Review Statistics

Times Read

675

Comments

2

Reviews

Tv

Plot Synopsis

Fuu, a 15 year-old girl, is working part-time job at teahouse when one day meet 2 customers who ends up fighting each other and burn the teahouse to the ground. The two young samurai: Mugen and Jin were arrested and about to be executed, because the fire caused one of the government's son killed. On the day of execution, Fuu saved them and in return asked them to make a promise that they would make a journey with her in order to look for a "Samurai with a scent of sun flower". Synopsis by: Niomea

Story & Characters

Samurai Champloo is a bizarre tale of three very different people on a journey. Muegen is an untamed warrior who feels the need to fight at the drop of a hat. Jin is a orderly ronin who's traditional views make him tamed and mannered. Both are extremely strong fighters and both couldn't be any more opposite. So when the two meet in a teahouse, its no surprise that a fight breaks out and the two are ready to kill one another. But trouble follows then and after a fire or two, both are about to be executed. As strong of fighters as they are, it is a ditzy, young waitress, Fuu, who saves their lives. In return, she asks them to help her find a samurai who "smells like sunflowers". She holds them to their promise and now every moment of their journey is spent holding back the rage between the two fighters to kill one another. So the three journey across Japan in search of this mysterious samurai and get into all kinds of trouble along the way. Assassins, yakuza, and gang wars are just a few troubles that the twisted trio face. In addition to the bad guys, they must they also must confront dark pasts and darker secrets. Was it fate that brought the three together? Regardless, it seems the closer they get to the samurai who "smells like sunflowers", the harder the search becomes.

Rating

10 (excellent)

Art

Samurai Champloo's art and design was done by the same person that created the art for Kill Bill vol. 1, Kazuto Nakazawa. His design brings a lot of sharp lines and odd angles in terms of visual presentation. In terms of character design, it looks as though a lot of detail was put in depicting the emotion and tone of each scene. The bosses look tough, the thugs look thug-ish and the women look hot. The art alone depicts a 13 and up rating. Yet the best part about the art is, the detail. Sorry to all you comedy expression fans, but this anime is smooth and cool. If you thought it was hip to want to be space bounty hunter who's into jazz and know marital arts, then you know it's cool to want to be a wild, off-the-wall, sword welding warrior who womanizes and back-talks to everyone.

Rating

9 (very good)

Sound

The track for the entire series in a funky hip-hop. In terms of originality, it's great. Watching an intense fight scene with a drum beat box and scratching records going in the background is pretty cool. But beware, if you are not easily amused by the tracks or have a vendetta against hip-hop, it is best if you just hit mute and read the subtitles the entire series. Otherwise, you might get the idea to not finish the whole thing, and that would be a crying shame. Besides that, Muegen's voice is done by the same voice actor as Spike in Cowboy Bebop. So, for those of you out there who hesitant to venture into new horizons, take comfort in hearing that cool, collected voice we know as Spike.

Rating

8 (good)

Presentation

The flow of this show was great. In some situations the story seems slow and can pull away from the “Sunflower� samurai too soon, but the plot in between is anything but filler. The side-stories were still interesting and kept your attention. For all the intense action involved in this story, a lot of humor becomes of this twisted relationship between all three characters. The character interactions were hilarious and brought some relief when the everything got heavy. It was also interesting to see each of the characters lives and backgrounds become unraveled. All three characters have deep ties to the past and this allows for interesting turns in the plot. Yet what really grabbed my attention was the sheer amount of trouble that they could get into in a mere couple episodes. This made the series move a little quicker, allowing for the 26 episodes to flow without too many breaks. The hip-hop is a great element and aided in the presentation rather than hurt it. It’s hard to bring music into action scenes since the music must be in-sync with the action. Hip-hop makes it harder since the beats and tempo are so different from traditional music. Yet a lot of untraditional fighting was introduced, making the visuals and sound fit like a glove. Ultimately, great comedy, stylish action, and original story are what make Samurai Champloo an amazing anime. Those out there still withdrawing from Cowboy Bebop's intensity, will be happy to know that Samurai Champloo is here to fill the void.

Rating

9 (very good)

Final Verdict

9.17 (very good)

Reviewed by Kaedo, 3y 21wk ago