Anime DVD

Amazon.com
Viewers eagerly awaited director Shinichiro Watanabe’s first broadcast series since Cowboy Bebop, and this quirky, violent period adventure was worth the wait. In contrast to the jazz-inflected disillusionment of Bebop, Champloo offers an edgy mix of martial arts combat and hip-hop irreverence. A string of coincidences brings together three misfits in Meiji-era Japan: Mugen, a rebellious vagabond; Jin, a taciturn ronin; and Fuu, a nutty waitress. Mugen, whose sardonic posture recalls Spike Spiegel, is a formidable swordsman, but he lacks the polish of a great martial artist. His movements, which incorporate break dance spins and flips, reflect his undisciplined nature. Jin is cool to the point of iciness: When he unsheathes his sword, he becomes a deadly work of art in motion. After helping them escape execution, Fuu demands Jin and Mugen stop fighting until they’ve helped her find an unnamed samurai “who smells of sun flowers.” Predictably, chaos ensues. (Rated 16 and older: violence, profanity, brief nudity, sexual situations, alcohol and tobacco use) –Charles Solomon

Product Description
Mugen’s a buck wild warrior – violent, thoughtless and womanizing. Jin is a vagrant ronin – mysterious, traditional, well-mannered and very strong as well. These two fiercely independent warriors can’t be any more different from one another, yet their paths cross when Fuu, a ditzy waitress, saves them from being executed when they are arrested after a violent swordfight. Fuu convinces the two vagrant young men to help her find a mysterious samurai “who smells of sunflowers.” And their journey begins. This is a story about love, friendship and courage . . . . NOT! Limited Edition BANDANA and Filler box (4 color print) included

Amazon.com
Viewers eagerly awaited director Shinichiro Watanabe’s first broadcast series since Cowboy Bebop, and this quirky, violent period adventure was worth the wait. In contrast to the jazz-inflected disillusionment of Bebop, Champloo offers an edgy mix of martial arts combat and hip-hop irreverence. A string of coincidences brings together three misfits in Meiji-era Japan: Mugen, a rebellious vagabond; Jin, a taciturn ronin; and Fuu, a nutty waitress. Mugen, whose sardonic posture recalls Spike Spiegel, is a formidable swordsman, but he lacks the polish of a great martial artist. His movements, which incorporate break dance spins and flips, reflect his undisciplined nature. Jin is cool to the point of iciness: When he unsheathes his sword, he becomes a deadly work of art in motion. After helping them escape execution, Fuu demands Jin and Mugen stop fighting until they’ve helped her find an unnamed samurai “who smells of sun flowers.” Predictably, chaos ensues. (Rated 16 and older: violence, profanity, brief nudity, sexual situations, alcohol and tobacco use) –Charles Solomon

Product Description
Mugen’s a buck wild warrior – violent, thoughtless and womanizing. Jin is a vagrant ronin – mysterious, traditional, well-mannered and very strong as well. These two fiercely independent warriors can’t be any more different from one another, yet their paths cross when Fuu, a ditzy waitress, saves them from being executed when they are arrested after a violent swordfight. Fuu convinces the two vagrant young men to help her find a mysterious samurai “who smells of sunflowers.” And their journey begins. This is a story about love, friendship and courage . . . . NOT!

Amazon.com
Director Shinichiro Watanabe continues to push the envelope as his outrageous adventure-comedy Samurai Champloo nears the end of its first season. The encounter between Fuu, Jin, and Mugen and a mysterious musician-assassin raises more questions than it answers: The three misfits’ trip to Nagasaki apparently involves greater issues than they realize. Fans of Cowboy Bebop may find the eerily surreal “Cosmic Collisions” recalls the “Mushroom Samba” episode of Watanabe’s previous series. A clipper ship from the U.S. arrives in Japan decades before Commodore Perry, and the depiction of the Americans is anything but flattering. A nascent crisis involving questions of honor has to be resolved in a baseball game: Mugen makes sports history as the first man to pitch a no-hitter in getta (platform clogs). Only Watanabe could drop a baseball game into an Edo-era coastal village and make it feel plausible. (Rated 16 and older: violence, violence against women, profanity, alcohol and tobacco use)–Charles Solomon

