Forum - View topicSamurai Champloo Best Samurai Anime Ever?
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joel_s95387
Posts: 1804 Location: California... The Village Hidden In The Porn |
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I just watched Volume 7 and by the end I was left speechless. My first thought was "Shinichiro Watanabe has done it again". First Cowboy Bebop and now Samurai Champloo this guy is amazing and I will definatly support his next project, atleast as director, even if it's about stupid animals playing grab ass. Well maybe not that but pretty much anything.
So this got me thinking of the greatest Samurai Anime ever. For me I would have to say Samurai Champloo because of... EVERYTHING. The Hip Hop music was great, the action was intense, the story was kinda cliche but unlike many rip offs this one perfected the cliche. "The Samurai That Smells Of Sunflowers" yet sunflowers don't give a scent, I know my mom has sunflowers in my front yard and I went to smell them when I first saw the anime and I was like what the hell. I thought they screwed up but they actually say why on the last volume. I didn't know what was gonna happen at the end because of the Cowboy Bebop ending and it had me guessing the whole way through. Most series suck to me because they are predictable and I guess thats what makes Shinichiro Watanabe my favorite director. I havn't seen ALL Samurai Anime but out of the ones I've seen, Rurouni Kenshin, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Peacemaker, Samurai 7, and I'm pretty sure a couple of others but I can't remember because they were probably crap, I would have to say Champloo was the best all around Samurai Anime and might even be my most favorite Anime ever. What are your thoughts about Samurai Champloo? |
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Abarenbo Shogun
 Posts: 1573 |
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No Anime can ever beat the live-action Samurai films. Nobody.
I dunno how to explain it....I liked Samurai Champloo, but some of the elements would've looked better with the live-action. You can't feel the sword slicing thru the air in LA unlike the static swing in the Anime. The realisim of the crony falling to the ground can't compare to the "Body Count" effect in the Anime. The camera angles are too jerky and sometimes doesn't provide the direct shot of the fight, focusing on the main character like a attentive student. |
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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It might have been. I don't know, it's a bit too "strange" to be considered a great samurai series, you know? A bit too non-traditional, for the same reasons I'd be uncomfortable calling something like Naruto or Flame of Recca "the best ninja anime" out there. I think it probably is one of the best of the available samurai-esc anime, but I think that others did a better job of capturing the samurai feel. It's also worht noting that neither Jin nor Mugen were actually samurai of any sort.
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darkhunter
 Posts: 2992 Location: Los Angelas |
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Samurai Champloo is highly entertaining and action-pack. It might be one of the top samurai anime along with Rurouni Kenshin OVA, but there really isn't a lot of really good samurai anime in general. Too bad Samurai Champloo will never reach the depth, characterization and overall well-story of some of the epic samurai manga I've been reading. |
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Arkard
 Posts: 677 Location: Poland |
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Champloo is definetly a great series. You are right, it has great music, sudden plot twist, an unexpected ending and great great characters. But to answer the question in the topic: No, it is not the Best samurai anime. Because while it is A Great anime, the major percentage of its greatness is not due to the "samurai factor". I hope I made that sound easily enough, I tend to screw up more complex sentences.
I can speak for myself only but SC got me with its "climate mix". Hip Hop, Break Dance, the works. You usually dont see that in such anime. Those are not things usually conoted with the samurai. That is also why the series is too less of "samurai" to be considered a master in its genre. Now if we are talking action anime - well Champloo would be a strong contender. If you`re asking what is the Best anime in terms of entertainment then again, Champloo is right at the top of my list. But in terms of "samurai" it could never win the Rurouni Kenshin OAV, at least for me. |
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11405 Location: Frisco, TX |
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And for every single person that keeps calling Kenshin one, neither was he. That's right people, Kenshin is not and never was a samurai in the truest Japanese sense. Although, I can see how everyone seems to get that mixed up with being just a swordsman. I'll say it again, though, since no one seems to notice: Kenshin was/is not a samurai. He fought against them and the Shogunate during the Bakumatsu, remember? He is a swordsman, plain and simple, Simple and Clean  .
As for Champloo, it's a very cool series, much like Watanabe-san's other anime gem, Cowboy Bebop. However, to call Champloo the best "samurai" or even swordsman anime is just opinion. Much like everyone else here, my favorite is Rurouni Kenshin: Tsuioku-hen. The art, plot, drama, music, and symbolism are just on another level compared to Champloo. While SC is still a "cool" series to watch, I think people are inclined towards the more emotional/character involved stuff, which SC had, but just not enough of. |
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darkhunter
Posts: 2992 Location: Los Angelas |
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And Yet Lone Wolf & Cub is consider one of the greatest samurai manga ever even though Ogami was infact an assassin and not a samurai. Was it the fact that he once serve a daimyo? Or was it that he had to face many samurai in the story? And is there one true definition or a broad one? What is the "truest" japanese sense are you talking about? One that follow bushido? One that protect it's lord? How about a body gaurd or soldier? How about simply being a swordsman? One that look for a place to die? One that is born with samurai blood and high status? If you think samurai is One that serve it's lord (daiyo), than series like, Samurai Champloo, Samurai Deeper Kyo and Samurai 7 shouldn't even cosider to be samurai. Most of them are just swordsman. Refering back to some samurai books, the term Ronin is a warriors and samurai who no longer served a daimyo. Isn't Rurouni a playword on Masterless samurai and wanderer? Since he doesn't serve his lord anymore.
