Samurai Champloo, Volume 1 (2005)

4.5; Stylish and enjoyable anime

One of the most popular animes as far as having a more universal appeal aside from just anime fans in general is Cowboy Bebop. While not as marketable (i.e videogames, trading cards and the like reserved for Yu-Gi-Oh!, Naruto or Inuyasha), it was filled with likable characters, great soundtracks and a rarity in most animes: compelling one-off episodes or stand alones. So of of course director Shinichiro Watanabe has got to feel the pressure for his follow-up right? Probably not as immensely entertaining, Samurai Champloo is a treat in its own right.

The tale centers on 3 main characters: Mugen, a sort of rough-and-tumble guy who uses hip-hop moves and a more, shall we say, graceful sloppiness in his fighting? His rival/friend is Jin, very cold and introverted with the swordsmanship of a trained master. One day, they meet Fuu, a young teahouse waitress who asks of them a favor: to find a samurai that smells of sunflowers. Why that particular samurai? And why the smell? All will be answered...eventually.

First, let's talk about the music. Yes, the music is primarily hip-hop and it's strangely enough, a kind of successful blend to the point where you don't even notice it after awhile. Sure you'll raise an eyebrow when you play the first episode and its rap-flavored song comes through the speakers but eventually the music is just part of the scenery. One thing to note though as far as the characters are concerned is that while good characters on their own, you can't help but feel shades of their spiritual predecessors. Mugen looks like Spike Spiegel's grittier unemployed brother that pops in while drunk and there's shades of Faye Valentine in Fuu.

Like a lot of top premier anime titles, Samurai Champloo is quite something to see in motion. Just like Samurai 7, the animation is very vibrant with attractive looking characters and a fluidity to it all. As for its story, the idea of a Sunflower-smelling samurai sounds kind of silly but it does give the story a go ahead for something to find out unlike in most anime where the main arc doesn't kick in until halfway. In this disc you'll see the initial rivalry between Mugen and Jin as well as the people who try to exact revenge or just being hired by the wrong people.

Walk into this thinking you're going to see a cool anime and you'll walk out feeling that way. Just don't expect you're walking into a Cowboy Bebop part II, unless you hate that show which is just funny to me but oh well, to each their own. June 15, 2007

Exceptional, but often unbalanced.

Watching Samurai Champloo is, at times, an uneven experience.

Watanabe brings his audience exactly what they expect: quality. The music is a stellar mix of traditional Japanese folk songs and hip-hop beats. The art is beautiful and the story line is engaging. The characters are interesting and fully developed by the conclusion of the series.

In certain ways Watanabe has improved on Cowboy Bebop. Samurai Champloo leaves no gaps in the lives of the characters or the motives behind their actions. Watanabe fleshes out the story line completely and evenly. The journey of Fuu, Jin, and Mugen moves steadily and the conclusion lasts three episodes; the most important segments of the show take place over more than one episode and have a much more prolonged affect. And unlike Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo effectively introduces elements of past history into its story line: the Satsuma Rebellion and the Tale of Heiki/Genji for example.

However, Samurai Champloo suffers from overflow. No anime in recent memort has provided its audience with side characters of such depth. The villians and friends they meet on their journey feel as real and as significant as Fuu, Jin, and Mugen. But there is simply too many of them and they occupy too many episodes.

Episodes such as "Baseball Blues", "Cosmic Collisions", "Art of Altercation", "Beat Box Bandits", and "War of Words" have too many eccentric characters and are not relevant to the story. They are single episode stories that drag down the flow of progress. A single season show shouldn't feel like it has filler episodes to reach 23 weeks of airplay. In certain cases - these side-stories provide great entertainment. My favorite episode happens to be a single episode story - "Gamblers and Gallantry." But more often than not, the audience may feel like the series is dragging on with extra filler adventures that affect neither the three main characters or the audience to any great degree.

Despite this weakness, I do highly recommend the show. Watanabe does not let his creativity become a distraction nor does he let his refreshing take on the "hip-hop samurai" become a gimmick. Watanabe nails all the core elements of story telling and animation on the head. Just be prepared to watch some filler before you get to the meat.

As a sidenote-do not pass up "Misguided Miscreants" and "Elegy of Entrapment." They are the highlights of Watanabe's work in any show. May 11, 2006

Dub quality?

Wow, so I loved this series in the original japanese, but after watching some of the dubs I have to say, Bang Zoom Entertainment did a pretty bang-up job getting the essence of the series down. I think the chosen voice actors fit the characters really well and that it didn't seem cheaply done or overdone in any way. That's really hard to get down, I think, and as I fan of subs only most of the time, I can't help but commend Bang Zoom for the work they did on this title. I approve. May 6, 2006

Hooked From The Start

I'm not big on anime, but watching one episode got me hooked. The voices, the animation, the story, the characters and the music all blend so seamlessly that it is a joy to watch Samurai Champloo.

Each and every episode just engrosses you deeper and deeper into the story line leaving you wanting for more. April 13, 2006

Skeptical? Not for long!

An anime by known director Shinichiro Watanabe (the mastermind behind Cowboy Bebop), Samurai Champloo is one of the best anime series to date for a number of reasons. Not only does it blend traditional with the not-so-traditional rival Japanese styles but it provides the audience with hours of memorable entertainment.

At first I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to see Samurai Champloo. From seeing a few clips on Adult Swim, I thought the series was just a bunch of beautifully drawn and animated sequences slapped together with the guise of pulling in those solely interested in hip-hop music, and interested in watching funny animes. Admittedly at the time the hip-hop wasn't the type of hip-hop they play on contemporary radio, and still it took many months to finally watch Samurai Champloo.

Man... I've never been so wrong about a television series in my entire life.

While Samurai Champloo is extremely funny at times, humor isn't what the series is about. While the series offers a lot of great acid-jazz type music (jazz with a lot of synthesized segments thrown in), the series isn't even about that. Those searching for a children's anime, look elsewhere... although the series offers quite a bit of engrossing action sequences, this anime is for fans of the genre with an appreciation for a great performance.

If Cowboy Bebop was amazing, Samurai Champloo is groundbreaking in its great storyline and mix of everything good about a quality anime production.

The series is literally a superb anime with a great, gripping storyline, one with plenty of emotional content and some of the best animated segments in the business! Such scenes are bested only by deep characters whose background stories as well (as well as appearance), will leave you overjoyed. Richly colored characters and backgrounds mark this anime as something different from the standard Samurai-enemy-slaying show.

Simply put Samurai Champloo is an anime series with a hell of a lot of soul and its worth checking out. However I would not recommend this particular box set as it doesn't seem worth the price, but do yourself a favor and find the series in its entirety: you won't be sorry. April 7, 2006

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