Samurai Champloo: Difference between revisions

Samurai Champloo
File:Samurai Champloo Title.png Still from the opening sequence of Samurai Champloo
Genre	Chambara, Comedy
Anime
Directed by	Shinichirō Watanabe
Studio	manglobe INC.
Manga
Written by	Shinichirō Watanabe (story) Masaru Gotsubo (art)
Published by	Kadokawa Shoten
Demographic	Shōnen

Samurai Champloo (サムライチャンプルー, Samurai Chanpurū) is a Japanese animated television series consisting of twenty-six episodes. It was broadcast in Japan from May 20, 2004 through March 19, 2005 on the television network, Fuji TV. Samurai Champloo was created and directed by Shinichirō Watanabe, whose previous television show, Cowboy Bebop, earned him renown in the anime and Japanese television communities.^[1] The show was produced by studio Manglobe.

The word, champloo, comes from the Okinawan word "chanpurū" (as in gōyā chanpurū, the Okinawan stir-fry dish containing bitter melon).^[2] Chanpurū, alone, simply means "to mix" or "to hash." Therefore, the title, Samurai Champloo, may be translated to "Samurai Remix" or "Samurai Mashup."^[3]

The series is a cross-genre work of media, blending the action and samurai genres with elements of non-slapstick comedy. It is also a period piece, taking place during Japan's Edo period. The series is interwoven with revisionist historical facts and anachronistic elements of mise-en-scene, dialogue and soundtrack. The shows most frequent anachronism is its use of elements of hip hop culture, particularly rap and the music it has influenced, break dancing, turntablism, hip hop slang, and graffiti. The show also contains anachronistic elements from the punk subculture and modernism, but less prominently.

File:Champloo3.jpg

Samurai Champloo tells the story of three strangers in the Tokugawa era who come together on a journey across Japan:

• Mugen: A brash vagabond from the Ryukyu Islands, Mugen is a wandering sword for hire with a wildly unconventional fighting style that resembles breakdancing and capoeira.^[4] He wears metal-soled geta and carries a katana on his back (although, historically, the Tokugawa government prohibited unauthorized men from carrying daishō or any of its components).^[5] In Japanese, the word "mugen" means "infinite" or "endless."^[6]
• Jin: Jin is a mild-mannered ronin who carries himself in the conventionally stoic manner of a samurai of the Tokugawa era. Using his waist-strung daishō, he fights in the traditional kenjutsu style of a samurai trained in a prominent, sanctioned dojo. Jin wears glasses, an available but uncommon accessory in Edo era Japan. Spectacles -- called "Dutch glass merchandise" ("Oranda gyoku shinajina" in Japanese) at the time -- were imported from Holland early in the Tokugawa period and became more widely available as the 17th century progressed.^[7]
• Fuu: A feisty young girl of approximately 15 years of age, Fuu recruits Mugen and Jin to help her find a sparsely-described man she calls "the samurai who smells of sunflowers." A flying squirrel named "Momo" (meaning "peach" in Japanese and also short for "momonga," meaning "flying squirrel") accompanies her along the way, inhabiting her kimono and frequently leaping out to her rescue when she encounters trouble. She is often hired as a prostitute in the TV series.

Apart from this trio, the other characters tend to appear only once or twice throughout the entirety of the series.

Samurai Champloo is largely about the journey of a girl named Fuu and her two bodyguards/travelling companions, Mugen and Jin, as they travel across Edo era Japan in search, at the girl's behest, of a particular samurai who smells of sunflowers.

Fuu meets Mugen in the tea house where she is employed as a waitress and he has entered for service. As Mugen takes his seat, Fuu is confronted with a band of ruffian customers on the other side of the room. Mugen offers to take care of the unsavory bunch in exchange for food, but, upon her agreement, he instigates a wider brawl by insulting the ringleading troublemaker and his squad of gangsters. Just as the fight escalates, Jin, a stoic young ronin in samurai garb, walks into the teahouse unaware of the ensuing violence within. Mugen mistakes Jin for an enemy and takes a swing at him, thus sparking what becomes a long-term duel between the two. However their immediate battle doesn't last long. One of the ruffians, who was maimed by Mugen earlier in the fight, re-enters the fight and, in a delirious state, sets the wooden restaurant ablaze. Mugen and Jin attempt to continue their battle amid the conflagration but end up passing out from smoke inhalation.

