We had to meet another kid from the gang who shows up The Elusive Samurai‘s OP and ED animations, so I knew we’d get an episode introducing him sooner rather than later. And sure enough, we don’t have to wait long before “Children in Winter” delivers, with Fubuki emerging from the forest and starting to swing his two swords in all directions. This was an excellent development, as Fubuki adds another layer of personality to Tokiyuki’s henchmen that will surely make future adventures with them much more entertaining. Plus, two swords are always wicked cool. More two swords in fights means I’m a happy camper every time.

The good news is that everything that has to do with Fubuki’s stunning two-handed sword fighting is also great! This is a rather transitional episode of The Elusive Samuraiwith the wacky villains mostly taking a back seat as the kids take on a mission and continue to deepen their bonds. Tokiyuki and his followers have to strike because Yorishige seems to frequently lose his ability to predict the future. Not only is this a good reason for the series to give the kids more alone time, but it also leads to some particularly funny jokes about Yorishige being an overprotective helicopter parent to Tokiyuki – and generally scaring everyone away (more than usual, that is).

But when Fubuki shows up, Children in Winter really takes off, and it’s not just because of the excellent – if mostly irrelevant – fights. I also liked the little jokes and moments of development – like when Tokiyuki realizes that Kojiro and Ayako are taking it easy on the training and allowing him a few easy wins to boost his confidence. I also like the general concept of a gluttonous drifter like Fukubi going out of his way to teach the recently orphaned children of a remote village the arts of self-defense and guerrilla warfare. It’s another example of The Elusive Samurai It combines its silly sense of humor and young cast with the incredibly grim and violent reality of life in war-torn 14th century Japan. Sometimes you just have to learn to pull your head together and team up with your buddies to dig up some death traps and learn how to murder grown men with arrows, you know?

Except perhaps Genba, none of Tokiyuki’s other young followers have much backstory or complex motivations, but The Elusive Samurai always finds ways to make up for it by making us love the unit as a whole. The vibrant art and beautiful animation go a long way in that regard, too. That means that the worst episode of this show yet is still very likable and entertaining. I won’t be complaining about that anytime soon.

Evaluation:

The Elusive Samurai is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop culture, which can also be found on Þjórsárdalurhis blog and his podcast.