Anime Blog

April 7, 2008

MON 7 APR

Samurai Champloo By Jackie Dorrington

 

I've watched Samurai Champloo all the way through in Japanese,

and I must say I liked the Show a lot! It was upbeat, interesting,

funny-at-times and had some great music!

 

"The series is a cross-genre work of media, blending the action and samurai genres with elements of non-slapstick comedy. It is also a period piece, taking place during Japan's Edo period. The series is interwoven with revisionist historical facts and anachronistic elements of mise-en-scene, dialogue and soundtrack. The shows most frequent anachronism is its use of elements of hip hop culture, particularly rap and the music it has influenced, break dancing, turntablism, hip hop slang, and graffiti. The show also contains anachronistic elements from the punk subculture and modernism, but less prominently."

 

Jin(Left) Mugen(Middle) Fuu(Right)

 

(Story as posted on Wikipedia.com)

 

"Fuu meets Mugen in the tea house where she is employed as a waitress and he has entered for service. As Mugen takes his seat, Fuu is confronted with a band of ruffian customers on the other side of the room. Mugen offers to take care of the unsavory bunch in exchange for food, but, upon her agreement, he instigates a wider brawl by insulting the ringleading troublemaker and his squad of gangsters. Just as the fight escalates, Jin, a stoic young ronin in samurai garb, walks into the teahouse unaware of the ensuing violence within. Mugen mistakes Jin for an enemy and takes a swing at him, thus sparking what becomes a long-term duel between the two. However their immediate battle doesn't last long. One of the ruffians, who was maimed by Mugen earlier in the fight, re-enters the fight and, in a delirious state, sets the wooden restaurant ablaze. Mugen and Jin attempt to continue their battle amid the conflagration but end up passing out from smoke inhalation.

A splash of water revives the duo, at which time they discover that they've been arrested and are to be executed for the arsonous murder of a magistrate's son who was in the teahouse during the mêlée and blaze. However, they manage to escape execution through their quick-wittedness, physical skill and a little help from Fuu, who detonates two powerful firecrackers at the execution site, thereby diverting the attention of the duo's captors.

After the trio's escape from the execution site, Fuu recruits Jin and Mugen to her quest for "the samurai who smells of sunflowers," a mysterious man who Fuu can barely describe herself. Nonetheless, for reasons she won't divulge, she is intent on finding this man and desperately needs the help of two skilled fighters like Mugen and Jin. Further, since the two men are indebted to her for her assistance in their escaping execution, they agree to join her and abide by her one condition: they may not settle their duel until after the journey is over."

 

Thus their journey begins.

(You have to watch it, it's really good!)