A splash of water revives the duo, at which time they discover that they've been arrested and are to be executed for the arsonous murder of a magistrate's son who was in the teahouse during the mêlée and blaze. However, they manage to escape execution through their quick-wittedness, physical skill and a little help from Fuu, who detonates two powerful firecrackers at the execution site, thereby diverting the attention of the duo's captors.

After the trio's escape from the execution site, Fuu recruits Jin and Mugen to her quest for "the samurai who smells of sunflowers," a mysterious man who Fuu can barely describe herself. Nonetheless, for reasons she won't divulge, she is intent on finding this man and desperately needs the help of two skilled fighters like Mugen and Jin. Further, since the two men are indebted to her for her assistance in their escaping execution, they agree to join her and abide by her one condition: they may not settle their duel until after the journey is over.

Their quest takes the three on a generally southward trajectory through the main Japanese island, Honshū. Travelling along what appears to be the Pacific coast of the isle, they arrive by ferry in the Tokugawa capital, Edo. Exploring the city at the beckoning of a mysterious red-headed stranger named Jouji, they venture through the city's bustling streets, dropping in on the Yoshiwara district and viewing a onnagata-starring kabuki performance.

Ultimately, Jouji is exposed as the pseudononymously-concealed gay Dutchman, Isaac Kitching, the governor general in charge of trade for the Dutch East India Company in Japan. Kitching had absconded from his post in search of acceptance as a homosexual in Japanese society. Before Kitching's staff convinces him to return to his post (per the Shogun's decree), Fuu begs him for any clues he might have as to the whereabouts of the samurai who smells of sunflowers. After showing him an item that belonged to the mysterious sunflower samurai -- a tiny skull ornament on a string -- Kitching offers her a lead: go to Nagasaki for more clues, he says.

Following Kitching's advice, the trio then begins its trek to Nagasaki, a port city on the island of Kyūshū, the third largest and southmost isle among the four Main Islands in the Japanese archipelago.^[8] Along the way, the broke and starving group is forced into a pawn shop to barter goods so they can purchase a meal. The pawn broker isn't much interested in Fuu's tanto or Mugen's katana but, strangely, sees much value in Jin's spectacles. Reluctantly, Mugen and Fuu convince Jin to relinquish the treasured merchandise, and this allows them to feast that afternoon at a local restaurant.

During their meal, they are introduced to a flashy and arrogant but harmless man named Sakonshougen Nagamitsu and his two lackeys, one of whom beatboxes a background tune over which his master delivers high-handed soliloquies. As we learn from one of his raps, Nagamitsu is looking to "make it big in this world" and isn't embarrassed to tell everyone about his ambitions. As documented in his scroll-written autobiography-in-progress, "The Road to Big," he originally set out to challenge the shogun to a battle, figuring that, if victorious, he would be the greatest man in all of the land. To his regret, though, he mistakenly went to Osaka castle, instead of Edo castle, and so the duel never occurred. In Osaka, however, he met Ogura Bunta, who joined the beatboxing young man as one of Nagamitsu's flunkies. Ogura told Nagamitsu of a legendary fighter named Mariya Enshirou who was undefeated in 1000 duels. If he could beat Enshirou, thought Nagamitsu, his reputation would rise considerably. Unfortunately, though, Nagamitsu was once again the recipient of disappointment, eventually learning that the master fighter, Mariya Enshirou, was killed by his star pupil. Since that day, Nagamitsu has been searching for this murderous pupil, a man who wears glasses and goes by the name, Jin.

