Product Details

• Actors: Kazuya Nakai, Ginpei Sato, Ayako Kawasumi, Steve Blum, Kirk Thornton
• Directors: Eric P. Sherman
• Format: Box set, NTSC, Color, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: Japanese, English
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 7
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Funimation
• DVD Release Date: June 30, 2009
• Run Time: 625 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (237 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0023S4A5I
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #88,599 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Samurai Champloo: The Complete Collection" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Shinichiro Watanabe's film noir-ish sci-fi adventure Cowboy Bebop set a new standard for cool in anime in 1998, and Samurai Champloo, an edgy mix of Edo-era martial arts and hip-hop irreverence, is a worthy follow-up. A string of coincidences brings together three misfits in a two-bit tea house: Mugen, a rebellious vagabond; Jin, a taciturn ronin; and Fuu, a nutty waitress. The sardonic Mugen lacks the polish that distinguishes a classic martial artist--he uses break dance spins and flips against his foes. Jin moves with a polish that approaches iciness: When he unsheathes his sword, he becomes a lethal work of art in motion. Fuu forces Jin and Mugen to help her find a mysterious samurai "who smells of sun flowers." As the ill-assorted trio wanders towards Nagasaki, Watanabe treats the audiences to a string of outrageous, anachronistic adventures. In Episode 18, Mugen belatedly learns to read at a smackdown elementary school, while Jin tries to settle the rivalry between the heirs to the dojo of his former sensei. The seemingly unrelated storylines collide in a no-holds-barred graffiti contest featuring Tokugawa rap lyrics, ink-brush tagging, Hiroshima homeboys, and a caricature of Andy Warhol. But Watanabe reveals the hidden significance of these nutty interludes when he brings his picaresque adventure-comedy to a close. Like Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo leaves the viewer wanting more. (Rated 16 and older: violence, violence against women, profanity, brief nudity, sexual situations, alcohol and tobacco use) --Charles Solomon

Product Description

Mugen’s a buck-wild warrior -- violent, thoughtless and womanizing. Jin is a vagrant ronin -- mysterious, traditional, well-mannered and very strong as well. These two fiercely independent warriors can’t be any more different from one another, yet their paths cross when Fuu, a ditzy waitress, saves them from being executed when they are arrested after a violent swordfight. Fuu convinces the two vagrant young men to help her find a mysterious samurai "who smells of sunflowers." And their journey begins

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

164 of 175 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars DVD or Blu-ray? December 16, 2009

By TeamReveal

Format:Blu-ray

This show has been reviewed in detailed lots of times so if you want a review of the content then you should look at the various reviews for the dvd version as the content of the 26 episodes is in fact the same. I'll concentrate on the blu-ray vs. dvd debate that is brewing up.

Now, I've been told that this show will never actually be in true hd because of the various CG(computer graphic) elements that were done in SD. In order for us to see this show in true hd they would have to go back and redo all of the CG elements that were originally done in SD. A lot of earlier shows have this problem, such as Cowboy Bebop which when this comes out in blu-ray will probably be an upscale as well. Thus, this is probably the best we will ever get. Older animation that was hand drawn was done completely on film which in fact has an infinite resolution. Computer graphics are limited to the actual resolution at which they were created at, but they can be upscaled such as in this tv show. Since this was a tv show that aired on SD originally, the computer graphics were done in SD, hence the need to redo the CG for a true HD resolution.

I've seen pictures from an upscaled DVD and from this Blu-ray and overall the Blu-ray looks better in my opinion. If you look carefully at still shots you will notice that the dnr filter used removes some of the detail in the picture. So looking closely, the DVD has just a tad more detail in certain parts. You have to remember though, that the animation style does not have a ton of detail to begin with so you will have to look really hard to see the difference in detail. The ONLY time I could really tell that the DVD had more detail was on scenes were there were large pieces of wood paneling.... On the DVD you see that there is more detail on the wood where the blu-ray version slightly blurs this out because of the dnr filter used. Again, in the still shots I saw, I could only tell on the wood paneling of certain scenes. On the characters, backgrounds, etc. I could tell no difference in detail.

A lot of people REALLY miss the benefit of blu-ray in these instances though. DVD's are much more compressed than Blu-ray's in both picture and sound. That is one of the reasons why the DVD version has colors that are not as vibrant and a picture that has a lot more noise and macroblocking. So while the DVD has just a smidge more detail in certain parts, this is negated by the fact that the DVD version is highly compressed, introducing artifacts into the picture and in the process giving you a picture that is not as good as it could be.

Overall, in my opinion, this makes the much higher bitrate sound and picture in blu-ray the winner. We can complain that the show isn't in true HD, but we have to remember that unless they redo the CG parts, it probably never will be in true HD. People can cling to their DVD's and say they are the best, but they will miss the fact that the higher bitrate of blu-ray in both picture and sound give a better overall experience.

The difference between the DVD and Blu-ray isn't night and day but it is definitely noticeable. If you have neither, then the blu-ray version is the one to pick up, but if you have the DVD set already then this isn't worth picking up unless Samurai Champloo is one of your all-time great favorites, or you just have money to burn. Read more ›

56 of 57 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not your typical samurai anime! August 19, 2006

By H. Bala TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:DVD

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 Read more ›

76 of 81 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Quietly Among the Best April 9, 2011

By J. McQueen

Format:DVD

If there ever was an anime series that will leave you saying "that was outstanding," this is it.

There are so many components to this story that make it so.

The artwork is gorgeous; the backdrops themselves seem to be characters in the story.

The music, which is a mash-up of house, hip-hop, blues and jazz, adds so much depth to each episode that you may feel compelled to buy one of the series' four soundtracks just as I did.

And then, there's the story itself: two rogue warriors - one who can barely control his emotions [Mugen] and another who is nearly emotionless -- the cipher (seemingly) without a soul [Jin] -- attempt to help a befuddled teenage girl [Fu] in her quest to find the "samurai who smells like sunflowers."

Yes, similar stories have been told in many different formats for generations, but this version seems so fresh. During the 26 episode arc, you will find yourself caring about the main characters and trying to understand why it's so important for each of them to complete this ill-defined (and potentially hopeless) journey to find the samurai.

At the end of the series, you will already miss these wonderful characters. (Years after viewing the entire series, there are still episodes I will watch from time-to-time for that very reason.)

Like its futuristic companion, Cowboy Beebop, this is Anime with brass knuckles and a heart ...

In its quiet and quirky way, it's breathtakingly cool.

75 of 84 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Improved from the last release, NEW UPSCALE! July 8, 2011

By S. Turner

Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase

I won't go into detail about the series because this is a review of this particular release. The last Blu-ray release of this series was poorly upscaled, but it appears Funimation has fixed the problem and re-upscaled the video for this set. Since the show was animated in standard definition it will never look spectacular, but this new upscale is probably the best we will see. Unlike the last set, the film grain remains intact with very few visual flaws from the upscale. If you already have the DVDs there is no real need to upgrade, but if you are on the fence about buying either the DVD or the Blu-ray, get this Blu-ray release.