Review of Samurai Champloo
In long forgotten 2004 Shinichirō Watanabe, director of superb and astounding Cowboy Bebop, finally finished his second work: Samurai Champloo. Well, what is there to say: that Japanese dude knows how to rock! (emm, ‘rap!’ probably would be more applicable to this title) The journey of headstrong and daring 15-year old girl Fuu to find mysterious ‘samurai who smells of sunflowers’ in company of two ronins, taciturn and solemn samurai Jin and loudmouth blusterer Mugen who fights like dirty break-dancing monkey, is amazing, breathtaking adventure. Built around the same devices as Cowboy Bebop, it is a set of self-contained episodes, each having a story worth ofwhole movie. A mix of comedy and drama, each comedy episode is fun and each drama episode is believe. The atmosphere of the road, of the optimistic aspiring self-realization is so heartfelt that it will keep you in a light and good mood throughout all 26 episodes. But if you’re looking for an action, you will get it too! The swordfights in Samurai Champloo are awesome, especially if you’re realism fanatic. The last battle of Mugen is, mayhaps, the best fencing scene I’ve ever seen. And the music, the music! Being the rock lover, I’ve never thought hip-hop beats would be so cool. But it’s not just about hip-hop, but about the placement, the choice of rhythm, style, mood. The scene of country traveling with blind musician woman? Godlike.
But let’s get down to earth. Unfortunately, optimistic frivolous theme has its price. This is the story about friends. Again. I don’t know what the situation was in 2004 but as a viewer from 2019 when I see such ‘anime friends’ I know *exactly* how *every* main plot intrigue will be resolved. The same goes for characters. And though they are awesome, well-design trio, (especially Jin, whose emotional reticence makes him the most realistic and plausible one) each of them has some templated ‘friend’ traits. The most annoying being “I don’t care about you, guys. I can leave whenever I want”, but they, of course, care. Nevertheless yet again we are watching an episode where “not-friends” argue and separate only to be reunited twenty minutes later. How many times have I seen it? Ten? Fifty? Hundred?... So, ultimately, the stories that managed to surprising me was about secondary characters. Thanks goodness, it is the eighty percent of episodes! But even among them are cases of templating… For example, story about good kid stealing to buy medicine for his mother: we saw exact same fable in Cowboy Bebop!
But never mind that rambling. It’s all callous nit-picking of a petty man. What you should mind is feel, look, style, music of Samurai Champloo. And, of course, the adventure. The adventure that will be sung through the ages.
7/10