FUNimation Ent.’s Akira Kurosawa’s Samurai 7 will make its U.S. broadcast debut via a deal struck with Rainbow Media. The anime program, produced by GONZO Digimation, will first air on VOOM HD Networks’ ANIMANIA HD on March 1, followed by an April 1 start date on IFC.
Based on Kurosawa’s classic epic, The Seven Samurai, the animated show is set in a small village in feudal Japan that falls prey to marauders who return every harvest to raid the crops. Faced with starvation, the villagers set out on a mission to recruit down-on-their-luck samurai to defend them.
Samurai 7 has already met success in the U.S. on home video, and should prove a popular addition ANIMANIA HD, which recently picked up Monster Distributes’ toon properties PicMe and Jungle Beat to air alongside such cartoon classics as The Pink Panther, Dick Tracy, Mr. Magoo and Felix the Cat. Samurai 7 also fits in well at IFC, which regularly airs vintage samurai films, including the works of undisputed genre master Kurosawa.
ANIMANIA HD, available nationally on Dish Network (Ch. 9474), will premiere Samurai 7 on Wednesday, March 1, at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT as part of the channel’s new Wednesday Animayhem block. IFC will air the half-hour series on Saturday, April 1, at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT in conjunction with its Samurai Saturdays movie feature.
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