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

Originally published on otakureview.net

NOTE: This review is a continuation of my reviews of this series. If you have not seen any of the volumes or my previous reviews, you risk spoilers by continuing.

Intro

And our primary first story arc comes to an end.

The Story

This is it, the battle for Kanna begins and ends on this volume. In the beginning everyone is preparing in their own way… Rikichi is learning to fight, Katsushiro isn’t ready to fight and the rest of the villagers are tense. The attack comes swiftly and with far greater numbers than anyone expected and before the battle is over we will see it take place on more than a couple fronts.

During the battle some of the team members start to change. Katsushiro starts looking up to someone new; Kirara learns strength through sacrifice and in the end, one of the samurai pays the final price.

The Good And The Bad

One thing that I’ve always noticed about this series is that the staff really seemed to take great pains to show beautiful CG animation during the throw away nature shots but then during the primary action, the animation would be fairly average. Luckily with this volume, that is finally gone and the animation looks great throughout the volume as opposed to just during the nature shots.

All of the battles in this volume were quite intense and the animation made them look absolutely incredible. The battle in the rain could not have been done better and I am very impressed with what I saw. One of the best things about this volume is how the battle scenes are so detailed. Very rarely will you see the staff re-use animation during the battle scenes, every close up of the action is original and unique letting you see the battle unfold bit by bit. I also quite enjoyed how the attention was paid to something simple like making the samurai look really wet while they are fighting in the rain.

The one issue I had with the animation is that was it was entirely too bright for my screen. I know that the battle took place in the fog but it still washed out my fifteen inch flat screen television and eventually I gave up and had to switch to a different screen to view it on.

The writing in this volume was very strong though. The visual metaphor at the end of episode 14 with the bandits was very well done and really hit hard and then the death of one the heroes at the end of the volume is quite stunning as well since it’s such a rarely used plot device for obvious reason. To use the death of a character successfully, you really have to make that character someone that the audience is going to miss and in this case they really did a great job and even threw in a very good fake out that I completely fell for.

Music

I was unimpressed with the music on the previous volume but on this volume I was quite pleased with what I heard. All of the music composed for the battle scenes was absolutely perfect. The compositions were beautiful orchestral pieces for the most part and they really sold the scenes.

Dub vs. Sub

Once again I’m going to give special mention to Zarah Little for being absolutely hilarious as Okara. The dub and sub casts were both excellent and well done. I really liked Greg Ayres as Hihatchi on this volume though. Greg has some very deep lines in this volume and he delivers them very well. It’s not often enough that we get to hear Greg deliver more serious lines but he’s still a great serious actor.

Extras

Besides the usual image gallery and clean animation there is also a commentary track worth listening to. The track features ADR Director Chris Bevins, Sean Teague (Katsushiro) and R. Bruce Elliot (Kambei) giving their thoughts on episode 14. The final extra is another episode of Mr. Stain on Junk Alley.

Overall

This volume really impressed me on many levels. The animation was awesome, the story was fun and gripping plus it had more than a couple of twists along the way to keep the audience guessing and wanting more. This is a volume that I am gladly recommending and if there was any doubt before on the second half of this series, there is none now.

Final Grade: 93% - A

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. 5: Empire in Flux
Samurai 7 Vol. 6: Broken Alliance
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