The Samurai

[areaseven]

The Samurai

Suna Kubo/TBS/CBS Sony, 1987

ADV Films, 2003

Directed by Kazuo Yamazaki (Maison Ikkoku, Please Save My Earth).

Rated 15+ (should be 17+) for violence, gratuitous T&A, suggestive sexual situations and strong language.

Sixteen-year-old high school student Takeshi Chimatsuri has devoted his life to being a master samurai like his father was. Then one day, the Toki twins, two ninja sisters he's known since childhood, transfer to his school and issue him a challenge to take back their family dagger from him. Unfortunately for him, they have discovered his one weakness: the fear of the naked female body.

Now, Takeshi must undergo special training from his classmates Atsuko and Torai, and his teacher Miss Ayatsugi to resist the combined brute strength of Akari and the temptation of her sex-crazed twin Kagiri. Class will never be in order with these three constantly fighting each other.

Story: C

While it's meant to poke fun at the traditional samurai mannerisms, The Samurai suffers from a dull plot and resorts to fan service for most of the entire 45 minutes of the OAV. Aside from that, all the jokes die down after 10 minutes.

(Author's Note: Don't ask me what the original Japanese title is. No one on the internet has any information on this. As a matter of fact, I was the one who had to add most of the entries on the Anime News Network's listing of The Samurai.)

Animation: A-

For an anime that's over 15 years old, The Samurai is surprisingly well-animated to the same level as Project A-Ko and the Urusei Yatsura movies.

Soundtrack: A-

Renowned anime music composer Kohei Tanaka (Gunbuster, Sakura Wars) uses some traditional Japanese music as an appropriate background to this anime.

Sub vs. Dub

The Samurai features Toshihiko Seki (Genjo in Saiyuki, Mousse in Ranma 1/2) as Takeshi, Yuko Mizutani (Mihoshi in Tenchi Muyo!, The Great Will of the Macrocosm in Excel Saga) as Atsuko, Chinatsu Sakamoto as Akari, Sakurako Matsuisai as Kagiri, Kazuhiko Inoue (Hatori in Fruits Basket, Eiri in Gravitation) as Torai, and Kazue Komiya (Ran in Urusei Yatsura, Rita and Sandra in The Dirty Pair) as Miss Ayatsugi.

I took one listen to the English dub and switched it to Japanese after 10 seconds.

DVD Extras: F

When ADV dusted off this old anime, they found nothing else to go with it.

The Bottom Line

As an anime that lacks a cohesive plot and relies solely on T&A, The Samurai is strictly rental material, unless you're an ecchi freak. But then again, if you really are an ecchi freak, you might actually find this disappointing.

Reference

Anime News Network