Customer Reviews

Samurai Champloo - Complete Box Set

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Mugen is a cocky, rebellious, bandy-legged fighter who incorporates break-dancing techniques into his unorthodox fighting style. Jin is more your typically calm and stoic samurai (or ronin, to be more precise), steeped in martial tradition, who finds satisfaction in the perfect execution of his warrior craft. Mugen and Jin aren't friends - in fact, they are contentious and want to test their skills against each other - yet they find themselves joining forces, thanks to Fuu, an insistent and kinda quirky waitress who inveigles the two into helping her search for the Samurai Who Smells Like Sunflowers. For 26 episodes, the discordant trio undergo many adventures, some serious, some hilarious, some just plain out weird. The only constants are the bickerings amongst the three, the scrounging for food, and the intrusion of modern day sensibilities. Oh, and the rampant butt kicking as done by Mugen and Jin.

On the heels of his popular Cowboy Bebop anime series, Shinichiro Watanabe decided to put a new spin on the samurai anime with his irreverent, hip Samurai Shamploo. Shamploo means "stir fry" or a mix, and this is certainly what this series is about, as it fuses the traditional samurai credo and decorum with the unexpected modern day incursions of hip hop attitudes, beatboxing, street tagging, and baseball. The episodes are supported by cool Japanese hip hop music soundtracks and blazing hip hop scratches for scene segues. Watanabe also makes beautiful use of visual metaphors, thereby adding more depth to the shenanigans. The ripping animation and dynamically constructed fight scenes are guaranteed not to disappoint.

Kudos, too, to the voice actors, especially Steven Jay Blum (aka Daniel Andrews, who also voiced Cowboy Bebop's Spike) as the bestial Mugen. Kirk Thornton as Jin and Kari Wahlgren as Fuu are both excellent. The voice actor for the sometimes series narrator Policeman Sakami Manzou ("the Saw") is also very good.

These episodes are definitely rated PG-13. This anime series doesn't hesitate to throw in scenes of drug use and graphic violence. Some episodes even contain mild sexual scenes.

My favorite episodes are "The Art of Altercation" (for the spoken word samurai and his beatbox backup), the atmospheric "Cosmic Collisions" (where the trio fight the undead), the hilarious "Baseball Blues" (where the American pitcher couldn't find the strike zone with the dog at bat, and he ends up inadvertently hitting the mutt - not to worry, no animated dogs were hurt in the making of this anime), and the concluding 3-episode arc "Evanescent Encounter" (where Mugen and Jin are challenged to their very limits, resolve their rivalry, and Fuu at last catches up to the Sunflower Samurai).

Here are the 26 episodes (alliterative American titles first, with the original Japanese titles in parenthesis):

"Tempestuous Temperaments" ("Storm and Stress") Episode 1
"Redeye Reprisal" ("Veritable Pandemonium") Episode 2
"Hellhounds for Hire" Parts One & Two ("Tacit Understanding") Episode 3-4
"Artistic Anarchy" ("Utter Indifference") Episode 5
"Stranger Searching" ("RedHeaded Foreigner") Episode 6
"A Risky Racket" ("Surrounded on All Sides") Episode 7
"The Art of Altercation" ("Self-Conceit") Episode 8
"Beatbox Bandits" ("Evil Spirits") Episode 9
"Lethal Lunacy" ("Fighting Fire with Fire") Episode 10
"Gamblers and Gallantry" ("Fallen Angels") Episode 11
"The Disorder Diaries" ("Learning from the Past") Episode 12
"Misguided Miscreants" Parts One & Two ("Dark Night's Road") Episode 13-14
"Bogus Booty" ("Through and Through") Episode 15
"Lullabies of the Lost" Verses One & Two ("Idling One's Life Away") Episode 16-17
"War of the Words" ("Pen in One Hand, Sword in the Other") Episode 18
"Unholy Union" ("Karma and Retribution") Episode 19
"Elegy of Entrapment" Verses One & Two ("Generous Elegy") Episode 20-21
"Cosmic Collisions" ("Anger Shot Toward Heaven") Episode 22
"Baseball Blues" ("Heart and Soul into the Ball") Episode 23
"Evanescent Encounter" Parts One - Three ("Circle of Transmigration") Episode 24-26

