanese architecture and clothing) and futuristic (steampunk cyborgs, futuristic technology), in a vast, rusty metal city where ox-carts wander past high-tech buildings. It's a pretty gorgeous piece of work.
In fact, one of the most striking aspects to "Samurai 7" is its hauntingly beautiful animation -- not only is it presented with stunning detail, but the computer animated parts add in shimmering crystals, misty rice fields, and the opulent glowing mansion of the magistrate.
But the plot is nothing to sneeze at either -- the seemingly simple concept begins to get tangled in subplots after a couple episodes, and danger starts to build for Kambei and Co. as Ukyo and his father try to nab them. Most anime are a bit wobbly in the first few episodes, but these first few episodes are beautifully balanced and well-written -- especially since they know when to throw a gritty, complex sword-fight into the mix, whether it's Kambei neatly disarming a suicide bomber or Katsushiro knocking down a mugger.
Its a little early to know much about the characters, but the mysterious Kambei and the rather naive priestess Kirara seem pretty interesting. Some of them are instantly endearing just by their nature -- the cocky street performer Gorobei, the eager and chivalrous Katsushiro, and the lovably overblown Kikuchiyo ("Lemme get my little servant cap on"). And the effete, bratty Ukyo makes a promising antagonist, if he learns to do his dirty work himself.
"Samurai 7: Search for the Seven" is a brilliant opener to the "Samurai 7" anime, and a promising start to a very unusual remake. Definitely a must-see.
Seven vs 7 When I first came across this in the sale bin (don't ask where, it will only make your brain hurt) I was surprised to see that it had been made in the first place, I had seen both of the earlier movie versions (the first remake is a well known western) and wondered, what did they do to expand the story? the original movie was 3:27 in length for the 2006 restoration. what could make this last almost 13 hours? I'll let the anime tell you that. the info says that it is a letterbox with full black bars to compensate that it's shot in 16:9. It's fully widescreen tv compliant.
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.
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