Roman Album: Samurai Champloo [Paperback]

Shinichiro Watanabe (Author), Kazuto Nakazawa (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 13, 2007

Bow down before the might of Samurai Champloo! This hip-hop anime sensation from the creators of the phenomenal Cowboy Bebop series took Cartoon Network's [Adult Swim] audience by storm. Dark Horse is pleased to present the very first Samurai Champloo art book to English-reading fans as directly translated from the original Roman Album edition - a volume published in a prestigious line of Japanese art books! Main characters Mugen, Jin, and Fuu are each profiled at length, all twenty-six episodes are summarized and illustrated with screen captures, and the "Backstage Champloo" chapter features interviews with famed director Shinichiro Watanabe, character designer and chief animator Kazuto Nakazawa, and art director Takeshi Waki. The voice cast is listed with main characters interviewed, the music so essential to the series is explored, and a two-page spread profiles twenty-four diverse influences that helped shape this instant anime classic. Among the many, many other features are pages upon pages of character and device sketches!

Product Details

• Paperback: 104 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse (March 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593076428
• ISBN-13: 978-1593076429
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #969,741 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice companion for a stunning anime, March 21, 2007

By 

Anne Cain - See all my reviews

This review is from: Roman Album: Samurai Champloo (Paperback)

Any fan of the hip, visually stunning anime "Samurai Champloo" must have this companion book in their collection! With its synopsis guide for all 26 of the series' episodes, creator interviews, character sketches and more, ROMAN ALBUM: SAMURAI CHAMPLOO offers a nice behind-the-scenes look at the anime. The publisher did a great job translating this book, and I'm glad they kept the original right-to-left orientation for the layout.

Unfortunately, I do have a couple of small qualms. Considering how great the animation and designs are in the anime, I'd hoped ROMAN ALBUM to really showcase the artwork. But many of the production stills are microscopically small and hard to appreciate. (And here's my personal beef: there were no stills of ultra-sexy-Jin with his hair down from episode #26! Considering that's one of the rare scenes in the series where we see Jin with a difference appearance--his stint in drag notwithstanding--I think it would've been a nice treat.) I also would've liked to see more concept art from the anime production, and a short insert on the English voice cast who did a great job with the dubs.

Those brief issues aside, I've really been enjoying my copy of ROMAN ALBUM. Not only will other Champloo fans love it also, but anyone who is curious about the series and wants to sample a bit of what makes the anime so special.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nice, but really bad editing, May 16, 2009

By 

S. Fralich (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Roman Album: Samurai Champloo (Paperback)

The highlights of the Roman Album for me were the interviews and the information about the inspiration for some of the episodes. About half the book has a good amount of art and the other half is mainly text. The layout of the book is pretty nice overall, though most of the episode stills are quite small.

The editing on the Roman Album is awful and careless. The exact same description appears for both episode 8 and episode 10. The episode descriptions are often inaccurate as well. There are numerous grammatical and spelling errors throughout the book. I would have given this a much higher rating if the editing hadn't been so bad.

4.0 out of 5 stars If You Liked the Series You will Like this book, June 12, 2011

By 

METALBAGABON (northeast) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Roman Album: Samurai Champloo (Paperback)

If You Liked the Series You will Like this book, plenty of nice art work of characters, would have liked if instead of small pictures it had larger pictures of scenes from the show. Has nice commentary section of how the show was made.