While the ninja is arguably the most iconic thing to come from Japan when it comes to worldwide pop culture, I think it's more than fair to say that the samurai is a very close second. While the real life samurai that existed for around 700 years between the late 12th century & late 1870s were not always quite like what they are now often portrayed as in modern pop culture, there's no doubt that there's a lot to like in the general (romanticized) concept of the samurai. Stalwart & loyal in fealty to their respective lords, honorable in battle due to them following the ideals of bushido, and kicking all kinds of ass while wearing armor; of course, there's also the inverse concept of the samurai, which can be just as accurate, at points. Naturally, there have been tons of anime that involved samurai in some way or another, and some even feature the word "samurai" in their titles.
The following aren't really all that accurate to what the actual samurai were like, but they were essentially an entire year's primary representation of that concept, at least on TV.
Is the whole "Inadvertent Samurai Trilogy" thing just an excuse to allow me to write about at least one anime that I'd never cover normally here? A little, sure, but I legit just find it neat that there were three TV anime in 2004 whose titles all started with "Samurai", so it's a fun little excuse, at the very least.
First up is Samurai Champloo, which debuted in Japan on May 20 on Fuji TV deep in late-night. This was the creation of director Shinichiro Watanabe (not to be confused with Shinichi "Nabeshin" Watanabe), who had previously seen massive success a few years back with Cowboy Bebop (which, contrary to popular belief, was in fact a big hit in Japan, just not quite on the level it was abroad), and marked the debut of the now defunct anime studio Manglobe, which was founded in 2002. Watanabe originally conceived of Samurai Champloo back in 1999 but had to put the concept on hold to work on the likes of Cowboy Bebop: The Movie & the Kid's Story segment of The Animatrix. Similar to how Cowboy Bebop was a fusion of cowboy & sci-fi themes set to a jazz & blues musical score, Samurai Champloo was a fusion of samurai chanbara films & hip hop, with the word "champloo" being a direct reference the Okinawan dish chanpuru, which itself can refer to a literal "mix" of things. However, unlike Bebop having a set finale in mind from early on, Watanabe decided to make Champloo with looser & unstructured planning behind it, with some staff even wondering if the anime could even get finished like this... which almost happened, sort of. Prior to the creation of the noitaminA block in April of 2005, Fuji TV was notoriously poor when it came to airing anime in late-night, & Samurai Champloo itself was a victim of that, as only the first 17 episodes actually aired as intended, with the anime effectively "ending" on September 23, despite another nine episodes being in the works. Those final episodes would eventually air, but Episode 18 wouldn't debut until January 22, 2005, and they would first air on satellite offshoot BS Fuji; there was an attempt at playing this off as a "Second Season", but it was really more just Fuji TV dropping the ball.
Despite that rough initial airing in Japan, though, Samurai Champloo would become an instant hit with anime fans, and just two months after the 26th & final episode ran on BS Fuji in March of 2005 the show would air in English on [adult swim], with the network even maintaining the hip hop style of the series by replacing traditional censor beeps for foul language with record scratches. Geneon Entertainment would initially handle the English release, while FUNimation would later license rescue it, even going so far as having its "Anime Classics" DVD boxset re-release in 2011 be comprised of nothing but overstock Geneon DVD singles (even the BDs still have Geneon's logo on them); the show was a very solid seller for Geneon, but the 00s anime bubble was just that wild. Anyway, let's see if Samurai Champloo still holds up after 20 years, and if so why it became such a beloved classic.
Fuu is a young girl who works at the local tea house as a waitress, having to deal with louses like the son of the city's Governor, when all of a sudden a wild looking man with a sword named Mugen comes in, offering to deal with the louses for 50 dumplings, nothing less. Meanwhile, a stoic ronin named Jin sees the Governor himself treat the people like crap, and despite being warned decides to deal with the Governor's hired men in an attempt at maybe humbling the man in charge. After some misunderstandings, & a bunch of injured or dead louses &/or samurai, Mugen & Jin wind up both getting arrested & sentenced to public beheading, but their skills impress Fuu enough for her to help the two escape their death sentences (& kill the Governor, for good measure), especially since the tea house wound getting burned down due to all the craziness. You see, Fuu is actually on the hunt for "The Samurai Who Smells of Sunflowers", a man from her past that she wants to reunite with, and both Mugen & Jin are the perfect bodyguards to help her survive the wild world that is the late 1600s, i.e. the early, post-Sengoku period of Edo era Japan.
