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Anime: Samurai 7

Before the ears of rice begin to bend, bring us samurai that can defend us. Our hope now rests on that.

Samurai 7 is an anime remake of Seven Samurai, down to the names of the samurai.

Being an anime retelling, however, it also has Humongous Mecha that get cut in half with katanas.

When the Nobuseri bandits prey upon the village of Kanna, the poor villagers — out of fear of starvation — send their water priestess to the nearest city to hire as many samurai as possible to protect them. The villagers will offer the samurai all of the rice they can eat in exchange for their services, but what samurai would hire out their swords and their skill for rice?

In the aftermath of a devastating war, samurai strive to find meaning in their lives. It is through protecting the village of Kanna that the seven samurai who take up the villagers' offer find that meaning — and more.

Now with a character page that needs some love. The series aired on American television on Toonami from August 18, 2012 to February 9, 2013.

This series has examples of the following:

Absurdly Sharp Blade: The katanas in this series cut mechas in half. That is only the start of things. The first cut you see in this anime is a mecha getting torn clean in half, interrupting its cannon fire. The second involves Kanbei diving off of a reconfigured mech sword made into a ship, plummeting down in complete freefall, and cleaving a battleship in half at the center. The notes for the show actually describe Kanbei's weapon as an anti-tank sword.
Adaptation Expansion
Affably Evil: Ukyo kind of qualifies. He makes some pretty amusing comments and has a certain foppish style and seems liked by his Paid Harem and he turns out to be a quite cunning villain
Afraid of Blood: Implied with Heihachi, who has rather odd reactions whenever he gets cut.
Agent Peacock: Ukyo is one of these of The Chessmaster variety.
Ambiguously Brown: Kanbei and Gorobei who according to Word Of God are supposed to have respectively Hispanic and African features.
Armor Is Useless: Lightweight mecha are cut down like flies by ordinary arrows.
Arrow Catch: done by Gorobei, both for entertainment and in battle.
Artificial Limbs: Shichiroji has an arm that is armor plated and shoots grappling hooks from the fingers
Audible Sharpness
Badass Longcoat: Kyuzo.
Bamboo Technology: Heihachi's massive battleship-piercing crossbow. How did they find a tree so big to make the "arrow", it's not our business.
Bare Your Midriff: Kirara
Barehanded Blade Block: This is rather justified and plausible since Kikuchiyo's sword is so wide Kambei can catch it without cutting his hands.
Battle in the Rain: The first fight between Kanna village and the Bandits
Because I'm Jonesy: How Ukyo knew Kanbei wasn't the one who killed the imperial envoy.
Beleaguered Assistant: Tessai to Ukyo who treats him like dirt. It's not until later that we find out that Tessai is a former Samurai with skills on par with any of the seven.
Berserk Button: Normally, Heihachi is a happy-go-lucky pacifistic guy, but he really hates traitors because he was one during the recently ended war, and it resulted in his whole unit being killed.
- Given that he used to be one, Kikuchiyo is infuriated whenever anyone acts oppressive or inconsiderate toward peasants
- Ukyo really hates machine samurai. The viewer is led to believe this is because Kikuchiyo nearly cuts him in half in an early episode, creating a bit of a phobia, but in reality it's because Ukyo grew up a peasant on a farm and thus lived for years under the heel of the Nobuseri.
BFG: The Benigumo (red ones) have shoulder compartments with basically a shotgun, with eight barrels. Four rows of two. And even the man portable ones are shoulder mounted and look more like WWII artillery.
BFS: Even those gundam sized mechs use both hands to use a large handle. About 40% of the sword is the handle. The red ones have a shield and a smaller sword, but it's still huge.
- The mech swords even come equipped with jet propulsion and cockpits, to be used as emergency aircraft.
