The story starts by introducing Mugen, Jin, and Fuu, members of the Edo period. Fuu enlists the help of the two boys in order to find the samurai that smells of sunflower. She does not explain why she wants to find him or who he is and is only able to keep the boys with her due to saving their lives. The anime basically follows their journey to its end. This includes lots of searching/ stealing/ working for food, fights over food/ money/ work, helping random people and of course a lot of killing/ battles. The show is very episodic with only two or three 2 episode sequences before the end. It deals with a lot of realistic logistical problems with a LOT of modern additions to the time period including drugs/ hippies, modern painting and much other modern art references including graffiti, hip hop, zombies, and baseball (which by the way is the best episode of the whole thing). The feel and style almost a direct match with Bebop. The end will either leave you growling or extremely fulfilled because it's one of a kind.
The art is different. It took me a while to get used to it, and I still don't like it. The color scheme is a gorgeous, slightly faded rainbow that gives it the distinct look of parchment or old paper. It looks a lot like the old Chinese landscape paintings. The lines are what put me off. They are thick like in Bebop, but there's a lot of sharp angles. The characters all look ridiculously skinny with large, long muscles giving it a drumstick-of-a-chicken look. I don't really know how else to describe it. However, the story is worth the weird art. The sound is a nice relaxing beat with a few traditional songs that I totally loved. I listened to the intro every time because the art and the music work together perfectly. The music's mostly subtle in its affect, but it gives the show its feel.
The characters are excellent, but it's hard to like them in a fangirl way. They all have their backstories though it doesn't show much of them, and they each have a distinct perspective. But, they're not really nice people more like scum of the earth types. They also don't go through a lot of character growth. The only thing that changes about them is how they see each other, and that's where the shows genius lies.
I really wanted to give it a 9 like Bebop, but overall my score is 8/10. I didn't like the art; and, even though the story is better than Bebop's, I saw the idea in Bebop first. Both the sub and the dub are good, but I suggest the dub because it fits the style better. I loved the end both because it didn't follow the norm and because it felt okay that it didn't. The show teaches a lesson that is difficult to accept but absolutely crucial to understand. If you liked Cowboy Bebop, you will like this. If you haven't seen Cowboy Bebop and don't like slow, daily life anime, you probably won't like it; but, as I always say, give it a try before you judge.