Samurai Champloo is a mostly episodic series, made up of 20 adventures that our lead trio find themselves on (five of which are multiparters made up two or three episodes each), as while there is an overlying plot to it all (Fuu's search for the "Sunflower Samurai") the main focus is to simply tell a giant road trip story. However, it's not as though the series really evens out the one-&-dones & multiparters, as the first 12 episodes feature 10 one-offs & just one multiparter, while the remaining 14 episodes feature five one-offs & four multiparters. I even remember some complaints back in the day about the show being unevenly structured, in that regard, and it does show how Watanabe & his staff truly did go into the show without as much structure planned out in advance. That being said, the series is technically split into various "Acts", which correspond to key areas that the trio head towards: Act 1 (Episodes 1-6) is about their trek to Edo, Act 2 (7-14) has them head West to Nagasaki, & Act 3 (15-26) sees them enter the Kansai region & go further West, eventually going all the way to Japan's (almost) western-most point, Ikitsuki Island. However, that's not to say that there isn't any sort of overarching aspects, though that's namely in regards to fleshing out our lead trio's backstories. We're slowly revealed bits & pieces of Fuu's fractured family life (mainly backloaded in the "Season 2" portion), Jin being a wanted man by his fellow dojomates for having killed their master, & Mugen's origins as someone having been born in Ryukyu, which at the time was meant only for convicts.
In regard to what Samurai Champloo brings when it comes to "samurai", it's purposefully meant to be more of an aesthetic than anything accurate or direct. While Mugen & Jin more or less find themselves being in service of Fuu, she has no authority on the level of a proper daimyo, making the two more akin to ronin, or masterless samurai; in fact, Jin is actually called a ronin in Ep 1, but that might simply be because he looks the part. No, the "Samurai" in the title is like that of the "Cowboy" in Cowboy Bebop, i.e. it tells you that this is inspired by old-school chanbara & some actual history, but to not take it 100% seriously, as implied by the "Champloo" in the title indicating a mixture of other elements. I do remember back when the show debuted there was some initial hesitation in the concept, as the idea of samurai swordplay with hip hop, rap, & R&B sounded a little too disparate, but in reality Watanabe & his crew managed to make the entire thing feel natural. Even when they get purposefully anachronistic, like a man using the hilt of a katana as a mic for beatboxing, it makes perfect sense for the world the show has established. There are also more subtle anachronistic elements, like Jin wearing a more modern form of eyeglasses, Mugen's outfit being much more modernly "casual" in style, and even the rare appearance of technology long before its time, like a revolver or the game of baseball, neither of which existed back in the late 1600s; Ep 18 is even all about modern-style graffiti. It's a very peanut butter & chocolate kind of mixture, but the primary focus of each story is to give the viewer a sort of mini-chanbara experience, whether it's in less than a half hour or closer to a full hour, and in that regard it absolutely succeeds. The closest the show gets to really leaving behind the chanbara style would be in Eps 22 & 23, the last two one-offs, which see Champloo try its hand at the horror genre vis a vis the story of the Genji & Heike clans & paying some homage to 70s baseball manga (& initial blueprint of modern action manga) Team Astro by way of deathmatch baseball against the US Navy. Yes, the United States of America didn't exist in the 1600s, but the show had something to say to anyone who'd complain about historical accuracy in an anime where chanbara is fused with hip hop & R&B.
Visually, Samurai Champloo is a very good looking show, though it is admittedly not quite the kind of anime one would instinctively look for when it comes to mind-blowingly fluid sakuga. Instead, while there are very well animated moments throughout, it's a show that is absolutely carried by an excellent visual style, complete with great character designs by Kazuto Nakazawa & beautiful backdrops headed up by art director Takeshi Waki. However, what people tend to remember the most from this series is the simply amazing musical score, a collaborative effort by Tsuchie (of Shakkazombie), Forces of Nature (the duo of KZA & DJ Kent), American hip hop producer Fat Jon, & the late Nujabes, as well as OP & ED songs performed by Minmi, Shing02, kazami, Azuma Riki (of Small Circle of Friends), & Midicronica. Simply put, Samurai Champloo may have one of the coolest soundtracks in anime history, delivering a generally low key vibe, but when moments get more intense it ramps things up in a way that only hip hop can deliver, and in the rare moment a vocal song is used during an episode it truly becomes memorable. Re-watching it now I'm honestly shocked at how rarely some of what I felt were the most iconic BG tracks from Samurai Champloo (like "Hiji Zuru Style") actually got used, but once any of them started playing I was instantly taken back to those earliest days of mine as an anime fan.
Overall, Samurai Champloo has more than earned its status as an all-time classic, though when compared to the juggernaut that is Cowboy Bebop it's understandably not as instantly synonymous with Shinichiro Watanabe as you'd think. Still, when it comes to 2004's Inadvertent Samurai Trilogy, it's definitely meant to be more of a general aesthetic than anything more overt, which is to say "it's definitely chanbara".
