Samurai 7

Samurai 7 is an anime series based on Akira Kurosawa's classic 1954 movie entitled The Seven Samurai. The series is being directed by Toshifumi Takizawa and produced by Shouji Murahama . There are 26 episodes to this series with each episode costing around ¥32,500,000 ($300,000) to make. It has been announced that FUNimation will get the rights to dubbing this series.

• Plot (no spoilers)

The village of Kanna is a nice rice village with a problem. Every year during harvest time huge mechanical robots, known as the Bandits, come and steal away almost all of the rice that had been harvested that year. Not only that, the Bandits are becoming more demanding, now taking women and children in addition to rice. The elder of Kanna has declared that to protect the village they must hire samurai. However, they have no money and thus must find samurai willing to protect the village for the price of all the rice that he/she can eat. He sends three members of the village out to the city to begin looking. And thus the journey begins.

Characters

• Kirara

A Mikumari from the village of Kanna. She decides to go to help find the samurai to bring back to her village. She has the ability to locate (and follow) water using a special necklace.

• Komachi

Kirara's thirteen year old sister who follows along to see the city as well as help locate the samurai. She takes a likeing to Kikuchiyo.

• Rikichi

A peasant from the village of Kanna who is the first to step up and agree to go look for samurai in the city.

• Kambei Shimada

The wisest of the seven samurai. He is the samurai who assumes the leader position and comes up with the plan(s) to defend the village. He's brave, strong, and has wisdom beyond his years that has come from the many battles he has fought in his life.

• Katsushiro Okamoto

A young samurai who has never been in a true battle but believes in the honor of the samurai code. He wishes to become Kambei's student. He promises to protect Kirara no matter what.

• Gorobei Katayama

A skilled samurai who has made his living by entertaining people. Because of his skill in battle (and his ability to pull arrows out of the air) Kambei makes him his "left hand man" in defending the village.

• Shichiroji

Kambei's "right hand man." Kambei and Shichiroji have been in many battles together and thus have become the best of friends. Unlike the other samurai, Shichiroji does not use a katana and prefers a spear-like weapon.

• Kikuchiyo

A machine samurai who is often looked upon as a clown or a bother. He gets angry easy and often causes trouble. He carries the biggest of the swords, which also acts as a chainsaw when need-be.

• Heihachi Hayashida

An amiable samurai who would rather eat than fight. During the last war he avoided fighting and has since then taken up the art of chopping wood for food. He loves rice more than any other person in the series and can tell where it's from just by the taste.

• Kyuzo

The mysterious blond man who wears red. Is he good? Is he evil? Will we ever find out? Kyuzo wields double blades that fit into one sheath on his back and has skill matching Kambei. He ultimately becomes part of the team and helps to defend and help the village.

• Bandits

Men who have converted their bodies into large mechs. These bandits now rob farming villages of their rice and occasionally women and children. Because of their huge size they encounter little resistance and when they do they will exterminate them quickly.

• Masamune

An older man who often has to make repairs on Kikuchiyo.

• Ukyo

The young heir to a powerful Merchant in the city where Kirara begins her search. His shielded lifestyle leaves him with a somewhat self centered yet playful attitude on life , he falls in lust with Kirara upon first sight and seeks to add her to his Harem. Ultimately Ukyo is discovered to be a clone of Amaneshi and through underhanded means takes his throne to become the arch-antagonist of the series.

• Amaneshi

The name given to the head of state in Samurai 7 , he takes the place of a shogun in the futuristic feudal government. Half way through the series the original Amaneshi is killed by Ukyo who promptly takes his place.

Theme Songs

• Opening
  1. "Unlimited" by Nanase Aikawa
• Closing
  1. "Fuhen" by Rin'