Customer Reviews

Samurai 7 - Volume 1 (Limited Edition)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have to admit, when I first heard of this series, my expectations were set really low. I'm generally against remakes that make drastic changes to the setting (usually in an attempt to "modernize"), because most of the time they end up changing the situation so drastically that it has almost nothing in common with the original. The phrase "Sci-Fi Action remake of Akira Kurosowa'a action masterpiece" instantly reminded me of the universally panned Seven Samurai 20XX video game, where the only similarity between the remake and the original was that there were seven people with swords.

I got a demo disc from the Funimation booth at Otakon (for the uninformed, an anime convention) that had the first two episodes, and watched them to see exactly how bad it would be. What I saw compelled me to immediately go buy the first disc.

The story is extremely faithful to the original. So far, the only alterations to the story are the addition of a few characters, that I'll get into in a bit. The villagers are still rice farmers living in fear of bandits that will come at harvest time and steal all of their rice. The bandits are still former samurai that have nothing better to do since the recent war ended. Only, in this series, the bandits are warriors who have either grafted cybernetic implants into their bodies, or had their bodies completely replaced with mechanical ones. The villagers have no chance of fighting against such odds, so they send some people to the nearest town to hire samurai to defend the village in exchange for all the rice they can eat.

They have added some characters from the village to better show their desperation and to give you a better connection with them. In the original film, the focus was almost entirely on the samurai, and I felt like the villagers were kind of left out a bit. The samurai are changed little. Kambe is a disgraced warrior who has fought only in losing battles. Kikuchiyo is still impulsive but good hearted. Katsushiro is a young samurai who wishes to prove himself in battle. I don't remember much about Gorobe from the film, but in this series he is a samurai who joins up only to fight along side Kambe, who he sees as a great warrior.

The only other additions to the plot are that the villagers attract the attention of the governor of the city and his son. This is a complete addition of the series, but it helps to add action to the first half of the story, which kind of dragged on in the film in my opinion.

The action in this series is over the top, but highly entertaining. The animation quality is also very impressive, as it was done by Studio Gonzo, the same people who made the first season of Full Metal Panic. They integrate computer animation into the traditional cell animation very effectively.

Perhaps Seven Samurai is one of those stories that, like Romeo and Juliet, can be transplanted into almost any time and still retain its meaning. It survived being converted into a western, and it seems that this conversion will also be successful.

The limited edition comes with some story board booklets, but not a box for the complete series. The DVD has a booklet that has staff interviews and lots of concept art, and is a very good read. Also, the coverart is reversible, revealing a totally badass drawing of Kambe cutting a dude in half.

This is a great anime series loosely based on Akira Kurosawa's epic film Seven Samurai, with some sci-fi elements added to it.

The limited edition comes within the regular DVD plus 4 story books, one for each episode. All are secured within a big cardboard case. Note that the case is not an art box designed to hold the series. You will get a separate case for the limited edition of each volume.

Samurai 7 is a anime based on Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (1954) based in a futuristic world. The villages and cities are recovering from a massive war. The Samurai are now jobless and many have become bandits. But not just normal bandits. They have become Nobuseri bandits, machines who use to be men, Samurai who had their living cells replaced by iron and steel. And now they raid the towns for rice and, sometimes, women.
One of these villages have sent for Samurai, hungry warriors, willing to fight off for a meal of cooked rice each day. Titled Akira Kurosawa's Samurai 7, this anime does honor to one of the best Japanese movies of the 20th Century, if not one of the best movies of all time. The only flaw was the fact that the DVD held only four episodes. But the episodes were GREAT, each linked to the next, like one big story. Which it IS. None of the episodes are in a vaccum, they are all a chain of cause and effect. Not much in the way of extras, besides opening and closing songs, trailers and some character profiles.

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.

I don't watch a lot of anime but this was a fun movie to watch, so far. I've only caught the first 2 vol. Library rental, they don't have additional vol, going to buy next ones online. Saw the original Samurai 7, loved that one as well, I just like how this was spun in other directions(future setting, might be earth, mechas etc). Didn't see enough similarites other then the plot of getting 7 samurai to dishonor original. This is just a great show to watch and have fun with.

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

Akira Kurosawa has become, over the past decades, a household name of sorts. No Asian film has ever wreaked as much havoc (in a good way, to be sure) on American film as Seven Samurai. Just look at all the incarnations that have popped up.

So, when I found out that an anime remake was being made by none other than Gonzo Studios, I put it at the top of my list of must sees. When it was released, I quickly picked it up (not the limited edition box package) and went home to watch it. Nearly two hours later, having spent five minutes digesting what I had just seen, I came up with this simple opinion. This anime is no masterpiece, but it definately deserves an audience.

The story is no longer a historical character study but a science fiction action fest. The characters are all seperate in both appearance and character. The setting itself jumps from a small farming village with vast space to a clausterphobic city of tall stone buildings. But all of these were expected. What wasn't expected was the simple but crisp animation. The character were, as mentioned before, very unique in their own ways, drawn to appear ridiculous, but these odd characters are acceptable in the storyline and brief history introduced in the openings of the story.

All in all, it's a great anime. It hurts itself, I think, by trying to copy a movie that will never properly be copied, but for those of you who have never seen Seven Samurai, this anime will be a masterpiece.

Important Note: Don't buy the special edition unless you like storyboards or unless you have the money to spend on something that really isn't worth the buy.

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.

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.

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.