Review of Samurai Champloo

Story: 8, Samurai Champloo's story is incredibly basic, almost cliche but with an edge. Two samurai and a girl bump into each other and end up travelling a journey in search of a man whom the girl is looking for. I've simplified it into one sentence, there's not much to say to the plot other than that. Very simple, which isn't a bad thing. Each episode (with a few exceptions) entails its own unique mini-plot. One after another the mini-stories reveal new clues to the main story while at the same time building background behind each of the three main characters. Art: 8, Just gowatch 10 seconds of an episode and you'll see if you like the artwork or not. Initially I didn't, 6months later I picked up Samurai Champloo again and it grew on me. I don't have to write about the artwork to get a reader to decide if he/she likes it or not. I'm sounding like some prissy priss

Sound: 10, Amazing sound, probably one of my favorite anime sound-wise. Voice acting is spot-on with the character portrayal. The OST is very high quality, not much else to say; trying to justify how good the sound is is like trying to describe how good the art is. It's severely subjective.

Character: 10, 3 main characters, the complex between the trio is synonymous of Naruto's Team 7 "Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura".
Jin: Calm, collected, quiet, the pure definition of the textbook samurai. Jin represents order and logic, calmness and composure. A gentleman in the least. He is the mystery man, the James Bond of samurai.
Mugen: Where Jin is yin, Mugen is yang. Mugen is essentially Jin's dichotomous counter-part. If you have ever studied Freud, Mugen would be the Id. Acting out on instinct, Mugen never fails to entertain.
Fuu: Surprisingly, there is no love-interest between the three in competition with Fuu. Fuu sets the stage as the mediator between Jin and Mugen, she is the balance between the two extremes; thus she represents the ego.

Enjoyment: 9, VERY funny, the comedy is never dry in Samurai Champloo, nor is the action. This is pretty subjective and I can't really relate it to any other anime. What I found very well done was the connection between the samurai era and today's age. Hip-hop culture serves as the connection through music, graffiti, free-style rapping. I'm not much of a hip-hop fan but I can't stop but laugh when I see a samurai in the 1800s trying to rap with a guy beat-boxing in the background.

Overall: 9, Samurai Champloo is well worth the watch, I'd say the anime lacks in story depth and consistency but that's not saying much as it excels in every other area. Go watch it!