Shonen heroes are sometimes blessed with particular powers. From overwhelming energy or velocity to excessive stretchiness, their ace-in-the-hole lets them emerge victorious in all of the battles they need to combat. However what if a hero’s energy was their skill to run away?

The Elusive Samurai is what it says on the duvet: a interval piece set in 14th century Japan following Tokiyuki Hojo, the nimble inheritor to the regent of the Kamakura shogunate. He shirks his coaching, preferring as a substitute to sprint across the city, dodging his weary academics and performing acrobatics throughout the rooftops.

When his household is betrayed and slaughtered, nonetheless, issues change. He’s now out of the blue torn from his carefree life. Staring down a bleak finish amid fireplace and blades, nonetheless, a not-so-subtle priest provides Tokiyuki a not-so-subtle shove, kick-starting a marketing campaign for revenge and the eventual reclamation of his homeland, with Tokiyuki’s knack for working away as his trump card.

Primarily based on the manga by Yusei Matsui, which has been working in weekly Shonen Soar since 2021, The Elusive Samurai is within the midst of its first season (airing within the U.S. on Crunchyroll). It’s a sequence I’ve needed to take a look at for some time, on my ever-growing backlog of manga. With CloverWorks (The Promised Neverland, Bocchi the Rock!) tackling manufacturing, although, I figured the primary episode could be value a shot.

Immediately, it’s made clear that The Elusive Samurai goes to be a visually gorgeous sequence. Not counting an especially catchy and enjoyable OP, the story begins with a full-motion video preamble about Takauji Ashikaga and the historical past of Japan, earlier than actually closing the guide and chopping to Tokiyuki working round.

The following animation is solely attractive, because the younger lord leaps and bounds round city amid Takauji’s send-off ceremony. In a matter of minutes, the viewer sees each facet of Tokiyuki’s idyllic palace life: his father’s puppet regency, the stoicism of Takauji, and the way Tokiyuki finds pleasure in shirking duty, selecting to easily take within the easy pleasures of this life.

A seemingly probability encounter with a priest reinforces The Elusive Samurai‘s comedic chops, too. The sequence performs up each wordplay and bodily comedy to nice impact, with Yorishige Suwa and his assistant as excellent comedic enhances to disrupt Tokiyuki’s life.

It could all be calm earlier than the storm, although, as The Elusive Samurai could be very a lot a samurai story, and that does entail its justifiable share of blood and carnage. It’s sufficient to push Tokiyuki to the sting, actually; however when he goes tumbling over, he finds his agile nature belies a exceptional skill to keep away from dying and hazard. In a fluid, fantastically animated montage, Tokiyuki goes flying by means of a mass of samurai, dodging blades and arrows alike, rising like a phoenix.

This turns into the guts of The Elusive Samurai, a present that may pivot on a second’s discover from light-hearted comedy to grotesque violence. It’d really feel dissonant at occasions, however it works extremely nicely, mirroring Tokiyuki’s personal shock and feelings within the second. It’s exceptional how CloverWorks manages to navigate what might need been a tough adaptation, in any other case.

Intersperse some unimaginable panorama work, extra intelligent animation and transitions, and even the best way CloverWorks frames all of it, and The Elusive Samurai is well one of many summer season’s greatest visible treats in terms of anime. It’s so devoted to the bit that, in Episode 2, an early joke a few cube recreation turns into a full-blown visible gag that evolves over the course of your complete episode.

I’m eager to see how the emotional and comedic layers intertwine within the coming episodes, however suffice to say, The Elusive Samurai is well one to maintain tabs on this summer season. We’ve had no scarcity of stellar manga variations over the past 12 months or so, together with Scrumptious in Dungeon and Frieren. And proper now, The Elusive Samurai appears poised to be simply as beloved.