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by YUKINO Yoshi (14 February 2005)

When Seven Samurai first came out in 1954, Akira KUROSAWA probably never thought that he had just made one of the most influential works in the history of film. Now, half a century--and numerous adaptations--later, Seven Samurai still continues to fascinate movie makers and goers alike with some of the most riveting storytelling in a film.

The year 2004 was the 50th anniversary of Kurosawa's masterpiece, and as a homage to film, anime powerhouse GONZO marked the occasion with a groundbreaking TV-anime series adaptation that cost a whooping 700 million yen to produce.

Samurai 7 is made entirely in high definition, and blends stunning 3D and 2D animation. The series costs around 32.5 million yen (US$300,000) per episode to make--twice the average cost per episode of a standard anime TV series. And with the series running 26 episodes, Samurai 7 becomes of the most expensive anime series GONZO (if not any anime company) has ever made.

Samurai 7's story remains very much true to the Kurosawa's film: peasants whose village is pillaged year after year by bandits turn to seven ronin to help rid them of their oppressors. But rather than a period film, this series takes place in the distant future, just after the end of an intergalactic war. And as with most futuristic series (especially one from GONZO), this one has mecha thrown in with the sword-fighting action. Bearing in mind the sort of expectations that come with remaking a classic, GONZO wants to ensure that Samurai 7 isn't just another chanbara (sword-fighting) series.

"Officially, it's an action series," director Toshifumi TAKIZAWA tells Newtype magazine. "But what makes it interesting is how eacho f the main characters think in the show.

"Something like (Katsuhiro OOTOMO's) Steamboy would be great, but we can't do that for every episode in a TV-series. Instead we try to give whenever possible a psychological side to the war being fought. Even this isn't easy, but for a TV-series, I think it's better to build up the action in a logical way than just have everything flashy."

Takizawa also insists that extra care is taken to keep the integrity of Kurosawa's story, especially with Seven Samurai being Kurosawa's own eulogy for the samurai and all the virtues they have come to epitomise, as they get brushed aside by a changing society.

"While Seven Samurai is often considered as a film about samurai defending a village, I believe Akira Kurosawa had intended it to be a film about the aesthetics of the samurai," explains Takizawa. "The battles at the village are solely to portray these samurai, which is why we don't want Samurai 7 to be too showy, even though this is an animation."

Besides staying true to the spirit of Seven Samurai, the series also features a world that's not too unlike the old rustic countryside of Kurosawa's feudal Japan, as well as an ethnic Japanese soundtrack by Kaoru WADA (Inu-Yasha, To Heart 2 )and Eitetsu HAYASHI.

Samurai 7 began airing in Japan on 12 June, 2004; the series ended on 25 December, 2004, after 26 episodes.

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