However, when Nagamitsu finally encounters Jin, he doesn't have a chance to challenge him. Instead, Ogura reveals that he was a pupil at Mujuushin, the same kenjutsu dojo in which Jin trained. He declares that he sucked up his pride and followed the braggart wannabe, Nagamitsu, with the hope that he might one day find Jin and exact revenge on behalf of sensei Enshirou. Ogura demands to know why Jin betrayed his master, but Jin, who insists that the murder was more complicated that it seems, does not deny the charge or make excuses. In response to Jin's high-handedness, Ogura charges at him in a jōdan-no-kamae posture, sword unsheathed, but Jin easily deflects the attack and knocks him to the ground. Ogura, realizing he is outmatched, demands an honorable death, but Jin refuses to grant it to him. Ogura then points out that many of Enshirou's other disciples are out to kill Jin in their master's name. Jin, however, is not moved by this and suggests that Ogura tell these other students that he is ready should they choose to attack him.

Continuing on their way, the group makes a tumultuous crossing at the Hakone checkpoint, one filled with out of control brushfire, fields of smoldering marijuana, a severed head and hundreds of sōhei disguised as tengu in the hills around Mount Fuji. Finally, when on the other side of the checkpoint, they settle in a small town plagued by random street killings by an unknown tsujigiri. Mugen gets into a battle with the tsujigiri, named Shouryuu, who, as it turns out, was a student of the Buddhist monk, Zuikou, who is housing him, Jin and Fuu in the town's monastery. Zuikou explains that he used to be a samurai himself and trained Shouryuu, who at that time was called Ukon. Ukon killed a fellow student in practice and was expelled from the dojo. Upon his return, he had changed his name to Shouryuu and had mastered a new ryūha that allowed him to attack his opponent with nothing more than his qi. Despite the fearsomeness of Shouryuu's style, Mugen diligently trains himself for the few weeks before their next encounter. When they finally meet again under the subsequent full moon, Mugen out-maneuvers Shouryuu and kills him in a local river.

Mugen, Jin and Fuu then leave that town and travel onwards to another village, where Jin falls smitten for a woman forced into prostitution to pay her husband's debts. Since Edo era Japan was strictly patriarchal, a woman was treated as property of her husband and, therefore, did not have the right to divorce and could be forced into prostitution to pay a husband's debt. Unable to tolerate the woman's subjugation, Jin frees her and sets her adrift on a boat down the river for a nearby enkiri dera, a safehouse (usually a temple) for women ending relationships.^[9]

After springing the woman from her servitude, Jin and his two companions find some respite at an inn. While Fuu goes for a bath, Jin and Mugen take a peek at her diary. In the diary, they learn that Fuu's mother died; somewhere along the jouney, she had dreams involving her corpse. She also muses on whether she did the right thing teaming up with the two guys. It is exposed that at Zuikou's temple, the warrior monk offered the three spiritual guidance. Jin was given wisdom on the nature of freedom for a samurai beholden to his master; Fuu was told that meeting Jin and Mugen was destiny, by nature; and Mugen was refused advice for his insolence.

Walking through the forest, Mugen picks up the scent of the sea. Sure enough, within moments, they are standing on a bluff overlooking a beach and endless ocean water. They've inched southward in the course of their travels and are now on the northeast shore of Ise Bay, a large, lagoon-shaped body of water around the center of the southeastern coast of Honshu. Down on the shore, they notice a girl sitting on a beached piece of driftwood. She recognizes Mugen and wears a headband with the same saw-toothed design as Mugen's sword strap. Suddenly, before Mugen can respond, a massive fishing net with weighted edges along with a slew of arrows fly their way. Mugen and Jin dodge the web and slice the arrows; only Fuu is mired in the netting. Raiders jump down from the bluff with the intention of looting their prey, but stop after their apparent leader fires a pistol in the air. His shirt also contains the same saw-toothed design. Mugen and the man, whom the bandits call Mukuro, clearly know each other from the past. Mukuro says that he is shocked to see Mugen alive, having believed him sunk to the bottom of the sea. He further explains that he is not in search of money but rather for strong men for a pirate job that is to reap in the rewards of a big robbery job. Mugen refuses, saying that he already told Mukuro the last time they were together that he doesn't work well with others. Mukuro points out that he's living in contradiction to that statement since he's travelling with others. Mugen explains that he is only Jin and Fuu's bodyguard, a comment that invites Mukuro's laughter at the idea of a man who has killed as many as Mugen protecting anyone.

