Alternate Character Interpretation: The seven may be Knight in Sour Armor types who are still doing their best for the villagers. However, an equally valid interpretation supported by the text is that they're just fighting because it's their caste's purpose and personal reasons like testing their skill, glory, or as a favor to Kambei. A few may even be Death Seeker types who seek the option of dying well in battle rather than fading away like so many other ronin.
Award Snub: It received two Academy Award nominations for Art Direction and Costume Design, but not Best Foreign Language Film.
Kikuchiyo isn't the lead, but he's unarguably the best-remembered character, aided by the fact that he's played by the most popular actor.
Seiji Miyaguchi as Kyûzô is also highly admired (frequently called "the cool one"), for being a badass swordsman who is laconic and nonchalant about his awesomeness.
Genius Bonus: A close look at Kyûzô's introductory duel shows that he sacrifices the chance for a first strike to land what would be a sure killing blow, hence his insistence that he won. Once the real swords come out, he instead prioritizes speed as he can no longer allow himself to be hit.
Harsher in Hindsight: Earlier in the film, when the samurai arrive at the village, Kikuchiyo remarks, "I'd hate to die on that dung heap." Heihachi rebuffs with, "Nobody's asking you to." At the end of the film, Kikuchiyo does die on that "dung heap", in battle, and of course, nobody asked him to.
Ho Yay: Katsushirō's worshipful admiration of Kyûzô can easily be seen as this.
Jerkass Woobie: Kikuchiyo. Sure, he's crass, rude, stubborn and impulsive, but man, does his life suck. First of all, he's an orphaned farmer's son whose parents were implied to have been killed. Second, his attempts at proving his worth at being a samurai are met with mockery by the other six. He spends half the movie being the Butt-Monkey of the other samurai until eventually, finally he's accepted as part of the team. Also counts as an Iron Woobie, since he's got an amazing, determined spirit despite all this.
Mainstream Obscurity: Like Rashomon, Seven Samurai is known for its basic plot, and even more for the praise it has gotten, not realising that the film is a still-relevant parable of class difference with a rich plot and colourful characters.
Narm Charm: At Heihachi's funeral, when the villagers start wailing, Kikuchiyo screams at them to stop. At one point, Kikuchiyo's voice cracks as he does so. It's silly, but at the same time you can tell he's also torn up about losing Heihachi.
Once Original, Now Common: A major victim of this phenomenon, it has been so influential that modern viewers can often miss its brilliance. Many of the visual jokes can now be recognized from miles away. It's often called the first modern action film. The various tropes had all existed before, but this was the first time they were all used together.
Tatsuya Nakadai was an extra in the early scenes of the farmers searching for samurai to hire, eventually becoming a major star in many of Japan's great cinema classics, including supporting roles in Kurosawa's Yojimbo, Sanjuro, and High&Low, and the leads in the later Kagemusha and Ran.
The bandit killed by Kyûzô was played by Haruo Nakajima, who's best known for playing Godzilla during the Showa era.
Values Dissonance: Kikuchiyo's effort to try and flirt with peasant women would be seen as creepy and not endearing.
Visual Effects of Awesome: The actor who played Kyûzô, Seiji Myaguchi, had never handled a sword in his life, not even a Kendo cane. However, with some clever camera tricks, he looked like the best swordsman in the film. Considering that this is long before digital editing, that's pretty impressive.
