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August 22, 2004
Kikuchiyo-size Samurai 7 review!
Now that I've shaken the dust of Otakon off my shoes, it's time to gather my thoughts about the past 4 episodes of Samurai 7.
As predicted in the preview for episode 5, Heihachi is next to join the merry band. His intro is almost word for word with the movie (except for the fact he's cutting wood with his actual sword - tsk!).
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However, as the Kirara-ikkou welcome their 5th samurai, things take an unexpected twist in episode 6 as the Imperial messenger is murdered in Maro's palace. The murder weapon is, conveniently, a katana - which gives Maro the perfect excuse to round up all the samurai in town, dead or alive. Kikuchiyo proves once again that being nigh indestructible sure helps. Meanwhile, Kirara falls off something again (someone tether that girl down!), and this time it's Katsushirou to the rescue. He's clearly getting better at this defending stuff. Will she start to warm up to him?
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I found this interesting because it shows that Heihachi's little paper doll has a sarcastic little face. (No, he doesn't always have a little Kikuchiyo on there! geez!)
See, those little dolls are usually hung from the eaves to ask for rain or shine (Upside down asks for rain, head up asks for sunshine); usually they don't have faces. I guess it shows Heihachi's warped sense of humor at work.
Episode 7 brings in Shichiroji, and .... a new OP sequence! And it's definitely an improvement over the first one, which looked like it was thrown together at the last minute from what footage existed when someone realized "oh yeah, we need something to go under the opening song." 
The animation style went wacky in the first ten minutes, too - I'm not sure if it was supposed to convey the dreamlike state of that particular region, or if the animation QA was just asleep at the wheel. (cf Animation Runner Kuromi 2.) It's as if they were going for the effect of that episode of Samurai Champloo when the marijuana fields were set on fire and everything went groooooovy. I can't figure out if they did it on purpose because the keyframes are still one's and two's.
Shichiroji's situation is interesting. He's the only one who built a life, whereas the other samurai seem content to be drifters. The producers better give him the same ending as movie Shichiroji.
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Does everyone except Kirara think that she and Katsushirou would make a cute couple? Poor Katsu-no-oji. For a chick magnet he's really not very experienced at this ladies' man business.
And I'm not putting in any screencaps of the bath scene because this isn't that kind of blog.
Episode 8 serves to illustrate, once again, that this series is not so much a remake of the movie than it is a deconstruction and reassembly. They've managed to keep the main plot points fairly consistent, while introducing new and intriguing plot elements to stretch the 2-hour movie plot out to 10+ hours. Plus whoever's designing the production is definitely channelling the Star Wars prequel production designers - in a good way.
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(Is it unfair of me to suggest that if Lucas had brought in some real manga and anime writers to work in Episodes 1 and 2, those films might not have reeked as much? But I digress.)
So our heroes, still on the run (I like how I can actually differentiate between the parts of the run), escape to an underground city where even Maro's men don't dare follow. (Well, maybe Ukyou would. But he's dumb.) For the first time we get an inkling that the Nobuseri might not be completely invincible, which is balanced with an unnerving display of just how deeply they've managed to intimidate the farmers. Oh yeah, first blood is drawn from the samurai ranks, and poor Katsushirou gets the short straw. Because of this (or maybe in spite of it) Kanbei finally deigns to accept him into the ranks.
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Now, since Katsushiro, Kanbei and Kikuchiyo were drafted in episode 1, Gorobee was picked up in episode 3, Heihachi shows up in episode 5, and Shichiroji joins up in episode 7, Kyuuzou should finally turn in episode 9.
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at August 22, 2004 09:22 PM | Posted to Samurai 7