After Mugen's exchange with Mukuro, Fuu approaches the girl with the headband, who happens to be Mukuro's sister Kohza. Kohza explains that she, Mukuro and Mugen all grew up together in the Ryukyu islands, a Japanese island chain extending between the southern tip of Kyūshū and the northern tip of Taiwan. It was a dangerous childhood, she explains, due to the fact that prisoners were often exiled there from the four Main Islands of Japan.

Fuu explains to Kohza that the three travellers have been searching for a mysterious samurai and are currently on their way to Nagasaki. Kohza then offers a piece of advice: the easiest way to the main road to Nagasaki is across the water to the small city of Ise. Mugen declares that he's going to search the beach for a boat. Jin and Fuu, however are a bit wary of venturing off to sea, but Kohza explains that Mugen, having grown up on a small island, is a skilled boatsman, a fact of which Jin and Fuu were not aware.

The trio is also forced to face many elements of their pasts. It is revealed that Jin killed his master, Mariya Enshirou, and in a number of episodes ("The Art of Altercation"; "Lullabies of the Lost") he is pursued by students of his former dojo who wish to exact revenge. Jin is reluctant to kill these pursuers.

In the final three-episode arc, "Evanescent Encounter" (a.k.a. "Circle of Transmigration"), all three must confront their unresolved pasts. Fuu finally meets and confronts the Sunflower Samurai. Jin is challenged by a master swordsman, named Kariya Kagetoki, who is revealed as the primary antagonist of the series, although he has remained behind the scenes until this story arc. It is revealed that Kariya attempted to gain control of Jin's dojo and train its adepts for the purposes of assassination. Mariya Enshirou was ordered to kill Jin because of his opposition to the plan, and in the ensuing fight Jin killed his master in self-defense and was forced to flee the dojo. It also turns out that Kariya had the group tracked so that he could find and kill the Sunflower Samurai, Kasumi Seizou, as punishment for his role in the Shimabara Rebellion. In the course of the story, Mugen is also forced to confront three brothers seeking revenge because Mugen crippled one of them during his days of piracy.

Samurai Champloo employs a unique blend of historical Edo period backdrops with modern styles and references. The show relies on factual events of Edo-era Japan, such as the Shimabara Rebellion ("Unholy Union;" "Evanescent Encounter, Part I"), Dutch exclusivity in an era where edict restricted Japanese foreign relations ("Stranger Searching"), Ukiyo-e paintings ("Artistic Anarchy"), and fictionalized versions of real-life Edo personalities Mariya Enshirou and Miyamoto Musashi ("Elegy of Entrapment, Verse 2").

Incorporated within this are signature elements of modernity, especially hip hop culture, such as rapping ("Lullabies of the Lost, Verse 1"), graffiti ("War of the Words"), bandits behaving like "gangstas" (both parts of "Misguided Miscreants") and much of Mugen's character design, including a fighting style influenced by breakdancing. Champloo's musical score predominantly features hip hop beats. Certain anachronistic references are not based upon hip-hop, however, such as baseball ("Baseball Blues"), the United States and references to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki (“Cosmic Collisions").

There are four full-length Samurai Champloo soundtracks, as well as two singles. The names of the full-length albums are "Masta", "Playlist", "Departure", and "Impression". Featured heavily in the soundtracks are Nujabes, Force of Nature, Tsutchie, and Fat Jon, among others. Also performing over Nujabes' beats are Japanese hip hop artists Shing02, who performs the vocals on the opening theme "BattleCry," and Minmi, who performs the ending theme "Shiki no Uta" (“Song of Four Seasons”). In May 2007, Fat Jon's Ample Soul label released a limited edition 3LP vinyl edition of the soundtrack: "Samurai Champloo: The Way of the Samurai."

