Seven Samurai 20XX
Before even reaching the title screen of 2004’s PlayStation 2 release Seven Samurai 20XX, an enormous weight of expectation and confusion has already been placed upon a perspective player. The title alone, referring to one of the most internationally recognized and beloved historical epic films, written, edited and directed by Akira Kurosawa in 1954, provides a futuristic suffix that may’ cause pause. After the legendary director passed away in 1998, leadership of his longtime production company Kurosawa Productions, established in 1959 to help the director maintain artistic freedom over his projects, turned over to his son Hisao. In 2004, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Seven Samurai, a variety of promotional campaigns and theatrical screenings were planned. An anime project titled Samurai 7 was produced, and Hisao Kurosawa turned towards the video game industry to put the Kurosawa name on a blockbuster release, an endeavor which became Seven Samurai 20XX.
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