List of Samurai 7 characters
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[edit] Villagers
- Kirara (キララ?)
Voiced by: Fumiko Orikasa (Japanese), Colleen Clinkenbeard (English)
- A Mikumari ("water maiden", a village priestess) from the village of Kanna. She decides to go to help find the samurai to bring back to her village. She possesses a special water necklace which allows her to detect the flow of groundwater. In addition, the necklace seems to have some sort of ability to read people's hearts, and on several occasions the amulet will glow whenever Kirara has a particularly strong emotional reaction. It is due to this ability that Kirara is allowed to go with Rikichi to the city to use the pendant to guide her to the right Samurai.
- Komachi (コマチ?)
Voiced by: Chiwa Saito (Japanese), Luci Christian (English)
- Kirara's little sister who follows along to see the city as well as help locate the samurai. She takes a liking to Kikuchiyo.
- Gisaku (ギサク?)
Voiced by: Ikuo Nishikawa (Japanese), Andrew Haskett (English)
- The leader of the Kanna village. He is the one who suggests to hire the experienced samurai to protect the Kanna Village against the Nobuseri
- Rikichi (リキチ?)
Voiced by: Tadahisa Saizen (Japanese), J. Michael Tatum (English)
- A peasant from the village of Kanna who is the first to step up and agree to go look for samurai in the city. His wife was kidnapped in a previous raid from the bandits.
- Rikichi is derived from the movie (although there are some differences to the anime version); Kirara and Komachi are original characters.
[edit] Samurai
All the samurai are derived from the original movie, and they retain their core personalities. Several changes have been made to each of them in order to accommodate the new environment the story is placed in. Also, most of the anime plot following the initial battle against the Nobuseri is completely original and not from the movie.
- Kambei Shimada (カンベエ?)
Voiced by: Masaki Terasoma (Japanese), R. Bruce Elliott (English)
- The wisest of the seven samurai. He is the samurai who assumes the leader position and comes up with the plan(s) to defend the village. He's brave, strong, and has wisdom beyond his years that has come from the many battles he has fought in his life. However, all the battles he fought were for the losing side, and Kambei lives in the shadow of his painful and stigmatic past. He uses a stylized katana, though on several occasions, he uses two swords at once. He is probably the only character to have the kanji characters for his name revealed.
- Katsushiro Okamoto (カツシロウ?)
Voiced by: Romi Paku (Japanese), Sean Michael Teague (English)
- A young samurai who, until fighting for the Kanna village, had never been in a true battle, but always believed in the honor of the samurai code. He wishes to become Kambei's student, and promises to protect Kirara no matter what. He gains steadily in skill throughout the series; at the outset he cannot defeat a simple thug, but by the end he can defeat several Nobuseri at once, and even deflect an enemy beam cannon shot with his sword. He is one of the 3 surviving samurai following the final battle, and is shown post-battle to have gained significant wisdom and maturity from his experiences. He also continues the life of a samurai, searching for the next war he will partake in. His skills are improved enough that Kambei even shows great respect towards him, and presents Katsushiro with his own katana.
- Gorobei Katayama (ゴロベエ?)
Voiced by: Tetsu Inada (Japanese), Bob Carter (English)
- A skilled samurai who has made his living by entertaining people. Because of his skill in battle and acrobatic ability (among them the ability to pull arrows out of the air and dodge other attacks) Kambei makes him his "left hand man" in defending the village. Gorobei is one of the more lighhearted characters found in the anime, often making light of rather serious or dangerous situations. He admits at one point to believe that dying is losing and living is winning. He is the one samurai that does not survive the first clash with the Nobuseri, as he slices a Nobuseri bullet in two but is injured when one half explodes a nearby house. Even after his death he is shown guiding Katsushiro through ghostly visions. Gorobei seems to have a bloodletting fetish of some sort, based on his reaction in two of the episodes.
- Shichiroji (シチロージ?)
Voiced by: Tohru Kusano (Japanese), Duncan Brannan (English)
- Kambei's "right hand man." Kambei and Shichiroji fought in the Great War side by side and thus have become the best of friends. He temporarily leaves behind his successful post-war business, and with it, his "girlfriend", to join Kambei in battle once again. Unlike the other samurai, Shichiroji uses a kamayari as opposed to a katana that the other samurai use. He has a prosthetic left hand which has a grappling hook capability. He is often nicknamed Momotaro, from the traditional Japanese tale, as he was found by his girlfriend badly injured after a battle floating down a river inside a capsule reminscient of a peach. He is one of the 3 samurai to survive the final battle.
Voiced by: Kuwata Kong (Japanese), Christopher Sabat (English)
- A robot, once a man, who paid to have his body forged with a mechanized exoskeleton, much like the Nobuseri. He is often looked upon as a clown or a bother; he gets angry easily and often causes trouble. He carries the biggest of the swords, which also acts as a chainsaw when need be. At first rejected by the other six, Kambei accepts Kikuchiyo into the fold when the latter reveals his reasoning for helping the villagers - that he, too, came from a family of farmers. He is a largely sympathetic character, having literally given up his flesh to become a samurai and change his fate as a poor farmer. He is well liked by the villagers, especially by little Komachi, who asks him to become her husband when she grows up, a request that he accepts in return for her keeping his (fake) family tree. In the end he shows his samurai spirit by sacrificing himself to destroy the capital before it reaches Kanna.
- Hayashida Heihachi (ヘイハチ?)
