The Elusive Samurai had one of the most electric debuts of any anime in 2024. It made a statement with beautiful artwork and animation, some even trending after the work was posted on social media as well. But, as many anime fans argue with other anime, is a good production enough to carry the series to be considered “great”?
I’m always under the impression that no matter how good an anime production may be, it can only be elevated as far as its script will let it. This is where I think The Elusive Samurai runs into some issues. Despite this, there are many things to praise about the series as well.
The Elusive Samurai is already a rarity since it takes place between the Kamakura and Muromachi periods. While there have been recent anime whose settings traverse historic Japanese time periods such as Meiji Gekken 1874, Golden Kamuy, Demon Slayer, and the upcoming Ao no Miburo, The Elusive Samurai jumps on the opportunity to provide a unique storyline with substance. This is a drastic positive with the series.
Having an 8-year-old, and others his age, take on a mission to reclaim his homeland and learn how to become a general that others grow to respect and serve is an interesting story off the jump. Even more so, we see that the series has no issue turning dark with its level of brutal violence and mature dialogue. It makes me question how this is even a manga being serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump that is supposed to target a younger audience.
Yet, amid its colorful artwork, beautiful character designs, backgrounds that help the characters stand out, and jaw-dropping animation during its fighting (for the most part), The Elusive Samurai still has something missing from the story. I think the best parts of the anime come from Tokiyuki and his friends being together, but when push comes to shove against grown adults, it almost feels out of place.
It’s one thing if you have adults fighting grown adults, or even older teenagers as we see in many other series, but it’s another to have 8 and 9-year-olds fighting warlords that have way more experience than they do…and beat them. On top of it all, they don’t necessarily act as to how little kids would in terms of war. We only see the “kid” in them come out when they joke with each other, but we rarely see that when it comes to slicing heads.
Tokiyuki had that moment, albeit briefly, during episode 9 where you can visually see him being scared. But the others seem to be cut from a different cloth. In that episode specifically, the kids would join Tokiyuki in a house covered in blood and Shogen “dead” right in front of them. Yet, instead of being traumatized, having some alertness to make sure everyone is okay, or having panic attacks, they’re there smiling and laughing as if its a game.
Look, I understand works of fiction are that—works of fiction. But there comes a level of disparity between what would be real or not that needs to play a role to make a series feel realistic in a sense, especially in the realistic setting the series is in and when you have Yorishige making modern-day references throughout. It’s simply one of the flaws in The Elusive Samurai that takes me aback, including its humor that sometimes goes too far like Yorishige being spanked in front of the kids in episode 11. How does that offer anything to the main story?
The Elusive Samurai‘s humor almost reminds me of what I’d see from Golden Kamuy, just not as adult, but undoubtedly odd and out of place. When we see Ogasawara’s eyes pop out of his head to really amplify his vision, it’s funny the first time around, but knowing that joke is about to make its way around over and over every time we see him, or others in the series with similar abilities, just leaves me shaking my head.
Is The Elusive Samurai a bad series? Not necessarily, no. Every week I’m entertained in one way or another by the group surrounding Tokiyuki. They keep the story relatively interesting and there still lies the mystery around Yorishige and what he really wants from Tokiyuki. The production is beautiful and I always love spending some of my time learning who worked on each episode.
All in all, The Elusive Samurai anime had its bright spots in one area and questionable moments in many other areas. The 12 episodes will undoubtedly keep you entertained making you appreciate what a high-quality anime production can do for its source material. So there’s no doubt that studio CloverWorks and everyone else who worked on it deserve a double thumbs up. However, I’m still waiting for more out of the story and its characters.
If you enjoyed The Elusive Samurai then make sure you vote for it in the Anime of the Season poll!
© Yusei Matsui/Shueisha, The Elusive Samurai Production Committee