Gonzo's 2004 anime series Samurai 7 is based on Akira Kurosawa's 1954 film Seven Samurai. The show was directed by Toshifumi Takizawa and scored by Kaoru Wada and Eitetsu Hayashi. Each episode costs 32,500,000. The series launched in Japan on Animax as an exclusive high definition CS-PPV broadcast, and was then aired by the network worldwide, including Southeast Asia, South Asia, Latin America, and other territories. Funimation obtained North American dubbing rights. It broadcast in April 2006 on the Independent Film Channel and Animania HD on Dish Networks. Razer in Canada and TVB Jade in Hong Kong both broadcast it. On September6,2010, Funimation premiered the series. It aired on Adult Swim's relaunched Toonami block from August19,2012, through February10, 2013.