One month after Samurai Champloo's debut, Japan saw the two-episode debut of Samurai 7 on June 12 on satellite service Perfect Choice (now Sky PerfecTV!). As the title indicates, this was a full-on reimaging of the 1954 film Seven Samurai, the most iconic directorial work of the late, great Akira Kurosawa (though whether it's Kurosawa's best film will forever be up to debate), as the film turned 50 in 2004. Earlier that same year also saw the PlayStation 2 game Seven Samurai 20XX, an unrelated production also made for the film's 50th that saw a mixed reception, at best. Given the legendary status of Kurosawa's film, it's no surprise that Samurai 7 was given the royal treatment, with advertising promoting it as "The World's First 2-3D Hybrid×HD Full Digital Animation", an alleged average cost of ~$300,000 per episode, & animation by Gonzo during what was easily the studio's high point, in terms of recognition. In comparison, the late Toshifumi Takizawa, best known for Dirty Pair TV, being the director was likely seen at the time as a bit of an odd pick, instead of someone more recognized. That said, the legendary Ryosuke Takahashi was also on board as production assistant & associate director, and he's even credited for doing the calligraphy for the logo, as seen above. Since Samurai 7 didn't initially air on standard TV the 26 episodes didn't originally debut on a weekly basis, instead seeing two episodes air in succession every two weeks, after a month-long wait following Eps 1 & 2's debut, so the show still ran for the rest of the year, like it normally would have on traditional TV. FUNimation would license Samurai 7 as the series was nearing its end in Japan, and in 2006 the show would actually air in English over on two of AMC Networks' channels, IFC (in SD) & Voom Animania (in HD), as well as in Canada on Razer (now MTV2 Canada); it'd later also get re-runs on English TV in 2010 via Funimation Channel & 2012 via the revived Toonami.
While not as universally beloved as Samurai Champloo wound up being, Samurai 7 is still considered a classic in its own right, and I do have extremely fond memories of it myself back in the day as one of those early titles I watched as it came out via fansubs. Now I own it via official Blu-Ray release, and I have seen the original Seven Samurai in the years since (& I certainly can't say "No" to an excuse to re-watch that, as well!), so I think it's time I finally revisited Samurai 7 & see if the hype still holds up, 20 years later, this time with the added context of the film it's based on.
It's been over five years since the "Warring Era" came to an end, resulting in the samurai losing power in place of the merchants, with some becoming "Nobuseri" bandits who flaunt their mechanized, giant robot prowess over the weak peasant farmers, stealing the rice they toiled so hard to grow for their own survival. One example is Kanna Village, whose residents live in fear of a group of 40 bandits who come by yearly to take most of the rice they harvest. With the villagers losing their minds over the situation the Elder decides that they should finally fight back, suggesting that they hire proper samurai to help them fight off the Nobuseri. Villager Rikichi offers to head to the massive, multilayered city of Kogakyo to find samurai & is accompanied by Kirara (the village's Mikumari, a water maiden) & her little sister Komachi. Eventually the trio wind up finding seven samurai who are willing to help them: The wise & experienced Kanbe Shimada, the young & inexperienced Katsushiro Okamoto, the eclectic Gorobei Katayama, Kanbei's old wartime buddy Shichiroji, the mechanical wizard Heihachi Hayashida, the quiet & deadly Kyuzo, & the boisterous cyborg Kikuchiyo. However, the Nobuseri aren't the only threat for the samurai & the villagers, as they quickly find themselves on the hit list of Ukyo, adopted son of Ayamaro, the Magistrate of Kogakyo, after he fails to take Kirara for his own personal harem of women.
Similar to the movie it's inspired by, Samurai 7 is split more or less across three portions, though the events themselves naturally differ to varying extents. Act 1 (Episodes 1-10) introduces the story & sees Rikichi, Kirara, & Komachi gather together the seven samurai that will help their village. Act 2 (11-17) deals with the samurai getting Kanna Village ready for the attack by the Nobuseri, as well as the climactic battle itself. In regard to the movie's plot, the preparation & battle took up Acts 2 & 3, respectively. Instead, Act 3 of Samurai 7 (18-26) deals with the remaining samurai taking on the Emperor of the Capital itself, the man who created the entire power totem of the land after the end of the war (including the establishment of the Nobuseri themselves), with things only getting more complicated when Ukyo starts sending samurai out to protect other villages, slowly destroying the order of things to achieve his own goal of ruining the Emperor's power totem. Naturally, the longer overall length of Samurai 7 also results in the seven samurai themselves being altered from their (admittedly basic) movie archetypes.
