It's 26 episodes, and it's credited to Kurosawa as it contains a lot of the story, but quite a bit more made up. Characters are somewhat different, yet retain the same names, and they do keep the basic qualities of their on-screen original counterparts (well, mostly).
I'm on the 16th episode. It's... surprisingly very very good. The basic premise is exactly the same as it was in the movie, however as it's 26 episodes, and ultimately nine or so hours long, it contains a lot more story and mainly - action, which is a good thing here. Supposedly they spent about $300 000 per episode, and it shows since they were all filmed in high definition. As far as looks go, it's pretty fantastic.
Setting is altered though. This is the best explanation I could find for it.
I like it alot so far (...it... doesn't beat the movie of course, but then again it's kind of unfair to compare), but I'll post more when I'm done.Samurai 7 takes place in a sci-fi setting, but it's not too sci-fi? Meaning that there are giant robots, but the samurai still use metal swords. There are giant air ships, but there's no intergalactic travel. There's electricity and the main cities appear almost steam-punk in their grittiness and griminess, but the outlying villages are accessible mainly by foot over wooden bridges, and their main (and really only) source of income is still rice. It's an interesting setting. You only question it in the beginning, but then you quickly accept it.