Some of the songs from the show are not available on the official soundtracks. Some examples of these are the songs "Obokuri-Eemui" ("Obtain Bearing") by Ikue Asazaki from her album "Utabautayun" (played during Mugen's underwater scene in episode 14) and "San Francisco" by Midicronica from their album "#501" (the ending song in episode 26). The most famous of these is the song played during the brothel escape scene in episode 11, which uses a sample from the George Benson song "Affirmation."^[10] As of 2007, the music selection has been identified as "Counting Stars," the sixth track of the HydeOut Productions 2nd Collection album.

• Throughout the series in its original Japanese there are deliberate anachronisms in speech. Typically this is in the form of throwing in english words for emphasis (used most heavily by the most outlandish characters), despite the fact that virtually no one in Edo Era Japan knew the language at all. Deliberately bad enunciation of Japanese on the part of foreigners is also readily apparent. These aspects of the series have a very humorous effect, yet are largely lost in translation.
• Samurai Champloo is an example of the popular chambara film and television genre--the trademarks are a setting in the Edo Period, a focus on samurai or other swordsman characters, and lots of thrilling, dramatic fights.^[11] Chambara was used in the early days of Japanese cinema (when government political censorship ran high) as a way of expressing veiled social critiques.
• The clothing worn by the characters in Samurai Champloo are all influenced by traditional Japanese fashion. For example, Mugen wears a modified version of a jinbei outfit, which is often made from cotton or hemp. The shoes he wears are modified geta, a traditional wooden Japanese shoe. Jin wears a hakama, which was traditionally worn in the Edo era and is still worn today by many Japanese. He also wears zori on his feet. Fuu wears a typical woman's kimono.
• In episode 5 (Artistic Anarchy), Mugen is heard to mutter (in the English dub of the series only) "damn, doing it with a squid" while looking at a book of ukiyo-e art. This refers to the quintessential ukiyo-e piece by Katsuhika Hokusai entitled Kinoe no Komatsu (The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife).^[12]
• In episode 3, Jin offers twelve-year-old Sōsuke Kawara to be his yojimbo (Japanese for "bodyguard"). He helps the boy pit the villages two opposing gangs against each other. This directly resembles Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo. In Yojimbo, Toshiro Mifune's character appears in a town and begins work as a yojimbo, pitting the area's two gangs against each other.
• Shinichiro Watanabe has stated that the movies Zatoichi and Enter the Dragon influenced his work.^[4]Perhaps this is most obvious in the character of Sara, who, despite being blind is a very skilled fighter just like the titular character in Zatoichi.
• In episode 19, the three main characters run into a crazy character who claims to be the grandson of Francis Xavier. St. Francis Xavier was the founder of Christianity in Japan. He brought the religion to Japan in 1549 and continued to preach there until 1551.^[13]
• The claimed grandson of Francis Xavier randomly shows up during a scene where Mugen refuses to step on a coin with the picture of Christ on it. The Christians in Japan were sought out this way^[14]. If they refused to step on the picture of Christ, they were assumed to be Christian and, therefore, prosecuted. If the "grandson" had not shown up, Mugen would have been tortured or killed, for the Japanese people would have confused him with a Christian.
• In the anime, Fuu is seen wearing a kosode style of kimono. A kosode kimono is the most common type of kimono, referring to the full-length Japanese style of clothing.^[15] The design that Fuu wears is that of a pink color, with a few flowers at the ends of her sleeves, as well as at her ankles. These flowers appear to be karahana, which in Japanese means “Chinese flower.” In addition, she wears a simple obi, or sash, around her waist.^[16]
• Jin wears a dofuku in the series. Dofukus are usually shorter in length, going no longer than the buttocks of the person wearing it. This design was preferred by many military men in the past.^[17] The sleeves, however, on his clothing tend to be more like the furisode kimonos. This type of kimono has long, swinging sleeves.^[18] The coloring of his kimono is kon—a deep, navy-blue shade of indigo^[19] and has four diamonds clustered together, forming a larger diamond on both his upper shoulders and back. This effect of the diamonds is created using a yûzen method, a means of dyeing in which the white (or resisted) material is either hand painted or stenciled onto the fabric -— on Jin’s kimono this would be the diamonds. Once the garment has been dyed, the areas that have been stenciled on or painted remain white or un-dyed. This is one of many forms of shibori, or dyeing of the garments.^[20]
• In episode four, the characters play a traditional dice game called cho-han bakuchi. It is a standard Japanese gambling game that uses two six-sided dice. The dealer (Fuu’s role in the episode) shakes the dice in a bamboo dice bowl and then places the receptacle on the floor, making sure to keep the dice covered from the player’s eyes. The players then have the option of choosing "cho," which means even, or "han," which means odd. Once all players have verbally called out their decisions, the dealer allows them to see the dice. The winner(s), or the one(s) who called out the correct answer, receive(s) all the money which had been bet. If there is more than one winner, the money is split up between them. Traditionally, dealers are men and work without shirts to prove they are not cheating. Although Fuu is a woman, she removes the right arm of her top in this practice. Underneath the top, she wears wrapped bandages around her chest, typical of yakuza and also dice and card dealers.^[21]