Mugen is a cocky, rebellious, bandy-legged fighter who incorporates break-dancing techniques into his unorthodox fighting style. Jin is more your typically calm and stoic samurai (or ronin, to be more precise), steeped in martial tradition, who finds satisfaction in the perfect execution of his warrior craft. Mugen and Jin aren't friends - in fact, they are contentious and want to test their skills against each other - yet they find themselves joining forces, thanks to Fuu, an insistent and kinda quirky waitress who inveigles the two into helping her search for the Samurai Who Smells Like Sunflowers. For 26 episodes, the discordant trio undergo many adventures, some serious, some hilarious, some just plain out weird. The only constants are the bickerings amongst the three, the scrounging for food, and the intrusion of modern day sensibilities. Oh, and the rampant butt kicking as done by Mugen and Jin.

On the heels of his popular Cowboy Bebop anime series, Shinichiro Watanabe decided to put a new spin on the samurai anime with his irreverent, hip Samurai Shamploo. Shamploo means "stir fry" or a mix, and this is certainly what this series is about, as it fuses the traditional samurai credo and decorum with the unexpected modern day incursions of hip hop attitudes, beatboxing, street tagging, and baseball. The episodes are supported by cool Japanese hip hop music soundtracks and blazing hip hop scratches for scene segues. Watanabe also makes beautiful use of visual metaphors, thereby adding more depth to the shenanigans. The ripping animation and dynamically constructed fight scenes are guaranteed not to disappoint.

Kudos, too, to the voice actors, especially Steven Jay Blum (aka Daniel Andrews, who also voiced Cowboy Bebop's Spike) as the bestial Mugen. Kirk Thornton as Jin and Kari Wahlgren as Fuu are both excellent. The voice actor for the sometimes series narrator Policeman Sakami Manzou ("the Saw") is also very good.

These episodes are definitely rated PG-13. This anime series doesn't hesitate to throw in scenes of drug use and graphic violence. Some episodes even contain mild sexual scenes.

My favorite episodes are "The Art of Altercation" (for the spoken word samurai and his beatbox backup), the atmospheric "Cosmic Collisions" (where the trio fight the undead), the hilarious "Baseball Blues" (where the American pitcher couldn't find the strike zone with the dog at bat, and he ends up inadvertently hitting the mutt - not to worry, no animated dogs were hurt in the making of this anime), and the concluding 3-episode arc "Evanescent Encounter" (where Mugen and Jin are challenged to their very limits, resolve their rivalry, and Fuu at last catches up to the Sunflower Samurai).

Here are the 26 episodes (alliterative American titles first, with the original Japanese titles in parenthesis):

- "Tempestuous Temperaments" ("Storm and Stress") Episode 1
- "Redeye Reprisal" ("Veritable Pandemonium") Episode 2
- "Hellhounds for Hire" Parts One & Two ("Tacit Understanding") Episode 3-4
- "Artistic Anarchy" ("Utter Indifference") Episode 5
- "Stranger Searching" ("RedHeaded Foreigner") Episode 6
- "A Risky Racket" ("Surrounded on All Sides") Episode 7
- "The Art of Altercation" ("Self-Conceit") Episode 8
- "Beatbox Bandits" ("Evil Spirits") Episode 9
- "Lethal Lunacy" ("Fighting Fire with Fire") Episode 10
- "Gamblers and Gallantry" ("Fallen Angels") Episode 11
- "The Disorder Diaries" ("Learning from the Past") Episode 12
- "Misguided Miscreants" Parts One & Two ("Dark Night's Road") Episode 13-14
- "Bogus Booty" ("Through and Through") Episode 15
- "Lullabies of the Lost" Verses One & Two ("Idling One's Life Away") Episode 16-17
- "War of the Words" ("Pen in One Hand, Sword in the Other") Episode 18
- "Unholy Union" ("Karma and Retribution") Episode 19
- "Elegy of Entrapment" Verses One & Two ("Generous Elegy") Episode 20-21
- "Cosmic Collisions" ("Anger Shot Toward Heaven") Episode 22
- "Baseball Blues" ("Heart and Soul into the Ball") Episode 23
- "Evanescent Encounter" Parts One - Three ("Circle of Transmigration") Episode 24-26

First off, my drug of choice is cinema and I began watching anime because of the recent films that have made use of concepts from the genre. The first anime I ever watched was Ghost in the Shell, which for anyone who has seen the Matrix, there are a few striking similarities. From Ghost in the Shell, I watched Blood, Vampire Hunter D, Ghost in the Shell 2, Appleseed, Akira, and then I just happened to come along Samurai Champloo. Now anime purists will gasp but I had never heard of Watanabe and I bought the series on sheer impulse because I absolutely adore Asian action films (especially samurai ones). Hence, I began my journey into Samurai Champloo.

