From The Classic Archives- Samurai Champloo - Edo Period with Beatboxing

Extravagantly set into 19th Century of the Edo-period, when Japan was ruled by Tokugawa shogunate aka. Edo Shogunate. Samurai Champloo takes you on an adventure in search of Fuu Kasumi’s father.
Fuu was a clumsy waitress working peacefully in a tea house until she accidentally spills the tea on one of the customers. Not a surprise, the group incessantly started harassing Fuu, in such an unfortunate situation she begged for help in exchange of dumplings by another Samurai; Mugen. Mugen’s wild Kendo style that utilizes breakdance moves dispose of them in seconds. Subsequently, Mugen comes across Jin and cross swords. However, Jin wields much more profound and traditional sword style. Unlike other opponents, the fight dragged and both the blades found their formidable counterpart. In search of excellence, they decided to have a duo and burned the whole shop in the process. The worst, they killed the local magistrate’s son.

After being overpowered with numbers Mugen and Jin are captured and to be executed, but rescued by Fuu (Foo), who hires both as her bodyguard and begin the journey to search the samurai who smells like the sunflower.

Samurai Champloo is directed by Shinichiro Watanabe the man behind another classic; Cowboy Bepop and the most unexpected state-of-the-art, the latest slice of life- Carole and Tuesday.
Well, Watanabe magnum opus starts with the music and that is the USP of Watanabe’s work. The plot of Samurai Champloo is simple and episodic. However, Not just the journey but the destination is also executed beautifully. The plot lacks the development when it came to Fuu. However, it is overshadowed by Mugen and Jin. The character’s designs are unique and oddly beautiful.

It’s no gainsaying that Cowboy Bepop and Samurai Champloo are often put in contrast to another, however, A space-time bounty hunter had his ways and two Samurai’s “Born in the wrong era” had his ways. Both Bepop and Samurai are romantic warrior figure with strong charisma attached to them and both Spike and Mugen did the best they could do.

Here’s a similar anime : Black Lagoon

Characters	Voice Artist
Mugen	Kazuya Nakai
Jin	Ginpei Sato
Fuu Kasumi	Ayako Kawasumi
Kagetoki Kariya	Takayuki Sugou
Sara	Sakiko Tamagawa

Notable Characters

Animation and Music

The art style of Samurai Champloo is quite different. The animation tries to harness the series from the actual Edo-era juxtaposed with modern and humorous surreal effects. Beatboxing or scene transitions reminiscing Disk Jockeys playing with their deck gives an amazing touch to the series. The animation and sound go hand in However, the sound work surpasses the animation quite a few time and makes the series appealing and stand out. Samurai Champloo features the last of Hip-Hop soundtrack by Nujabes. However, the Japanese folk Obokuri-Eeumi by Ikue Asazaki remains my favourite. As far as frame per second concerns the no of frames is optimal and the overall animation looks fluid.