Ranked #62

Samurai Champloo

Historical anime don't usually interest me, but when it's as tongue-in-cheek and as full of anachronisms as this, I'm not sure it really counts as a historical anime anymore.

STORY - Like its predecessor Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo is a very episodic series, and it's perfectly safe to miss a few episodes here or there. Even the overarching story remains incredibly vague for almost the entirety of the series and the audience is sometimes left to wonder if there really is a point to all of that searching when they knew virtually nothing to begin with. There's something about the lack of details that makes this story appealing though -- it never seems that important, so you just continue along, but deep in the back of your head, you remain curious about it. So it's the perfect situation; there's immediate gratification within each mostly-standalone episode, but there's also the thread that ties all of those little adventures together, and in the end, there is an ending.

CHARACTER - As with many other slice-of-life or episodic series, much of the entertainment relies on the characters, and herein is a very strong point for the series. All three of our protagonists are rich, interesting characters with backstories that don't seem to clash with their general personalities. As strangers that all met coincidentally in the first episode, their histories are gradually revealed throughout the course of the series in a perfectly paced, even casual way. Though this involves a bunch of chance encounters with figures from their respective pasts, none of them ever really seem to intrude upon the story for the sole purpose of explaining things, which is great. And their stories all actually do contribute to their personalities as a whole, making them all fully-rounded characters with an enjoyable amount of depth to them.

The characters also really contribute to the sometimes satirical nature of the series. Jin could be, at first glance, your stereotypical samurai. Or maybe he really just is, but the fact that they poke fun at him for it makes his whole stance all the more questionable. Mugen is just ridiculous; after all, his fighting technique is rooted in break dancing. And Fuu... well, I suppose Fuu is the least notable of them all, though I sort of feel like I can conclude her a mockery of typical women in samurai anime if I'd seen more samurai anime. Even given the normalcy of her character, she has enough emotion and perseverance to keep her from being called flat.

ARTSTYLE & ARTWORK - Given the time period of the series and all the anachronistic elements, Champloo's art style is very fun and unique. The opening and ending sequences are a great example already. The blending of modern ideas with such a traditional setting is brilliant and very interesting to see. One of the best examples within the series would probably be the graffiti episodes, where yes, there's totally a town in feudal Japan with a street graffiti problem and two rival gangs that won't stop tagging everything. The animation itself is of good quality throughout and it's definitely an aesthetically pleasing series.

MUSIC - Yoko Kanno once again demonstrates her musical prowess by tackling genres others generally don't and mixing them all together. It never ceases to amaze me just what kind of eclectic ensemble the woman comes up with. The music in Champloo suits it perfectly with its clash of ancient and modern, traditional Japanese folk music and present-day hip hop. The opening and ending themes are also wonderfully appropriate to many aspects of the series.

VOICE ACTING - I've seen both the sub and dub, and I must say, both are quite excellent. While I wouldn't necessarily venture to say that the dub is better than the sub (as was certainly the case with Bebop), it definitely stands on at least the same level. Dub-wise, it might have been the easy choice to cast Steve Blum as Mugen, considering Spike Spiegel and Mugen not only had similar personalities, but also looked similar, but damn, the man sure does the job well. (Admission of bias: I love Steve Blum's voice.) Jin's and Fuu's English voices were also quite awesome and actually sounded rather similar to their Japanese counterparts. The characters introduced in each episode also maintained above average voices for the most part, with appropriately sinister voices for the sinister and bumbling voices for the bumbling. All expressed emotion well and were generally convincing all around.

OVERALL - Samurai Champloo was a very fun series. Almost all the episodes were excellent in themselves with a great story, as well as great technical aspects. But the overarching story, when it finally did come together in the end, was actually really nice too. And simple as the ending was, I liked it, was satisfied, and thought it was worth it.
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Samurai Champloo is the latest work from Writer/Director Shinichiro Watanabe, who is most recognized for his work on Cowboy Bebop. One of the very few things Champloo and Bebop have in common is their great scores. Champloo mixes two subjects which would never be put in one sentence together, western hip-hop and eastern samurai swordplay. Yet the mixture comes out with a brilliant result. The fights scenes are hyped up with the speed and flow from the music and come out magnificent. But Champloo isn’t all about fighting. Many things happen along the road for the three main characters: Mugen, a rough mouth vagrant with a fighting style similar to capoeira with a sword. Jin, a quite and intelligent ronin who fights with deadly lightning speeds. And Fuu, the ditsy waitress that brings these two together in search of a samurai who smells of sunflowers. Between these three we see many moments of humorous antics, whether it's Mugen poking insults at her flat chest or Mugen and Jin’s constant attempts on each others life. Samurai Champloo is fueled by Action, Comedy, and Drama. Together with an original story Samurai Champloo has a unique spin on the old samurai era making it a great find for any fan of anime.

Story
The story of Champloo is an original work from Shinichiro Watanabe. The story centers on Fuu’s search for a samurai who smells of sunflowers. As the wanders continue on their travel they encounter many problems, mostly dealing with how to make money for their various expenses some times causing trouble for the three. In the travels many humorous things occur like Mugen entering a beetle type cock fight, Jin and Mugen’s adventure in to the red-light district, or the three entering an eating contest. As the three get closer to the samurai who smells of sunflowers, things begin to unravel leading the three to the most trouble they have ever seen.

Animation
Champloo has crisp clean stylistic animation. Characters are draw clean and clear with many details. The landscapes of Champloo are filled with beautiful shots of Japan’s country side. There are even a few scenes were the animation becomes only black and white and seem as they where draw straight from sketches to add to the scene. There is also one part were the colors and animation becomes so lively that it gives the impression of a whacked out hallucination.

Sound
The score of Champloo is what sets its self apart from any other anime in its genre. The background music is filled with urban hip-hop to give it a loose free flowing fill to it. A big portion of Champloo is focused on its original sound and it shows. For action scenes we get a fast flowing sound that gives the sword fights a more stylistic feel to them. For the more dramatic scenes we get deeper sounding background music. There are even moments during some flash back scenes were the music that we get to hear a rich Japanese sound to give a deeper feeling to it.

Characters
Samurai Champloo focuses around 3 core characters. Mugen is a straight loud mouth anti-hero. Mugen is the wild one of the group, always flying by the seat of his pants. Mugen also seems to have a problem with authority. Mugen is the first to draw and the last to leave a fight. Jin is a noble ronin in the search of a purpose. Jin although quite and wise, he too has some distaste with authority like Mugen, although with different reason mainly because he sees the one’s in charge as waste. Fuu is a young girl in the search of a samurai who smells of sunflowers, she keeps these reasons to herself for some reason. Fuu is clumsy and some times naive. Fuu is constantly being kidnapped even though she has two strong bodyguards. And for some reason she keeps a flying squirrel with her to help out sometimes.

Enjoyment
Any one who is a fan of samurai action will surely like Champloo. Filled with enough action to keep those hard core action fans at bay, Champloo sprinkles some comedy and drama on top. If you are someone who doesn’t like the hip-hop aspect of Champloo, then at least give it a try, you may be surprised. read more