And even though the Meiji period was beginning of the end for Samurai, Kenshin was once an assassin that serve his lord and a kenshi, and he still had to face many "samurai" in the series. Even if you don't want to recognize Kenshin or Kyo as a true samurai, the series would still be consider a samurai series by many even if the main character isn't (just like samurai executioner). Also keep in mind when people are talking about Kenshin OVA (Samurai X), we're talking about the series, not kenshin himself. All we know is that Watsuki wanted to do a historical piece during the Bakumatsu time-period. If your own knowledge of samurai is only through anime, than it's really hard to see the picture as a whole. It's like Takuan Soho said in Vagabond:
Last edited by darkhunter on Mon Jan 09, 2006 5:48 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Iemander
 Posts: 443 |
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When someone talks about a Samurai film/series/whatever, it's just a certain setting and timeframe. It doesn't mean that the main character is Samurai at all.
Samurai Champloo just flips around with this setting, inserting modern stuff and mixing it up with what we consider a standard Samurai flair. The endresult is of course something that's very "not-Samurai", however do we specifically care? No not really, but a Samurai anime it is definitely not. |
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wildarmsheero
 Posts: 55 |
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You just saw the end of it now? Didn't it finish airing earlier in 2005?
It was a good series. I find my self enjoying it more as I re-watch it. |
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darkhunter
Posts: 2992 Location: Los Angelas |
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The final DVD comes out this month. Not everybody watches anime on fansubs a lot of us are able buy our favorite shows on dvd. Last edited by darkhunter on Mon Jan 09, 2006 5:52 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11405 Location: Frisco, TX |
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I discussed the connotation and context of Kenshin not being a samurai in this thread. He did not practice bushido, though he did protect some "lords" if you want to call them that. I'm not sure if just being a bodygaurd or soldier qualifies someone to be a samurai. He obvisously didn't look for a place to die, as that would defeat his purpose of protecting everyone. And of course, he wasn't born into high status or anything, as seen in the OAV, which leaves your final option of him just being a swordsman. My posts in that thread I linked to talk about samurai in the context of someone who serves under a feudal lord or through a family of nobility. My belief is that Kenshin does not fit a lot of the charactersitics I've come to read about in samurai culture. Read the thread and see if it makes sense  .
True. And that can be explained by the progression of modern culture. Nowadays, you don't see as many ficticious works stick with the original term of what samurai used to be. I think it's really more of the said characters just borrowing elements of samurai to make them appear more heroic or ethically appealing because a lot of qualities in bushido and chivalry are consdiered admirable traits, sort of like a gimmick, but not for the purpose of exploitation.
Again, my posts in the other thread talk about this. He didn't necessarily serve a lord, he fought on his own accord with his own ideals and purposes in mind. And if you consider Hiko his master, then he still wouldn't even be a ronin because he left his training to go fight, which is more like a disowning on Hiko's part, rather than him dying and Kenshin having to carry on his legacy (Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu). And even that in itself was supposed to end with Kenshin.
Right, because like I said earlier, society (both Eastern and Western) have come to modify the term from its original context for whatever purpose, making it more of an improvisation since no one would really care as long as it was entertaining.
I know, which is why I blame ADV for using "that name" and causing all sorts of confusion and misleading fans to think Kenshin actually is a samurai. Of course, there's nothing that can be done about it now, but I just wanted to let people in on knowing the difference since a lot of them use the term so loosely these days  .
As if there was much else to go off of aside from movies, research books, the Internet, or the History Channel. Trust me, I wouldn't comment so much without looking around a little first .
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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"Samurai" is a social class, like a "Lord" or something. There's no way one can claim that title for himself, no matter how similar to a samurai he must be. The only way for a peasant to become a samurai is for a Daimyo to say "you are now a samurai", and even that was unheard of. The flip side of that is that if you ARE a samurai, it doesn't matter how "un-samurai-like" you are, you're still a samurai. The 7 Samurai, for example, were all samurai because that was the nature of their birth, even if several of them were scrubby characters who didn't uphold bushido. A Ronin is a man of samurai descent who does not have a master, not a guy who picks up a sword and doesn't have a master.
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darkhunter
Posts: 2992 Location: Los Angelas |
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I think you've misread. It's more of a general statement that many people bring up as the apect as being a samurai. Not all samurai follow that aspect. There are a lot of misconception about samurai, especially ones that said Samurai are strictly sword-user.
In a lot of the books I read, they simply refer to samurai as one that serve his daimyo all the time. Bushido is the "way of the warrior" --and while most samurai follow it, not all of them do. Samurai exist before Bushido. Nevertheless, you don't have to recognize Kenshin as being a samurai since he is an Assassin at heart but you do have to recognize that many people refer to it as an histocial piece that deal with samurai much like Lone Wolf & Cub (there is a connection). If you don't want to see Kenshin refer to as a samurai series, than series like Champloo, Samurai 7 and so on would probably not be too. Last edited by darkhunter on Mon Jan 09, 2006 6:46 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Digital Dreamer
 Posts: 287 Location: Sydney, Australia |
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Samurai Champloo has it spot in my heart for being one of the most rememberable samurai animes. However I think I really prefer live action instead. Or at least some thing more realistic and traditional if it was animated.
Like if i really want some tradional Samurai Action, give me Akira Kurosawa (The Seven Samurai) or Kenji Misumi (Lone Wolf And Cub) any day of the week
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Puppy Puncher
Posts: 25 |
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Wait, I thought Volume 7 came out on the 17th. Did you download it?
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