Printable View
The anime was great, they story good.. the fights, awesome.. but at the end of the day Samurai Champloo leaves a silly aftertaste in my mind.
All that searching and bonding... and eating, it was so enjoyable but they went their different ways.. WHY ON EARTH DID THEY DO THAT... it made me sad that they left each other, but I suppose it would have been worse if they'd stuck together...
Grumble Grumble Grumble
Personally, I thought the series was a disappointment... The main characters are completly lacking in the bushido concepts of duty and honor, and act more like street punks then samurai. And as hard a Shinichi Watanabe tried, Hip Hop and Samurai is like oil and water, the concepts just don't mix well. During it's first time showing in it's post-midnight time slot, it was canceled at the end of episode 17 due to the lack of ratings from the core otaku hobbiest audience, (and after finishing the series, I can understand why...) The 'second season' of 'Samurai Champloo' that is briefly mentioned on one of the DVD trailer/extras was shown when the series was rebroadcast on premium cable, and were simply the unshown episodes from 18 onwards that were skipped after the premature cancelation of the original run...
Samurai Champloo was the first anime series that I actually watched all the way through and not just stop half way. I was sad when they parted too :(
But I was kinda glad that Jin and Mugen didn't end up killing each other like they wanted to do all the way through the series. My Favourite ep would have to be the baseball one XD
I really enjoyed Samurai Champloo. I especially liked the "field of weed" episode......But anyways, they cancelled it due to lack of ratings? What horrible alternative universe have I fallen into?
So the "lost episodes" might come out soon, but on DVD?
Shinichi Watanabe? Of Excel Saga anime fame? Don't you mean Shinichiro Watanabe? They do get mixed up now and then, but meh... Watanabe is an unorthodox guy. This is the guy that combined jazz, country, Western and intergalactic space drama into one. Using homages from many mediums and basically experimenting with the way things work. He knew that the series wouldn't work well in Japan, but would work better in America. Samurai Champloo shouldn't really be seen as a typical samurai anime like Rurouni Kenshin, but should be more on the lines of its predecessor, Cowboy Bebop. Cowboy Bebop shouldn't be compared to something like Outlaw Star or any other sci-fi anime series out there.Quote:
Originally Posted by LenMiyata
I like Samurai Champloo for many reasons. Aside from the art, the music, and the voice acting from both English and Japanese, the storyline uses the same formula that was used in Cowboy Bebop. A group of characters that is dropped that is improperly introduced that the viewer knows absolutely nothing about gives out tidbits of hints about each character's past with each occuring episode. Any other anime director would have trouble with this method. In some ways, Shinichiro Watanabe is the Quentin Tarantino in anime. Slowly bringing out character development and giving each character an even deeper story. Using symbolism to further express the emotion of the scene. His notable trademarks would be his use of crows (in almost the same sense as John Woo uses doves) and the human eye. Beyond all that, the anachronicity of Samurai Champloo makes it amusing and the stand alone episodes are just as amusing.
With all that said, I actually found the ending fitting to the series. It fit the series just as well as the ending for Cowboy Bebop fit itself. The journey amongst the three friends has ended and all the loose ends have been finished with so there's no other thing to do than to go their seperate ways. I didn't really have any problem with the ending or the series.
Good times.
Me probably speak craziness.
Time for me to go back to sleep.
[Ih]
Grumble Grumble Grumble
GENEON USA has had the COMPLETE series (All 25 episodes) out on Region 1 DVD release for quite some time now, and recently put out a collectors set (which I picked up) this summer...Quote:
Originally Posted by TaurusDemon23
Samurai Champloo: GENEON USA Official Website
Your correct, it's Shinichiro, (I thought I typed that last 'ro', must have been suffering from lazy typing fingers...), however, due to the complete absence of US distributor production funding, (Fuji TV and Manglobe Inc. was the primary production funders), I don't buy the part about being targeted for US audiences. Due to the success of 'Cowboy Bebop' in the US market, if Shinichiro Watanabe had sought US funding, I'm sure he would have gotten it. Watanabe himself has said in interviews that he was surprised at the success of 'Cowboy Bebop' in the international markets (which would appear to indicate a intended Japanese audience...) and no doubt he had the same approach with 'Samurai Champloo'Quote:
Originally Posted by Innerhell
Yea I enjoyed every episodes... I'd say Champloo had entertained me a lot. Hilarious comedy, and deadly serious yet touchy scenes all packed up. Beside Watanabe's idea and storyline, I also have personal interest of the Kazuhito Nakazawa's artwork. I just recently realized he's also take the char design job of Tales of Legendia. I wonder I can see his artwork again...
I like this series, in fact it is one of my favs. Apart from it as highly entertaining (the actions, punch lines of the characters and visuals are not disappointing.) it remained true to its own style all throughout the series. What captivated me the most is how the episodes differ from each other and yet was able to portray human emotion. The collaboration of hip-hop and the samurai aspect is well done and is also one of the main reasons why I was so interested with this anime. Overall samurai champloo is really dynamic and very original.