STORY 6: In this degree, it follows the original source material well enough and is probably the most positive thing I will say about it. The only addition is the water priestess, Kirara, a water priestess from the Kanna Village, has taken it upon herself to search for ronin to save their town. It's pretty well-paced, I'll give it that. Perhaps if the main cast was represented in a more competent fashion, this could've been an even stronger plus. There is an even amount of focus from the heroes to the antagonist, Ukyo. The plight is pretty well laid out, what with the looming empire's reign stretching far throughout the continent. I really did like Ukyo's gradual rise to usurp the throne from his adoptive father, that was probably my favorite part of the show. more on him later. A shame that I could not take this empire seriously, because I am so distracted by the goofy-looking technology. Which leads me to the art and character designs.
ART 4: Gonzo's signature art style and atmosphere just kills everything for me, and Samurai 7 was the title that I finally just got fed up with it. I won't even get to the character designs yet and just rant for a bit about this show's setting. I know that as a director and production crew, you want to try something different as opposed to just giving everyone more of the same. But with a story that is so enriched with drama and impact, why in the holy mother of grilled cheese would you integrate a steampunk-inspired, futuristic dystopia complete with flying samurai hover units!?!? I could write a book about just how silly this looks and no matter how much I tried, I sputtered everytime one of these mechanical, armor-enforced teapots clumsily loomed into frame!! The CGI animation is not as bad as it was with Blassreiter (made years after Samurai 7), it's just distracting this time around, especially during the final episodes where a bunch of stuff comes crashing down. It's possible to mold two different settings into a new hybrid. Saber Marionette J does it well enough. Perhaps it is such a stark contrast to go from industrialized chaos to serene rice fields, the only reason to bully around the farm folk is just to be a jerk with too much time on your hands.
The character designs border on being alright to absolutely silly in regards to our main seven characters. Only Kambei, Shichiroji, Kikuchiyo and Katsushiro visibly resembled samurai while Gorobei, Heihachi, and Kyuzou's wardrobes and hairstyles looked like a cocktail mix of from Trigun, Last Exile, and Cowboy Bebop drank and vomited up all over my screen. And what the hell was up with Kyuzou's hair!? Was he supposed to look like an intimidating toadstool?
SOUND 6: The English dub of the show is pretty good (I don't often say that about Funimation dubbed titles) and the musical scores throughout are well done. Chris Sabat shines the brightest as Kikuchiyo as the character ranges from rambunctious in some episodes to anger and frustration in the series' darker periods. The other VAs, as said before, are good, but seldom stand out.
CHARACTERS 4: To avoid going into yet another lengthy tirade, I'll try and keep this one to the point of the good and the bad:
THE GOOD: I really liked Ukyo, as also said earlier, and felt he was a strong antagonist for the series. Instead of just acting strictly out of angst towards his origins, it felt deeper and more twisted the more he spoke. Almost Tim Burton-esque, Ukyo also proved to be even more of a chaotic threat than his father, who wasn't quite as ruthless.
And as for the Seven, Katsushiro stood out as he gradually became more of a seasoned warrior, growing up from the untested and almost childlike idolization of samurai at the beginning. I also enjoyed Kirara's little sister Kamachi quite a bit and was sad when next episode bumpers were no longer done by her writing letters about the unfolding events.
THE BAD: Kambei and Kirara were the most annoying characters in this show for me, which is ironic. Let us start at the begininng when Kirara is recruiting samurai and Kambei tells her he's a failed samurai. So what does she do? HIRES HIM!! Kirara is simply thrown in the show to have a female lead. Nothing she does has any bearing on the plot whatsoever and her presence only serves as cheap romantic fodder between her, Kambei, and Katsushiro. It's underdeveloped and uninteresting, to say the least. Kambei is one of the more ineffective leaders I've seen since Rodimus Prime. He lacks screen presence, is way too stoic to have a pulse much less a decent personality, serves as a poor mentor for the young Katsushiro and often gives the kid mixed messages and treats him like garbage.
Kikuchiyo was the only other expressive character off the top of my head. Shichiroji mostly provided punchy one-liners and traded philosophical nuggets with Kambei, but nothing else noteworthy later on. Heihachi seemed to be the ONLY character who lived by a bushido/samurai code (you know, like death to traitors), but was overruled by the worngfully arrogant Kambei, who at two points in this series shows mercy to people aiding in the destruction of the Kanna Village or treason!! What kind of crappy samurai is this guy?! No wonder you lost the war!! Gorobei was also there and he was the token weird character that was supposed to be the life of the group, but I found him unpleasant and his attempts at humor just left me annoyed.
OVERALL ENJOYMENT 5: Even if I take my bias aside, Samurai 7 is just barely mediocore and is just another one of the bloated, overproduced Gonzo titles that flooded this market way too much. I found it watchable, and the story was well enough for me to get through, but awful lead characters like Kambei and Kirara are major setbacks in my humble opinion. Gonzo's art continues to be my biggest gripe with this company. I just could not sink my teeth into the futuristic/rustic setting of a story that didn't need such asthetic enchancements when it needed to simply rely on solid writing and character building to set the mood, not god-awful quasi-technology. Samurai 7 was the beginning of the end for me and my personal relationship with newer anime titles that would be bookended by Casshern Sins years later and watching so many Gonzo titles in such succession, hoping for something tolerable has left me in the callous-covered, bitter husk of a man that I am today. I'm still sad that they are producing the anime cut scenes for BlazBlue, that just pisses me off, I hate it!!! Have a nice day
