Review of The Elusive Samurai

Elusive Samurai has solid production values, exciting animation, and coloring at times—in fact, pretty often. Certain scenes remind me of a lavishly animated late 1990s or early 2000s OVA, acting as something like this generation's Hakkenden but with less artistry and a shonen rather than seinen mentality. There's plenty of corner cutting, however, whether it's the use of eye-poking CGI for characters, a slew of stills with motion lines or shaking, or Dezaki-styled "postcard memories" inserts. Nonetheless, the animation is only exciting at a few points, mostly in the first half and a handful of fights later on. Though it's mostly a pretty standard shonenin tone, certain scenes have an arthouse flair, pairing well with the emotions expressed. They especially do a great job of capturing the exhilaration of combat, as the main weaves around arrows and flips past swishing swords, or the backgrounds come alive in an abstract rush of color as he acrobatically makes his way to his destination. The art is usually vivid, sans the occasionally murky surroundings or a shoddy drawing here and there. The character designs for the little tots and cackling villains are distinct, and there's occasionally some decent action.

The comedy is mostly obnoxious or plays upon awkward shotacon pandering that is the sanitized otaku equivalent of a white van with no windows and heaps of free candy or lost puppies. The scene where the MC meets the priest (uh oh) on the tree is one of the shrillest, loudest scenes in anime—a truly impressive feat! There's no way one can take this seriously in the beginning, for even when the tears rain down from the MC's googly eyes, and he has lost hope because his clan has been massacred, they pull the same slapstick comedy routine with absurd faces, bulging eyeballs about to pop a la Graves' disease, and the unbearable screeching of ten year olds and shining manchildren! I'd honestly say it's on par with the tone-deaf comedy of Demon Slayer; poking fun at tragedy and drama dynamics can work well, but the humor is usually oozing with unwanted tropey animeisms that are forced into the script as part of the shonen model rather than meshing well. Fortunately, the series becomes lighthearted and whimsical instead of playing it up as a hammy dark drama, and even the oftentimes gruesome blood sprays and gore explode into cartoonish chaos, so the tonal clashes aren't too pronounced, and the humor does mellow overtime.

While the concept is acceptable for a story, the execution is less than stellar, and the themes, script, story, and characters are where this series is weakest, flailing like cement clown shoes into Japan's deepest lake. There's your typical quick introduction to a samurai clan, followed by rivers of blood, and finally a bunch of pint-sized heroes rising up to lead an army and save the day. The story meanders around without aim, gradually introduces the bloated cast of thin characters who barely register as archetypes, and shows their special abilities and potential, which means a touch of espionage, a big battle or two with cavalry and soldiers, numerous solo battles, and a whole lot of slinking off into the night with their tails between their legs.

The MC lacks proficient combat skills, but he can run away like a champ, while finding many opportunities to lecture adults and inculcate them in the art of retreat. By shonen standards, he's serviceable, foregoing the blockheaded idealism or obliviousness of plenty of others. His traumatic past informs his thought process, and his capabilities grant him with a balanced set of strengths and weaknesses, resulting in more tension and growth than the most bargain bin of shonen. The rest of the characters are basic, and when the MC remarked that he didn't know who Shizuku was because she seemed so mysterious and steeped in the arcane, it reminded me that I could say the same about even the simple Jacks of the cast, most of whom I can't remember the name of. The villains, though similarly lacking nuance, are a bit more entertaining, as they're often sadistic dirtbags, like the traitorous uncle who split too fast, or the eye-bulging archer Sadamune, or even the monkish samurai with literal ants in his pants who has a rare character arc.

It could have been a 4-5 in the middle to late portion of the series, but it's so mediocre as it goes on and has a bland final arc, lacking the polish and thrill of the visual elements in the earlier portion of the series. There's not much else to say. It's just a dull shonen with a sloppy-taco story and plain-riceball characters. There are bursts of stylistic excess, but they aren't impressive enough to maintain much interest for those who have seen the most celebrated visual works in anime, which is a huge problem because that's the only thing this show has going for it.