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Samurai Champloo

Tamayyurt

15:28 / 15.05.05

This has stared up in the US thanks to Adult Swim. Shinichiro Watanabe’s latest, it blends hip hop and Samurai action, drama and comedy, and of course it looks fantastic. Is it as good as Cowboy Bebop? I’ve only seen one episode but I’d have to say, hell yeah! Anybody else catch this (or have seen more episodes?)

Mazarine

02:27 / 16.05.05

I also saw the first episode, and it's uberginchy. Is there any anime that Steven Jay Blum doesn't do a voice for? My fiance and I, being dorks, were chittering about whether the animals shown in the opening sequence have any real significance on the fighting style. Rooster, octopus? Um... butterfly?

diz

04:14 / 16.05.05

a friend of mine has the first 8 eps or so on DVD. i watched them a while ago.

overall: ehh. there's not really a lot of hip-hop outside of the title credits and such after the first ep or so. fun samurai anime that doesn't live up to the high concept.

Tamayyurt

20:30 / 16.05.05

The butterfly is the preferred symbol of the samurai because of its beauty and grace. Also because it rises from the ranks of lowly caterpillar to attain its elegant state.

Butterflies in Japan

And in Japan the rooster is also associated with the samurai. Victorious samurai were often given long tail feathers as a prize. Not only that, but in Japan the rooster is their phoenix, symbolizing fire, boldness, and war.

Roosters in Japan

I’m not sure if the octopus has any special meaning, but I have a general theory as to why it’s there. They’re obviously playing Mugen and Jin as opposites. Mugen being the insane, hothead sporting a red kimono. He’s clearly fire so he’s the cock. Jin is the cool, fluid fighter in the deep blue kimono. He’s water and so an octopus.

Does anybody know if octopuses have any specific meaning in Japan?

lekvar

01:15 / 17.05.05

You mean aside from the long tradition (at least since the mid 1700's-early 1800's) of using the octopus as the defiler of young, pretty women's purity? Aside from the use of tentacles as stand-ins for the male genetalia, since pictures of male genetalia are considered taboo? Nothing comes to mind, no...

Not-even-remotely-safe-for-work link to ukio-e (japanese woodblock print) purportedly by Hokusai.
Strictly for research, I assure you.

Tamayyurt

02:30 / 17.05.05

Very interesting. I do like that the obvious bad boy is the one with the honorable totem and the seemingly upright one has a shady symbolic animal.

skolld

18:03 / 17.05.05

Like Bucky, a friend of mine had the firt 16 episodes or so.
I really enjoyed it. The artwork is great and the fighting is good, also some witty banter to be had. It's a bit cliche here and there but what anime isn't.
There's a good episode all about those Ukiyo-e prints you linked too as well

There are apparently 26 episodes so i have to wait to see the rest of the series.
Over-all I give it a thumbs-up.

Illihit

02:05 / 19.05.05

Samurai Champloo, on a scale of one to ten, is freaking awesome.

I love the concept - I loved it in Ghost Dog, Samurai Jack, and the Wu Tang's stuff - and I love it here now.

The intertwining of hip-hop and old Japan becomes less obvious after episode one. It becomes reliant on the music and background touches (i.e. anachronisms) to get its point across, rather than "scratches" between scenes and track suit-kimonos.

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