Kanbe is probably the closest to his movie counterpart, an experienced & aged samurai who feels as though he only fights losing battles but still has the experience to guide everyone as leader. Katsushiro is still the young samurai with no battle experience & has a romantic subplot with one of the villagers (only now it's with the anime-exclusive Kirara instead of Shino, who now only appears in a handful of episodes), though with the longer length has a character arc detailing the harsh & violent path to proper samurai-hood. Gorobei is now a man who loves to wager his life in battle, with the thought of near-death sometimes making him paraphilic with excitement, though he's not reckless by any means. Heihachi is now a samurai who's never seen any direct battle, instead acting as a mechanical engineer during the war, resulting in him usually taking non-direct actions in battle, if possible. Shichiroji, Kanbe's "Old Wife", is now the co-proprietor of an inn in Kogakyo's red-light district, though readily takes up the chance to fight alongside his eternal partner. Kyuzo is now initially introduced as one of the bodyguards for Ayamaro, making him first a rival to the samurai, before eventually deciding to side with them later on; after all, he's the one who will kill Kanbe. Finally, Kikuchiyo is now a mechanized samurai himself, though not giant like the Nobuseri, and very early on shows more honor & responsibility than Toshiro Mifune's sometimes more animalistic portrayal in the movie, though the anime's Kikuchiyo is still headstrong & more often creates problems than solves them; he also quickly befriends Komachi, who eventually calls him her "Kobun/Groupie".
As for what Samurai 7 brings to the "samurai" table, there's definitely a stronger element of showcasing what one would normally expect from the term, and even more so than what you'd find in Seven Samurai itself, in some ways. In the movie the samurai were post-war drifters, but even with the 3+-hour run time only so much of who they were as both people & skilled warriors could be showcased, whether it was during the recruitment in the city, training the villagers, or battles with the bandits. The anime, in comparison, has roughly more than three times the run time to expand on this, so we get bits like Kanbe being shown to be the only one of the seven to still give off the aura of a samurai from the start, Katsushiro showing his inexperience when it comes to fighting or defending early on, Gorobei finding work as a daredevil street performer after the war, or Shichiroji actually being given a post-war backstory. Kyuzo's initial arc from his introduction to deciding to join the samurai is admittedly a bit loose due to him being mostly unemotional in his actions, but there's still enough to establish that he'd rather do something of his own choosing than continue working for a merchant who may see him as expendable, if things turn sour. Though called "samurai", these men are true "ronin" who do what they feel is the just & right thing, preferring to help weak villagers who can only "pay" them with rice to eat than work for the merchants & the Emperor, like in the old days; that said, Kyuzo still bothers to save Ayamaro's life during Act 3, showing some respect for his former boss.
Since this is based on a movie there should be some mention of how it works as an "adaptation", though it's obviously a loose one. Still, Atsuhiro Tomioka (someone whose scripting work I've covered numerous times before) did a very good job here, as the general throughline of Seven Samurai's story can be seen throughout the first two acts, right down to some of the more iconic lines being used verbatim, but at the time he made sure not to make the anime's expanded storyline feel like it had to be strictly held to it. For example, the first samurai death here differs from that of the movie, and while the exact circumstances in said death are different it still stays true to the general spirit of why that specific character died in the movie. Of course, there's the anime-exclusive final act, which is an interesting one, as while Ukyo takes command as the main villain the reasoning behind his actions actually aren't wholly villainous. The power totem made by the Emperor IS a highly manipulative one that really does need to be done away with, and Ukyo doing so via (in essence) subterfuge is clever. However, once Ukyo winds up with even more power (due to a reveal that even he didn't know of beforehand) he finds himself wanting to make sure no one else can pull off what he's doing, pretty much wanting to replace one manipulative power totem with another. Yeah, it's not anything remotely similar to what Seven Samurai was doing, but at the same time it helps give Samurai 7 something that truly makes it its own thing, which is essential. Visually Samurai 7 remains a rather nice anime to watch, with Gonzo utilizing a faint cel-shaded look to the CG so that it doesn't clash against the traditional animation, and said CG is really only used for the Nobuseri & some larger environmental shots, like the giant, floating Capital itself. As for the music by Kaoru Wada & Eitetsu Hayashi (the latter mainly for the heavy use of taiko drums), it's a fittingly dramatic & sometimes very emotional score (though now with the heavier inclusion of flute, shamisen, & taiko drum), hitting perfectly for every scene & the main themes you hear throughout, especially during eyecatches & next episode previews, are truly memorable ones.
Samurai 7 was considered a bit of a big deal when it debuted in 2004, as even the voice cast of the titular samurai themselves included names not normally known for doing anime, namely Tohru Kusano as Shichiroji, Junji Inukai as Heihachi, & the legendary (for SNK fans) Takanobu "Kong" Kuwata as Kikuchiyo; yes, the voice of Geese Howard & Genjuro Kibagami plays an utter opposite here & it's glorious. Seven Samurai is a classic for good reason, but luckily Samurai 7 manages to not get lost in the shadow of the Kurosawa film, something that fellow 50th Anniversary production Seven Samurai 20XX definitely did. Sure, it takes the general story of the Kurosawa classic, plus some word-for-word lines every now & then for flavor, but in the end stands on its own as a great anime, even 20 years later. When it comes to 2004's Inadvertent Samurai Trilogy this one is probably the closest to befitting the general pop culture idea of a "samurai", though with its own quirks due to the partial sci-fi aesthetic.
