See the previous lists in the series:
I will be closing this series of lists on small-sized ensembles with one for heptads or septets – i.e. seven-member teams.
Honorable
Mentions: The League of Evil Exes (Scott
Pilgrim vs. the World), The Humunculi (Full
Metal Alchemist Brotherhood), The Ant Hill Mob (Wacky Races, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop), The Shichibukai (One Piece)
10.) SENSUI SEVEN
In Yu Yu Hakusho a.k.a. Ghost Fighter, ex-Spirit Detective Shinobu Sensui formed the Sensui Seven to help him in his vision
of letting the human world be overrun with demons. Understandably, current Spirit Detective
Yusuke and the rest of Team Urameshi set off to stop them.
Aside from
Sensui a.k.a. Dark Angel, the team is made up of Itsuki a.k.a. Gatekeeper, who
has dimensional powers; Sadao Makihara a.k.a. Gourmet, who devour others to
gain their powers; Tsukihito Amanuma a.k.a. Gamemaster, who can bring video
games to life; Kaname Hagiri a.k.a. Sniper, who can make projectiles out of erasers, pebbles, knives, and other objects; Kiyoshi Mitarai a.k.a. Seaman, who can summon water monsters, and
later switches sides, joining Yusuke’s group; and Minoru Kamiya a.k.a., who can
manipulate biological chemistries.
9.) SNOW WHITE’S SEVEN DWARFS
Probably the
most popular “seven” in fiction. My
favorite version is, of course, from Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – the ones whose names
reflect their personalities and who enthusiastically sing and whistle “Heigh
Ho” while at work. Adorable.
8.) THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS
The eponymous
characters of the anime The Seven Deadly Sins
were the most powerful order of Holy Knights in the Kingdom of Liones. They disbanded after being accused of
overthrowing the kingdom, but have soon begun reuniting ten years later to aid
the young princess Elizabeth in liberating the kingdom from the oppressive rule
of the Holy Knights, and to stop an evil plot that would release powerful ancient demons into the world.
7.) SUZAKU CELESTIAL WARRIORS
Fushigi Yuugi is an anime
about a junior high school student named Miaka who discovers a mysterious book
and gets magically sucked into its world.
There, she learns that she is the Priestess of the celestial god Suzaku,
and she must gather its seven Celestial Warriors – the martial artist Tamahome,
the swordsman emperor Hotohori, the super-strong cross-dresser Nuriko, the
magician monk Chichiri (my personal favorite), the flame-casting bandit Tasuki,
the healer Mitsukake, and the boy genius Chiriko.
6.) THE AUTHORITY
The Authority is
a superhero team composed of anti-heroes ready to do whatever it takes – even
if it involves killing or breaking an ethical standard – in order to save the
day. The seven fascinating founding members
of the team are:
-- Team leader
Jenny Sparks. “The Spirit of the Twentieth
Century.” She has the ability control
electricity as well as transform into it.
She was born at the dawn of the century, stopped aging at 19 years old,
and would die once the century ended. As
a Century Baby, her purpose was to influence the key events of the
century, which led her to interact with various historical figures through the years.
-- Apollo. As a Superman-analogue, he absorbs solar energy and possesses powers like super-strength, super-speed, invulnerability,
flight, and heat vision.
-- Midnighter. A Batman-analogue. However, unlike Batman, he has superpowers, including
moderate superhuman strength, speed, and endurance, and a healing factor. He also can predict or simulate a battle
before it unfolds, and thus, he is able to calculate and orchestrate the
outcome he prefers. Another interesting
characteristic of his is a secondary, auxiliary heart.
-- Jack
Hawksmoor. As the “God of Cities”, he’s nourished by urban pollution and he
can’t survive outside of urban environments for long. His wide range of powers are
defined by whatever city he’s in, and is psychically linked to it. His power is proportionate to the population
and development of that city, and he gets weaker when it gets damaged. He can also travel between cities and communicate
to embodiments of them, as if they are conscious beings.
-- The
Doctor. A shaman that has the collective,
accumulated powers of all the shamans that came before him.
-- The
Engineer. A scientist who replaced her
blood with nanotechnology, making her a techno-organic creature that can create
whatever she imagines.
-- Swift. A Hawkgirl-analogue.
5.) THE LOSERS’
CLUB
The protagonists
of the fantasy horror novel It by
Stephen King are seven kids – six boys and one girl – who band together to
form the “Losers’ Club.” They are
brought together by two common things about themselves: 1.) They are all social
misfits; and 2.) they have had separate encounters with “It”, a monster that
either takes the form of their greatest fears or as “Pennywise”, a mysterious,
child-abducting, murderous clown.
What makes this
ensemble so awesome is that they – despite being young, weak, and terrified – are able to take on an extremely powerful ancient evil with just the strength
of their friendship. Yep, this might be
a cliché, but the Losers’ Club has one of the most intimate (if you have read
the book, you would know the extent of their “intimacy”), tight-knit
friendships in fiction. The novel has
this striking quote about their friendship: “Maybe there aren't any such things as
good or bad friends – maybe there are just friends, people who stand by you
when you're hurt and who help you feel not so lonely. Maybe they're always worth being scared for, and
hoping for, and living for. Maybe worth
dying for, too, if that's what has to be.
No good friends. No bad
friends. Only people you want, need to
be with; people who build their houses in your heart.”
Can’t wait for the It movie.
4.) SEVEN
SAMURAI
The classic Japanese
film Seven Samurai tells the story of
seven ronin who are hired by a farming village to fight off an upcoming horde
of bandits. It’s a terrific tale
featuring a cool ensemble concept. All
of which are wonderfully duplicated in…
3.) THE MAGNIFICENT
SEVEN
The Magnificent Seven is an
American remake of Seven Samurai. The plot is basically the same; but instead
of samurai, it has gunslingers, and instead of being set during the Sengoku
Period, it’s set during the Wild West. The
transposition is seamless.
The original
1960 movie is better, but the 2016 remake’s characters are more colorful, well-realized, and
interesting. Still, I’ll let
the two versions share this spot.
2.) VONGOLA
FAMIGLIA
The Vongola
Famiglia has always been the most powerful Mafia Famiglia in the world. But next in line for the position of Vongola Boss, Tsuna Sawada, is reluctant of taking the title. Still, whether he likes it or not, his
determined “tutor”, Reborn, has been continually training and equipping him for
the role, including assembling a formidable “inner circle” of Guardians for him, which are made up of friends and former foes – the explosives expert and aspiring right-hand man Hayato Gokudera; the
baseball-loving swordsman Takeshi Yamamoto; the boxer Ryohei Sasagawa; the stoic,
battle-hungry Kyoya Hibari, the strongest Guardian; the toddler Lambo, who
summons his future self to fight in his stead; and the illusionist Mukoro Rokudo,
who has to possess his disciple Chrome Dokuro’s body whenever his services are required
since he’s all locked up in the Vendicare Prison.
1.) JUSTICE
LEAGUE (DCAU version)
For me, the best
incarnation of the Justice League in all medium – comics, film, TV – is the DC
Animated Universe (a.k.a. Timmverse) version, as shown in the early 2000’s
Justice League. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian
Manhunter, the Flash (Wally West), Green Lantern (John Stewart), and Hawkgirl
proved to be a superb, definitive Justice League roster. Though I enjoyed that the team expanded into
an army in Justice League Unlimited –
allowing more DC superheroes to be featured and explored in animated form – I
actually enjoyed the dynamic of the original seven more.
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