Day Three Hundred and Sixty-three - Samurai Champloo: Episode 15, "Ow, my back!"

Samurai Champloo was an intriguing experiment. I mentioned, way back when I reviewed its pilot, that it was a tremendously good mix of style, music, and action... and its English dub was fairly superior to most other anime. That recommendation still holds most of its water, I think, though it's a little shaky this time around.

I say that because this particular episode, Bogus Booty, has a sing-song intro that doesn't translate well in the English dub. The style that they try and emulate from the original just can't be done with our sentence structure and pronunciation, so it ends up being a somewhat sad and definitely pale imitation. Luckily, it's only the first minute or so of the episode, so its quickly dismissed, but I can see where someone just randomly coming to it might be turned off from the whole thing. Not high odds that it would happen that way as Bogus Booty is the fifteenth episode of the series, but it might happen.

Anyways, once that terrible intro is over, the plot for this stand-alone episode kicks into immediate gear as a lone figure tries to escape his ninja pursuers but ends up captured. He throws a bundle into a pond to save it from the ninja and the scene fades... directly into the series' main characters Jin, Mugen, and Fuu fishing the very next day at that same spot. In a fit of fishing-related frustration, Jin finds the bundle and the three discover its full of gold koban coins, which they take directly to the next town and live it up. Fuu gets fat on vittles and the boys ditch her to visit a brothel, where Mugen wins a game of Jan-Ken-Pon (Rock-Paper-Scissors) and gets to spend the night with the cute Yatsuha, who is more than she seems.

The plot of the episode mostly revolves around a counterfeiting operation that Yatsuha and her compatriots (including the runner from the beginning) have been sniffing out, and she uses Mugen's sex drive to convince him to beat the crap out of the rebels using the brothel as a hideout for their illegal deeds. While it's true that Mugen gets the majority of screen time, with short little asides for Fuu and Jin as chapter bookends, there's little to no character development for anyone. This is just a stand-alone action quickie that can be watched by anyone unfamiliar with the series. It's quick, comedic, and fun... though, perhaps a little too sexist.

I like the quirks of history that can be gleaned from the plotline like the yukaku (pleasure) district that Fuu is prevented from entering, the references to the Sengoku (Warring States) grudges, and koban (gold coin) smithing. Almost every episode of Samurai Champloo has little details like these that are hilarious and interesting, and I just love it.

My one regret, though, is that Yatsuha is a one-off character, especially considering her confession to her subordinate that Mugen is the man she wants to marry. It would've been nice, had the series continued past one season (technically two in Japan as their seasons run in lots of 13 and often continue one right after the other) to have Yatsuha and Fuu competing for Mugen's affections... or just nice to see Yatsuha show up again at all. I found her much more compelling in her fifteen or so minutes of screen time than Fuu had across almost the entire series, but that's just because Fuu isn't all that dynamic a character save for when the series arc chapters focus on her "search for the sunflower samurai" woes.

As always with this series, there's fun action, great music, and excellent animation. Worth the watch if you're any sort of fan of anime, samurai films, or hip hop.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

2!

Day One Hundred and Thirty-four - Samurai Champloo: Episode 1, "Hip Hop Samurai in Feudal Japan? Delicious!"

Alright, I'm going to be upfront about this... Samurai Champloo is probably the best English dubbed anime next to Cowboy Bebop. It's certainly the best on Netflix right now.

Is it me or is the sun just HUGE today?

Set in a fictionalized, stylistic re-imagining of feudal Japan where all of the art and architecture is period but heavily influenced by hip hop culture, Samurai Champloo as a series is an exploration both of the gritty samurai adventure drama and underground youth culture.

There's graffiti art and thug archetypes and mannerisms and even the wipes that transition between scenes are record scratches.

With tunes from Nujabes, Fat John, and Forces of Nature, featuring mostly Japanese rappers and DJs with a few Americans (like Fat John) joining to deepen the mix, Samurai Champloo has one of the best soundtracks out there. I still pop the discs in whenever I need something cool and mellow in the background, and am always pleased by the loops found within.

Alright... who wants some?

It's really no surprise that the editorial style, combat dynamics and choreography, and the carefully selected soundtrack gel into a crazy cool series like this. That would be because the writer/director/showrunner Shinichiro Watanabe (not to be confused with Nabeshin, Shinichi Watanabe, of Excel Saga fame) was responsible for probably the greatest anime series of all time... Cowboy Bebop.

It is such a shame that Cowboy Bebop isn't on Netflix, but Samurai Champloo is a decent enough substitute that has plenty of it's own style and doesn't have to adhere as tightly to the former's space-noir genre. Being a hip hop/period samurai adventure mashup does have its advantages.

In this, the introductory episode, all three main characters are introduced and, as far as pilots go, it does this well. There's plenty of action to establish their styles and mentality, and just enough mystery for the three leads to pique one's interest.

This little piggy went to market... *SNAP*

There's the wild man, Mugen, who is all attitude and crazy capoeira and is voiced by Steven Blum (who played Spike in Cowboy Bebop), Jin, the soft-spoken blade master, and Fuu, the quirky ringleader who saves the two fighters and hires them to help her find "the samurai who smells of sunflowers."

Like most period samurai dramas, the story is pretty much inconsequential as the focus is more on style, mood, and sword fighting. It's certainly the case that style is the overall purpose of Samurai Champloo. All the art, framing, and animation is there purely to please one's aesthetics.

Yeah, you can't say "no" to this face.

The standout for the series really is Mugen's capoeira. It's just so random and dynamic that it thoroughly outshines Jin's straightforward traditional kendo.

When it comes to Fuu, I feel a bit mislead by her behavior in this first episode. She's way too cute and straight-forward and not at all the spoiled brat she becomes as the series progresses... but I suppose I can save more on that for when I actually get to those episodes. Here, in the first, she's hip, competent, and just the right amount of assertive to inject her will into the narrative and really push the story. To be honest, without her tea accident and subsequent hiring of Mugen to be a temporary bodyguard, the series probably wouldn't even have gotten started. :)

I think my only beef with the pilot is the flying squirrel. Most anime have a semi-intelligent animal as a sidekick (if not an out-right talking one), so of course Samurai Champloo does. I could forgive the blatant pandering on the part Watanabe when it came to Ein in Cowbow Bebop since there was a believable explanation... but Momo is a completely superfluous character in my opinion, just inserted for the squee-factor.

If you're going to watch any anime on Netflix, Samurai Champloo should probably be at the top of the list. It's one of those series that has just about everything... fun stories, great action and acting, and a hellagood soundtrack. I could easily just put it on in the background and enjoy it for the tunes alone!

Quick shoutout to Kirk Thornton and Kari Wahlgren who voiced Jin and Fuu, respectively. They do a great job, though their voices aren't as recognizable as Blum's.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~