Finally, on October 5 TV Asahi debuted Samurai Gun (not to be confused with the video game series Samurai Gunn by Beau Blyth, which likely has that extra "n" in its title due to this being around first) in a late-night slot for the Fall season. Unlike the other two "samurai" in this inadvertent trilogy, this was a much more traditionally conceived of anime, i.e. it's an adaptation of a manga. In particular, it's an adaptation of Samurai Gun by Kazuhiro Kumagai, which ran irregularly in Young Jump from 1996 to 2002 for 45 chapters across seven volumes, though by Kumagai's own admission he ended it early, with hopes to one day return to it. There was also a semi-related sequel, Samurai Gun Gekko, which ran in Ultra Jump from 2000 to 2003 for four volumes & took place ~20 years later with a completely different cast. Unfortunately, Kumagai suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in July 2019 which paralyzed the right half of his body, including his drawing arm. He's since been re-teaching himself how to draw with his left side via computer, though he hasn't serialized anything since 2012's Monte Cristo (a steampunk reimagining of the legendary Alexandre Dumas novel) in Grand Jump Premium. He even has a "Complete Edition" of his 2005 series Mighty Jack: The Shadow Force (based on the 60s tokusatsu series by Tsuburaya) scheduled for release sometime(?) this year through Hideaki Anno's studio, Khara; he even has a blog that he updates at points.
In comparison to its fellow "samurai", though, the Samurai Gun anime that aired in Japan for 12 episodes (plus one DVD-exclusive episode) from October 4 to December 21 (sadly, all three "samurai" did not air at the same time in Japan, due to Champloo's hiatus) had a much humbler pedigree behind it, i.e. it didn't have the pomp & circumstance (or budget, even) either of its contemporaries had. The animation came from Studio Egg, known more for assistance work & only the rare lead production (most "notably" Dogtato-kun & Assobot Senki Goku), & direction by Kazuhito Kikuchi (not to be confused with the Japanese composer, whose name has the literal exact same kanji as the director), who's mostly known for episode direction & storyboarding, having only previously worked as series director for the second half of Saint Seiya TV (i.e. the Asgard & Poseidon Chapters); Kikuchi also directed the Gude Crest OVA & the seventh Dragon Ball Z movie, Super Android 13!. However, the Samurai Gun anime is notable because of one of the production companies behind it, so much so that it's even listed in the copyright itself: ADV Films.
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| It's small, but look at the bottom of the obi... |
Yes, Samurai Gun is one of the handful of anime that ADV actually managed to be part of a production committee for during the 00s (alongside Elfen Lied, Kino's Journey [2003], & Chance Pop Session), complete with co-founder & CEO John Ledford getting his name included in the Japanese credits as a producer (he was only 36 by this point, too!), so by mid-2005 the anime was already seeing dual-audio DVD release in North America, with Volume 1 beating out Samurai 7's by just a single week... where it mostly went by forgotten & with little fanfare; Samurai Gun didn't even receive any English fansubs prior to the official English release. To clarify, ADV Films still technically exists to this day as a sort of "zombie" entity solely due to seemingly perpetual rights to Elfen Lied, Kino's Journey [2003], & Chance Pop Session outside of Japan, as the latter two are currently on Hidive, while the first two have since seen re-releases on HD & SD Blu-Ray, respectively. However, Samurai Gun has been the odd one out, last seeing re-release in 2008 & is currently not available to officially stream anywhere, even in Japan; both Samurai Gun manga, though, do have digital releases in Japan, at least. In fact, it seems as though Samurai Gun's greatest legacy today is the simple fact that its excellent OP theme, "Samurai Crew" by ZZ, had its chorus repurposed in 2006 for "Samurai Blue" by ZZ, which is the official cheer song for Japan's national soccer team, a.k.a. Samurai Blue. However, I shall give the Samurai Gun anime the same fair second chance that I'm giving Samurai Champloo & Samurai 7 for this overview, so let's see if the final entry in 2004's Inadvertent Samurai Trilogy truly deserves the inverse amount of recognition that its fellow "samurai" get today, or if it was a title that simply got lost in the shuffle, back in the day.
I mean, the Fall 2004 season Samurai Gun debuted in featured the likes of Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, Beck, School Rumble, Rozen Maiden, Genshiken, Desert Punk, Gundam Seed Destiny, Major, Ring ni Kakero 1, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Yakitate!! Japan, Fantastic Children, Zipang, & Bleach... to be fair, that's a pretty damn stacked season of debuting anime to compete with for attention.
