Samurai 7. Destructive.

I’ve seen Akira Kurosawa’s film, 7 Samurai. The second that I saw there was an anime dedicated to it (and supplied with the voice acting talents of Chris Sabat as Kikuchiyo) I had to see it for myself. In what I would call a very honest and original ode to Kurosawa, this 26 episode anime series follows the classic tale of the mighty vs. the meek. I saw this film quite a while ago in my film appreciation class and found it to be quite cinematic for its time (1954 in fact). With great characters and a good helping of action, nothing could be wrong with this film and anime classic.

The basic plot of Samurai 7 is that of David vs. Goliath. In a small rice village named Kanna, field workers and peasants must fulfill quotas of rice production to be paid to the bandits. These bandits are former

The cast of Samurai 7.

humans who have encased themselves in the wave of the future. In these new Gundam like bodies, the bandits hold sway over the lives of the peasants and demand rice in exchange for the peasants lives. And yet, despite their payment, the bandits take women to the imperium to become slaves.

After years of this slavery and menial servitude, the peasants decide to secretly do something about it. The village elder sends Komachi (Luci Christian), Rikichi (J. Michael Tatum), and Kirara (Colleen Clinkenbeard), the village’s water maiden. With her divining skills, the three peasants seek out the help of human samurai to fight the samurai encased in metal. Over the course of the show, 7 samurai are recruited in order to defend the rights of the lowly peasants of Kanna.  Within this plot comes another plot (NOT INCEPTION B.S.) unlike the Kurosawa film. With an imperial plot by the merchants of the city, the 7 samurai must find the strength to fight off multiple enemies.

That's a legit battle right there.

What I really loved about this anime was the character designs of the 7 samurai. Shimada Kanbei (Robert Bruce Elliott) is the leader of the clan of samurai, wielding the most power. His brusque attitude can come off as disconnected, but he always has the goal in mind to help the peasants in any way he can. Okamoto Katsushiro (Sean Michael Teague) is the timid member of the group with a hidden power that is not revealed until the opportune moment. He also provides the majority of the love interest in the story for Kirara, although it becomes convoluted towards the end. Katayama Gorobei (Bob Carter) provides the easy, laid back man of wisdom with a protective attitude. Shichiroji (Duncan Brannan) plays the right hand man to Kanbei’s leadership in an almost transparent role. He never contradicts or creates any conflict with Kanbei, as I sort of expected. Kikuchiyo (Christopher R. Sabat) plays the outcast of the group as the robotic samurai, out to prove his worth to the humans around him. He plays a great comedic element in the show and provides an endearing character who, despite his buffoonery, inspires hope. Hayashida Heihachi (Greg Ayres) is the quiet, well to do good guy who only wants a good living and nothing more. And Kyuzo (Sonny Strait) plays the no nonsense badass turncoat. Great characters all around.

No words for this awesomeness.

And the animation was, I thought phenomenal. Interesting fact. To produce each individual episode, 32,500,000 Yen, ($300,000) were spent on each episode. The fluent switch between animation styles and the fighting scenes really stood out to me. The robotic digital animations were well coordinated with the samurai fights and the picturesque backdrops of different areas of the world created by Toshifumi Takizawa was a sight to behold. AND THE MUSIC. The keyed up traditional Japanese music with every fight scene and the melancholy tones of the peasant workers were just as good as the music from Kurosawa’s film. Funimation did a fantastic job with the dub and it all came together for a good two weeks worth of watching this on Hulu. I gotta hand it to Hulu, but they stream some quality looking entertainment. So hands off to all those involved with Samurai 7 and hell, how about it for Hulu? Best anime I watched in 2012 so far. 9.4 out of 10.

Will they be saved? Watch to find out!

Darker Than Black: Badder Than Badass

Thinking back to the days in which I spent less than a week watching Darker than Black, I only have fond memories. As it was with Basilisk (another anime I’ve reviewed about individuals with unique powers) so it was with Darker than Black. The idea of the Contractors and their Payments is really what sold me on the show. In a “post-apocalyptic world” in which the stars have forsaken us in place of demigods on Earth, a world of humans and the mythic becomes meshed into one. With its ridiculous beginning with two normal humans chasing down a Contractor. In an instant, with the breaking of some fingers, the Contractor goes flying off into the sky with his ability to defy gravity and control it to his will. Tell me that isn’t something badass-worthy.

