Second volume of the Japanese anime series based on the classic Akira Kurosawa film 'Seven Samurai' (1954), and set in a war-ravaged future. When a poor village is plagued by heartless bandits who have altered their bodies with machine technology, they decide to hire samurai to protect them. Young priestess Kirara sets out to find the seven men who can save them. In this volume, the samurai find themselves hunted by the authorities after the Imperial Envoy is found murdered. As the team race from the city, they are confronted by the mysterious Shikimoribito - but are these machine creatures friends, or enemies? Episodes are: 'The Drifter'; 'The Fool'; 'The Friend'; and 'The Guardians'.