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Samurai Champloo
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Animation - 9.5 |
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Sound - 8.8 |
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Story - 7.5 |
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Character - 8.6 |
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Value - 8.5 |
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Enjoyment - 8.7 |
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Average - 8.6 |
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logan |
2009-03-17 04:22:08 |
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| Average |
9.5 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| I just finished this anime and it blew me away it started as a side anime to watch for fun and ended up being one of my all time favorites.The animation style in Samurai Champloo is one of my favorites and the music in Samurai Champloo is nice and current.The story starts as an okay story when Fuu a young girl who works at a tea house meets Muegn and Jin and they end up making a promise that until they find a samurai who smells of sunflower seeds they wont kill each other.The characters in Samurai Champloo are very diverse and all unique and thats something I really look for in an anime nobody seems like just a filler character and they all have different personalities.The overall value is very good because theres not one episode that I thought should not have been made or just a filler episode I think they all are very enjoyable and that leads me to the overall enjoyment of this anime after watching the anime from the first episode to the awesome ending I can say this goes in my top 5 and if you havent watched this anime you really should give it a shot its the funniest anime I have ever seen!
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
8.3 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| ShinichirÅ Watanabe, the director behind Cowboy Bebop, is behind the wheel once again. But this time, instead of going to the future, we're headed to the past. Specifically, medieval Japan.
Following in the tradition of Cowboy Bebop, each episode of Samurai Champloo is fragmented from the other episodes. The anime is supposedly about Fuu, a 15 year old girl who recruits two vagabond samurais, Jin, the levelheaded ronin, and Mugen, the drunken brawler, to assist her in finding the "samurai who smells of sunflowers".
Read my lips: We. don't. see. him. until. the. end.
What we get instead, are free-standing stories that begin and end within their own 24 minute spaces. This may turn some people off, but I enjoyed it. By freeing each episode from each other, Watanabe is able to traverse a whole range of violent yet sometimes comical situations that is not bound to plot. In this sense, Samurai Champloo is a gallery rather than a story.
One thing that Samurai Champloo plays around with very successfully is style. Just as in Cowboy Bebop, although the protagonists routinely jump into explosions and fight hundreds of henchmen, they always recover. We can relax and laugh as Mugen does same crazy breakdancing and gape as Jin does what swordsmen do best: slice opponents into mincemeat.
The music, though not a juggernaut as it was in Cowboy Bebop, still plays a major role in Samurai Champloo. Just look at the title. Cowboy-Samurai. Bebop-Champloo. What is champloo, you ask? Well, in Japanese, chanpurū, alone, simply means "to mix" or "to hash". So the proper title should be "Samurai Remix". Thanks, Wikipedia.
This is a 26 episode gem. With smooth animation and the chillest mood around, it's hard to find a cooler anime than Samurai Champloo.
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
6.2 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| Samurai Champloo is basically Cowboy Bebop in the samurai era, minus all of the character, substance and style that Bebop had.
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1 of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Tal |
(2008-05-16 01:51:52) 2008-05-16 01:34:29 |
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| Average |
9.3 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Samurai Champloo is a fun watch. The animation is well beyond most animes. This artist can actually draw the fight scenes, and they are excellent to watch. The characters are diverse and well done. The music is lacking. It seems to be trying to do a Cowboy Bebop kind of thing, but rap music and sword fighting do not go together as well as guns and jazz. The storyline is decent enough, but the plot is very character driven.
I also wanted to add that the show manages to shy away from cliches although it is a samurai show. It does not get into a cheesy love plot or go over the top with drama.
It is definitely worth a watch.
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4 of 6 people found this review helpful.
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frick |
2008-04-16 17:31:03 |
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| Average |
9.8 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Well I wrote a really nice review for this but my login timed out on the web site and it lost all my text. :( However, I will attempt rewrite some parts.
I enjoyed this series immensely. Its one of the few animes that I think could appeal to a non-anime audience and has a following outside the target age group of most anime.