Basic plot of the show: So this mysterious gate appears in Tokyo that appears to hold some mystical powers that alters the face of the earth. In South America, a team of changed human beings prepare to take out what is known as Heaven’s Gate, its twin in Tokyo known as Hell’s Gate. In a gigantic explosion with no known explanation, Heaven’s Gate is destroyed and the pasts of those involved become altered. It is up to Hei (Jason Liebrecht) to discover his past in

Hie and his ladies.

connection to the other Contractors around him.

It is these other Contractors that hold the key to exactly what it means to live in this new world of powers and new discoveries. The art of astrology has become relevant again as the Japanese government uses it in order to keep tabs on the Contractors of Japan. With the denotations of mere letters and numbers, the true names of the Contractors are not known, leaving the government at the mercy of the superhuman beings. Hie and his team consisting of Yin (Brina Palencia) a lifeless doll and tracking system, Huang (John Swasey) the team organizer, and Mao (Kent Williams) a former Contractor, now cat, travel the streets of Tokyo, performing missions given by The Syndicate. Through these missions, Hie and the others begin to discover their role in the Gates and what has been going on the last 10 years.

Yin, one of the more interesting characters.

The structure of the show is quite interesting. Although a continuous plot for Hie is not really put into effect until the last 10 episodes or so, the suggestion of a tying plot is frequently referenced to. Most of the beginning of the show flows between the Japanese government and its agents and a private investigator, intermingling Hie and his teams story. On the government side, Misaki Kirihara (Kate Oxley) is the head of an investigation team within the Public Security Bureau. Although she holds importance over the others, her subordinates Yusuke Saito (Chris Sabat) and Yukata Kano (Todd Haberkorn) provide support and comic relief in their roles. But the true comedy of the show comes from Gai Kurasawa (Brandon Potter) and Kiko Kayanuma (Brittney Karbowski). These two own their own private detective agency that comically coincides with just exactly what’s happening with Hie and the Contractors. Whether it’s looking for a cat or collecting stories on the true stars, Brandon Potter relentlessly blunders through as Gai and leaves a hilarious path of turmoil in his path.

And credit needs to be given to the Contractors of the show. November 11 (Troy Baker) is a ridiculously cool Contractor in league with MI6 and the British Intelligence Agency. With his ability to create ice from water spontaneously, November 11 comes across as a suave Bond character with the help from Troy

What a Bond you are, Nov. 11.

Baker. Maki (Maxey Whitehead) is a troubled little boy in league with, well, I’d rather you watch and find out (the plot comes in at this point), with the ability to create explosions with his hands, not unlike Kimblee of Fullmetal Alchemist (my favorite character, mind you and something I am currently re-watching). His troubled past leaves him struggling to be somebody among the wrong people. And a bit of an unspoken badass in the show, Wei Zhijun (Robert McCollum) pays with his own blood in order to lay waste to whatever it touches.

Ahhh, the power of blood.

Now these are only a few in a long string of Contractors that all have great backstories and well developed episodes. With about 2-3 episodes per character interaction, this eats up a good majority of a show. I had wished for a bit more of a straight-ahead plot the whole way through, but it didn’t detract from how good the show is. The voice acting is decent to good and really carries a lot of the show with the emotional scenes that creep up. What really captures me in this show is the excitement of a new Contractor and discovering their power and Payment. (I only capitalize because of those words’ importance.) The show, I guess, is really character driven and that’s the true charm of the show. The dark (hint hint) elements of the show don’t overburden the show or push it into the overdramatic, which really balances out the quality and amount of material the show covers. I really enjoyed myself while watching this and would suggest this to anyone who likes a good crime thriller action anime/film. Enjoy! 8.8 out of 10!

What's hidden behind that mask?

Jyu-Oh-Sei

Manga cover fo Jyu Oh Sei.

