Samurai Champloo

Post by **Taurec** » Sat May 22, 2004 8:32 am

http://www.samuraichamploo.com/

ANN: Mugen is a fierce animal-like warrior with a unique break-dance inspired fighting style. Jin has a more traditional style but don’t think of this as a weakness because his skills are amazing. The two contrasting samurai warriors are far from friends, yet their separate paths seem to cross anyways. Mugen is wandering aimlessly through the woods when he stumbles upon a teahouse where he meets Jin and Fuu (A ditzy waitress, but don‘t think she doesn‘t have any hidden skills of her own). Fuu convinces them both to come with her in search of a mysterious samurai that smells like sunflowers and their journey begins. This modernized hip-hop tale breaks the barriers of the common, historical, samurai anime.

the style of the anime is very nice and features alot of funny cut tricks
(fast rewinds , forwards etc)

just cool.

HELLFIRE · Post by **HELLFIRE** » Sat May 22, 2004 8:36 am

BREAK-DANCE martial arts style?!?! NOW I've seen it all

Coupla groups already started ep 1, so you got your pick

Regards

Post by **Taurec** » Sat May 22, 2004 8:39 am

no really you have to see for yourself . it's cool .. ..

This is the one is the one that makes up for crap like Kyo and PMK

HELLFIRE · Post by **HELLFIRE** » Sat May 22, 2004 8:49 am

Damn RM file

%#$&*@(%$&*(@#&$*(#@&$(&@#($&@#!!

Euh, I'm kinda turned off martial arts anime for now... MUST GET &
WATCH LoCH THIS WEEKEND!!

Regards

mika · Post by **mika** » Sat May 22, 2004 9:15 pm

just watched the first ep. quite interesting.

Post by **Taurec** » Sun May 23, 2004 8:16 pm

I just saw a better translation, and the fight scenes had something familiar, they reminded me of Cowboy Bebop. and i was right Shinichiro Watanabe is the one who is running the show.

Tsushima Masaki · Post by **Tsushima Masaki** » Mon May 24, 2004 3:23 am

Well I must say that this belongs to a list of recent historical anime that I actually enjoyed from ep 1.

Peace Maker Kurogane was iffy...
Condor Hero was... very iffy...

The Jin/Mugen reminds me of Ryou/Kazuma, and also Ban/Ginji.

Circle · Post by **Circle** » Wed May 26, 2004 1:02 am

Yea I'm definitely gonna check this one out. Thanks for the info.

Edit: Just watched ep1. Damn, this anime is hella tight

. Very cool, funny, and interesting. Yea, aside from Kenshin, I haven't seen another good samurai anime yet. And it's true the fights are fast and furious, like Cowboy Bebop style. Mugen's voice is done by the same person that does Zoro's voice of One Piece. And Fuu's voice actress does some famous roles too.

Episode 1 kicks ass.

Circle · Post by **Circle** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 6:12 pm

Aoi Anime has released ep2 and I've finished downloading it! Will add review/spoilers after I watch it.

Tsushima Masaki · Post by **Tsushima Masaki** » Sat Jun 05, 2004 7:20 pm

AnimeOne is also covering it it seems. Much smaller filesizes as well.

Circle · Post by **Circle** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 6:12 am

Alright, about ep2:

Apparently, the trio faces the same reaccuring problem as the Bebop crew: lack of money and food. Aside from that, the man who lost his arm in ep1 is back for vengence, hires assassins.

grateful_days · Post by **grateful_days** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 2:49 am

Not too much discussion in this thread, which is sad because Samurai Champloo is pretty awesome... But, without further ado, episode three!

Spoilers!

This episode pays homage to the old Akira Kurosawa movie Yojimbo (a personal favorite of mine ^_^). Things open with the Fuu complaining loudly to Mugen and Jin as they travel. When they come to a fork in the road, the two swordsmen have a quiet discussion and dash off in opposite directions, leaving Fuu alone and pissed.

In the town they all arrive it, it seems that there are two groups of Yakuza vying for control. After a brief scuffle at a restaraunt, Mugen is about to turn several members of the Nagatamori (something like that...) clan into sashimi when the boss compliments him on his sword work and recruits him. It turns out the boss runs a rigged gambling den, which is very popular with the locals.

When one man can't pay his gambling debt, the Nagatamori come and take the deed to his carpentry shop. The son of the boss of the other family in the town, Sousuke (!!!!) is being tutored by the man's daughter, Suzu-something or other and, being a rash young man, goes and confronts the Nagatamori.