It's the Bakumatsu period of Japan & the Tokugawa shogunate is starting to take the people for granted, committing injustices so as to maintain power over the weak. To counteract this an organization known only as "The Council" has formed to fight back against the shogunate in secret, deploying trained soldiers to complete their missions, whether it be reconnaissance, rescue, or assassination. However, it's also the period of the Industrial Revolution and with that has come various advancements in technology, including that of firearms like guns. Therefore, the Council has decided that the best way to take on the shogunate is with "samurai" of their own, only these would trade in swords for the newest type of firearms, like handheld "repeaters" that can fire multiple rounds in quick succession or rifles with telescopic sights on them to allow for long-range firing. These are the rumored "Black Insurgents" calling themselves Samurai Gun, and Ichimatsu is one of the first generation of them (#7, specifically), a one-eyed half-Japanese man who to most is a simple server at a local tavern. However, at night Ichimatsu acts as a Samurai Gun, with the hopes of one day finding the man who raped & murdered his older sister right in front of him as a child. Despite this job Ichimatsu actually detests killing, even if it's for the "justice" that his superiors in the Council keep telling him its for, though in reality it's not the killing itself he hates, but the feeling deep down that he might actually enjoy it. In response to the Samurai Gun the shogunate decides to create an "anti-Samurai" force to deal with them, putting Lord Masahide Kozan & the talented Mitsumune Watou in charge, the latter of which is just as skilled & trained as any Samurai Gun.
Being the only direct adaptation of the tree "samurai" we should first go over what the Samurai Gun anime covers from Kumagai's original manga, as while the series was over by the time the anime debuted it's obvious that 13 episodes isn't exactly enough to fully adapt seven volumes of manga. In that regard the anime adapts Chapters 4 to 21, or roughly into the start of Volume 4, but here's where things get surprisingly interesting. If you compare anime episode titles to their respective manga chapter titles you quickly notice that the anime seemingly doesn't adapt in a straightforward fashion. The first two episodes follow the manga order (Chapters 4 & 5), but then Episode 3 jumps all the way to Chapter 10, followed by Eps 4 & 5 going back to Chapters 6 & 7. Then Eps 6-8 jump back & forth between Chapters 15, 9, & 11, though if you add in the "unaired bonus episode"/Ep 13 (which takes place between Eps 8 & 9) we return to some minor order as it's named after Chapter 12, before Eps 9-12 return to some sense of manga order with Chapters 17-21, though one chapter is skipped over. In fact, Chapters 8, 13, 14, 16, & 19 are seemingly skipped over when it comes to episode titles, and if you were to organize the anime episodes into their original manga order, by title, you'd get 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 3, 8, 13, 6, & finally 9-12. From a purely numerical perspective this makes the anime sound like an absolute mess, but is that really the case?
The answer to that is "Not at all, actually". Comparing to Kazuhiro Kumagai's original manga it's easy to see that the part of Samurai Gun adapted here is actually mostly episodic, with all but the last two chapters adapted focusing on telling the tale of a new mission Ichimatsu is tasked with, alongside the expected bits of character development throughout & some underlying plot development regarding the battle between the shogunate & the Council happening here & there. Understandably, Chapters 20 & 21/Eps 11 & 12, which deal with a Samurai Gun gone rogue, tie directly into each other. In fact, the anime skips over the first three chapters of the manga simply because Ichimatsu wasn't actually there from the start, with Samurai Gun #6 Sutekichi originally starring in those first three stories, before becoming a secondary cast member afterwards; for the anime, Sutekichi debuts in Episode 5. Also, the anime doesn't always adapt each chapter in a 1:1 fashion, allowing for things like Watou to be introduced in a new fashion, since he first appeared during the Sutekichi-led chapters in the manga; same with Hana, Ichimatsu's love interest who initially works at a brothel before getting freed & later works at the tavern. Since most episodes correlate to a single chapter, that also means that the anime adds in new content for some episodes, though sometimes the staff simply combined two chapters into one episode. Namely, Ep 2 is a fusion of Chapters 5 & 14, since both involve the usage of a new "experimental" armored steam locomotive, & Ep 6 fuses together Chapters 8 & 15, as they both involve Archimedes, a half-German man who fights for the shogunate to keep his mother alive; even the unaired episode is a fusion of Chapters 12 & 16, though there's no real link between them. In reality (after taking into account the episodes that fuse chapters together), the only story that winds up being "out of place" from the original manga order would be Ep 3's, which simply moves Hana's freedom from her life as an unwilling prostitute to earlier in the overall plot, so she now appears in some stories as supporting cast that she originally wouldn't have; not just that, but only one chapter/story involving Ichimatsu is 100% skipped. Overall, series composer Hideki Sonoda knew what he was doing, & alongside Toshimichi Okawa handled adapting the stories from the manga over very well.