This 11 episode anime was a little break from the monotony of the longer, 26 episode anime I’ve recently been watching. Found on Hulu (and thank you Hulu for providing anime to a small portion of your viewing audience) I watched this one rather quickly, quite obviously. But I watched it quickly due more to the fact that it was so damn fascinating. I read that this was a highly overlooked anime due to its unconventional length and plot. I don’t know necessarily how to classify the genre of this anime, but I would consider it of a sort of sci-fi doomsday with a sort of revelation coming of age story. Classy.

This story centers around two twins, Thor and Rai (both voiced by Alison Viktorin). Having been born on the Balkan galaxy system (150 light years from Earth), the lead a more secluded life on a outlying planet meant only to be an

Key anime art of Jyu Oh Sei. Different, right?

imitation terraform of Earth. It’s been 250 years since humans left the planet and life has unusually declined in this new living environment. Odd, but at the same time an amazing twist for this anime. Thor and Rai are two young boys who, as is now the fashion, won’t see much past 40 or 50. Not fully knowing this, the two boys plan on separate futures, both leading them back to Earth.

Key characters of the show.

And then disaster strikes. Thor and Rai’s parents are brutally murdered in their science lab for what appears to be no good reason. Upon finding them, Thor and Rai are kidnapped and trasported to the prison planet Chimaera. Meant for the wicked and despicable of the Balkan system, these two must survive a bevvy of human killing plants and wildlife that threatens to consume them at any point.

And wouldn’t you know it! Rai is taken into the belly of a Belasoma and killed within the first 10 minutes of the show. Now that’s something to admire. An anime that’s not afraid to kill of an important character in the first episode. Although there are constant flashbacks to this loss, Thor (now as a slightly older boy, voiced by Sean Michael Teague) must fight to become the Beast King and escape Chimaera in order to find his parent’s killers.

Third, what a B.A.

With this interesting plot in place, a slow, yet steady forward progression was created all leading up to a climax that was reached effectively and not clicheingly at all in 11 episodes. With a great twist on the flora of Chimaera being more powerful than the humans who inhabit it, a sort of Jumanji situation is created for Thor and the other prisoners of a planet with no guards and cells, only the threat of death. Despite this threat of death, the humans of Chimaera don’t band together to stay alive. They separate into four clans who, for the most part, kill among themselves and each other. These clans are only separated by skin color (what a commentary!) and hold women in high esteem due to their being only 20% of the population. With an emphasis on the survival of the species with sex and violence, it’s quite the show to watch.

Chen kinda dropped the ball on the strong character list...

Although there are some setbacks. With this survival of the species, there comes this inner turmoil in all characters to hold onto their humanity. And, as the show progresses, it never seems that any of the main characters are in any danger. Yes, they’ve mastered a way of living on a death bound planet, but their lifestyles in a brutal world seem somewhat sercure and safe. Also, this is a prison planet. Why is there no mention of any crimes? Yes, Thor and Rai are completely innocent, but what about all the other characters? Are they there for the same reason? It may have been explained quite quickly at the end, but I’m not all too sure.

Tiz (Trina Nishimura). Sexual tension at its finest.

There was some fine voice acting in this anime as well. For the most part… Sorta. Sean Michael Teague seemed to be a bit too old and young at the same time for Thor as a 15 year old versus an 11 year old. His soft spoken words didn’t necessarily speak to a death hardened child, but he made up for it in the end. Tiz (Trina Nishimura) was fine, and she even reminded me of a younger Yuffie type character. She certainly looked and sounded it. Eric Vale performed wonderfully as the ambiguous character Zagi, leader of the misfit boys. And Third (Duncan Brannan) you’ll just have to watch the character he becomes. It’s quite a stirring ending of the show. And sadly, as usual, Chris Sabat’s character performed for one episode of awesomeness, and then died. So is life.

With a decent fluidity in the animation when it came to the fighting scenes (that’s a big key for me that makes or breaks my viewing experience) and great opening and closing songs, I really rathered enjoyed this anime about life in the dismal future, and find it gave me a glimmer of hope there at the end for humanity. So definitely check this out for a watch. A solid 7.4 out of 10.