Champloo

save the day, the night, and the girl too

Samurai Champloo is a shounen action anime made up of equal parts dysfunctional samurai and hip-hop. It aired for 26 episodes through May 2004 to March 2005. What drew the greatest attention to this series was its director, Watanabe Shinichiro, the genius who made Cowboy Bebop (another personal favorite).

Champloo has a distinctly unique flavor -- it might be set back in Japan's Ye Olde Days, but it's not your typical samurai story. Just looking at the main characters makes this apparent enough -- Jin wears glasses, and whoever saw someone fight (or dress, for that matter) like Mugen? At times, it was difficult to even think of the setting as historic Japan. This is because the series bites hard on anachronism: the juxtaposition of objects/themes that don't belong to the time period. This is made more than obvious when we see middle-aged, tunic-clad Japanese men holding blocks of wood like stereos and beatboxing like it was only natural. But that's what we love about Champloo, and I, for one, am certainly not complaining about this fresh infusion of creativity in an increasingly mediocre flow of new animes.

Like Cowboy Bebop, Champloo's episodes are mainly self-contained with a couple two-part episodes scattered here and there. Rarely are side characters reocurring or even mentioned between the episodes. As a fan of ongoing-plot series, this was a little difficult to get used to. Nevertheless, this style of storytelling suits the jaunty series perfectly.

As for our heroes? Firstly, we have Fuu: a ditzy, adorable ex-waitress who got run out of a job when a certain pair of swordsmen wrecked her workplace. If this loss gained her any, it was the newfound motivation to find what she had always been searching for: a certain samurai who smells of sunflowers. It's not until later in the series that we find that this samurai, Kasumi Seizou, is her father. Although she feels constant frustration at her easily-distracted travel companions, it's clear that she cares deeply for both of them.

Next up is Mugen, a stereotypically roguish character with all the trimmings: illiteracy, a comic rough-around-the-edges personality and a fondness for big bosoms. He wears a clever blend of samurai garb and hiphop clothing, and fights with a combination of breakdancing and swordsmanship; he's the best representation of Champloo's running theme of 'amalgamation', or blending together.

And of course, there's our poster boy, Jin. Jin is the polar opposite of Mugen, even in the colors they wear. He's the model of a typical samurai with his cool, collected personality and fierce devotion to the way of the sword. He often refers to Mugen with some permutation of the word 'idiot', but respects him as the only man whom he could not kill in a fight. He might not seem very interesting juxtaposed with the excitable Fuu and Mugen, but -- as this site is determined to show you -- he hides a number of subtleties beneath that tactiturn face.

With introductions out of the way, I leave you to explore Blade Rhythm to your heart's content. I really do love Samurai Champloo (and Jin), and I hope that this little fansite can convey that love.

watanabe shinichiro

Just a bit on the director, Watanabe himself. He is one of the most renowned names in the anime industry, having directed the ultra-successful Cowboy Bebop, and is known for his creative genre-blending and use of music. Both Bebop and Champloo make use of these traits for short but oh-so-sweet productions. Watanabe's works are simply amazing -- you have to watch them to truly appreciate how well-crafted they are. More on Watanabe?