Samurai 7, Vol. 3 - From Farm to Fortress
As the 2004 broadcast seriesSamurai 7continues, "water priestess" Kirara and the other peasant-recruiters fill their quota of seven warriors and lead them back to Kanna village to fight the crop-stealing bandits. Kambei and his comrades tell the villagers that their hamlet is now Kanna Castle, and they must join in its defense; the farmers reluctantly build fortifications and practice archery. But before they left the city, the samurai easily defeated several of the robot-bandits in a skirmish, so their threatened attack doesn't feel like much to worry about.Samurai 7is supposed to be adapted from Akira Kurosawa'sSeven Samurai, but it's really just a flimsy sci-fi epic in which the villains sneer, "Keep your eyes in the dirt, where they belong," and the good guys portentously declare, "Because I am a samurai!"  (Unrated, suitable for ages 12 and older: violence, alcohol use)--Charles Solomon