Bishōnen
Bittersweet Ending. Most samurai die, but the village is saved and villagers celebrate their victory with the surviving samurai and Kanbei, Katsushiro, and Shichiroji move on with their own lives, which isn't too bad. Also, Kirara finds that her pure soul has been tainted by the battles, making her unfit to continue as a water priestess. Katsushiro rejects her, as the war has hardened him too far for him to love... and Kanbei adds yet another defeat to his already long list.
Black Dude Dies First: This despite the fact the first to die in the original film was Heihachi
Blade Brake - starting with Kambei in the first episode.
Blood Less Carnage: Most of the battles are like this due to the majority of the bandits being full body converted mecha. Even when human pilots are cut into pieces, the explosion of the mecha usually mask all the gore.
- (Intentionally) subverted when Katsushiro takes his first life and is completely drenched in a shower of blood and oil from the victim and his mech suit, and later when he accidentally kills Kyuzo. It seems the amount of blood shown is directly proportionate to the emotional impact each death has on the killer.
Boomerang Bigot: Heihachi hates traitors, even though (and most likely because) he once was one himself. He is militant about it due to unresolved guilt.
Bratty Half-Pint: There's two, though Okara is more of a brat than Komachi
Bring My Red Jacket
Broken Aesop: Kambei's famous last line, "The farmers have won. Not us." is said at the end with only a small fraction of the gravitas of the original, due to the differing characterisation of the villagers (who are shown to genuinely care for the samurai) and the overall shift in the tone of the story that places the samurai in a much more heroic light.
- That line also serves to call back to the often-quoted claim that Kambei has never actually fought in a winning battle in this version.
Bullet Proof Human Shield: Subverted Katsushiro accidentally kills Kyuzo when firing a machinegun at a soldier in front of him, as the bullets go right through the soldier into Kyuzo.
Call Back: Invoked by Katsushiro as a bittersweet goodbye to Kirara.
Do I smell like a battlefield now?
Calling Your Attacks: Mocked by Heihachi.
- Allow me to introduce you to WOODCUTTER STYLE!
- Used seriously by Shichiroji: "Secret Technique: Tatami Counter!"
Camp Straight: Ukyo
Catch a Falling Star: Kambei's rescue of Kirara
The Chessmaster: Ukyo
Chainsaw Good: Kikuchiyo's sword occasionally crosses into this. It either has some sort of chainsaw effect or revs up like a Vibroweapon, but the sound and visual effect makes it look like a chainsaw.
Chronic Backstabbing Syndrome: Ukyo makes this his standard M.O. First, by assassinating the imperial envoy as a favor to the Prime Minister, he's able to replace his father as city governor. Following that, the same episode that the Emperor formally recognizes him as a worthy heir to the throne, Ukyo murders him and takes his place.
Cool Sword
- Kambei's sword is specifically an anti-tank sword
- As mentioned in Chainsaw Good, Kikuchiyo's sword has its own engine to slice through heavy machinery like a chainsaw.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Early attempts of the farmers to fight mecha with pitchforks and firewood axes result in this. Also leading to prime examples of There Is No Kill Like Over Kill as the mecha respond by smashing the farmers with swords the size of your average train car.
The Dandy: Ukyo.
Deadpan Snarker: Okara.
Death by Adaptation: Gorobei is a very clear-cut Type II, presumably because the samurai who was supposed to die first was also one with tech skills that are arguably necessary later.
Death Seeker: Kambei
Debut Queue
Defector from Decadence: It's never stated outright, but besides seeing Kambei as a Worthy Opponent, Kyuzo seems to have joined the heroes based on disgust for the dishonorable behavior of his fellow samurai under Ukyo. Also, in a way the Guardians qualify as well, since they turn out to be former samurai who chose a less villainous path than the Nobuseri.
Diagonal Cut
Did Not Get the Girl: Kirara develops feelings for Kambei, but though he silently acknowledges their existence he rejects her, interrupting her confession of love by stating that his heart is too barren and dried up to accept it. Katsushiro has feelings for Kirara, but it's never really made clear how much of their Ship Tease is her returning those feelings and how much is simply her feeling guilty over dragging him into the battle. In the end, Katsushiro rejects her as well for similar reasons as Kambei's.
