Some days/Some nights/Some live/Some die/In the way of the samurai...
Samurai Champloo
Director:
Shinichiro Watanabe (
Escaflowne,
Cowboy Bebop)
Animation Director/Character Design:
Nakazawa Kazuto (
Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040,
Final Fantasy: Unlimited)
Production:
Manglobe, Inc.
TV Broadcaster:
Fuji TV
North American Licence:
Geneon Entertainment
Characters
Mugen - A
vagrant, age 20.
Jin - A
ronin (masterless samurai), age 20.
Fuu - A former waitress, age 15.
Momo - Fuu's pet, a
flying squirrel.
Music
Opening Theme -
Battlecry by Nujabes feat. SHINGO2 (Engrish hip hop that grows on you like
cancer)
Closing Theme -
Truth of Eye by
Minmi
Music Producer -
Yoshimoto Ishikawa (
RahXephon,
Scryed)
About the Show
Samurai Champloo, Watanabe's most anticipated effort since the legendary Cowboy Bebop, began airing in Japan on
May 19, 2004. The story takes place in the
Edo period, a time of
peace where
samurai walked the streets on the top of the
social ladder. Champloo takes sharp animation and combines it with a hip-hop soundtrack, in a very similar way to how Bebop combined
bounty hunters and
space combat with
smooth jazz. Anticipating the likely high
demand for the show, Geneon announced that it had obtained the licence at
Anime Expo 2003. Regardless of this, the show is currently being
fansubbed by four different groups, with
raw episodes being released by an additional three. In this noder's opinion, Samurai Champloo is set to be the most popular
anime of 2004.
Episode List
01.
Storm and
Stress (Aired
May 19, 2004)
02.
Pandemonium (Aired
June 2, 2004)
Resources
Official Website - http://www.samuraichamploo.com/
Champloo Central - http://www.champloo-central.net/
LiveJournal Community - http://www.livejournal.com/communities/_champloo
Sources: The above mentioned websites, http://champloo.rushtoy.com/, and http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=2636