released 04 mar 95 / last mod 01 jun 07 / greg goebel / public domain
* At the beginning of the Japanese animation series SAMURAI CHAMPLOO, we meet two swordsmen: Mugen, a no-redeeming-features animal who gets by through a complete lack of restraint and total wildness, and Jim, a prim, cool, intellectual, formal killer. Obviously these two are not likely to get along, and when they meet they begin a fight to the death, only to discover that neither can get the better of the other. The fight involves a great deal of incidental mayhem, and they are both arrested, to be tortured and then taken out at dawn for a dual beheading.
They are rescued by Fuu, a cute, determined, but slightly ditzy girl accompanied by a pet flying squirrel, and she forces a truce on the two, making them swear to help her find the "samurai who smells like sunflowers". And so the trio heads down the road to a series of adventures.
* SAMURAI CHAMPLOO is directed by Shinichiro Watanabe of COWBOY BEBOP fame, and it includes the BEBOP formula of lots of violent action and quirky characters. It takes an unconventional approach on the classic samurai story by adding hip-hop themes and throwing in the occasional anachronism to establish the hip-hop style in the series.
SAMURAI CHAMPLOO is basically well-produced, and I think if you like samurai stories and hip-hop music, you'll probably like this series. As for myself, I got two episodes into it and gave it up. I'm not saying it's bad; I'm just saying it wasn't to my own taste. The samurai stories were competent but nothing very new, and as far as I was concerned the hip-hop soundtrack was tedious. I won't criticise hip-hop -- music is way too subjective a taste to make criticisms worthwhile -- but I personally find it dull, and I also found the self-conscious, sophmoric hipness of this production irritating. In addition, SAMURAI CHAMPLOO is too violent and, worse, not relieved by much of a sense of humor or fun; even the tacky SLAYERS series was more amusing.
All I can say is that you can take your chances on this one. It's not a piece of sloppy stupid junk by any means; like I said, if you like anime and hip-hop, this is likely to be good buy. If you don't care for hip-hop you should probably pass; if hip-hop's nothing either way to you, you can take your chances. I'm sure SAMURAI CHAMPLOO will have its fans. I won't be one of them.