Voiced by: Junji Inukai (Japanese), Greg Ayres (English)
- An amiable samurai who would rather eat than fight. During the Great War he avoided fighting by taking a position as a combat engineer and has since then taken up chopping wood for food. He is most helpful within the group as their mechanic, and orchestrates the construction of medieval-type weapons (such as a ballista) to fight the giant mechanized Nobuseri. He loves rice more than any other person in the series and can tell where it's from just by the taste. He hates traitors, and is uncompromising in that respect due to the fact that he has once betrayed his comrades, though he grows to become a more forgiving and understanding man due to Kambei's influence. Heihachi is killed while setting charges to blow up the engine of the capital when it is attempting to destroy Kanna.
Voiced by: Shinichiro Miki (Japanese), Sonny Strait (English)
- A mysterious blond man who wears distinctive crimson-red clothing. He formerly worked as a bodyguard for Ayamaro, the merchant. Kyuzo wields double blades that fit into one sheath on his back, and has skills matching, or exceeding, Kambei's. He ultimately becomes part of the team and helps to defend the village, as well as to refine his swordsmanship. However, he has another reason for joining the seven - he wishes to challenge Kambei to a duel to the death after the bandits are defeated. Kyuzo is killed by gunfire (fired by Katsuhiro), that overpenetrated an imperial guard.
[edit] Oppressors
- Nobuseri (野伏せり?)
- Former samurai/ronin (masterless samurai) who have converted their bodies into large machines during the previous war. Now, in the Akindo period they call themselves the Nobuseri and act as bandits since there is no longer any use for warriors in times of peace. These bandits now rob farming villages of their rice and occasionally women and children. Because of their huge size they encounter little resistance, and when they do, they will exterminate them quickly.
- Ukyo (ウキョウ?)
Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese), Anthony Bowling (English)
- The young heir to a powerful Merchant, the Ayamaro, in the city where Kirara begins her search. His shielded lifestyle leaves him with a somewhat self-centered yet playful attitude on life, really a cover for a rather cruel character. He falls in lust with Kirara upon first sight and seeks to add her to his harem. He had always disliked mechanical samurai, especially the Nobuseri and Kikuchiyo.
- Tessai (テッサイ?)
Voiced by: Michihiro Ikemizu (Japanese), Robert McCollum (English)
- A grim-faced bodyguard of Ukyo, buckteethed and perennially gripping a pipe between his teeth. He carries a tantō throughout the series, but in the final confrontation uses a katana. He is a considerably powerful fighter, possibly on the level of Kambei or Kyuzo.
- Amanushi (アマヌシ?)
Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese), Anthony Bowling (English)
- The name given to the head of state, or emperor, in Samurai 7 , he takes the place of a shogun in the futuristic feudal government. Due to the previous great war his body is only able to be sustained within a special chamber.
- Ukyo, Tessai, and Amanushi are characters original to the anime.
[edit] Others
All these characters are original to the anime.
- Masamune (マサムネ?)
Voiced by: Tomomichi Nishimura (Japanese), Brice Armstrong (English)
- An older man who often has to make repairs on Kikuchiyo.
- Okara (オカラ?)
Voiced by: Megumi Tano (Japanese), Zarah Little (English)
- Childhood friend of Komachi. Keen and Insightful, Okara notices things that go by others.
- Sanae (サナエ?)
Voiced by: Yuu Asakawa (Japanese), Clarine Harp (English)
- Rikichi's wife, abducted by Nobuseri (in exchange for preserving the Kanna village) and taken to the capital to become one of Amanushi's harem. Although the group swears to rescue her, during the time of her abduction, she has fallen in love with the Amanushi and has been implanted with a clone child of his.
- Yukino (ユキノ?)
Voiced by: Rieko Takahashi (Japanese), Gwendolyn Lau (English)
- A youjo (courtesan) who works at the Hotaruya (Firefly House), an inn at Kougakyo's pleasure quarter, where Shichiroji is first introduced. She is responsible for finding him and caring for him after the war left him severely injured. A romantic relationship between her and Shichiroji is strongly implied, though she specifically says that she is not his wife.
- Honoka and Mizuki (ホノカ&ミズキ?)
Honoka Voiced by: Kumiko Watanabe (Japanese), Carrie Savage (English)
Mizuki Voiced by: Chiaki Osawa (Japanese), Laura Bailey (English)
- They are sisters, survivors of an attack on another farming village. Honoka is introduced as a refugee at the Shikimoribito lair; Mizuki was taken to be a servant for Amanushi's harem.
- Hyogo (ヒョーゴ?)
Voiced by: Takeshi Kusao (Japanese), Jerry Jewell (English)
- A samurai serving as Ayamaro's guard, along with Kyuzo. The first among the major samurai characters to use a gun-like weapon. He is killed by Kyuzo.
- Shikimoribito (式杜人?)
- The Guardians, they are people (some or many of them are former samurai) who have opted to live in relative obscurity in exchange for a peaceful life without alliances. They accept refugees into their underground lair. The community trades rice and energy cells with merchants above ground for goods. They ultimately help the samurai in their cause by showing the way out of their underground caverns, but do so in secret.
[edit] External Links
| Franchise: | Media and materials • Anime episodes |
|---|---|
| Races: | Nobuseri • Shikimoribito |
| Characters: | List of Samurai 7 characters |
| Media: | Akira Kurosawa • FUNimation • GONZO • Seven Samurai • Toshifumi Takizawa |
