Samurai 7(may have spoillers)

The place to discuss anything relating to anime or manga.
Post Reply
User avatar
NastyNate
Posts: 899
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2008 1:44 am
Location: Augusta, GA

Samurai 7(may have spoillers)

Anybody else watched this show. OK I know it is kind of old, and everyone has already watched this before but I just finished it and it is amazing. I especially love how Katsushiro's character grows in the story, especially toward the end. Which is one of the main points I started this thread.
I have a few questions about the end.
Spoiler
Why did Kirara make us all believe she liked Katsushiro and then just kind of push him to the side, and why did Katsushiro just leave her at the end like that, I mean it was apparent that she liked him again? But he just walked away.
"I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me"-Jesus Christ

PSN, Xbox Live, Twitter: Nates4Christ
User avatar
Red Comet90
Posts: 1008
Joined: Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:25 pm
Location: Axis

Re: Samurai 7(may have spoillers)

I honestly don't know the real answer as to why he does that since I haven't seen the show in 2 years or so and that was the only time I've watched it. The only reason I can think of is because in the original movie Seven Samurai....
Spoiler
She doesn't go with Katsushiro. My dad knew the whole time since he's seen it a zillion times but it even left me surprised! It was weird she chose Kanbei.
The proof of our might will forever be etched in your minds.

-- Haman Karn
User avatar
NastyNate
Posts: 899
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2008 1:44 am
Location: Augusta, GA

Re: Samurai 7(may have spoillers)

So with outh just starting a new topic... Just watched the show again and it is still amazing. What is your opinion of the show? What where your favorite moments of the show?
"I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me"-Jesus Christ

PSN, Xbox Live, Twitter: Nates4Christ
2NA Fish
Posts: 256
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2011 11:45 pm

Re: Samurai 7(may have spoillers)

I quite like the show, but it pales in comparison to Seven Samurai. Loved the mech design and world, but where it failed was the character development.

Gorobei had a lot more personality in Seven Samurai despite having only a few lines. Didn't like what they did to him. Especially how they left out his iconic "You must be joking" scene. Kyuuzou was just wrong. I love Miki Shinichiro as a voice actor, but rather than being stoic, he just came across as angry all the time. Much less cool than the original. Kanbei was alright, but the original guy was just too good that it's hard to live up to the character. Katsushiro was a bit different. Sure he was a noob in both, but they seemed to emo him up even more in Samurai 7. Koyasu's character Ukyou also just wouldn't shut up and die. Kirara.... meh.

The only character who's consistently awesome in both is Kikuchiyo.
I'm thoroughly biased though since I watched Seven Samurai first.

Seven Samurai is really difficult to watch though. The Japanese used is very archaic and the pace can be slow at times. Still, it's easy to see how it's a classic.
User avatar
Dollow
Posts: 72
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 12:36 am
Location: Riverside, CA, US

Re: Samurai 7(may have spoillers)

It's a great show, one of the better animes from the 2000s.

about the end
Spoiler
Kirara never liked Katsushiro, and even by the end she she still liked Kanbei more. She basically took pity on him. Katsushiro left because he truly understood what it meant to be a samurai, to fight and to keep fighting, not just for yourself but for the fallen samurai before you. So he could not stay with her, he had to keep fighting as a samurai.

I love how the politics got working the show, and how the farmers and the rice were related to the bandits and the emperor. One big cycle
I would say more,

but I did a whole podcast about the show.
Agent Zero of Team Neo
Everywhere I have searched for peace and nowhere have I found it, except in a corner with a book
Dollow's Blog
Dollow's Twitter
latenlazy
Posts: 1224
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 1:30 am

Re: Samurai 7(may have spoillers)

Dollow wrote:It's a great show, one of the better animes from the 2000s.

about the end
Spoiler
Kirara never liked Katsushiro, and even by the end she she still liked Kanbei more. She basically took pity on him. Katsushiro left because he truly understood what it meant to be a samurai, to fight and to keep fighting, not just for yourself but for the fallen samurai before you. So he could not stay with her, he had to keep fighting as a samurai.

