Skip to main content

Samurai Champloo: Why Is It So Good?


   In the year 2005, the anime community had one of their gems; Samurai Champloo come out. Its well written and set in an extremely lively version of old school (Edo) japan. Its storyline is simple, two extremely skilled yet very different swordsmen Mugen and Jin have fate bring them across a young outspoken lady Fuu who helps them out of a tough spot and insist on them accompany her to find the very vaguely named “samurai who smells of sunflowers”. This serves as the catalyst that carries us on a well voiced, animated, and extremely stylistic adventure across japan towards the course of its 20 plus episode run. Here are some of the reasons I think Samurai Champloo is so enjoyable


  1. TONE AND SETTING:

One of the reasons it works so well is that even with its fictional story, its grounded in reality without being overly dramatic or serious. Most films, shows and games based off old eras like this usually take themselves super serious and in the process turn out being bland but, Samurai Champloo is so engaging, vibrant and fun to watch. This shouldn’t make you think this show lacks great dramatic moments because it truly doesn’t and trust me, when they come on, they are so well executed and are great to see. 


  2. TEAM DYNAMIC:

The characters are so likeable and all have their  quirks. On paper, the three travelers shouldn’t work together but their relationship is so fun to watch and I think sometimes it makes the viewers feel like we’re out there travelling with them. This adds an extra layer of enjoyment to the series because you love how dumb Mugen can be, how extremely calm Jin and how Fuu calls them incompetent even though she wouldn’t last a week without their guidance and protection. 


  3. STYLISTIC CHOICES:

This is such a massive thing this anime does and does brilliantly. Each episode has different eye catchers and they all have this swagger to it. The blend of hip hop with edo japan is so good but more on that later. The scene transitions, character movement, use of colors, and the extremely well choreographed fights are a joy to watch and help solidify this anime as a classic.


  4. MUSIC:

The music is something that elevates Samurai Champloo from great to greater heights and when you find out that director of the series Shinichiro Watanabe (who also directed cowboy bebop) wanted to incorporate hip hop to his new series as he felt samurai and rappers were similar in the sense that samurai “..decided their fate with one sword” and rappers “opened the way to their future with one microphone”. His ideology clearly held weight because we see the series being a great blend of hip hop and edo japan. His idea was brought to fruition due to contributions from the late great producer and lo-fi beats pioneer Nujabes, fat jon, FORCE OF NATURE and many more all made great contributions to the general sound of the series with Nujabes producing the super chill opening theme “battle cry” with rap performance from japanese rapper Shing02.


  5. GREAT THEMES:

Even with such a simple premise, Samurai Champloo manages to dwell on so many great themes such as not focusing on past mistakes, destiny, love, friendship, family and even religion. It isn’t afraid to make bold statements from fear of ruining its overall calm and relaxing aesthetic. 

The name “Champloo” can be translated to mixed up and it perfectly summarizes the entire adventure as its a great mix of different things that keep moving as the story progresses. Overall, Samurai Champloo is the perfect blend of everything a good story needs and it isn’t in any way a stretch to call the one season series a perfect anime.

Written By

Comments

  1. Anonymous31 August 2022 at 01:49

    This was a nice read honestly, you took the words right out of my mouth. This show is so authentic and downright amazing.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

The Popular Posts

Why I Love: Ted Lasso

Written By
   The sports genre in film and on TV is quite popular if you really think about it. We see tons of shows and movies on basketball almost yearly yet ironically, the world’s most popular sport Football (no, I’m not talking about American rugby) hardly gets represented on our screens. Apple TV remedies that by introducing us to Ted Lasso, a beautiful show that is definitely going to be the Renaissance for Football in scripted media.  This post will be an addition to my “why I love” series and isn’t going to spoil anything substantial. With that being said, let’s begin;    Ted Lasso is an Apple TV original that is loosely based on the NBC short “An American Coach In London” with a seminar premise from almost a decade ago. The premise being, An American football (not the real football) coach comes to England to coach a traditional football team with zero experience. The most noticeable difference between the two is that the NBC short is simply a sketch and doesn’t t...
Post a Comment
Read more

First Listen: Lil Yachty - Let's Start Here.

Written By
 woah. brother broccoli starts 2023 with something totally unexpected: a psychedelic rock album. lil yachty said in an interview (with someone i don't remember) that he just wants to be taken seriously, as a musician. it's a little sad when someone puts their all into a craft, sometimes even create a groundbreaking sound, but still get termed the bare minimum or worse, "mumble rapper." while this album is beautiful, it's not as stellar as other projects in the same genre. but music is more than that. it's also the process, emotions, message, etc. brother broccoli took a risk to make what he wants/feels and he succeeded. that's what makes this album a beauty asides the wonky ai art and trying-hard-to-stay-in-the-flow lyricism . the features ate. the producers brought their a-game. the engineers blessed the record. since poland, it's clear that yachty decided to broaden his scope and make not just music he loves, but quality. i definitely respect his art...
Post a Comment
Read more

First Listen: Hamond - Pirate Radio

Written By
  since i heard  windows , i have been sloppy on Hamond.  Pirate Radio  is almost everything i imagine indie pop to be. it's glittery, experimental, vocal, and hard work. half the time, i don't even understand his poetry but it sounds so  damn good . the other half explores experiences of failed/failing relationships, problematic partners, and misplaced gaiety. storytelling like this always gets me into a frenzy, especially with fitting production.  the unconventional mix and production sets this art piece aside from the rest within its genre. especially the drums. nothing cliché with his lyrics or style of music. just pure, honest music that makes me bust some ass to his misfortune. 😀 mehn, it is definitely one of the better listens from 2022. give it a spin?
Post a Comment
Read more

The Originals: No Always And Forever

Written By
   The Spinoff of the vampire diaries has finally ended and after spending 5 years of my life watching it I can only use one sentence to summarize how I felt after seeing it "what the fuck did I just watch"?.                           * MILD  SPOILERS AHEAD* Now,this season has a whole has been bad like...more bad than season 4 but I was like "I'll manage,it's the final season,I need to just be patient with them". I should have opted out long ago,I honestly don't know why Julie Plec(the show runner) is so inconsistent with the universe and bad at ending things. I gave her a pass for shitty The Vampire Diaries ending but this one just vexes me so much.    How can you hunt us with the "always and  forever" quote since the vampire diaries and not let us see it happen. I mean ...what was the point of everything?. I never liked Hayley but when they killed her earlier this season,par...
Post a Comment
Read more