Disguised in Drag: Gorobei, Heihachi and Rikichi disguise themselves as "female" traveling performers. Heihachi actually kinda makes a cute girl, but the other two its more like Paper-Thin Disguise.
Early-Bird Cameo: Gorobei is first seen as mere background character, smiling approvingly at how Kambei handles a hostage situation.
Enigmatic Minion: Tessai seems like a simple flunky and yes-man to Ukyo... until it's revealed later on that he's a former samurai with skills to rival Kambei's.
Expy: The Shikimoribito look like a taller version of Shy Guy.
Eyes Always Shut: Heihachi.
Evil Plan: The plot is started by the bandit's plan of 'regular rice extortion' from villagers but Ukyo's plan later drives the story. Ukyo claims that his plan involves pitting the various classes against each other to create a new, peaceful world order, but some of what he says during his Villainous Breakdown implies that his plan mostly involved making everybody kill everybody else because he could get away with it.
Facial Markings: Heihachi has two whisker like lines on each cheek also Ukyo has red squares on each cheek as do all his city guards
Fantastic Fruits and Vegetables: The group happens upon a bumper crop of Durian much to Kikuchiyo's delight and everyone else's discomfort. The durian found are ground plants, while ones in real life are tree-borne fruits.
Field of Blades: Used in two different ways. First, Kambei makes one with swords that they had captured from Nobuseri in the Kanna village square so that any of the samurai whose swords broke during battle could rearm quickly. In the end, the four samurai who died have their swords stuck in their graves as headstones.
First Girl Wins: Subverted and gender-flipped.
Foregone Conclusion: Toyed with but ultimately played straight. Though they die in a different order, the same four samurai who perished in the original bite it here too.
- Biggest subversion is in the bandit assault on the village, where Heihachi, the first to die in the film, is heavily wounded, but ends up surviving the fight while Gorobei is killed instead.
Four is Death: There are Seven main characters but only three survived.
Gadgeteer Genius: Heihachi.
Gas Mask Mooks: The Guardians/Shikimoribito.
Gonk: Lots of these, but especially the bad guys. Really, almost everyone who isn't a main character looks like they were beaten half to death with the Ugly Stick.
Groin Attack: Episode 5 shows a close-up shot of Kambei grabbing his opponent's crotch to catch him off guard. It worked.
Grapes of Luxury: Ukyo does this a lot.
Guns vs. Swords: Villains (Bandits and Hyogo) use guns while the samurai use swords. Kambei, at one point, does point out that being on the "sword" side of that fight is not fun.
- The one time any of the main characters DOES use a gun, he accidentally kills Kyuzo with it.
Heroic Sacrifice: Several, but most notably Kikuchiyo, who'd been able to survive all previous injuries due to his mechanical body. After the flying-battleship Imperial Capital is disabled and crashes to earth, Kiku prevents it from careening into Kanna Village by picking up one of the giant Nobuseri swords and standing in front of it to slow it down. His ultimate fate? Being melted down into near-nothingness; only his feet remain.
Hey, It's That Voice!: In the Funimation english dub, Komachi is voice by Sashi, her sister is voiced by Rachel Moore and Shichiroji is Chuck E Cheese.
- Kikuchiyo is Vegeta and Piccolo in English, and in Japanese he is...GEESE HOWARD?!
  - Not to mention Christopher Sabat is playing a big robot who has a cute relationship with a little girl.
- It's hard to catch, but in the English dub, Kyuzo is...waitaminnit, are you kidding? Usopp, is that really you?!
Humongous Mecha: The Nobuseri ~~use~~ are mechs ranging from "bigger than a man" to "Gundam-sized".
Implausible Fencing Powers: To the max and beyond; samurai can slice anything, and deflect energy beams.
Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: In the English Dub, every episode title begins with "The."
