Samurai Champloo

Samurai Champloo

Samurai Champloo is the handy work of Shinichiro Watanabe. His other notorious work is Cowboy bebop. this anime takes place during the Edo Period. Watanabe takes great pains to recreate the world of the Edo period in its most terrifying brutal colors. Anyhow, the main story revolves around a waitress in search of her father, aka The Sunflower Samurai. She had been waiting to save enough money to leave however, her journey is speedup up after she meets Mugen and Jin. Mugen hails from Ryukyu (modern day Okinawa). He mainly travels around looking for food and women. in the first episode he offered Fuu to get rid of some annoying customers in exchange 100 dumplings. Jin ( rounin samurai) later comes into the bar thinking that Mugen is the problem.




Eventually this escalates to an a battle to the death. The bar as a result was burned and Mugen and Gene were arrested. Out of a job Fuu offers to help them escape in exchange for both helping her find the Sunflower Samurai. though their journey their relationship grows. They become like a family. What is interesting about this show are the strange cultural blends and the blurring of Edo and modern times.

Among the most noted events Shimbara rebellion (uprising led by Catholic peasants ), arrival of the Americans to Japan and the Ukiyo-e paintings. Fuu's father had become catholic and had participated in the Shimbara rebellion. He was later exiled from Japan. In the Ukiyo-e paintings, Fuu acted as a model for an artist. However his paintings served as slave catalogs for the EU. As for the Americans, they brought baseball to Japan.

The fighting style ins the show is very crisp. It is contrasted rather well between the traditional Kenjutsu style of Jin and the raw berserk unrefined skills of Mugen. they also host other samurai techniques as well as ninja assassins. visually speaking the poses and the battles are very crisp and refine. Visually it is very exiting. Overall, the show goes strictly by the book aside from modern anachronism in the form of rap and zombies. It is truly an anime show worth watching.