The first night I began watching the series, I promptly lost five hours of my life becoming engrossed in the characters. As other reviewers have mentioned, the story is really all about the characters and their interactions with one another. Odd stories (baseball games, graffiti wars, living dead, eating contests, secret police, kidnappings, bounty hunters, drugs, Dutch rulers, femme fatales, cults, evil monks, and more) are masterfully stitched together to create a world where the traits of the characters can become amplified and investigated. I love ever single character that this series had to offer. No lie: every single one of them. Some anime has left me feeling empty because secondary characters seemed boring or even the main character was lacking a certain "realness". Not this series. Watanabe and the other geniuses he works with created deep characters that you root for and cry for. Just like any good film, the audience needs to care about the characters for the story to be good and Watanabe hit this nail on the head. You'll find yourself constantly laughing or on the edge of your seat because these characters will remind you of a good friend or someone you would like to have as a friend.

I finished the whole series in two days because I couldn't get enough of it. It has been 5 months since I watched it and I am seriously going through withdrawals. I've watched other anime series and films to see if they quench my thirst, but nothing like this series. Based on this work, I made another impulse buy and bought the Cowboy Bebop series. I'm about to make anime purists gasp again but this series is better than Cowboy Bebop. Many people seem to be calling this Watanabe's "anime leftovers" from Cowboy Bebop but they must be crazy. Watanabe took his almost perfect genre-bending Bebop series, amplified everything that was great about it, cut out all the rough parts, and created this masterpiece.

You are doing yourself a great injustice if you don't buy this set. If you don't want to lay down the hefty sum for this version, I own the "bootleg" version of it too and that is just fine (only costs about $25-$30). I have about 750 movies in my collection (I told you cinema was my drug) and NOTHING compares to the level of fun and enjoyment I got out of this series. I feel like writing Watanabe a letter and asking him to write Samurai Champloo 2 just so I can watch these characters and their stories some more. If you like action movies, drama, period pieces, artsy films, comedies, anime, rap being blended into a storyline, fantastic fight scenes, amazing animation, or just something entertaining to put on the tube for an hour or two, Samurai Champloo is the right choice. This series really is a beautiful piece of artwork that you owe to yourself to check out. ~Mr. B

For those unaware, Samurai Champloo is basically what happened when Shinichiro Watanabe finished Cowboy Bebop, and had some money to try something new. That said, those Cowboy Bebop fans out there will be probably be interested in the show.

True, this is clearly not Cowboy Bebop, but it is equally exciting and unusual. The story is set around three travelers: Mugen, Jin, (both Samurai's) and Fuu. Fuu, after coincidentally meeting Mugen and Jin, roped them into helping her find the "Samurai that smells of sunflowers."

Little of the story actually centers on that Sunflower Samurai, except to keep them going from one unusual place to another. And the story is a bit different, because the whole story has hip-hop built into the show, from the rapping fighter, to Mugen's break-dancing fighting style. (Similar to the jazz/blues feel of Cowboy Bebop.)

More then that though, the three travelers encapsulates a lot about what we'd like our `anti-hero' characters to be, and that fact helps push this show, as it pushes the envelope, (even if only slightly.) So, buy the set, and see whether they ever find that Samurai, or just watch or it for their funny squabbles.

It has been several years (five to be exact) since I watched "Samurai Champloo," and while I always knew it as good I somehow forgot that it is in fact one of the greatest anime series ever produced.

"Champloo" is an Okinawan word (more properly pronounced champuru) meaning "mix" or "blend," and is most often applied to traditional food dishes such as "Goya Champloo" or "Stir-fried Champloo." It's basically a mixed stir-fry with a seemly infinite number of potential ingredient, and a very fitting description of Watanabe Shinichiro's "Samurai Champloo."

