Samurai Champloo Recommended

Publisher
Geneon / MVM
Director
Shinichiro Watanabe
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
26 episodes / 25 minutes
Year
2004

Samurai Champloo Volume 4

By otaku_kei
16th Apr 06

Well as many people may have noticed I am a bit of a fan of samurai tales, and Samurai Champloo has to be the best one on the market at the moment. Standing head and shoulders above other samurai tales on the shelves such as Samurai X, Peacemaker, or even MVM's own Samurai 7; this urban influenced show about the hardened warriors Mugen, Jin and their companion Fuu tells a rather straightforward story in an exceptional manner where every aspect of the production comes together to show just how good a show can be!

Each of the main characters get their moment to shine in this volume, but really these episodes are for the Mugen fans amongst you. For any amongst you who felt that Mugen was far too much of a dark horse when it comes to his past we get some backstory in these episodes. When our trio get out to the coast, Mugen ends up running into some of his old buddies that he used to raise hell with. When Mugen gets the opportunity to make a shedload of cash with his old associates, can Mugen trust Mukuro not to betray their old friendship? Well in true Mugen fashion nothing ever goes right for him, and it looks like Fuu and Jin may just end up suffering for Mugen's past...

Of course this trio's troubles don't end their! The chance find of a bag of gold ryo means that things are finally looking up for Fuu and the others, but with the Yakuza and government agents involved nothing is ever simple. But can the bonds between these three survive the underlying tensions that have marked their camaraderie? Fuu, Jin and Mugen will all have their own reckoning to make when they take their own paths!

With so much action across these episodes it is just goes to show the fact that Samurai Champloo still manages to deliver touching character development and fantastic comedy. This show has always walked a rather narrow line between all the facets that go to making this show so enjoyable, and this volume is no different. From the rather dark tone that dominates Mugen's past history, to then the absurdist attempts of both Mugen and Jin to get into the pants of pretty young women in a later episode.

There is very little that this show does wrong in this volume, so much so that I found this to be the single strongest volume of Samurai Champloo so far. The links to Cowboy Bebop are becoming much less prevalent as this show has truly grown into its own beast. The talents of the creative staff behind this show have certainly not been wasted, as the consistently high quality of this show is maintained. The fluid and distinctive animation style that set apart Watanabe's earlier works is still evident on this show. The sword fighting scenes have to be some of the best animated on offer in anime. The soundtrack also remains very fitting for the stylings of this show, but the hip-hop and scratch beats are not used as inventively as the opening episode suggested this show would involve them.

This volume really has shown off the best of what this show can deliver, and has managed to take a good show and really elevate it into a great one. Sure we may get left on a cliffhanger, which always annoys me just as much as it leaves us wanting to know just what is coming next. From the dark opening of this volume, through to the comedy and the frequent character moments theses four episodes have it all. I can only see good things for the rest of this series, and anyone who has been enjoying this show so far is sure to feel the same. Samurai Champloo stands head and shoulders above every other samurai title on the market at the moment, and it looks set to retain that crown for some time to come!

R2 DVD Notes

Features: English Language 5.1; Japanese Language 5.1; Japanese Language 2.0; English Language Subtitles; Conceptual Art Galleries; MVM Trailers

Release information: OUT NOW - 10th April 2006

Notes: Yet another example of a great quality release for the UK market. Once again the only real complaint here is the lack of any significant extras, but MVM to try to licence anything available, so you cannot really hold it against them.

-- otaku_kei 16th Apr 06

Samurai Champloo Images