The character development is good and very believable considering the short run. The relationship of the 3 traveling companions, Mugen, Fuu and Jin, feels so real to me that I almost forget they are animated sometimes. The Hip/Hop music style combined with the occasional use of more traditional Japanese music really works well for this series and I'd go so far as to recommend the soundtrack.
As a side note, I think the lighthearted style of these lends them to being re-watched.
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2 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
8.8 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| This starts off in my opinion to be somewhat of another "cheesy" samurai anime, but thank goodness i was wrong. The story will keep you captivated although I feel they could have gone a little more in depth. It was a good balance of action/comedy/drama; not too focused in one area. Ending kind of surprised me, kind of didn't; if you know what i mean. All-in-all a must watch!
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
9.8 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| There are a very tiny few anime that I'd put into a category of their own in terms of what I consider beauty (beauty = the ability to move the viewer in some way, be it inspiring an emotion such e.g. joy, melancholy, pride, etc. or be it transporting the viewer to another frame of mind, designated by the creator). This is one of them.
General idea of ratings:
below 5 is outright offensive, 6 is annoying but you can deal, 7 is not good but not bad (par), 8 is good but not great, 9 is great, 10 is so good I can't imagine how it would be significantly better. Something really has to strike me to make a 10.
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Zaku88 |
(2008-01-10 01:32:14) 2008-01-10 01:31:39 |
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| Average |
5.3 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
4 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
5 |
| I watched this back when it was on CTN and then finished it latter with subs. Samurai Champloo is very unique in its animation style but at the end I felt that I had been short-changed.
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0 of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Summoner |
(2007-12-01 09:57:03) 2007-12-01 09:43:00 |
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| Average |
5.5 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
4 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
4 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| I bet this is the only anime that has samurai rapping, painting graffiti and playing baseball.
This show is exciting week watch, however, it offers no exciting steady plot. Nor characters whom you would fall in love with. Just a temporal action fun fest.
If you are dying to see some samurai action: killing and stuff, give this show a shot. Don't expect something epic, like a firework it's just fun as long as it lasts.
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1 of 7 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
8.8 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Cowboy Bebop was my very first love of anime, so naturally, when I looked up Watanabe and saw Samurai Champloo, it quickly became one of my next animated hideaways. Like Bebop, it's less about the destination, but the journey. The show takes place in the Edo era, where two radically different ronin end up accompanying a young girl across Japan, on the hunt for "the samurai that smells of sunflowers." It is not typical, though, like it might sound. A smooth R&B soundtrack peppers the background, while we see figures of the past entertaining the likes of the present. It's common, and often humorous, to see acts of modern-day suburban life implemented into ancient culture, things such as a crowd member creating a musical beat as two samurai square off (I've seen that before personally; public schooling does us good,) or two men going head-to-head in a graffiti battle. And that's not to mention the hilarious Baseball Blues episode, #23, which is possibly my favorite episode of all.
As you'd expect from the people involved, it's a technical wonder, this show. 26 episodes of visual majesty. The backgrounds are full of vibrance, and all characters exploding with life. Every character is distinctly drawn and voiced. The swordplay is drawn with great clarity, and is often filled with a large deal of creativity in the choregraphy. Each scene goes peerlessly into the next, drawn and edited with a level of mastery that one can only expect from such a talent. Watanabe creates, with help from another smooth and culturally-diverse soundtrack, a world that isn't hard to escape into. From sitars and strange percussions to synths and record-scratching, it is one of the most memorable soundtracks of I've heard. It's a more-than-worthy follow-up to Cowboy Bebop, in all respects.
Really though, this guy is made for the cinema, right? I'm eagerly awaiting that someday he'll make another feature, some people are just too good for TV.
