We should kill the bandits!
Grandfather, that's crazy!
We'll hire samurai.
No, not this one.
I have found you, my sworn enemy!
Stay back! Stay back!
It is decided! That man is the samurai-sama who will save our village!
Being able to understand each other,
and to share with each other,
are both as short-lived as a bubble on the water.
Obscured by the sands of time,
unable to hold on,
I gave up, until I saw you again, asking
"How much pain
have you been carrying, all alone?
And how much loneliness
is hidden behind your eyes when you smile?"
Embrace this miracle of an encounter now,
By gazing upon each other, we can become stronger.
And if this isn't what you call love,
then what is it you call love now?
Hey, Kiku-noji. Your head this time, is it?
Sorry. So, mister, could you fix me up again?
This is another pretty sharp cut here.
This was no ordinary quarrel, was it?
No quarrel. It was a battle.
Kiku-noji, did you take on a samurai?
Yeah, a samurai. A samurai!
Sister...
I'm sorry, Mikumari-sama, but that samurai-sama has unusually fast legs.
I ain't got any idea where he went off to.
That is a problem.
Stop.
Oh, she's a fine one, huh?
She is a peasant. This is unusual, having a peasant in a town such as this, huh?
She is indeed a diamond in the rough. She will shine, if polished, I bet.
Young Lord, your father awaits, and we must hurry.
Still, she is fine, huh?
I will bring her to you later. Now, if we could...
Ah, all right, all right. We may go.
A moment! Please, wait a moment!
A moment!
Please, wait. I have something to ask of you.
I am Okamoto Katsushiro.
I humbly request that you please accept me as your apprentice,
Zaemon Yoshichika-dono, the Peaceable.
That name was only something I used as a means to cut down the burglar.
Magnificent! Then, please tell me what your true name is!
Hmm... Must I tell you?
By all means!
Shimada Kanbe.
Well then, Kanbe-sama I once again make my request of you.
I greatly admire the way you cut down that burglar earlier.
The moment of your piercing shout,
the way your sword made no unnecessary motions...
You are indeed the ideal samurai that I have been searching for!
Sister, we found him!
You are a samurai?
Yes.
At your age, you cannot have known war.
My aim is to be a samurai,
with a belief in the heart of the perpetual battlefield to train me up.
Your sword possesses the heart of the perpetual battlefield.
Ask someone else.
Wait...!
I have something to ask of you!
Cut down the bandits, huh?
What do you think, honored warrior? Won't you please lend us your strength?
All that we peasants can offer as thanks is this.
Eat as much of this rice as you like. This is the only thing we have.
Those bandits think of us as nothin' more than their tools to grow rice,
no matter how many of us may die.
But us peasants've got souls, too!
I will go.
You will?
Mm-hmm. I have heard stories of how, after a war,
those who are bandits resort to even assaulting the peasants,
for the purpose of collecting their rice or grain.
I, Okamoto Katsushiro, will do whatever little I can to assist you.
But Samurai-san, you don't have the smell of the battlefield about you,
so you're no good. That's what Sister said--
K- Komachi! I'm sorry! What a terribly impolite thing to say!
N- no... you were completely right to say so.
However, expending one's energy for the weak is the true duty of the warrior.
Your words are more than we deserve!
Why don't we save these people from their distress?
Why?
I saw how you saved that child earlier.
I believe that there is no one besides you that can save our village.
The only battles I've known are losing ones.
If I were to go, your village would be decimated.
But...!
You cut down that burglar earlier, didn't you?!
That was different from a battle. I am nothing more than a shell.
An ordinary shell, who continues to live in disgrace.
Katsushiro, wasn't it?
You cannot handle it.
B- but...!
You won't help us, no matter what?
Young lady...
You said you were the Mikumari, maiden of the shrine, right?
Sometimes, the water you locate will be bitter.
The current rate of growth of the city is most pleasing.
In particular, the remarkable progress made
by everyone here in Kogakyo is truly wonderful,
and I understand that it is even to the point where other cities
are under strict orders to pattern themselves after Kogakyo.
If the world adopts our resourcefulness as merchants from here on,
it is said that the provisions for the post-war restructuring
will become even more firm.
A job well done, Imperial Envoy.
I deeply appreciate all your efforts, as well as your generous consideration.
Please relay that I gratefully accept these gifts.
As you wish.
Gentlemen of the syndicate, you may engrave this upon your hearts--
the era of the samurai is over.
Pledge yourselves now to the merchants,
and to aiding the revitalization of the city.
We could have skipped that.
For your father's part, it's not surprising that he would think of this
as a good opportunity to foster your involvement with the syndicate.
Someday, Young Lord, you will succeed your father.
Ukyo-sama, welcome back.
--Welcome back. --Welcome back.
Ukyo-sama...
Is that girl here yet?
Why aren't you folks eating rice? What is that?
It's called "firefly fare."
The rice is saved for the samurai.
Please don't let it bother you.
Yeah, but...
