The Elusive Samurai is a tale of a young noble, Houjou Tokiyuki, enjoying his peaceful and mundane life in Kamakura until the great massacre of his clan. Afterwards, he is burdened with responsibility to reclaim his throne as the Kamakura Shogun and become a leader to the Elusive Warriors. With the aid of Suwa Yorishige, Tokiyuki will slowly lead the Elusive Warriors and the rest of his army to victory through his elusive ability.

The anime debuted with a shockingly brilliant first episode that showcases perfection in all aspects of animation. The stark difference between the opposing atmospheres of the episode is depicted through its colors and animation sequence. One thing that is prominent with The Elusive Samurai’s style is contradiction / contrast. They used opposing color palettes to address the change of plot atmosphere in a bold manner, one is used to express serenity while the latter is used to showcase the fall of Kamakura. Although the animation sequence was fluid throughout the whole episode, the animation fluidity expresses different motions which are playfulness and intensity of a battle.
I would like to praise the Cloverworks team’s creativity in depicting Tokiyuki’s speed and elusiveness for the rest of the season, most notably episode 9, which I thought was the best at expressing his elusive ability in combat.

Personally, I find the character design of the main casts and several others well-translated into animation. The character traits drawn by the mangaka are recognizable through their silhouette, and the animation team improved on the source material even further with emphasizing each character’s sharp lines, particularly Tokiyuki himself, while maintaining their outfit’s flowy characteristic.
Although the first episode surprises the audience in a shocking manner, the writing of the rest of the series is consistent without any major twist and turns. Despite that, the main antagonist, Ashikaga Takauji, is one of the interestingly written characters in the series as the anime slightly provided hints of his true nature and motives. This might be a good pick for people who are looking for simple yet fascinating storylines.

However, it peaked at episode one.

When I said the main concept of this anime is contradiction, I mean it literally. The lack of animation quality in several episodes were overly jarring as the animation team would utilize poorly animated CGI in some sequences, particularly the fight scenes. The character designs and art style are unsuitable for the 3D medium as those were well-intended for traditional animation. Thus, the CGI looked out of place. Knowing that they animated Windbreaker last season, this shows how overworked the staff were despite their talent.
Furthermore, the comedy aspect of the scriptwriting was so unfunny and unnecessarily forced that it ruined the ambience of a scene whether it was emotional or gruesome. Instead of providing the audience time to properly learn the situation, they were later met with the tonal whiplash or so called jokes. As such, it is difficult to sympathize with the characters or to convey other emotions. This heavily affects the characters other than the main antagonist, which leaves their character writing left to be desired.

(Plus, Yorishige's suspicious behaviour towards Tokiyuki was uncomfortable to watch, especially in 2024, a year full of Drakes.)

In summary, the concept of The Elusive Samurai was its strongest trait and yet its worst enemy. The promising animation led to disappointment when it was unable to maintain its consistency. In addition, the comedy writing left a bad taste in the mouth. Yet, this anime is still appreciated and looked forward to for its big potential as proven by the first episode. I certainly hope the next season will be able to live up to this expectation that they’ve set, if they ever make one. I highly suggest watching the first episode, and you can decide whether to proceed further or not.