Immortality Inducer: The throne that preserves the user's life. One really wonders why the Emperor didn't start getting suspicious when Ukyo started monkeying with the controls.
It's Not You, It's Me: At least two. Kirara manages to be on the wrong end of both.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Kikuchiyo.
Katanas Are Awesome: Ironically, this is the exact opposite of the film the show was loosely based on where no amount of skill with a katana helped anyone against guns at range.
- Played so straight that in the final battle, the villain's ship has to stop using their massive laser cannons after realizing how easily and precisely the samurai katanas can DEFLECT THEM.
Kid Samurai: Katsushiro.
Kid with the Leash
Knight of Cerebus: Ukyo, once revealed as the emperor's clone and the series true Big Bad.
Like That Show But With Mecha: Seven Samurai didn't have any robots.
Losing Your Head: Kikuchiyo gets taken apart several times, including being beheaded by Kambei for a plan. Twice.
Love Triangle: Type 5 — Katsushiro loves Kirara, Kirara loves Kambei, and Kambei acknowledges her feelings but doesn't reciprocate.
Magnificent Seven
Master Swordsman
May-December Romance: Averted in the case of Kirara & Kambei. May or may not be the case with Kikuchiyo and Komachi, though we never get a chance to find out and don't know Kiku's true age since he's a cyborg.
Miniature Senior Citizens: primarily found in Kanna Village.
Miko: Kirara.
My Master, Right or Wrong: Tessai in respect to Ukyo.
Names to Know in Anime: Romi Paku as Katsushiro, Takehito Koyasu as Ukyo, Fumiko Orikasa as Kirara.
- As for the dub, we've got R Bruce Elliot as Kambei, Greg Ayers as Heihachi, Christopher R Sabat as Kikuchou, Colleen Clinkenberd as Kirara, Luci Christian as Komachi, J Michael Tatum as Rikichi
Neutral Female: Kirara.
No Transhumanism Allowed: Very much averted, although the thinking behind the trope is in play. The bandits have totally altered themselves and the mooks hunting the protagonists in early episodes also have significant (although much less) body modification. Pretty much, outside of Kikuchiyo, anyone with significant mechanization is probably a bad guy, although Shichiroji does have a robotic hand.
Not the Fall That Kills You: Averted in episode 2, by grabbing a falling elevator.
- Justified in episode 25, when it's Kikuchiyo being grabbed, since his machine body makes him much more durable.
Off Hand Back Hand: Gorobei likes to do this a lot, only with stabbing.
Off Model: Conspicuously episode 7.
- Episode 17 as well
One-Man Army: Most of the samurai.
The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Kyuzo's only known motivation for joining the group is making sure Kambei lives long enough to finish their score.
Precocious Crush: Komachi on Kikuchiyo, which also has elements of Cargo Ship.
Psychotic Smirk: Ukyo's satisfied expression, and it is creeeeepy!
Recycled In The Future!
Redemption Equals Death: Heihachi and to some extent Kyuzo, although he never mentions his past.
Retirony: Subverted with Shichiroji, whose introduction gives all of the classic signs of retirony — he goes on one last mission with his old friend before returning home to get married. Surprisingly, he survives.
Return To Sender: Katsushiro proves that he is a true samurai when he deflects a shot from the capitol back at it, (apparently by vibrating his sword by hand).
The Rival: Kyuzo, to Kanbei.
Unstoppable Rage: Katsushiro has a fit of this shortly after the trauma of performing his first kill in combat. In the following battle he goes on an all out rampage, much to Gorobei's surprise.
Ronin: At least half the samurai who eventually join were wandering unemployed warriors before the farmers found them.
Rule Of Cool:
- the last third of the series is full of this, best exemplified by Katsushiro stopping a blast of the Imperial Capital's main cannon with only his katana.
- "They also cut mecha in half with katanas."
Samurai: Naturally.