Amazon.com
Director Shinichiro Watanabe brings his picaresque adventure-comedy Samurai Champloo to its conclusion as Fuu, Mugen, and Jin reach Nagasaki. The final episodes showcase Watanabe’s skill as a storyteller: earlier moments that seemed to be digressions turn out to hold more significance than viewers suspected. The mystery of the “samurai who smells of sunflowers” is revealed, although Americans may not understand the significance of his ties to the Shimabara Rebellion, an uprising of Christians and peasants in the 17th century. But Watanabe doesn’t resort to Morris-the-explainer scenes: the revelations and back stories of the main characters are integrated into the narrative. Mugen and Jin battle foes in duels that recall the confrontation between Spike Spiegel and Vicious in Cowboy Bebop. Watanabe said, “I actually like to travel, but, now that I’m finished with his project, I feel like I do when I come to the end of a really long trip.” Fans of Samurai Champloo can only hope that after a rest, he’ll create new adventures for his outrageously mismatched trio. (Rated 16 and older: violence, violence against women, profanity, alcohol and tobacco use) –Charles Solomon

Product Description
: Director: Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop)

Character Designer: Mahiro Maeda (Kill Bill Vol. 1, Last Exile, Nausicaa, Neon Genesis Evangelion)

Amazon.com
The mayhem and imagination never flag in director Shinchiro Watanabe’s first series since Cowboy Bebop. Fuu poses for a Ukiyo-e (woodblock print) artist, only to discover he’s tied to a criminal ring that traffics in young girls. She joins Mugen and Jin to escort gay Dutch trader Izaak Titsingh on a tour of Edo. Izaak tries to pass himself off as Japanese–despite an Ahnold-esque accent. The clever, well-researched visuals in these episodes play off Van Gogh’s paintings, shunga (erotic) prints, Kabuki costumes, and the 17th-century anthology The Great Mirror of Male Love. “The Art of Altercation” reveals just enough of Jinn’s past to explain why the taciturn swordsman has so many enemies. All four episodes offer plenty of the outrageous mixture of traditional martial arts and cutting-edge hip-hop moves that have made Samurai Champloo a fan favorite. (Rated 16 and older: violence, profanity, brief nudity, sexual situations, alcohol and tobacco use) –Charles Solomon

Product Description
No cash! Mugen, Jin and Fuu need money fast. Fuu tries to model, but it turns out to be a trap. When they arrive in the capital city, they delay their quest to join an eating contest, but find out the hard way they need to watch who they hang with! If some guy they meet isn?t wanted by the cops, then he?s trying to kill them or take their wallet- either way, you know they?re going to wind up in the middle of a fight… The outstanding animation directed by SHINICHIRO WATANABE (Cowboy Bebop, Animatrix), designed by KAZUTO NAKAZAWA (Kill Bill Vol.1) and MAHIRO MAEDA (Last Exile, Blue Submarine No.6) and powered by fresh sounds from Tsutchie, fat jon, Nujabes and FORCE OF NATURE! Outstanding animation and music done right with anamorphic widescreen video and surround sound audio (5.1 English, 5.1 Japanese)!

Amazon.com
As Shinichiro Watanabe’s freewheeling adventure continues, the pasts of the three main characters begin to come into focus. As an outlaw and a native of Ryukuu, Mugen is doubly an outsider in mainstream Japanese society. Watanabe plays his childhood flashbacks against an Okinawan folk song to stress the character’s alienation. Angry students of the dojo where Jin once studied dog his path, and additional flashbacks hint at the significance sunflowers hold for Fuu. Episode 15 epitomizes the seamless blend of stylized violence and rambunctious comedy that make Samurai Champloo so popular. On a visit to the local red-light district, Mugen finds his match–and a possible love interest–in a policewoman posing as a prostitute. She lures him into beating the sashimi out of a gang of counterfeiters with promises of exotic pleasures, then realizes they’re already having a great time. (Rated 16 and older: violence, profanity, brief nudity, sexual situations, alcohol and tobacco use) –Charles Solomon