That leads us into probably the most notable/infamous aspect of Samurai Gun (depending on your perspective), which is its heavy usage of more modern firearms, like magazine-loaded semi-automatic pistols (first introduced in the 1890s), shotguns that don't require manual loading or pumping after each shot (early 1900s), telescopic sights for rifles (did technically exist, but not until the 1880s for refraction sights), silencers for quieter shooting (early 1900s), & even a submachine gun (1890s), most of which didn't quite exist around the time this anime technically takes place in, i.e. the 1860s; the Guns' suits even use zippers (late 1890s/early 1900s)! At the time there were actually complaints about this kind of anachronism being seen in Samurai Gun, to the point where it was treated as a negative, only for Samurai Champloo to essentially be praised for its own anachronisms in an even earlier period of Japanese history, so whatever. This obviously takes place in an alternate history where technology advanced slightly faster, so it's silly to complain about this kind of thing. I mean, each episode title (& in turn, each manga title) of Samurai Gun features a literal reference to a musical act (except for Ep 1, which is seemingly a movie reference), including David Bowie, XTC, Japan, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Roxy Music, & Joy Division/New Order, while both Samurai Gun manga series also include references to Talking Heads, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Lou Reed, Brian Eno, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Stevie Wonder, Richard Wagner, Beck, & Led Zeppelin, among others; the anime even swapped out a Frankie Goes to Hollywood reference for a Willie Nelson reference! All I'm saying is that I don't think Kazuhiro Kumagai was aiming for 100% historical accuracy here, people, so complaints about anachronisms are kind of pointless; also, need I remind you of what Samurai Champloo had to say about such complaints?
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| There's even a steam-powered tank at the end! Though, to be fair, this appears earlier than it should. |
When it comes to the concept of "samurai", it's easy to see that Samurai Gun easily has the loosest implementation of it. First off, there's just the simple fact that by the time of the Bakumatsu samurai in general had become a small minority amongst the Japanese populace, and following both the Boshin War & Satsuma Rebellion during the start of the following Meiji era the samurai quickly became a thing of the past, losing all of their relevance via the caste system that was abolished. Second, the general design & idea of the Samurai Gun themselves make them more akin to ninja than samurai, especially considering the fact that they effectively wear tight-fitting sneaking suits to more easily mask their presence, though they do still wear kabuto & menpo to cover their hades & faces, like traditional samurai would do; to be fair, it's a simple but memorable design. In a straightforward sense, the concept of "samurai" here is really one of a generational divide, essentially, as the Tokugawa shogunate (i.e. the traditional samurai) represent the literal hundreds of years of "tradition", even if it's become corrupt & power-hungry in the process, while the Council (i.e. the Samurai Gun) represent the new era of modernization now that the shogunate's policy of sakoku has ended. However, as the anime goes on it's indicated that the Countil may not exactly be all too different from the shogunate in some ways, with the idea of the Samurai Gun themselves being another form of power hunger, in & of itself. Watching the anime it honestly came off like a Bakumatsu-era take on old espionage shows from the 60s & 70s, a la Mission: Impossible, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Avengers, etc. (maybe even Mighty Jack), only with Samurai Gun being aimed specifically at adult audiences due to its usage of blood, some sexual elements, & the occasional bit of exploitation, namely a decent number of stories involving helpless women being killed, victimized, or simply in need of rescue by Ichimatsu & crew. In fact, there's one story where Kozan is fine with one of his own being killed by the Samurai Gun, because she was just too much of a sadistic sicko for even him to tolerate keeping alive.
While the mention of Studio Egg & director Kazuhito Kikuchi may not instill much confidence from a visual/technical perspective, the Samurai Gun anime actually holds up decently well after 20 years. Sure, when compared to its fellow "samurai" it's easily the least impressive show from a visual standpoint, but the end result is still generally consistently drawn, the animation isn't anywhere near as limited as you might think it would be (though it certainly still takes full advantage of the tricks of the trade, when needed), and even the usage of CG at points is mostly solid, with the only outlier being some early episodes seeing CG blood splatters, but that's mostly stopped after those initial instances. However, it would also be fair to say that the anime doesn't really do proper justice to the manga's artwork, because while the characters themselves are accurate to Kumagai's original designs, the animators here made few attempts at replicating the more stylistic & exaggerated moments, instead adapting those moments in a more straightforward fashion; simply put, Kazuhiro Kumagai was a very good artist prior to his partial paralysis in 2019. As for the music by Akifumi Tada, it tends to stick with being more moody, utilizing "traditional" instruments like the shamisen & flute in ways that sometimes reminded me of the Metal Gear Solid games (namely the moments involving "The Cyborg Ninja"), which I'm sure was intentional due to both being (ostensibly) series about espionage, though there are also tracks that are either a bit more hard or soft, for certain scenes.
