I need to see the anime so I can compare! Offhand what are the major similarities/differences?
Er, you have to remember that I've seen the first four out of twenty-four episodes. So far the differences are: it's not 16th century Japan, but rather one of those mixed high/low tech cultures anime seems to love. IE, people are fighting robots with katanas. The bandits are robots of some sort, not precisely sure what. Kikuchuyo is also a machine. Instead of a couple of ancient farmers, the villagers send their priestess-chick, her kid sister, and a young farmer to look for samurai. Plus, the movie is three hours long; the anime will clock in at somewhere over eight, so they can expand things a lot. Or invent all-new stuff...
Oh, yeah, and some of the samurai are pretty in this version. Especially Katsushiro.
If you had highspeed internet, I could tell you where to get these - I'm using a p2p network, basically, and this anime isn't licensed yet so it's not illegal to download fansubs. Heh, you're the one who needs to find an anime group in your area. People there are usually thrilled to pass out fansubs.