This just happens to take place at the same restaraunt where Mugen had his encounter. Sousuke, not surprisingly, gets his ass kicked. Fortunately, Jin happens to be there and offers to become his bodyguard. He demonstrates his skills by cutting off the yakuza guys' clothes.

Meanwhile, Fuu is still pissed off. When she goes past an old fortunte teller, she's warned to watch out for "pots." A few minutes later, she backs into a man and breaks his pot. He insists that she work to pay off the debt and they kidnap her, taking her to a brothel.

Meanwhile, the Nagatamori go back to the carpenter's and take Suzu in retribution for the deed being stolen. Sousuke wants to go after them and Heitarou, his father, doesn't like the idea. So, he and Jin go to the brothel alone, dressed as women to try and get in. Incredibly funny right there. And, of course, Fuu is there, plus Mugen and his employer. Predictably, they all meet and Mugen and Jin start fighting again...

That's about it. Really great episode. Kurosawa would be proud.

grateful_days · Post by **grateful_days** » Fri Jul 09, 2004 3:47 am

Am I the only one who's still watching this? Seriously, we should stop harking on Bakuretsu Tenshi and start watching Samurai Champloo. It's THAT good. Not only is it funny as hell but they've got an actual developing story line.

I'm not going to summarize all the recent eps but I want to do six since I just finished watching it.

Episode Six Spoilers!

The gang arrives in Edo and they find an eating contest. Since they're perpetually starving, they set about entering immediately, even putting up their weapons as an entrance fee, Jin very reluctantly so.

Although Mugen and Jin are knocked out of the contest early, Fuu keeps eating and eating until it's only her and a big guy wearing a hat that covers his face are left. She accidentally forfeits and the big guy wins.

The group is feeling pretty low, Jin especially, over the loss of his "soul" when big guy shows up. Low and behold, he's a foreigner who can barely speak Japanese! He introduces himself as "Jioji" (I believe this is a play on words, see later note) and agrees to return their weapons if they show him around Edo.

What follows are several incredibly amusing sequences that basically show that A.) Jioji knows little to nothing about Japan and B.) He doesn't care. The gang gives him a rather flawed tour of Edo, eventually ending up at a a restaurant.

Meanwhile, there's a group of police who're hunting for an illegal foreigner in the country. Close behind, there's a strange group of men with baskets over their heads and wearing clogs...

The police find the gang in the restaurant and they run. They come to a theater with a performance by the name of "Yamato Nadeshiko" (which is a term referring to a traditional Japanese girl). During the show, Jioji falls in lover with the girl, despite Fuu's noting that "she" is actually a "he." When they go behind stage, the find the male performer. Jioji seems to be angry but, instead, he's actually ecstatic! He then spills his story.

It turns out he's from Holland, where he was ridiculed for being gay. Then, he read a book on sexuality by a Japanese author (I think it was a famous guy but I forget who...) that gave him the idea that Japan is some wonderful, accepting paradise. So, he came to Japan.

Just then, the police burst in and try to kill everyone there. A fight breaks out and, before long, the basket and clog wearing men arrive. When they're unmasked, it turns out that, surprise, surprise, they're all Dutch too! But, really who else would wear clogs?

It turns out that Jioji is actually an important businessman (Jioji seems to be a business title involving importing), by the name of Roland (or something like that... They only mentioned his name once and I didn't quite catch it) who has special papers from the government. The police apologize and let them go and all is well again. Or is it...?

When everyone's saying their goodbyes, Fuu asks Jioji/Roland if he's heard of the "samurai who smells like sunflowers." He doesn't but he mentions that the Dutch first brought sunflowers to Japan. Fuu shows him something the samurai gave her, a bead on her knife that appears to be a small skull. Jioji looks at it and tells her gravely that she shouldn't keep it out in the open. He advises her to go to Nagasaki, where he promises she'll find another clue...

That's it. I'm really looking forward to the next episode and you should be too!

Circle · Post by **Circle** » Fri Jul 09, 2004 5:06 am

I'll catch up when I return to my apt in August. So in the mean time, I'm avoiding the spoilers

.

cultnirvana · Post by **cultnirvana** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 9:36 pm

I've only been able to find the first episode but I absolutely love it!! I've been dying to see it since I heard that Shinichiro Watanabe was involved. I'm not into Nip Hop music or anything, but love the way it's mixed with the animation. It will certainly be added to my DVD collection as soon as it's out in the West.

Anyone know if it's 12/13 or 26 episodes (or more/less)?