Overall, Samurai Gun is easily the "weakest" of the 2004 Inadvertent Samurai Trilogy, with its more "traditional" animation (that admittedly doesn't quite match the stylistic touches of the original manga artwork at points), shorter length that results in an incomplete adaptation (had it been 26 episodes it could have potentially adapted to the end of the manga), and arguably the most tenuous connection to the concept of "samurai" of the three, due to both its setting & overall execution. However, that's not to say that I feel the Samurai Gun anime is a bad show, because it really isn't. The concept is very cool, the characters slowly grow on you over time, and the overall execution of the anime from a technical perspective is solid enough, if admittedly a bit straightforward. The anime actually stops right at the point where Ichimatsu disappears from the story for a bit, with Volumes 4, 5, & half of 6 focusing on Samurai Guns #3 & #4 (the Shirouemon Brothers, Maki & Sakichi), before Ichimatsu returns for the remaining 1.5 volumes to bring everything to a close.
Watching this anime really does make me wish that I could read the rest of the Samurai Gun manga so that I can better take in the various twists, turns, & reveals that the latter half has. I do own all of it physically, which is how I was able to compare, but it's a very text-heavy series, at points, so while I do know the gist of the latter half via glancing through the volumes & general research, I'd love to properly take it all in. Unfortunately, I highly doubt it'll ever get licensed for English release, even if Kumagai himself literally has a publicly shared Gmail account for contacting him via his blog. Considering how "zombie ADV" is still around I am a little confounded as to why the Samurai Gun anime isn't at least streaming over on Hidive, like Kino's Journey & Chance Pop Session currently are (Elfen Lied has been on & off the service intermittently), because if it was I'd honestly recommend that people check it out if they're interested in the concept, are fine with the anachronisms (and, really, only the most pedantic will have problems with that), & can take a little exploitation at points. When it comes to 2004's Inadvertent Samurai Trilogy Samurai Gun kind of makes for an interesting booked with Samurai Champloo, as while both are rather loose to the concept of "samurai" they're also both highly anachronistic takes on their respective points in Edo era Japan, as while Champloo takes place early in the Tokugawa Clan's rule over the country Gun takes place during the Clan's final moments in charge, before the Emperor took back control; yeah, I guess that's a bit of a stretch, but it's not completely without merit.
When I call this an "Inadvertent" Samurai Trilogy I really mean it, because there's very little crossover between all three works. Sure, Samurai Champloo & Samurai 7 do feature more than a good amount of shared staff (namely when it comes to animators & voice cast), while Samurai Gun does feature a handful of shared staff with Champloo & 7 individually, but when you look for staff that's shared across all three you wind up with just five: voice actors Naoki Makishima, Takashi Nagasako, & Takehito Koyasu (with only Koyasu having anything resembling a "notable" role for each show, though only in Samurai 7 does he play a major recurring role), key animator Yuichi Nakazawa, & animation studio ZEXCS (which provided assistance on all three shows). As I said early on, I came up with this concept for an article partially as an excuse to write about a series like Samurai Champloo, which is obviously too well known & celebrated for a blog like this normally; Samurai 7 could have maybe squeaked by, while Samurai Gun was something I've been wanting to cover here for years. Still, when I noticed that all three of these shows, which each start with the word "Samurai" in their titles, debuted in 2004 I thought it'd make for a fun little overview, and I had a great time watching all three shows roughly 20 years after they all first aired in Japan.
In the end, all three shows offer something a bit different from each other, especially when it comes to the concept of "samurai" that's in their very titles. Samurai Champloo uses it as a general aesthetic to help give the heavy usage of hip hop & R&B something to bounce off of as a seeming opposite, with the end result being a fusion that actually works together extremely well to create, in my opinion, one of the "coolest" anime ever made. Meanwhile, Samurai 7 uses it in a fashion more akin to what people would generally think of, partially due to it being based on an iconic samurai movie, but due to its setting focuses more on taking the core concepts & ideals and applying them to heart, even if the titular "samurai" are really more "ronin", in the end. Finally, Samurai Gun uses it more as a way of showcasing a changing of the tides, as while the Guns themselves are really more akin to ninja I feel that's part of the point, as the Bakumatsu really did show that the age of the traditional samurai was coming to an end, so the very concept of what a "samurai" even was had to be redefined; simply put, as H.G. Wells once put it, "adapt or perish". Overall, Samurai Champloo is a stone cold classic of its era, Samurai 7 is an excellent reimagining of a Kurosawa masterpiece, & Samurai Gun is a solid (if understandably incomplete) adaptation of an interesting manga that was judged way too harshly back in the day (in part) for reasons that, in retrospect, were rather silly & even hypocritical.
They may inadvertently be a trilogy, of sorts, but all three are "samurai" in their own unique ways, in my mind.
Samurai Champloo © 2004 manglobe/Shimoigusa Champloos
Samurai 7 © 2004 Akira Kurosawa/Shinobu Hashimoto/Hideo Oguni/NEP・Gonzo
Samurai Gun © Kazuhiro Kumagai・Shueisha/avex/ADV Films
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