Samurai Champloo premiered in Japan on May 20, 2004 on Fuji Television, and ceased broadcasting on March 19, 2005, spanning a total of 26 episodes. It was also aired in Japan on the communications satellite television network Animax, where it has been regularly broadcast.

Geneon Entertainment licensed the show for distribution in North America almost a year prior to the show's airing in Japan. On January 20, 2004, it was made public that the broadcasting rights were acquired by Cartoon Network, and the series began airing on the Adult Swim block on May 14, 2005, in the 11:30 p.m. time slot on Saturday nights. On Saturday, November 22, 2005, the second batch of episodes (episodes 14-26) began airing at 11:30 p.m. EST/PST, but moved to Wednesday nights at 12:30 a.m. in January 2006. Late-night airtimes are generally used in the US to restrict kids access to complex or controversial subject matter. The final episode aired on March 18, 2006. Samurai Champloo also made its debut in Canada on December 24, 2006 on the Canadian digital station, Razer.

When the show was aired on Adult Swim, some foul language was censored. However, the censoring was achieved mostly by the use of sound effects (such as record scratching, a common sound in hip-hop music) that helped the censoring blend into the show.

In September 2006 the series was aired for the first time in Latin American countries.

SBS began airing the series on March 23, 2006 but only screened 13 episodes. As of December 8, 2007 SBS has once again begun broadcasting episodes at 2:00am Sunday EST but only screened 8 episodes.^[22]

The series began to air in 20th October 2007, on AXN.

Canal + aired the series in seasons (episodes 1 - 5, episodes 6 - 10, etc.), starting February 2007.

The series were released in DVDs in seasons boxsets, also in all-episodes boxset and is available at anime shops and internet.

Samurai Champloo has been adapted into a manga. It debuted in Shonen Ace on August 2004. TOKYOPOP licensed the manga in North America. Madman Entertainment licensed, released the manga in Australia and New Zealand and Panini licensed it on Brazil.

Bandai developed a Samurai Champloo video game for the PlayStation 2 entitled Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked; however, the manufacturer has stated that the game has no relation to the show. It was released on April 11, 2006 in the United States and received mixed reviews.^[23]

• Afro Samurai
• Chambara
• Kung Faux
• The Edo Period of Japan in which the historically accurate parts of the series takes place.

Official sites

• Samurai Champloo Official Web Site Template:Ja icon
• Geneon Samurai Champloo Web Site
• Madman Samurai Champloo Official Web Site
• Fuji TV Samukablalarai Champloo Official Web Site

Unofficial sites

• Samurai Champloo at IMDb
• Samurai Champloo Fansite