Review of Samurai Champloo: Volume 3

Introduction

We`re already three volumes into Samurai Champloo and the series is progressing nicely. From Shinichiro Watanabe the creator of the sci-fi Cowboy Bebop, comes a show where he turns his attention back to the feudal period of Japan, when Ronin Samurai roamed the land, when the sword ruled and honour was a fading memory. He takes a genre that has been explored many times before, and infuses it with a healthy dose of… Hip-hop! Given this and his eye for characterisation, Samurai Champloo has been a series for which I have been eagerly awaiting.

Former waitress Fuu wants to find a nameless Samurai who smells of sunflowers. To that end she has recruited a couple of itinerant warriors, the wild and undisciplined Mugen, and the more refined and precise Jin. The two fighters` first encounter resulted in them trying to kill each other, and it`s only because Fuu saved them from an execution that they reluctantly put aside their rivalry long enough to help her. This third volume from MVM contains four more adventures.

Ep 9. Beatbox Bandits
Yamane is a government official in charge of the checkpoint at Hakone. He`s approaching retirement and is renowned for having kept the crossing sealed tight during his tenure. But there was that one day, thirty years previously when the checkpoint fell open to all who wished to cross. It was never noted in the official records, but Yamane recounts it here, the day that Mugen, Fuu and Jin showed up at the border crossing with forged travel permits.

Ep 10. Lethal Lunacy
Mugen, Fuu and Jin are hungry and broke, again. When they encounter a priest begging for alms, they soon find that they are put to work completing chores at his temple in exchange for room and board. However the town is being terrorised by a serial killer, one who only preys on skilled Samurai, and kills without inflicting a cut. The reward piques Mugen`s interest, but he`s more excited by the challenge of facing someone that he may not be able to beat. While Jin learns that there is more to the priest than meets the eye, Mugen goes back into training, Rocky style.

Ep 11. Gamblers and Gallantry
The trio are working odd jobs again to make ends meet, and it`s while Jin is working at an eel bar that he meets Shino, a captivating woman who is down on her luck. Her husband is in debt and she has to work in a brothel to pay it off. Jin winds up spending his free time at the brothel, struck with an odd case of chivalry. Meanwhile Fuu is determinedly not jealous, and Mugen is training a beetle how to Sumo wrestle.

Ep 12. The Disorder Diaries
Mugen and Jin have been dragged halfway around Japan in search of the Samurai who smells of flowers, and they still know nothing about him. When Fuu isn`t forthcoming with information, Mugen does the next best thing and he steals her diary. He`s forgotten that he can`t read though.

Video

Samurai Champloo gets a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer from MVM. The image is clear and sharp throughout, and the immaculate transfer does the splendid world design and distinctive characters full justice. This is an action packed show, and the swordplay is brilliantly realised, with both of the main characters having their own individual styles. The world design is worthy of appreciation, with the environments enhanced by some lush and vibrant backgrounds.

Audio

You get a choice of a DD 2.0 and DTS Japanese, as well as a DD 5.1 English dub. Listening to the Dolby Japanese track, I found it to be a straightforward stereo track, with a fair bit of separation, and putting the music across well. I spot-checked the English track, and found that the soundstage opened up well with the surround track, although the show remains predominantly front-focussed. It`s an excellent English dub, with the actors suiting their characters perfectly. Dubbing has certainly come a long way since the early years of anime. You can watch the show with the signs translated, a translated English subtitle track, or no captions at all.

Features

A jacket picture, DVD credits, and trailers for Full Metal Alchemist and Kiddy Grade. Just the bare minimum I`m afraid.

Conclusion

Samurai Champloo is terrific entertainment, taking a period setting and giving it an irreverent contemporary twist. It follows on from Volume 2 in much the same vein, playing the stories mostly for laughs, but with strong characters and gripping tales. If the show does have drawbacks, it`s the episodic nature and the reliance on the `broke and hungry travellers trying to make ends meet`. But with central characters like the self-assured and quirky Fuu, the ill-spoken wild man Mugen, and the fastidious and elegant Jin, it`s very easy to become engrossed in their hard, although occasionally anachronistic world.

The four stories on this disc recount more of their adventures as they journey in search of the Sunflower Samurai. Stand alone episodes, they have plenty of laughs without scrimping on the action and character moments. The first is perhaps the funniest of the lot, with the three held at a crossing point for travelling under forged documents. They are small fry compared to the other prisoners, and it is found that one has a price on his head. Mugen is charged with taking his head to the neighbouring town and returning before sunset, lest his two companions also find their heads separated from their bodies. It`s just that the forest is occupied by the Tengo priests, warriors that lament the corrupt government and plot a revolution with the aid of their magic (Class C) plant. Thrown randomly into the mix is a jogger of all people. Lethal Lunacy, despite its name is perhaps the most conventional of the episodes, with Mugen meeting a warrior worthy of a challenge, although the show manages to revisit this clichéd story with a fresh outlook. Gamblers and Gallantry shows us Jin`s chivalrous side, as he comes to the aid of a damsel in distress. Again while the story isn`t original, it`s how the relationship develops and how the characters grow that makes this a compelling story, that and the sight of beetles sumo wrestling. The final episode shows that we have reached that point in most series where it is felt that a recap is necessary. For an audience watching this on DVD as opposed to a weekly broadcast, this usually turns into a waste of 20 minutes devoted to a clip show. Sometimes it can be done with a touch of wit, which makes the episode worth watching. Here, The Disorder Diaries manages it in a wholly entertaining way, addressing the point that we haven`t got round to the quest yet, and using it to invite a recap. The way it`s done, with Mugen stealing Fuu`s diary, and with Jin reading it gives the story a slant, with Fuu`s point of view colouring the events so far. It also has a nice twist in the tail.

But it does highlight one problem with Samurai Champloo, in that twelve episodes in we haven`t really touched on the show`s raison d`etre. We`ve followed our itinerant heroes around Japan, yet the subject of the search has rarely been mentioned, and I begin to wonder when the background to the story would be filled in. The episodic nature of the show is certainly entertaining, and it`s hard to fault the stories when they are so exceedingly well written, with character at their heart. Now that we approach the halfway point of the series, I`d like to see more developments in the over-arching story, lest everything be crammed into the final few episodes. Having said that, Samurai Champloo is still one of the more attractive anime being released currently, enjoyable from beginning to end. This disc is easy to recommend, and it`s just the presence of a clip show, albeit an originally constructed and entertaining one that makes me nudge the mark back from last time.