I love how the politics got working the show, and how the farmers and the rice were related to the bandits and the emperor. One big cycle
I would say more,

but I did a whole podcast about the show.
I disagree with that interpretation of the ending.
Spoiler
My understanding was that she liked Kanbei because he was someone who exemplified her ideals of a man. However, she herself was too naive to realize the very things she admired about him were what made any reciprocation impossible. Kanbei is a man dedicated to his way of life and the sword, and any room for an alternative valuation of life was struck down through his experiences years ago.

At the end of the series through the experience of battle, Katsushiro himself acquires the traits that drew Kirara to Kanbei. At that point Kirara begins to gravitate towards him much like she did Kanbei. However Katsushiro, upon enlightenment to the meaning of being a Samurai, becomes like Kanbei, a man dedicated to the sword. That last scene is essentially Katsushiro's closure with Kirara just as she realizes her own feelings for Katsushiro are maturing. The end of his interest in Kirara is an important part of his rite of passage as both a man and as a samurai.
User avatar
NastyNate
Posts: 899
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2008 1:44 am
Location: Augusta, GA

Re: Samurai 7(may have spoillers)

Why did this show make out like samurais have to wonder the land looking for a fight? Didn't real samurai live as farmers on their off seasons? Plenty of Samurai settled down.
"I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me"-Jesus Christ

PSN, Xbox Live, Twitter: Nates4Christ
Antares
Posts: 1546
Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2006 3:44 am
Location: Finland
Contact:

Re: Samurai 7(may have spoillers)

Yeah seen it, it was pretty good. The art was newish at the time, and looked pretty sweet, as I recall. Knowing in advance that the show was loosely based on Kurosawa's classic made it more than a little predictable, but not too much so.

On the pairing in the end:
Spoiler
I am still convinced she went Kanbei because of the beard.
See, I agree to the manliness -aspect but for different reasons. :D

My favorite moment of the show, though, was:
Spoiler
Kyozou, the epitome of cool killing and a borderline Gary Stu, eating Katsushiro's friendly fire. Ah, I remember that golden moment so well to this day. Unexpectedly awesome turn.
@NastyNate:
The show's samurai are all essentially ronin, masterless samurai. They're the mercenaries, of sorts, of their day. They weren't looking for a fight as such, but work where men whose only real talent was fighting could get paid for. While it is true that in the Tokugawa era most samurais were economically subjugated by the shogunate's (rather clever) actions, before that the samurai didn't till the ground. They basically lived off the peasants that did. Understandably, when the day came their once proud houses could not even afford food and were heavily in debt, the age of the samurai had already passed. Samurai 7 and Seven Samurai aren't yet in that state, not to mention that as fiction, they offer a slightly idealized image of the samurai (and their code of honor, etc.).
-We will not be caught by surprise!
*Almost everyone I've killed uttered similar last words.
-Then I am glad once again that you are on my side.
*They've often said that too.
User avatar
NastyNate
Posts: 899
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2008 1:44 am
Location: Augusta, GA

Re: Samurai 7(may have spoillers)

Dollow wrote: I would say more,

but I did a whole podcast about the show.
Cool I just gave it a listen. Great episode. You guys actually persuaded me to give the original seven samurai a quick watch too.
Spoiler
I noticed the samurais died off in a slightly different order. With hahachi being first and orebei being second
The endings where a little different
Spoiler
The original was a little bit more said as it really felt like everyone was just using the samurai and they tossed them out like an old rug. In the anime I felt that the samurai did not stick around cuz they where just to cool for school and had to go get some more battles. Especially in the anime where kambei left kirara and she wanted to leave with him but she knew that he could not settle down. The girl in the movie seemed supper shallow how she dumped katshiro when clearly he was interested in her. The anime also seemed a little bit happier with the spear guy(can't remember his name) gets to go back to firefly village and his women. And katshiro is now a full fledged samurai and he can wonder the land being all cool and stuff. Which is another difference. Katshiro really became something amazing in the anime but in the movie I only saw him fight one time. Other wise he was just running around. Anyways both are great.
"I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me"-Jesus Christ

PSN, Xbox Live, Twitter: Nates4Christ
Post Reply