I love watching anime. To tell you the truth, I spend my nights watching series after series, title after title…Yeah, you might find me leading a very boring life but I’m still thankful that I’m at least entertained. I’ll be 28 this year but I have not outgrown my love for cartoons and animes…Yup, I am eccentric, at least, I think I am.

Anyway, I have watched close to a hundred titles already, prompting me to make sort of a review blog so I could share my insights about the animes I have watched. I will try to make a review at least twice a week, starting with the anime series I am currently watching or those which I have recently gone through. So, there…

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SAMURAI CHAMPLOO

Funky music, break-dance fight moves, pop art, graffiti, hip-hop ‘hood attitude, ghetto look, human beat/boom box and party mood. Who would have thought that these would be present in a samurai, shogunate-era anime series?

Samurai Champloo tells the story of Fuu, a 15-year old girl in search of a samurai who smells like sunflowers, Mugen, a scraggy-looking wanderer whose fighting skills are definitely 21^st century breakdance and hiphop moves, and Jin, an eye-glass wearing silent-type samurai known to have killed his master. The story starts when these three met at the local tea house where Fuu works during a clash-in with the gang of the governor’s son. One thing led to another, that is, defeating the antagonists, but Fuu and Jin, sensing that the other is an opponent worth killing, started fighting which led to the eventual destruction of the tea house. Fortunately, the two hot-headed fighters survived but they were captured by the authorities and were sentenced to be executed at sunset. Fuu tries to save the two. Well, actually, even without Fuu’s help, they could have escaped by themselves, and as payment for her good deed, she asked that the two accompany her on her journey to find the samurai who smells like sunflowers. The two, however, were keener in continuing their fight but Fuu forced her will and through a game of heads and tails in which she won (according to her), she was able to convince Mugen and Jin to travel with her on her search the sunflower-samurai. Thus, their adventures and misadventures begin.

I find this series exceptionally good. The story is highly entertaining and the gen-x approach actually works. There are a lot of hilarious moments during the trio’s travels that made me laugh out loud. For example, the time when Mugen and Jin entered the red light district and were given a number of girls apparently worth their money. Turns out that the geishas were a fat middle-aged lady and a cross dresser, among others, During the same episode, Fuu, who eats like there would be no tomorrow, was asked by one of the goons if she saw a fat girl her age. Unknown to them, Fuu is the one they’re looking for.

The fight moves are a little weird for the shogunate era, so it is no wonder that people get dumbfounded when Mugen does his stuff. The ‘hood attitude of the characters and their musical inclination definitely gives this series an edge, its gangsta’ groove makes it delightfully funny and entertaining. The characters are a revelation themselves. Fuu is a strong-headed young lady who survives living on the road with Mugen and Jin. While she may appear frail, she’s a quick thinker (although fickle-minded) not afraid to get into fights (especially food challenges) and she shamelessly thinks that she’s popular among the boys (a believer that breast size should not matter). In several instances, she was caught saying that she does not know why Mugen and Jin would want other women when they have her. Heehee. The look on Mugen’s face when she said it was precious. Anyway, she’s definitely in love with Jin but time and again, she failed to get his attention. However, during the last parts of the series, I was of the impression that Jin likes Fuu, albeit a little. I was actually cheering Fuu to snatch the unwilling heart of Jin and I felt the pain in Fuu’s heart when Jin acceded to go with a blind musician (this is where Fuu cried like an insolent child).

Mugen is a bad-ass warrior. He picks on his nose, his hair is always unkept, he wears hip-hop short pants and his wooden sandals have steel platings. He comes across as uncultured and uneducated…He cannot read at all but in the latter part of the series, a teacher taught him to read. No longer afraid of words, he bravely painted a figure-eight (8) graffiti at the top-most tower of a castle, signifying his name Mugen (at least, he claims it means infinity). His fighting techniques are completely centuries ahead. Break-dance moves and matrix-inspired defensive style make him one-of-a-kind in the Tokugawa period. In fact, his blood boils with excitement every time he encounters a worthy opponent. For instance, he has a particular desire to fight and defeat Jin and whenever they have an opportunity, they would waste no time to engage in battle. Before they could actually get into the groove of fighting, Fuu would always put an end to their fight. Mugen loves women as much as he loves to fight, and would do anything just to score with a woman. However, he does not seem to like Fuu in a romantic way, since he wants women with big breasts.

Jin, on the contrary, seems and looks like a proper gentleman, and a weakling at that. Probably because of his eyeglasses. Despite his looks, he is known in the samurai world to have defeated a legendary killer, his master, who slayed a thousand samurais. His reputation, however, is tainted with the rumors that he betrayed his master. After his master’s death, he journeyed across Japan while perfectly surviving plots to kill him by his classmates who hold grudge against him in their attempt to avenge their master’s death. After all, he was their dojo’s top-student-incomparable and undefeated. He has fallen in love with a married woman who sold herself to a brothel to help pay the debt of her husband. Jin, ever the gentleman visited the woman at the brothel, not to sleep with her but to merely to be with her. The silent-type seems unperturbed by Fuu’s obvious affection towards him, but like Mugen, he decided to stay with Fuu until she finally meets with the sunflower-samurai.

Over-all, Samurai Champloo is worth watching. I did not get bored at all and I managed to watch all 26 episodes in one sitting. It may given me dark circles under my eyes but the joy and laughter (and occasional tears) it brought me are more than enough for me to forget that I suffered extreme sleep deprivation. If I were to rate this series from 1 to 10, I’d definitely give this a 9.