Oooh, Plot Twist

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 then there were seven.

The Story

Kiku has been captured which is bad. What’s worse is that the samurai have decided to go rescue him and are quickly targeted by the bandits. After getting an entirely unexpected rescue from an old enemy, a new ally and a truth about a betrayal, the group must abandon the rescue and head towards Kanna village even if they do not have all seven samurai.

With tensions running high and trust running low amongst all of the team members, the group must form a tight bond very quickly. Meanwhile back at home though, the bandits have caught wind of the village’s plans to fight back making the farmers think about betrayal.

The Good And The Bad

I was a little worried at first that this volume was going to go at a slow pace and it was going to take me awhile to get into things again. But I was very happy to find that right from the start the pacing is very strong. The first fight scene of the volume takes place within the first five minutes of the start of the episode. I did find that in the second half of the volume the pacing did slow down a bit, the series managed to keep a strong story going in order to make up for the slowed down pace.

The writing in this volume was really quite well done and was really a step up from previous volumes. With this volume, the story takes some odd turns along the way which I personally did not see coming which is odd since I’m usually so good at predicting plot twists. In this volume though, the addition of the sixth samurai was quite a surprise to me.

Even with the strong action and suspense scenes, I really liked that this series hasn’t abandoned its comedy bits. The audience will be pleased to know that this volume really enjoys going back to a good verbal jab or a sight gag at a moment’s notice and does it well. The jokes are fun because they’re mostly understated. Naturally there are some that are completely over the top but most of them are clever and low key.

Speaking of comedy, I loved seeing that the letters home from Komachi at the end of each episode get replaced with a commentary from her friend Okara. Okara became a character that I loved almost instantly when she first appeared in the series. I really do think that out of all the comedy that has been in this series, it really did need a dry sarcastic wit to even things out and now they have it.

The issue I’m having with the writing is that I still feel like there’s so much more to learn about the characters and yet it’s being given to us in such small doses. For the most part, the character development is skipped in this volume though Katshiro got a great moment in the third episode and Kiku in the fourth. Kambe also gets a nice leadership moment near the end of the volume which reveals a bit about who he is.

The animation in this volume really can go back and forth with me. Sometimes I can’t help but think that it looks cheesy and sometimes I think that it looks absolutely beautiful. In particular this series always has some beautiful CG animation of nature throw away shots. This volume has quite a few including one great one of Kirara relaxing in the forest.

Music

For the most part I found that the music in this volume was very low key and I hardly noticed it at all. Even now as I’m thinking back to watching the volume, I’m really drawing a blank on any particular scenes where I remember really strong music. I suppose that there is the village scene near the end of the fourth episode that had some nice music to it but again, it’s very vague. I’m using this whole paragraph as a way to express how non-memorable the music of this series is becoming.

Dub vs. Sub

Both casts had some great performances in them and I really enjoyed both casts. The dub cast wins on this volume though but only for one single reason: Zarah Little as Okara. This had to be one of the funniest roles I’ve heard in a very long time. I am an absolute sucker for a well delivered dry, sarcastic wit and Zarah absolutely nailed this perfectly as though it were perfectly natural.

Extras

The extras on this volume are a bit more… peculiar. Besides the clean animations, production art and character profiles, Funimation included the fourth episode of an animated short called Mr. Stain on Junk Alley. It’s basically a CG short cartoon from Japan, only a few minutes long about a beatnik (I’m really stretching it by saying beatnik but I’m afraid of protest letters if I say stoner) who is homeless. In this particular episode, he meets a Heavenly Bird and tries to eat it.

Overall

This was a great volume for me. It continued the story in a very well thought out fashion that caught me off guard a couple of times while also entertaining me and keeping me engaged. The series is continuing at a very strong pace and it’s hard to believe that the series is already about to enter it’s second half. I’m really looking forward to it and if you’ve gotten this far into the series I’m willing to bet that you are too. Very recommended.

Final Grade: 92% - A

Related Reviews

Samurai 7 Vol. 1: Search For The Seven
Samurai 7 Vol. 2: Escape from the Merchants
Samurai 7 Vol. 4: The Battle for Kanna
Samurai 7 Vol. 5: Empire in Flux
Samurai 7 Vol. 6: Broken Alliance
Samurai 7 Vol. 7: Guardians of the Rice