Samurai 7 Vol_ 5 - Empire in Flux

Product Description The once impenetrable band of seven, now diminished to six, was forced to come to terms with the inevitable when Gorobei risked his life to save his brethren. With sword in hand Kambei is determined to find answers. Leaving the surviving samurai behind, Kambei departs on a solitary trek with an even more perilous mission in mind. Based on the legendary Akira Kurosawa classic epic feature film, Seven Samurai. Amazon.com The characters in Samurai 7 have achieved their goal: the bandits have been defeated and the peasant-farmers of Kanna village can harvest their rice in safety. Kambei, the leader of the samurai, departs to fulfill his promise to rescue Rikichi's wife Sanae--and pick up a long-neglected strand of the plot. At the capital, he discovers that Sanae has married the emperor and is carrying his child. (As the emperor resembles a Peking opera character floating in a tank of nutritive liquid, it's not clear how their relationship was maintained or consummated.) In an even more dramatic revelation, the emperor announces that the orchidaceous Ukyo is the 49th imperial clone and heir to the throne. Kambei is arrested when he threatens to assassinate the emperor and sentenced to death. The remaining samurai, "water priestess" Kirara, and her gabby little sister Komachi are heading to the capital, so it's unlikely Kambei will be beheaded. At this point, Samurai 7 has lost even the vaguest ties to Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, its supposed model, and has become pure sci-fi. (Rated TV PG, suitable for ages 12 and older: violence, alcohol use) --Charles Solomon