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4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
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rezerekted |
(2009-08-27 14:42:59) 2007-03-08 14:01:59 |
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| Average |
7.5 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Well this was it, my first anime, so of course it holds a special place in my heart. That being said, nostalgia does little to hide this show’s flaws. While it is a very solid production with no technical flaws whatsoever, it will inevitably and deservingly go down as a classic, there are still a few qualms with the flow and premise that don't quite match it up with it's predecessor Cowboy Bebop.
It is centralized (heavily) around three characters. They are all anti heroic in nature but still likable and easily tolerated. Their flaws are what make them endearing. The show basically follows them as they travel around Old School Japan looking for a mysterious Sunflower Scented Samurai. That’s all there is to the story, it is really more about the random things that happen along the way that make this show what it is.
It may be Old School Japan, but the show has a super modern rebellious youth feel to it. Hip hop, graffiti, drug use (in a comedic manner) and brothels all give this show seem more like GTA than traditional Japan. It's a mishmash of all sorts of cultural trendiness and it does all this quite well. Definitely helps SC to stand out if nothing else.
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
10.0 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Maybe you think I went a little overboard when i graded this anime, but when you've seen it, you'll see otherwise. Maybe because of the fact that it totally absurd and funny, makes the serious moments even more seriuos and understandable why this is a great way to spend your time.
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1 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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petran79 |
(2006-12-12 14:15:26) 2006-12-12 14:12:07 |
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| Average |
5.0 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
3 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
4 |
| Enjoyment |
4 |
| (Shinshen-subs, Animeforever, ROFISH, Animeheaven, Aoi Anime, AnimeOne fansubs)
It seens Samurai anime titles are not to my taste. After the mediocre Samurai 7 I expected Samurai Champloo to be a little better, but unfortunately it proved to be yet another wrong choice and this shows that I have to choose more carefully what anime titles to watch.
Still Ninja Scroll is the best samurai anime I've seen so far.
I think it also mattered a lot that at that time the ADV UK DVD of Boogiepop Phantom had arrived and I was hooked to that series. Who would be in the mood to watch a fansubbed anime with crappy sound and picture quality while having such a masterpiece to be enjoyed in 6 channel surround.
Still I tried to be fair to SC and despite the initial boredom and disinterest I endured till the final episode, skipping every time the mediocre OP and ED and one recap episode.
I admit that this is another anime that is perfect as an introduction to the samurai genre. For me after having watched the basic animes I know now what genres to like or dislike and anime genres like that of SC are definitely one of them I dislike.
In the graphical aspect I have no complaint as this is one of the most uniquely animated samurai features. Sometimes the animation turns unconventional while at others the action moments and the duels give it an air of originality. Character design is very good and one of the anime's main features. Also the background settings are appropriate, despite the various anachronisms, so overall SC is one of the animes whose pictures you will not easily forget.
As for the sound....Since I'm no fan of that music genre, I just tried to be tolerant till the final episode. Since it didnt become annoying the music was OK, though I'll try to forget the BGM.
The OP, I heard it once or twice and never bothered again. It was a torturing experience.
Concerning the story....I undestand that this is mainly an episodic series, though there are I think 4 2-part episodes. Of the 26 episodes, 5 were watchable. The rest made me yawn and feeling my nerves tense, waiting for the series to end. Really, despite some violence and sexual innuendos, I felt this anime was aimed mainly at younger viewers and there was nothing interesting for me to watch. That isnt something negative but this is another reason to give the anime a low score, though scores dont matter at all. Only much more action and battles would save SC, but even those were sparse but whenever they were used they were very effective and enjoyable.
The characters were too simple and one-sided for me to like. I've seen that kind of characters in dozens of similar shows so no need to repeat it here: if this is one of your first animes you'll love it (as I would have done) but except the animation there isnt anything worth a rewatch.
I expected much more from this title but I was left dissapointed. Overrated but worth a watch if you're a fan of samurai animes/mangas.
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2 of 4 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
10.0 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| samurai champloo.... what an awesome anime with a bold and attractive style and very realistic characters that revolutionise the samurai journeying plot.
