Samurai 7 (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray) Unboxing

Samurai 7 (サムライセブン) is a 2004 television anime series based on Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 film Seven Samurai. The series was adapted by studio Gonzo and the staff credits include director Toshifumi Takizawa, series composition writer Atsuhiro Tomioka, character designers Hideki Hashimoto & Takuhito Kusanagi, and music composers Eitetsu Hayashi & Kaoru Wada. The series first aired in Japan on June 2004.

Background:

“Set in a futuristic world that has just witnessed the end of a massive war, scores of villages are terrorized by Nobuseri bandits. But the Nobuseri are no normal bandits. They were once Samurai, who during the war integrated their living cells with machines to become dangerous weapons now appearing more machine than man. Absolute power corrupts, and their reign of terror is increasing its hold on the countryside.”

Plot Synopsis via MVM Entertainment, November 2022.

During the 2000s era of anime we saw a lot of original anime projects being produced and Gonzo were among the ones that had caught the eye of a lot of people with its interesting stories and concepts. However here we have an interesting adaptation which is from the classic 50s film Seven Samurai, an epic by Akira Kurosawa which I very much enjoyed. Gonzo’s take is a modern/futuristic version than a historical one and much like a lot of their other works I missed out on watching back in the day due to various releases and lack of streaming options. The series has appeared here and there but what I wanted was to watch the series on home video.

Funimation in North America acquired the license for the series in 2004 and released it on DVD. Not long after the series was made available on Blu-ray in 2009 which was presented in a cardboard box and two slim amaray cases which was what they had in place for their standard Blu-ray releases until the limited editions came along.

MVM Entertainment in the United Kingdom released Samurai 7 many years back when they were putting out single volumes and also thick box sets for their DVD titles. The series had remained in print for at least a decade, until eventually the DVDs went out of print. Then MVM announced they had picked up a select number of Gonzo shows they previously released and will be releasing them on the Blu-ray format, which included Samurai 7. With the Funimation catalogue slowly going out of print, it’s good timing for the series to remain in print here in the UK.

Collector’s Edition Contents:

What I like about MVM Entertainment’s collector’s editions for these recent Gonzo titles like Samurai 7 is that they’re being modelled after the Funimation original standard Blu-ray sets but using a single case than two slim cases. So far only four have had similar designs to these but I like it for nostalgic reasons.

This release is presented with a rigid box containing an Amaray case to house the Blu-ray discs, in addition to 7 art cards. There’s very little in terms of physical assets but this series didn’t receive any other physical content in the previous English releases so what we have is pretty much down to availability issues.

The artwork is free of any BBFC content but the back cover does contain information about the series and disc extras, because as mentioned this is identical to the old Funimation Blu-ray artwork. The collector’s edition Blu-ray has 1000 units printed for an SRP of £59.99, and is also available as a standard edition Blu-ray, which was released a few months after.

The series has been available for a while and I purchased my copy during a Deal of the Week offer over on MVM’s retail store Anime-on-Line for £19.99.

Physical Contents:

• Rigid Box with Amaray packaging and semi-clean artwork
• Info for specification and BBFC description on back cover
• 7 Art Cards

On-Disc Contents:

Distributor: MVM Entertainment
Released: 28th November 2022

The collector’s edition release for Samurai 7 contains all 26 episodes across three Blu-ray discs, with the encode & authoring done by Funimation via their release in 2009. The audio options are Japanese with English subtitles and the Funimation English dub.

The white subtitles are unlockable during playback, and the regions are restricted to Blu-ray players set to B.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages	English, Japanese
Audio	English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Video	1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio
Region	B
Subtitles	English
Locked Subtitles	No
Discs	3 BD-50s

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

Disc 1:

• English Audio Commentary for Episode 1 with ADR Director Christopher Bevins, Writer Jared Hedges & Writer/Voice Actress Colleen Clinkenbeard

Disc 2:

• English Audio Commentary for Episode 14 with ADR Director Christopher Bevins & Voice Actors R Bruce Elliott & Sean Michael Teague.

Disc 3:

• Promotional Video
• Textless Songs:
  • Textless Opening “Unlimited”
  • Textless Closing “Fuhen”

Unboxing Photos:

Final Notes:

Samurai 7 is available to purchase on Blu-ray by MVM Entertainment in the UK & Ireland. The collector’s edition Blu-ray release can be bought through Amazon UK, AllTheAnime Store, and Anime-on-Line Store.

For the standard edition, it is also available across different retailers including Amazon UK, AllTheAnime Store, and Anime-on-Line.

(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)