Schizo Tech
Spared by the Adaptation: The Village Elder and Sanai
- Subverted with Heihachi. Surpising fans of the movie, he was spared from being the first samurai to die, but he finally meets his end in episode 25.
Stepping Stones in the Sky
Stockholm Syndrome: Rikichi's wife and Ukyo's predecessor.
Survivor Guilt: Kambei appears to have a nasty case of it. At the end of the series, he does ask Katsushiro if he feels guilty that he survived while four of the others died, but Katsushiro replies that rather than feeling guilty that he survived and they died, he'd live so that he'd bring honor to the names of the fallen.
The Stoic: Kyuzo. It takes something seriously out of the ordinary to throw him off... or to get more than four or five consecutive syllables out of him.
Take a Level in Badass: Rikichi goes from a somewhat pathetic, sniveling guy to a much more confident individual, who while no where near the samurai in fighting prowess, is a very effective part of the peasant rebellion.
- Could also count for the title 7. In the beginning of the series, guns were still a major threat and only Gorobei was fast enough to deflect or dodge bullets casually. In the final assault on the Capital, once the remaining Samurai have resolved themselves to a Suicide Attack... Kanbei, Kyuzo and even Kikuchyo are swatting away hails of projectiles straight up Jedi style.
  - Katsushiro in particular both after his first kill and after kambei punishes him for following him to the capital. at the beginning of the series he's a young ronin who had never killed and was unable to beat even a single mook.
Take Up My Sword: Kambei gives Katsushiro his sword as the two part ways.
Training the Peaceful Villagers
Transforming Mecha: The red ones turn from a disk/wheel thing into two humanoids.
Trojan Horse: used when some of the samurai hide in rice bales to sneak into an enemy base.
Unpronounceable Alias / Overly-Long Name: Kambei is first seen resolving a hostage situation from Kikuchiyo's unwanted interference, under the name... Tenkaiheizaemon Yoshichika.
Unrequited Love Switcheroo
Variable Terminal Velocity
Vibroweapon: It's suggested that the samurai are able to cut through the giant Nobuseri by vibrating their swords (by hand, no less). It's noticeable when Kikuchiyo uses a Nobuseri blade to stop the falling capital.
Villain with Good Publicity: Ukyo's whole plan involves becoming one of these, which he starts doing once he reveals his true intelligence/becomes Emperor, complete with some good use of the New Era Speech.
Villainous Breakdown: Ukyo in the final episode, although unusually, this moment of insane ranting and violence is followed by him immediately returning to being eerily calm. And then, goes right back to crazy.
Wave Motion Gun: the Capital's main cannon annihilates the Lead Nobuseri, and a nameless mook.
Weapon Tombstone
�Well Done Son� Guy: Ayamaro treats Ukyo like the worthless fop he seems to be... [spoiler:until Ukyo has an Imperial envoy assassinated so that he can replace his father as governor.]] By contrast, the Emperor acts quite proud and pleased to finally have an heir worth his time, for the twenty minutes that lasts before Ukyo kills him off and takes his place.
Weapon Tropes: Kambei, Katsushiro, Gorobei, Heihachi - Absurdly Sharp Katana; Shichiroji - Blade on a Stick; Kikuchiyo - BFS, then regular swords (and tree/logs!) after his sword breaks; Kyuzo - Dual Wielding.
Wise Beyond Their Years: Komachi's friend Okara. She's the same age as her, but sounds like a woman in her 20's, acts as such, and is always seen carrying a baby on her back for some reason.
You Killed My Father: Parodied in the first episode. In order to create a distraction, Kambei accuses Kikuchiyo of being a samurai who killed his father, and Kambei claims to have trained for years and tracked him down before beheading Kikuchiyo (which had no real ill effect, because he's a cyborg).
You Shall Not Pass: Kikuchiyo's last moment in the series. Beaten, battered, and mostly broken he grabs a massive mecha sword the size of a small building and slams it into the front of the Capital.
Kikuchiyo: "You're not getting one inch closer to those rice fields!"