Google

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Samurai Champloo : A review and Final Impressions.

Samurai Champloo, the crazy hip-hop + samurai anime has just ended last week with 26 episodes in total. Being a follower of this anime, I'll post my thoughts and reviews on it.



Admittedly at 1st, I had my doubts about this anime. The thought of infusing Hip-hop/Breakdance and samurais sounded very crazy yet funny and interesting at the same time.I wasn't around to catch the airing for the 1st season due to some reasons (no broadband and FMA) but I managed to watch it on local VCD's(ugh! stupid subs) on a really bored night.

My doubts were cast off after the superb 1st episode (I need to rewatch.....) and as I watched on, I was turned a fan. Anyways, on to the review.

SC infused nice fight scenes and parodied humour to the max.there was a lot of humorous parts which will be unforgettable like:
  • Jin dressed as a Geisha
  • Bushido=yaoi foreigner(LOL, Harakiri = ass-rape)
  • Fuu pigging it out
  • Mugen being played by the female ninja(what happened to her?!!)
  • Fuu, the veteran hostage
  • Porn ukiyo-e(LOL)
  • Graffiti battle
  • Baseball match between Japan and America(this had me ROFLMAO)
  • ... and the numerous other run-ins with historical figures and stuff.
The highlights of SC are also the expertly chreographed fight scenes.Jin's mastery of swordsmanship is only matched by Mugen's unconventional Breakdance style fights.

SC fully expands and explores each of the character's past and providing them with a relevent backstory to explain their origins and what makes them tick.The storytelling can be mediocre at times as the early parts of the anime suffered from the "filler" syndrome with out much focus on the main plot which gets developed only in the later episodes.

In the end, SC ended off nicely with all the plot threads closed and fully explained.But,yet it still remains unsatisfying and makes me long for more of the trio's adventures.It feels like losing something I've taken for granted. Well, all good things must come to an end i guess :P .

+ Over the top humour
+ Unique concept
+ Superb ending that leaves you wanting for more
+ Great chreography of fights
- "Filler" syndrome sometimes

Overall: 9/10

Highly suggested to be watched by any anime fan.