An eclectic blend of ancient and modern, hip-hop and koto, and pretty much everything else thrown into the mix, this is a Japan where a wild swordfighter uses capoeira moves to slice and dice with a fury, an enormous man known as the Oni smashes skulls with his massive club, and two twin brothers compete in a match to graffiti Himeji castle. Watanabe is a heck of a chef, and manages to balance all these seemingly dissonant elements into a tasty dish that might even top his previous concoction Cowboy Bebop.

The story features a bookish but deadly ronin (Jin), a wild sword-swinging roustabout (Mugen) and a kooky but determined waitress (Fuu). The trio is pushed into an unhappy alliance, several times attempting to split up, yet always finding their destinies inexorably intertwined. Fuu leads them on a quest for the "Samurai who smells of Sunflowers," providing the McGuffin that keeps the story moving. Each episode changes in tone and character, moving effortlessly between comedy and drama, tragedy and action.

Each ingredient supports the flavor of the other perfectly, creating a variety of story possibilities that couldn't be found by following just one personality. Categorize "Samurai Champloo" as "hip-hop samurai" is too much of an easy dismissal; the series goes much deeper than that. Along with hip-hop music and culture, the series features Japanese history like the hidden Christian sects, and samurai movie mythology such as Miyomoto Musashi and the female ninjas kunoichi. Every episode is a surprise, and every episode had be glued to the screen in anticipation of what would come next.

Watanabe's trademark style is on fine display, with some of the most fluid animation you will ever see and a quick and flowing story punctuated with quiet moments of reflection. The story builds at a good pace, allowing all the characters to develop in time. With twenty-six episodes, there is plenty of time to build characterization and identity, and while Jin, Mugen and Fuu appear at first to be mere stereotypical genre characters, they deepen with each telling.

This boxset is a pretty sweet package for this amazing series. Produced by Geneon and released by Funimation, it has all twenty-six episodes on seven disks, each with its own slim case. There are four episodes per disk, meaning that no quality has been lost by squishing too many episodes on a single disk to save space. Inside each case is an essay or comments by one of the people who worked on the series, giving insight into how it was created and what goes into such a collaboration.

The only possibly thing I would have wished for this box set is that Funimation had double-packed the DVDs into the slim cases, as they have with most of their other series. With as many DVDs as I own, space can be a premium at my house and so the smaller the packaging the better.

Absolutely great show. No typical contrived anime fantasy garbage here. Most of the series is grounded in fact and history, with just a little room for fancy and fiction to jazz things up. Despite the rating, I would not call this very kid friendly. Remember Cartoon Network does censor and edit its Adult Swim content. There is a lot of stuff that got the cut. Otherwise very solid, very fun. I would have liked to see some bonus/behind the scenes/concept art etc, but I'll take the set as is.

It's hard to take "Samurai Champloo" too seriously. The series features a breakdancing samurai, hip-hop music, beatboxing and rapping.

But "Samurai Champloo" is a masterpiece in light comedy, action and even a compelling story involving a daughter of a samurai who smells of sunflowers.

As the two samurai heroes say in episode two, there's something silly about a samurai who smells of sunflowers. However, this series truly shows off some of the best battles ever seen in an anime, embellished with the gorgeous environment of ancient Japan. There's a wide variety of stories, from a complex episode about a dying mother, an episode about the origins of Japanese manga and even an episode about a traveling geisha.

There's just one catch--the series is chock full of hip-hop references. Episode 8 alone is a goofy comedy tidbit about a samurai traveling the world with a beatboxing companion. Episode 16 features three samurai travelers rapping rumors they've heard on the road. Episode 18 gives us a closer look at the dangerous life of taggers in ancient Japan.

Okay, maybe this isn't the most realistic period piece series ever made. However, this series has so much fun with blending hip-hop, Christian missionaries and samurai fighting together that one can't resist loving this series.

It's no surprise that this is one of the most accessible action anime series around. Director Shinichiro Watanabe, responsible for the excellent series "Cowboy Bebop," has a flair for creating some of the slickest battle sequences ever made. His storylines might be more simplistic than, say, "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex." However, this is exactly why American audiences enjoy his anime series the most. They are simple stories of men who fight for something they care for.

There's no better time to buy the box set of "Samurai Champloo." The box set is $30 cheaper than the Geneon set, so anime fans have to get this collection. Hands down, this is one of my absolute favorites.

