Ask John: What’s the Background on Samurai: Hunt for the Sword?

Question:
I know some OVAs are pretty short, but the length of Samurai: Hunt for the sword had me wondering a little if this title was unfortunately subjected to editing or censorship when it was domesticated for the American audience. The character animations look really familiar also… can’t put my finger on it. Do you know off-hand of any other titles that the character animators or directors have worked on? And, lastly, what’s your honest opinion about Samurai: Hunt for the Sword?

Answer:
To the best of my knowledge, nothing beside the original Japanese title screen was removed from the American version of “Samurai: Hunt for the Sword.” The explanation for the seeming lack of cohesive story development can essentially be summed up in two words: video game. “Samurai: Hunt for the Sword,” was actually a two episode OAV series released in Japan in late 1999 under the title Kaitou Ranma, based on the Kaitou Ranma Miyabi simulation adventure game created for the PC in 1997 and Playstation in early 1999.

The Kaitou Ranma animation had a very good production staff including supervisor Masahiro Sekijima, who worked on the El Hazard OAV series and Kerberos: Panzer Cops live-action film; writer Mitsuhiro Yamada who did writing for both El Hazard OAV series and Kurogane Communication, art director Shuichi Shimamura, who provided the character designs for Saber Marionette J to X and Angel Sanctuary; and character designer Tsukasa Kotobuki, best known for his work on Saber Marionette J, Akihabara Cyber Team, and Toshinden (both the games and the anime). The animation itself was produced by AIC, the prolific studio behind Bubblegum Crisis and Tenchi Muyo. But perhaps this is exactly what also hurt the OAV series. As a little known anime project based on a relatively unknown video game, the Kaitou Ranma anime was forced to compact the longer video game story into an hour of animation footage. And it can be assumed that the animation staff also had other, higher profile works that demanded their attention at the same time.

It’s easy to appreciate the Kaitou Ranma anime for its attractive character design and bright color palate, but at the same time difficult to excuse its severely underwritten and uneven story development that introduces multiple sub-plots and digressions that are left unexplained and unexplored, and its unbalanced mood shifts between romantic comedy, historical epic, samurai drama and supernatural action. Samurai: Hunt for the Sword is by no means a terrible work, but it is a significantly flawed one: one that can be entertaining and enjoyable, but only if you’re willing to watch it without thinking about it, at all.