Mild Spoilers for Samurai Champloo
I hope I don’t come across as snobbish by beginning this review by saying I often like to go off the beaten path when it comes to anime. It can be fun to watch anime or read manga that’s obscure,or the very least, ones that aren’t heavily recommended. Especially when reviewing, you feel unique and like a trailblazer. An obvious disadvantage to this is that if a lot of people haven’t seen something, it’s hard to know if it’s good or not. Your critically-acclaimed Fullmetal Alchemist (Brotherhood)s, your Evangelions, and your Cowboy Bebops all have won in the court of public opinion. Samurai Champloo sees similar praise. What do I make of it? You can probably guess the answer - everyone loves Samurai Champloo, so why wouldn’t I? I cannot answer that question, because I’m here to advise you to believe the hype. It might feel like I’m excitedly explaining how I’ve discovered that the sky is blue, but what can I say, Samurai Champloo is a blast. If everything is as good as people say they are, I might have to stop trying to discover anime and instead stick to recommendations.Even when trying to judge Samurai Champloo on its own merits, it will invariably be compared to Cowboy Bebop. For one, Bebop is actually Samurai Champloo’s direct predecessor, being the previous show of creator Shinichiro Watanabe. Both shows involve genre blending, both are renowned for their soundtrack, and in the Englih dubs, both have main characters voiced by Steve Blum. Cowboy Bebop seems to overshadow Samurai Champloo. While Samurai Champloo is certainly well-acclaimed, it doesn’t seem to have as much of a presence as Cowboy Bebop - its still of the silhouettes of Mugen and Jin aren’t as iconic as Bebop’s mugshot lineup of its principal cast, Battlecry isn’t as played as TANK!!!, and when examples of masterpieces of anime are given, Samurai Champloo is curiously left out. Perhaps this is due to age, with both being equally as good, but Bebop rising to fandom prominence due to the being released first? Is Cowboy Bebop simply better? Maybe that’s the general consensus, but I found I enjoyed Samurai Champloo more.
Samurai Champloo, taking place in Edo-period (1675 to be exact) Japan, follows Fuu, a peppy, determined, fifteen-year-old, Jin, a stoic, no-nonsense warrior, and Mugen, a brash hothead who’s always looking for a way to relieve his boredom. Mugen and Jin meet in the tea parlor that Fuu works at and immediately come to blows, impressed at the other’s strength. Fuu helps the two warriors evade execution and after winning a coin flip, has them accompany her as her bodyguards in order to find a samurai shrouded in mystery. The only thing Fuu apparently knows about this samurai is that he “smells of sunflowers.”
Samurai Champloo features absolutely gorgeous animation and art design that looks great both during slower scenes and the fluid fight scenes. As a fan of sword fighting, I really enjoyed the fast-paced stylistic fights of the series. Jin showcases your typical, reserved, master samurai fare while Mugen’s unique fighting style imploys breakdancing, making it a sight to behold.
It’s impossible to discuss Samurai Champloo without talking about its soundtrack, which is absolutely phenomenal. I actually listened to some of Samurai Champloo’s soundtrack well before I watched the show. Shiki no Uta was one of the most-played songs on my iPod and iPhone without even knowing its context. Needless to say, I was giddy whenever music I recognized showed up. And naturally, I almost never skipped the OP or ED. Just as Cowboy Bebop’s_ soundtrack was centered around a particular genre not commonly used in anime, Samurai Champloo is based around a particular style as well - hiphop. This is obvious in the first seconds of Champloo’s cool intro as we’re treated to the bass of a downbeat and our eyes feast on the mellow visuals of the opening before the rapper comes in. “Sharp like an edge of a samurai sword” indeed. The soundtrack is composed in part by the late and great Nujabes and as such, the music is often similar to what you’d hear in a lo-fi hiphop station. While the show also has its fair share of my energetic tracks, in general, the music reflects the cool, relaxed town of the show. For most of the show, things don’t get too dire, and no matter the situation, the gang will be absolutely cool doing it.
Arurian DanceOne thing that pleasantly surprised me about Samurai Champloo is just how tender it is. Given that this is a comedic, episodic show centered around two swordsmen who couldn’t care less about others, it makes sense that I didn’t expect Champloo to have a lot of moments where my heart was tugged. I suppose a good rule to follow when watching this show is to expect the unexpected. From a gay (who I’m happy to say isn’t characterized as a joke nor as a creep) Dutchman unable to live in Europe nor Japan due to two types of persecution to a young man who is tragically slain after he descends to thievery in order to pay for his mother’s medicne, to a mother being forced into assassination in order to protect her child, Samurai Champloo proves its more than capable enough of stepping away from the comedy in order to say something. Fortunately, Samurai Champloo only presents its viewers with the dire scenarios, not elaborating on how they’re “supposed” to feel, thus keeping the show from dipping into hamfisted territory. Heightening these scenes is the beautiful soundtrack, relaxing, but so chill that it begins to feel somber; with context, these songs can become downright bittersweet - beautiful in the instrumentation, and heart wrenching in the contexts they’re presented in. I could go on and on about the show’s music. The comedic moments are great, but without these more introspective portions, I’m not sure I’d have gotten the feeling Samurai Champloo will stay with me.
That isn’t to say that the show doesn’t have its lighthearted moments. Samurai Champloo was always an absolute riot, and if it didn’t leave a smile on my face from how sweet it was, I was smiling from guffawing at how hilarious it can be. Whether its having the protagonists and antagonists get high as kites together as the animation conks out or seeing thuggish American navy pull out brass knuckles to win a baseball game, Samurai Champloo offered a lot of laughs. The show really struck a balance between seriousness and lightheartedness.
The show’s juxtaposition of a typical chanbara setting and modern day concepts such as beatboxing and graffiti was extremely appealing to me. In part because it was comical and it part because it was intriguing. As always, the historical aspects were also very interesting.
The story, similar to Cowboy Bebop is told in a vignette style, always moving forward, but jumping to an unspecified point in the future for each episode (except in the case of two-parter episodes), showing a snippet of the main characters’ journey…. I felt the anime had a consistent tone throughout, something that I can’t really say about Bebop as much as I love it. Bebop gets quite dark during its second half, making it feel a bit disjointed and making it hard to jump in anywhere for a rewatch. Champloo on the other hand maintains its flow of sometimes-taking-itself-seriously, sometimes-just-being-goofy, while overall always being a bit light in terms of internal darkness. I was surprised that the ending ended up being as happy as it did, but I enjoyed it because it didn’t make the entire journey bittersweet in retrospect.
I have very few complaints about Champloo. Fuu could be a bit annoying and her getting kidnapped got old, but it helped that because the main characters often couldn’t care less about one another, the kidnappings often didn’t dominate the plot. I also wish we could have tracked the main characters’ development more - it seemed like it was pretty heavily backloaded towards the finale. But overall, my biggest complaint is that there weren’t more episodes. I truly did love seeing the gang’s journey and was always excited to see what situation they’d get into next. It feels a bit silly considering I finished the series in less than a month, but the group really did begin to feel like my friends. Some have criticized as the show as being all style, no substance, but maybe that’s what made me connect with the characters more and added to a light mood that fet easy to return to. Or maybe that’s just plain wrong due to the tender moments I loved so much. Or maybe there’s nothing wrong with a bit of style. Because, goddamn, is this show stylish.
While it’s unfortunate that it took me so long to post this review after finishing the show, it helped me confirm that Samurai Champloo will stick with me for a long time and it’s not just a case of recency bias.