I was skeptical about this series when a friend handed it off to me. I thought, "Oh goody, another wandering samurai series. That's never been done before." I was dead wrong. Because while the genre is packed, this is something totally different. It wanders between being very historically accurate, relying on folktales and legends, and being just totally off the wall.

The main characters are not heroes at all in a traditional sense, but they're almost more endearing for it. You grow to like them because as terribly flawed as they are, they're true to themselves and their own sense of what is right in the world.

All in all, this series made me laugh, gave me the creeps, made me cry, and really inspired my own creative endeavors. By far one of the best shows I've ever seen.

I LOVE THIS SERIES. You want action? Got it! You want laugh-out-loud comedy? Got it! You want some saucy mild adult situations? Got it! You want insane storylines? Got it! You want some bad-azz fighting scenes? Got it! You want a killer soundtrack? GOT IT!

I love the fact that they use a hiphop soundtrack during the show.

Mugen and Jin easily became two of my favorite anime characters of all time; they don't get along at all. in fact, they can't wait to get the chance to kill each other (coming dangerously close MANY times). The only thing keeping this whacky team together is helping Foo find her 'Samurai who smells of sunflowers'.

I'm waiting for this boxed set to come out so I can finally stop watching bootlegged versions. The only other anime (besides Cowboy Bebop) that made me laugh this much is 'Golden Boy'.

Here is my official grade for this outstanding series.

Story: A
Action: A+
Animation: A+
Soundtrack: A+
Characters: A+

I'll skip the recap of the story since so many of the other reviews cover it better than I can, but I'll say this: Champloo is by far one of the most entertaining television series I've ever seen, and probably will ever see.

Usually anime series suffer from a too-serious and too-continuous storyline which meanders about for dozens of episodes and are all but impossible for a newcomer to simply step in and enjoy.
Watanabe's Champloo and his earlier Cowboy Bebop avoid this pitfall by constructing a clever character based story-arc rather than plot-based. Each episode in itself stands alone as its own piece of entertainment (except for a few two parters and the final 3 parter), while the three main characters make up the trio which move the series along. Its immensenly enjoyable stuff, and once you've watched through all twenty-six episodes you'll find yourself returning again and again to each one, at different orders, to enjoy each in its own right. Theres a solid mix of action, emotion, comedy, the hip-hop attitude which sets this series apart from nearly everything else out there in contemporary anime. For fans of Cowboy Bebop, the two series are subtly yet markedly different in style, format, and ideal, and dismissing Champloo as a rehashing of the ideas from Bebop is a vast disservice to both series.

The animation is better than most series out there, and more than supplements it with a powerful visual style and sense of dynamic motion. Being able to watch at frame by frame on the dvd makes is a beautiful plus to buying the series, and really reveals the meticulous detail even in the shortest scenes.

The disc-art on these dvds is simply beautiful, each as varied and colorful as the episodes themselves, though the Japanese version of the series came on twice as many dvds with twice as much art, which would have been nice to see.

Each dvd comes with a little slip of paper with an interview with a particular member of the production team, ranging from the muscicians, the writers, character designers, background artists, to watanabe himself. This offering works to supplement the relatively meager amount of dvd extras, which typically amounts to a series of trailers for other films/series distributed by madman, or a character-art gallery, series trailer, etc. It would have been nice to see some filmed interviews or production features, something which the dvds sorely lack.

Buying each dvd individually means you get a champloo 55cm x 55cm bandana with the episode 1+ box. The bandana itself is rather nice, and does not come with the sealed complete box set.

A few other issues with subtitles. The fan-sub versions of the sub are occasionally much funnier, and while the dvd versions are more concise and easier to follow, they occasionally screw up some of the funnier jokes from the original japanese. I've watched it now on two sets, and on the older model the subtitles ocasionally warp, though this does not detract from the viewing experience much, and is rarely. The sub is still much better acted than the english dub, especially Mugen's voice, which is a unique experience in itself. The english dub is okay, but at times weak, annd the the baseball episode is not nearly as funny in English (as fans of the series will understand).

I'd recommend this to nearly anyone, especially for those who are not fans of japanese animation. My dad loves old samurai movies and fell in love with Champloo, while my girlfriend doesn't really like anime or the samurai genre but loved this series nevertheless. I'm yet to see an anime series which even comes close to matching it in pure entertainment value. Highly recommended.