Episode 4 – The Elusive Samurai

It stands to cause that our younger common Tokiyuki won’t be able to outlive by doing nothing greater than stylishly working away from his enemies; as Yorishige himself signifies, Tokiyuki must present some form of fight prowess if he desires to have any likelihood of inspiring a military. Swordplay is clearly out of the query, as watching Tokiyuki’s feeble makes an attempt to slice a meager bundle of straw in half is about as disheartening as I think about it should have been for my father to witness my terminal lack of ability to throw or catch something that even remotely resembled a ball after I was a baby. Archery, nevertheless, is a unique story. The issue for Tokiyuki is not that he is bodily weak, however quite that his “working muscular tissues” have been finely honed on the expense of the muscular tissues that may enable him to swing a sword with any diploma of effectiveness. We’ll have to simply accept this nonsensical clarification as justification for why the younger lord is ready to shoot a bow with such grace and precision regardless of being so hopeless with a sword.

That is the muse upon which “Sadamune Seems!” builds the muse of its “Let’s Stage-Up the Hero!” premise. Tokiyuki is a rattling good archer for his age, however he’ll must be higher than “rattling good” to actually have a likelihood at beating Takauiji. Fortunately, the villain of this storyline arrives on the excellent second for Yorishige to enact a brand new plan by organizing a not-so-friendly competitors: the “All-Seeing” Sadamune and the boy, “Chojumaru,” will compete in a spherical of canine taking pictures that features some bonus factors for any pictures to the archer’s personal physique. Tokiyuki’s buddies are bewildered by the scenario, however it exhibits simply how good Yorishige is as a mentor. The person is aware of that true progress cannot come except you tackle an actual problem that forces you to rise above your earlier limitations. He additionally is aware of that Tokiyuki is the sort of freak who will get most excited and concerned when the stakes are highest. Simply take a look at the best way the child lights up when he realizes how a lot hazard he’s in on the finish of the episode! If solely remedy existed in 14th century Japan, as a result of this child’s mind might be sufficient materials for not less than just a few bestselling case research.

For as soon as, nevertheless, it is neither Tokiyuki nor Yorishige who stand out as essentially the most “colourful” crayon within the field, so to talk. For me, the standout component of “Sadamune Seems!” is the titular antagonist himself. Ogasawara Sadamune could also be an precise historic determine, however he is additionally only a Ren and Stimpy villain who one way or the other makes his manner into the world of The Elusive Samurai—full with a set of creepy, hellish, bug-eyes that he wields with such a vicious ardour he would possibly as effectively be possessed by the vengeful spirit of George Liquor himself (simply ask your mother and father, children). The present’s devotion to treating Sadamune’s defining character trait because the beast’s eldritch mark solely will get funnier because the episode progresses. I almost spit when the person’s eyeballs virtually wiggled out of his personal cranium to whisper straight right into a poor footman’s ear.

Sadly, for all of the enjoyable I had with this episode, “Sadamune Seems!” additionally gave me my first cause to complain in regards to the present’s visuals. Particularly, I did not like the best way the present carried out CGI character animation for the horseback archery sequences. I get that horses are purported to be a ache within the ass to animate, and the CGI was not less than purposeful sufficient to get the job achieved. Nonetheless, the consequences weren’t fairly adequate to slot in seamlessly with the present’s common aesthetic, and I actually hope the collection makes use of them as minimally as doable going ahead. Even much less flashy episodes like this one are a pleasure to behold – and I might hate to see some extent the place the present ever screws issues up by fully letting its visible ambitions outstrip its technical scope.

Judgement:

The Elusive Samurai is at the moment streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a author with many ideas and emotions about anime and different popular culture, which may also be discovered on Twitterhis weblog and his podcast.