First, the style is very different. Mixing hiphop with the olden day setting and doing it in such a way that the viewers are drawn into it (no repulsion whatsoever).
Second, the hiphop music doesn't clash with the traditional Japanese music, all mixing in nicely to bring in the confidence of the characters and sadness of their past. That bit showing Mugen's past is just fabulous. Very emotionally-provoking.
Third, characters are absolutely fantastic and REALISTIC. To have 3 people going on a journey, yet they know little about each other by the end of the story. Mainstream anime always have travelling companions falling for each other, and everyone's happy with his/her companion, but here we've three people who not only disagree with each other, but are downright selfish.
Fuu, the girl who just thinks for herself. Mugen, the guy who cares about getting a meal and just kills without hesitation, and Jin, the quiet samurai who is also much of a loner. It'd be a hard time getting these three to like each other. And they don't. But in the end, though they don't know much about each other, they've formed a bond. There's no mushy tearful goodbyes. No Out-of character scenes. I very much like this unusual combination and how realistic the characters turn out in the end. Yep, fabulous.
Fourth, I can't quite define the series and put it in one particular genre. It's hilarious, yet mysterious and dark. It seems silly (in one ep in particular), yet emotional and dramatic. Makes you laugh like mad, cry with a pang in heart, tense for what's going to happen next.
Samurai Champloo...
a Must-see anime!
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1 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
9.5 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| I had loads of fun watching this anime and its pretty much one of a kind in its genre or in any other, but lets get to the good stuff:
ANIMATION:
Superb animation, a real work of art. The only thing that seems inefficiant is that its a few frames short in some hi-speed fights. After that no flaws at all.
SOUND:
This is problebly the only anime out there that uses hip hop music, specially in a samurai anime. I really did not like the beggining song its just too out of rithem to keep up with the frames and the action made in the animation for the beggining. After that the music is very pleasing and they changed the ending song many times to keep you intertained, but it still doesen't feel like a good action/samurai anime because of this, but the comedy scenes were perfect with this style of music.
STORY:
The story is a lot better than I expected, specially since virtually there wasen't any filler eps around and all of them had something to do with the story one way or another wich was a very good touch. The problem is that some things in the story are just too unbelievable to feel in place.
CHARACTERS:
LOL Mugen is a crazy ass street fighter with an insane hair, fighting style and attitude. Jin is the perfect definition of a serious and well educated samurai and with a very deep mental attitude about life and Fuu is your average cute girl that bitches all the time about everything and always has her flyng squirrel pet close to her. All of the characters on the series are awesome, interesting and intertaining in there own way.
VALUE:
I hate to say this guys but I had a lot more fun watching this anime then samurai X/Kenshin. From top to bottom this anime is one of a kind and you could watch it over and over again and you'll get the same good intertaiment that you got in the first place. I just wish they would make a movie or OVAs about this series but I dought they would.
In other words you have my best recommendation in the samurai genre to see this anime, if you don't like it feel free to message me and tell me why. I always like to talk about this stuff. Until then enjoy!!
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
6.5 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
4 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| One thing to note is that I don't particularly like anime that don't have a strong or focused continual storyline. Samurai Champloo definitely lacks this storyline - the story and background behind it became paper-thin which made it hard to watch. Some people are a fan of "detached" episodes so if you are such a person, the review will not reflect what you will think of it. The sound/music was a bit of a gamble, you would either love it or hate it. Personally I found that it unsuprisingly fitted alright, nothing too great but it fits the "theme" of Samurai Champloo. The characters weren't that well-developed, it was more of a style/action-oriented anime than anything else so that is to be expected. That being said, it wasn't too bad of an anime with some fluid animation and action to keep the viewer mildly entertained.
