4 Star

Akira Kurosaw’s Classic

Reborn.

The story of a village plagued by bandits takes a futuristic twist with Samurai 7. The country has been plagued with war for years and the Samurai were the fighting force, until the mechanical Samurai came along. But in the end it was the merchants that came out on top, and the mechanical Samurai ‘the Nobuseri’, turn to banditry, this is the story of Kanna village and their decisions. A great retelling of a classic tale.

“The warring age”

“On the battlefield, there were Samurai, on the land were peasants. Beyond the flames of war, the merchants watched. It was the Samurai that held the era. The merchants bought the era, and put an end to the war. The Samurai, having lost the era, became bandits. The peasants still remained on the land. The bandits swords turned towards the peasants. Their resounding mobility was the object of the peasant’s terror. And then…

Kanna village has been producing fine rice for generations, and this year is no exception. It is not harvest time, but the bandit’s huge ships pass over the land, scanning the crops they will steal after harvest. Ever worried about the bandits, the elder of the village comes up with a cunning plan. Hire Samurai to defeat the bandits, but with no money in the village, they will have to hire “hungry Samurai”. To get the Samurai, someone will have to travel to the city of Kogakyo.

Kirara (Colleen Clinkenbeard, One Piece, Brothers Conflict) the water priestess, Komachi (Luci Christian, The Boy and the Beast, Nerima Daikon Brothers) her sister, and Rikichi (J. Michael Tatum, Space Dandy Season 2, Black Butler), a farmer, set off to the city, when they get there they find it is very different from the countryside. People everywhere, and most of them aren’t friendly, especially when you ask a man to risk his life for a bowl of rice. After they have their rice stolen, the trio come into contact with idealistic Katsushiro (Sean Teague, Fairy Tail, Dragon Ball Z Kai) and the boisterous cyborg Kikuchiyo (Christopher Sabat, The Devil Is A Part Timer!, Date a Live), but Kirara’s pendant says they are not the one, but the master swordsman Kambei (R. Bruce Elliott, One Piece (Uncut) Collection 20, Attack on Titan) is.

I’m an empty shell, find better water, somewhere else.

There are many dangers in a city and one of those is the greedy magistrate’s son Ukyo (Anthony Bowling, Absolute Duo, Teasing Master Takagi-san), who has taken a shine to the young Kirara, and that is not good for her.

The search is on to find six other Samurai, that are willing to keep a village safe from bandits, and all for bowls of rice.

Samurai 7 is a great take on a classic story about honour and doing the right thing, just for doing the right thing. Great characters to create, great stuff, and at 650 mins there is plenty to enjoy.

Samurai 7 is available on Blu-ray from MVM