This review contains spoilers. Don't end up searching them unlike the samurai who smells of sunflowers, you know..

Imagine if you put Cowboy Bebop, and took it way back to Edo-era Japan, then start to add elements that weren't there in that time period, but make sure for one ride of an anime. This results in Samurai Champloo, and that means it's time for a quest to review this anime.

THE STORY: 10/10

Mugen meets up with Jin and Fuu one day inside a teahouse, but then decide to part together in order to find the Sunflower Samurai. Along the way, they fight like true samurai's throughout their quest, and sometimes get sidetracked to do another deed or two.

This anime shows the many quests of the 3 samurai and it shows, ranging from playing baseball to meeting up with a blind girl to even encountering rapping bandits. And this show has many two-part episodes, but let me say "Elegy of Entrapment" will always be the best two-partner around this anime, with the Way of Water being introduced to Jin, plus the awing ending too.

"All of this because of one coin flip.."

THE CHARACTERS: 10/10

For the trio, they had their moments to make them stand out. But when together or stand alone, they are a bunch of samurai's just doing their work. Mugen is the leader and he gets the best moments around the show, such as his epic feats he did, plus he's voiced by Steve Blum in the dub so that counts.

As for the other two samurai's, Jin gets his time to shine in some episodes, notably when he gets the Way of Water late on the show, and the token-female member of group, Fuu, also has her fun, such as ordering a bunch of dumplings right in the first episode, and her character arc to find the Sunflower Samurai. Truly these samurai can be badass.

"Looks like you samurai put a good baseball team! Now the only question is.. "Who's on first?""

THE VISUALS: 10/10

The visuals fit the Edo-period of Japan real well, even if it has some elements from time-period's from decades after it. And the art direction of the show is really smooth and crisp, and it does that well. For example, Mugen's acid trip in one of the episodes is animated so trippy and deranged that it kind of feels psychedelic.

Another one could be the sequence in part 2 of "Misguided Miscreants", where in the episode, Mugen drowns (don't worry, he survives though), and we get this scene where he sees visions of what happened before the incident, and it's fitting to have something like this, almost like "Ballad of Fallen Angels" most iconic scene being done again.

"Who thought bringing a shipload of TNT would be a stupid idea?" # SOUND: 10/10 The show's soundtrack really has a lot of hip-hop, and despite the time and place of the anime, it fits oddly together, even in it's OP, where the genre itself and samurai badassery combine together to create one such banger.

The ED also shows an upbeat tone, mostly to the visuals applied to it, and it fits the mood of seeing Fuu's joy and pride, much like the tune of the song itself. That is until you're watching the infamous "zombie hallucination" episode, but I digress that episode..

"I can see your bald spot from there, you know.."

ENJOYMENT:

This is literally the samurai version of Cowboy Bebop (right down to the creator), and it really works well. When I was watching this anime, it felt like a trip back to Japan's early days, even for the out-of-place stuff in there. Seeing the 3 samurai's walk up to go find the samurai that smells of sunflowers is a long, but great journey for me, and when they finally got there, I felt awed.

If you want to see an anime set in the Edo times or one with samurai's, this is the one to go right through your mind when you think of it. The adventures of Mugen, Jin, and Fuu are sure about to take you on a tour, seeing what strange encounter they'll get sidetracked into next. And once that's one, you'll make sure that like a samurai, you feel pride.

Now where do they go next on their journey?