Um, Samurai-sama...?
Wait just a moment. First, I need to fill my stomach.
O- okay...
Grandfather was right. Samurai are hungry.
Thanks for the food. Now, if you'll excuse me...
Are you trying to mock me?! I aspire to greater things! I'll be leaving.
I will not accept your offerings! I may be down and out, but I am still a warrior!
This is disappointing. So this is the way of the samurai?
Hey, have you found a samurai yet? There ain't any guys that crazy around, huh?
Just give up and hurry on home to your village.
You disrespectful clod!
Don't, Katsushiro-sama!
We'll try covering a wider area starting tomorrow.
There is still time before the ears of rice bow their heads.
You've finally found her?
The story is that they have gone into the lower layers.
It seems there are some peasants who are treating people to their rice.
Last night, I dreamt about you.
Oh?
I'm Ukyo. And you?
What's the matter?
These are flowers that have bloomed for you.
If you do not accept them, the flowers will weep.
That's it! That's better. See, the flowers are overjoyed.
So, what was your name?
Kirara.
Kirara? Nice. Very nice, that's pretty.
Um, was there something you needed?
Goodness, Kirara-kun, it's about the samurai-sama that you are looking for.
The truth is, there is a samurai-sama that wants so much to meet you,
but he is someone who doesn't like to come out into the open,
so I have come to you as his representative. Shall we go see him?
Please, wait...
Young Lord!
If she is bruised, I will hold you responsible.
Not to worry. Here, allow me...
That's okay! Don't touch her!
It's that samurai from before!
That one is no good.
But he tried to save that child! He did blow it, though.
That person is a machine, just like the bandits.
He's a good mechanical samurai!
Did you want something?
Kirara-dono!
So, what do you need?
Hey, what's wrong?
Hey!
I can handle the bandits by myself.
Here you are.
Will you do it?
I am a samurai.
This is great!
Here they finally find someone, and it's this mechanical samurai!
You got a problem with that?
Amazing!
With this guy around, we'll have the strength of a hundred million zillion men!
Hasn't Kirara-dono come back yet?
Ah, you're...
Katsushiro-sama, is somethin' the matter?
We don't know where Kirara-dono is.
What, the girl? You're saying she's disappeared, then?
Do you know something about it?
There's no question. She's in that place. That place.
That place...?
Hey there.
You don't need to be afraid. You've been chosen by me, you see.
This is a great honor for you.
You tricked me!
How awful! And here I've rescued you.
Discreetly, now! We don't have any proof!
Quiet, you dolt!
This is your fault for not looking after her closely enough, isn't it?
And you call yourself a samurai?!
Welcome back.
Working in the fields is hard, huh?
Well, from now on, you don't have to worry about that.
First, we'll have you take a perfume bath.
Then, you'll feast upon all sorts of delicious things
you've never even seen before, okay?
Please let me off, I beg you! I have a very important duty to fulfill.
Shh!
You can't go on worrying about that. Bid farewell to the secular world.
All you need to think about is your own happiness now.
Kirara-dono!
Are you Kirara?
Y- yes...
Kirara-dono, come quickly!
I will cut down the bandits!
Who is this?
Young Lord, hurry! Young Lord!
Do not harm the girl!
Kikuchiyo-dono!
Not again!
You go on!
Kirara-dono, you must not let go of my hand!
Right!
Katsushiro-sama!
Kirara-dono, run away!
Katsushiro-sama!
Hurry and get going, Kirara-dono!
Go!
It's too dangerous! Come back here!
You'd best not be thinking anything foolish. Below you is a bottomless pit.
If you come back with Ukyo-sama, you will enjoy a life without want for anything.
Not a bad deal, right?
Hey, wait!
She did it!
Jump!
I thought I told you to go home.
I was sure...
I was sure that you would save me. I believed it.
The old man merely gazed off into the distance
from the hideaway in which he lived.
The baby cries, seeking only
for the warmth of his mother.
We are born paying the price
for someone's punishment, for someone's sins,
but there is no such thing as a future without salvation,
and the present slips quietly into the past.
We string together nothing but hollow ideas,
and tell nothing but hollow lies.
And as the rain falls down upon us,
something appears and then fades away.
Okara-chan, yoo-hoo! Today, I, Komachi, am writing to you again, my second letter.
Today, I will write about the samurai-sama that we came across in town.
The first one we met was Katsushiro-sama,
who is like this cool older brother samurai.
He seems like a very good person,
but Sister doesn't appear to be very keen on him.
Next came Kanbe-sama.
He's like someone's grim old uncle. He seems quite fearsome, and strong.
He's a strange man, that used a big fake name right from the start,
and cut down a bad guy, but he is Sister's favorite.
Sister, is he your type?
Komachi's favorite is a mechanical samurai named Kikuchiyo.
There is something about him that is adorable.
He's always saying "Whoa!" I'm thinking of becoming his sidekick!
Well, I'll write you another letter soon. Bye now!