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0 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Bokusha |
(2007-04-09 18:17:11) 2006-11-18 15:02:53 |
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| Average |
8.6 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
0 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| This could be a very quick review if I just stated that Champloo is Cowboy Bebop in the Edo Period with jazz replaced with hip-hop, but it's actually quite a bit better than that. For starters, mixing up samurai anime with J-hop is more ambitious than sci-fi and jazz, and Champloo actually does a better job at the unusual combination thing. More importantly though, the artwork in Champloo is really a sight to behold; the excellent rough-looking linework combined with fluid animation and at times quirky scene changes coupled with a large and excellent soundtrack make Champloo a unique experience you don't want to miss.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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Mason |
2006-11-02 16:11:54 |
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| Average |
9.8 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Two unbeatable ronin walk into a bar, what happens next? SHIT happens. They're nearly executed but are saved (kinda) by the waitress of the bar they destroyed because of their rowdy brawl. As confusing as this may sound, 3 not-so-friends set off all over Early Japan looking for the Sunflower Samurai. This common samurai theme is hard to pull off because of its frequent use, but tied in with some memorable Hip-hop/Dance beats, it makes an unlikely, but perfect, combination. Hilarious, cool, occasionally serious and sinister, with some of the best animation and action sequences, this anime works out to be a long, exciting adventure.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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|
|
| Average |
9.3 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| The thing about this anime is not the story but the wonderful threesome Fuu, Mugen and Jin. Three completely opposites traveling together in search of a myserious samurai, quarreling - in fact even trying to kill eachother - all the way!
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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Saya77 |
(2006-10-15 20:52:37) 2006-10-15 20:50:14 |
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| Average |
8.5 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Samurai Champloo is an enjoyable, exciting, and at times hilarious take on the world of Japn just after Western contact, wherein a girl named Fuu convinces two swordsman to accompany her on the search for the "Samurai who smells of sunflowers".
Samurai Champloo may take place in Japan of several hundred years ago, but the series is extremely modernized and Westernized. Words taken from English are used often, one episode involves a war between two "Graffiti Gangs", Japanese hip-hop music abounds (some characters even speak in rap-form), and there is even an episode where the characters play baseball against the "evil and racist" American soldiers.
All in all, this unique take on the samurai world is refreshing and entertaining; you won't find anything like this in any other anime.
While the story's main plot is the search for the "Sunflower Samurai", this is really just a way to keep the three travelers together. The true focus of the story is the journey of the three main characters: Fuu, Jin, and Mugen. Thier journey and the development of their relationships with each other is the real meat of most of the episodes, with facts about the Sunflower Samurai popping up once and awhile, and the end of the search serving as the climax and conclusion of the story.
Due to this focus on the journey itself rather than the main plotline of finding the Sunflower Samurai, the story loses out a bit, but luckily even the episodes which have nothing to do with the main plot are interesting and enjoyable to watch, which makes up for the almost "filller-like" quality of a few of the episodes (including the Graffiti Gang episode and the baseball episode)
I would also like to state that I found the information and plotlines involving both the Dutch and the Christians to be very interesting, and I loved the element both groups brought to the anime, it really made the anime feel more realistic (which is neccessary in between the Graffiti Gang episodes and the rapping paesants).
Because the main characters' journey and relationships with each other are the main focus of the story, we find out much about their personalities, pasts, and we see how their relationships develop with each other. We see how Fuu grows on both of them over the course of the episodes, and how they all grow closer as friends and companions on their journey as they go through various situations. The joruney is by no means all sunshine and daises; at times the three will break off and go seperate ways, or one of them will go on their own seperate journey.
The animation is great; the backgrounds and characters are detailed, the fight scenes are extremely fluid, well choreographed, and exciting. The soundtrack was very good; I loved the modernistic and "cool" feel brought by the hip-hop beats and loved the sound effects during battles. The voice actors were likewise tremendous.
I would reccomend this to fans of Cowboy Beebop-style "cool" anime, which fuses the story with an element of style and "cool" factor which, while not bringing a realistic feel to the anime, does bring a uniqueness that makes it fun and easy to watch.
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