Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Originally published on otakureview.net

The Story

Ukyo's plan is coming closer and closer to succeeding. By skillfully turning the victory in Kanna village into a political position, he's managed to turn samurai against samurai after being instated as the new emperor. Ukyo has much more destruction planned though for both the samurai and the village of Kanna though.

On the other side of the conflict, the six samurai have managed to rescue Kanbei from the executioner but conflict amongst the heroes is threatening to tear their alliance apart before they can launch their new attack against the capital.

Good and the Bad

With the series coming to close to its end, there isn't a whole lot left to write about so I'm going to do my best to stick to what's important. Ukyo is quickly becoming one of the better developed villains that I've seen. He doesn't rely on being the ultimate warrior that other villains try to be, his evil is in his planning. In a world where villains are often judged by how much firepower they carry and how many good guys they can personally kill, it's refreshing to see a villain who is so methodical with his planning and ability to manipulate the other characters of the series.

The other big part of the writing on this volume that pulled me in was the late develop of established characters. The development of Katsushiro and Kirara's relationship should've been expected by me but I actually didn't think I would see it until later. Then there is the story between Kyuzo and Kanbe that the staff is keeping alive through very subtle indications. When these two battle on the next volume the staff has already all but promised the audience an epic clash.

The smaller storylines such as the story between Rikichi and his wife Sanae are starting to move towards resolution which is really nice. I like that the smaller storylines and subplots are still being treated as important this late in the series and that characters are still undergoing emotional growth. Rikichi was developed way past his usual whiny self on this volume, Heihachi got to reveal a little more about his history in the war and why he hates betrayal so much more than the others and Katsushiro is about to undergo a massive shift in maturity as we come towards the end of the series. It will be fascinating to watch the last volume and see what proves to be the catalyst for all of these different subplots.

The primary issue that I have with this volume is that the pacing was really quite slow. I expected the pace to move much faster with the series moving towards the ending which made it a little difficult to stick with this volume as closely as I have with previous volumes.

Music

Most of the music in this volume was again very simple and low key with nothing sticking out. No scenes had music that was that much more powerful because of the score in the background making this another volume where music played a backseat to foreground character development.

Dub vs. Sub

As usual, Luci Christian deserves a mention for her role as Komachi but on this volume I have to give the edge in terms of pure delivery to Anthony Bowling as Ukyo. While he remained in the shadows for the first half of the series, in the second half of the series the story is moving in his direction giving him ample opportunity to really deliver some a great performance as Ukyo.

Extras

Sadly just clean animation and another image gallery. Nothing special.

Overall

Moving towards the end of this series I can't see any real reason why anyone would make it this far into the series and then decide to quit. From start to finish this series has been wonderful and the ending is certainly something that I am anxious to see. A fabulous series that has gone to places other series would be afraid, Gonzo has delivered thus far. Now the audience just has to hope that nothing goes wrong in the last volume to ruin what have otherwise been a stellar series and a welcome addition to any action fan's library.

Final Grade: 88% - B

Related Reviews

Samurai 7 Vol. 1: Search For The Seven
Samurai 7 Vol. 2: Escape from the Merchants
Samurai 7 Vol. 3: From Farm to Fortress
Samurai 7 Vol. 4: The Battle for Kanna
Samurai 7 Vol. 5: Empire in Flux
Samurai 7 Vol. 7: Guardians of the Rice


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older