Samurai Champloo
Samurai Champloo is an anime series created and directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, and was produced by Manglobe.
A young woman named Fuu is working as a waitress in an Edo period tea shop, and she is being harassed by a band of samurai. A mysterious man named Mugen enters the shop, and offers to get rid of the samurai in exchange for food; however, he ends up inciting a brawl instead. A young ronin named Jin enters the tea shop during the fight, and Mugen and Jin begin fighting. A fire starts during the brawl, and Mugen and Jin ignore the flames around them. They collapse from smoke inhalation.
When they awake, they find they have been arrested for the murder of Shibui Tomonoshina, the son of the magistrate; he had burned to death in the fire. Fuu works at trying to free the two before their execution, and she asks them to help her find "the samurai who smells of sunflowers."
Samurai Champloo blends historical Edo backdrops with modern-day styles and references. These styles and references include hip-hop culture, rapping, "gangstas," and record scratching serving as censorship bleeps. The series also relies on factual events of Edo-era Japan, fictionalized versions of a couple of real-life Edo personalities, and Ukiyo-e paintings. The musical score for Samurai Champloo also incorporates a lot of hip-hop music. In addition, the character designs and animation give many of the characters more of an "urban" feel than one would normally expect to see in anime.
I watched the English dub of the first episode of Samurai Champloo. While this episode used a bit of a fractured reality to tell the story, there was a framework that tied everything together by the end of the episode. When it comes to the visual content, I saw quite a bit of bloody violence in this episode, as well as a character's fingers being broken.
Also, the English dub includes quite a bit of swearing in the dialogue; however, I don’t know if this was done in the English dub to add more of an "edge" to the series, or if the profanity was also part of the original Japanese series.
Personally, I would recommend Samurai Champloo to anime viewers who are 17 or 18 years of age and older.
A young woman named Fuu is working as a waitress in an Edo period tea shop, and she is being harassed by a band of samurai. A mysterious man named Mugen enters the shop, and offers to get rid of the samurai in exchange for food; however, he ends up inciting a brawl instead. A young ronin named Jin enters the tea shop during the fight, and Mugen and Jin begin fighting. A fire starts during the brawl, and Mugen and Jin ignore the flames around them. They collapse from smoke inhalation.
When they awake, they find they have been arrested for the murder of Shibui Tomonoshina, the son of the magistrate; he had burned to death in the fire. Fuu works at trying to free the two before their execution, and she asks them to help her find "the samurai who smells of sunflowers."
Samurai Champloo blends historical Edo backdrops with modern-day styles and references. These styles and references include hip-hop culture, rapping, "gangstas," and record scratching serving as censorship bleeps. The series also relies on factual events of Edo-era Japan, fictionalized versions of a couple of real-life Edo personalities, and Ukiyo-e paintings. The musical score for Samurai Champloo also incorporates a lot of hip-hop music. In addition, the character designs and animation give many of the characters more of an "urban" feel than one would normally expect to see in anime.
I watched the English dub of the first episode of Samurai Champloo. While this episode used a bit of a fractured reality to tell the story, there was a framework that tied everything together by the end of the episode. When it comes to the visual content, I saw quite a bit of bloody violence in this episode, as well as a character's fingers being broken.
Also, the English dub includes quite a bit of swearing in the dialogue; however, I don’t know if this was done in the English dub to add more of an "edge" to the series, or if the profanity was also part of the original Japanese series.
Personally, I would recommend Samurai Champloo to anime viewers who are 17 or 18 years of age and older.
| Samurai Champloo | 26 | 2004-2005 | Shinichiro Watanabe | Manglobe | FUNimation Entertainment |
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