Amazon.com
Mugen, Jin, and Fuu careen through time and cultures like pool balls on a wild carom as Shinchiro Watanabe’s Samurai Champloo continues. In the accompanying notes, writer Dai Sato comments that he and Watanabe “like counterculture and rebellious music.” No wonder Mugen stumbles onto an anti-government cabal of medieval warrior-priests–and shares a Jimi Hendrix song with them. In the darker episode 11, taciturn Jin falls for a woman who has been sold into prostitution to pay her husband’s gambling debts. Mugen and Jin finally realize that they’re getting no closer to finding the mysterious “samurai who smells of sunflowers,” so they take advantage of a lull to read Fuu’s diary. Her blunt comments about their looks, demeanor, and behavior don’t please her prying companions, but they add a dose of humor to an episode comprised of flashbacks. (Rated 16 and older: violence, profanity, brief nudity, sexual situations, alcohol and tobacco use) –Charles Solomon

Amazon.com
Shinichiro Watanabe’s film noir-ish sci-fi adventure Cowboy Bebop set a new standard for cool in anime in 1998, and Samurai Champloo, an edgy mix of Edo-era martial arts and hip-hop irreverence, is a worthy follow-up. A string of coincidences brings together three misfits in a two-bit tea house: Mugen, a rebellious vagabond; Jin, a taciturn ronin; and Fuu, a nutty waitress. The sardonic Mugen lacks the polish that distinguishes a classic martial artist–he uses break dance spins and flips against his foes. Jin moves with a polish that approaches iciness: When he unsheathes his sword, he becomes a lethal work of art in motion. Fuu forces Jin and Mugen to help her find a mysterious samurai “who smells of sun flowers.” As the ill-assorted trio wanders towards Nagasaki, Watanabe treats the audiences to a string of outrageous, anachronistic adventures. In Episode 18, Mugen belatedly learns to read at a smackdown elementary school, while Jin tries to settle the rivalry between the heirs to the dojo of his former sensei. The seemingly unrelated storylines collide in a no-holds-barred graffiti contest featuring Tokugawa rap lyrics, ink-brush tagging, Hiroshima homeboys, and a caricature of Andy Warhol. But Watanabe reveals the hidden significance of these nutty interludes when he brings his picaresque adventure-comedy to a close. Like Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo leaves the viewer wanting more. (Rated 16 and older: violence, violence against women, profanity, brief nudity, sexual situations, alcohol and tobacco use) –Charles Solomon

Product Description
Mugen’s a completely wild, uncontrollable warrior – deadly with his blend of capoeira-style swordsmanship and short temper. Jin is the epitome of the stoic samurai, lightning-quick, cool and always in control. And Fuu? She’s an adorable (and somewhat airheaded) girl who manages to rein these two in to help her search for a mysterious “samurai who smells of sunflowers.” Hopefully, she can keep them from killing each other and stay out of trouble along the way…Now own the entire journey of Mugen, Jin and Fuu in one complete set!

Amazon.com
The outrageous comedy-adventure Samurai Champloo reaches new heights of absurdity in episode 18, a showcase for creator Shinichiro Watanabe’s interest in hip-hop culture. While Mugen belatedly learns to read in a smackdown elementary school, Jin tries to settle the rivalry between two brothers who inherited the dojo of a former sensei. The two seemingly unrelated storylines collide in a hilarious, no-holds-barred anachronistic graffiti contest that features Tokugawa-era rap lyrics, gang signs, ink-brush tagging, Hiroshima homeboys, and a designer-connoisseur who’s a caricature of Andy Warhol. Only Watanabe could pull off these anachronistic high jinks so effortlessly. In the darker episode 19, Jin and Mugen learn a bit more about the mysterious “samurai who smells of sunflowers,” the curious skull-shaped charm he left behind, and why Fuu is so determined to find him. The mismatched trio also encounters a group of hidden Christians, who were persecuted by the Shoguns, in part for their links to gunrunners. (Rated 16 and older: violence, profanity, brief nudity, sexual situations, alcohol and tobacco use) –Charles Solomon