Samurai 7

Information on the Samurai. The information below contains spoilers. Read at your own risk. That risk being the sudden, mind numbing, knowledge of events you shouldn't know about yet.

-Shimada Kambei

The wisest of the seven samurai. He is the samurai who assumes the leader position and comes up with the plan(s) to defend the village. He's brave, strong, and has wisdom beyond his years that has come from the many battles he has fought in his life. However, all the battles he fought were for the losing side, and Kambei lives in the shadow of his painful and stigmatic past. He uses a stylized katana, though on several occasions, he uses two swords at once. He is probably the only character to have the kanji characters for his name revealed. He is selected by Kirara to lead the villagers against the bandits when her water crystal reacts to his passing in the city. In episode 25 it is revealed that Kirara is in love with Kambei, but he rejects her, saying that his heart withered long ago and that she will find no water there. At first Kambei disregards Katsushiro and Kikuchiyo as too inexperienced and immature to defend the village, but eventually recognizes both as full samurai and makes them the fifth and seventh, respectively. He takes on Katsushiro as his student, and in the end gives him his katana. He is on the cover of the first volume.

-Katsushiro Okamoto

A young samurai who, until fighting for the Kanna village, had never been in a true battle, but always believed in the honor of the samurai code. He wishes to become Kambei's student, and promises to protect Kirara no matter what. He first meets the villagers when a thief attempts to steal their rice in the city, but Kirara initially has doubts about his skill because he does not have the "scent of battle" on him. However, Katsushiro gains steadily in skill throughout the series: at the outset he cannot defeat a simple thug and is beaten by a single blow, but by the end he can defeat numerous Nobuseri at once, deflect an enemy beam cannon shot with his sword and lead the villagers in their successful defense against the capital. He is on the cover of the second volume.
Of the samurai, Katsushiro's character evolves the most throughout the series. At first he is overcome with shock upon his first kill. Kirara is overcome with guilt for having brought him into a situation in which he is forced to take life, and says she will "fall with him" even as he falls into darkness. Throughout the series, Katsushiro grows stronger, and in the end, he says that Kirara's falling with him gave him the strength he needed. Kambei and the other samurai soon teach Katsushiro that taking life is part of being a true samurai. By the last battle he can kill numerous enemies without flinching. Katsushiro takes a liking to Kirara early on in the series, attempting to protect her in numerous situations, and at one point asks her to come with him after he has a falling out with Kambei. He later returns to Kanna village after his solo journey as a much more mature and skilled samurai.
Katsushiro is one of the 3 surviving samurai following the final battle against the capital, and is shown post-battle to have gained significant wisdom and maturity from his experiences. His skills are improved enough by the end that Kambei even shows great respect towards him, and presents Katsushiro with his own katana. In the end he leaves the village to continue his samurai life.

-Gorobei Katayama

A skilled samurai who has made his living by entertaining people. Because of his skill in battle and acrobatic ability (among them the ability to pull arrows out of the air and dodge other attacks) Kambei makes him his "left hand man" in defending the village. Gorobei is one of the more light-hearted characters found in the anime, often making light of rather serious or dangerous situations. He admits at one point to believe that dying is losing and living is winning. He is the one samurai that does not survive the first clash with the Nobuseri, as he slices a Nobuseri bullet in two but is injured when one half explodes a nearby house. Even after his death he is shown guiding Katsushiro through ghostly visions.　Gorobei seems to have a bloodletting fetish of some sort, based on his reaction in two of the episodes. He is on the cover of the fifth volume.

-Shichiroji

Kambei's "right hand man." Kambei and Shichiroji fought in the Great War side by side and thus have become the best of friends. He temporarily leaves behind his successful post-war business at the Firefly Inn, and with it, his "girlfriend", to join Kambei in battle once again. Unlike the other samurai, Shichiroji uses a kamayari as opposed to a katana that the other samurai use. He has a prosthetic left hand which has a grappling hook capability. He is often nicknamed Momotaro, from the traditional Japanese tale, as he was found by his girlfriend, Yukino, badly injured after a battle floating down a river inside a capsule reminscient of a peach. He is also refered to as Kambei's "Old wife". He is one of the 3 samurai to survive the final battle. He is on the cover of the last volume.

-Kikuchiyo

A robot, once a man, who paid to have his body forged with a mechanized exoskeleton, much like the Nobuseri. He is often looked upon as a clown or a bother; he gets angry easily and often causes trouble. He carries the biggest of the swords, which also acts as a chainsaw when need be. At first rejected by the other six, Kambei accepts Kikuchiyo into the fold when the latter reveals his reasoning for helping the villagers - that he, too, came from a family of farmers. He is a largely sympathetic character, having literally given up his flesh to become a samurai and change his fate as a poor farmer. He is well liked by the villagers, especially by little Komachi, who asks him to become her husband when she grows up, a request that he accepts in return for her keeping his (fake) family tree. In the end he becomes severely injured when he is shot numerous times by the emperor Ukyo and shows his samurai spirit by sacrificing himself to destroy the capital before it reaches Kanna. All that remains by the end are his boots. He is on the cover of the third volume.

-Hayashida Heihachi

An amiable samurai who would rather eat than fight. During the Great War he avoided fighting by taking a position as a combat engineer and has since then taken up chopping wood in exchange for food or various devices that interest him. He is most helpful within the group as their mechanic, and orchestrates the construction of medieval-type weapons (such as a ballista) to fight the giant mechanized Nobuseri. He loves rice more than any other person in the series and can tell where it's from just by the taste. He hates traitors, and is uncompromising in that respect due to the fact that he once betrayed his comrades by revealing information that resulted in his entire platoon being killed. He grows to become a more forgiving and understanding man due to Kambei's influence. Heihachi is killed while setting charges to blow up the engine of the capital when it is attempting to destroy Kanna. His last words are, "I'll be in the rice," a reference to an earlier allusion to the "seven spirits" present in each grain of rice, as he drew parallels between the seven rice spirits and the seven samurai. He is on the cover of the sixth volume.

-Kyuzo

A mysterious blond man who wears distinctive crimson-red clothing. He formerly worked as a bodyguard for Ayamaro, the merchant. Kyuzo wields double blades that fit into one sheath on his back, and has skills matching, or exceeding, Kambei's. He ultimately becomes part of the team and helps to defend the village, as well as to refine his swordsmanship. However, he has another reason for joining the seven - he wishes to challenge Kambei to a duel to the death after the bandits are defeated. On several occasions, Kyuzo saves Kambei's life, saying that he will be the only one to strike Kambei down. Kyuzo becomes injured while fighting nobuseri during the final battle against the capital and is killed near the end by gunfire (fired by Katsushiro) that overpenetrated an imperial guard. He dies in Kambei's arms, saying he will wait for him in the afterlife. He is on the cover of the fourth volume.