Samurai Champloo

Samurai Champloo is a 20ish episode closed series anime by Manglobe which is the same company that produced Ergo Proxy. Congruent with most animes Manglobe has been a part of, the plot is completely original and gains heavy inspiration from hip-hop. This is a similar inspiration that can be seen in Afro Samurai which takes heavy R&B/Hip-hop influence.

Set in the late 1800's, the villages are still in their feudal stage, and bandits and gangs run amuck. After a few bandits begin to cause trouble for Fuu, who is rescued by Jin and Mugen, but then sentenced to death for their exploits. Through that afternoon's circumstances, Jin and Mugen must postpone their promise to kill the other for having fallen into debt to Fuu. This launches them off on their journey to find the A samurai who smells of sunflowers.

The result is quite amazing. Characters are developed over the episodic adventure. Voice acting and facial animation are given the utmost care. Writing and dialoge come off completely naturally. This attention to detail produces characters that are completely alive and full of expression.

Fight scenes are well orchestrated, and have a definite flow to them. Action is fast, not necessarily flashy, but completely styled for that specific character. To go along with it is the mix up of soundtrack that is ever present. Nearly always some sort of beat is laid down that does a superb job at mixing with the feel and atmosphere of the story without ever becoming awkward or forced.


The first season of the series is very episodic, generally with no actually contribution to the over all plot other than showing how characters react and grow. With that said, the second season does a much better job at stringing together episodes. There are still a few that just seem a little random, but the way the series wraps up is brilliant.