Ask John: Recommendations for Samurai Anime

Question:
Do you know of any good Samurai anime to recommend besides Samurai X and Ninja Scroll? I just bought Samurai X and watch it like every night!

Answer:
Actually, there really aren’t that many samurai-type anime shows. I think that anime tends to shy away from the genre because it’s so common in Japanese live-action- in films and TV series. Since you’ve enjoyed Samurai X, I assume that you’re also interested in Media Blaster’s release of the Rurouni Kenshin TV series. You may want to look into Ninja Resurrection and Black Lion also. Both are samurai stories, but both of them are more like Ninja Scroll- super violent action shows rather than “jidaigeki” samurai dramas. Jubei-chan also features some nice swordplay, but is much more a goofy comedy than a samurai tale. If you have access to import anime, I highly, highly recommend the female samurai series Kaze Makase Tsukikage Ran. Madhouse is also currently working on the anime samurai drama television series Hidamari no Ki, based on a story by the late Osamu Tezuka.