Watch Samurai Champloo

Name: Samurai Champloo
Genre: Anime
Released: 2005-05-14
Cast: Ayako Kawasumi Kazuya Nakai Ginpei Sato Akio Ohtsuka Eiji Maruyama

TV-MA
2005
2 Seasons
8.5 (42,541)

Samurai Champloo is a twenty-six episode anime revolving around the social group of erratic swordsman Mugen, calm and collected samurai Jin, and the playful and the naive female Fuu (with a pet squirrel named Momo). The group find themselves teaming up on a quest for the "samurai who smells of sunflowers." Jin and Mugen decide to aid Fuu in finding this person, later revealed to be Fuu's father as well as a Christian (which would be a heretical belief in Japan during the era which this series takes place). However, the original agreement includes that after finding this samurai for Fuu, that Jin and Mugen will finally battle to the death. When this eventually does occur, the two warriors are spent and exhausted, with their blades shattering and their bodies collapsing in an almost yin-yang formation. Mugen's fighting style is mad, manic, and heavily improvised. Not only does it involve sword strikes with a single blade, but he also tends to employ break-dance style maneuvers, letting him kick heads with his thick and durable wooden sandals. His name means "infinite" in Japanese. Jin's fighting style is more of a traditional focused method, relying on nothing more than precise sword strikes from a pair of blades with the occasional feint. His name means "benevolence" in Japanese. Fuu doesn't really have a fighting style, yet her wits and the occasional access to explosives ensures that she's far from helpless. Her name is a shortened version of the Japanese name for a type of bird, fuukinchou. The series contains several noteworthy and awesome episodes. These include battles between two sons of a martial arts master who battle with graffiti instead of martial arts, an eating competition, an episode focusing on Mugen overcoming his illiteracy of even basic kanji (initially he only knows the character "No," which means "and" in Japanese), a baseball match against the American Black Ships that gets downright violent, and even an impressive battle with some rebelling warrior monks against the background of a burning marijuana field. The music and soundtrack of the series is heavily influenced by hip hop and rap, obviously spoken by Japanese singers. However, the opening theme "Battlecry" has an excellent grasp of how English should sound and is quite enjoyable.

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Seasons

2 1

14. Evanescent Encounter (3)

March 9, 2006

Mugen fights the three brothers and Jin tries to survive his fight against the Edo assassin.

13. Evanescent Encounter (2)

March 2, 2006

Fuu leaves Mugen and Jin to follow a lead on the Sunflower Samurai. Meanwhile Jin and Mugen face of against the unstoppable assassin from Edo.

12. Evanescent Encounter (1)

February 23, 2006

The team takes a minute to reflect on all that has happened and Fuu questions her own value. Unknown to the team a top assassin from Edo is coming for them.

11. Baseball Blues

February 16, 2006

Fleeing a dinner bill, Mugen is knocked down by a baseball tossed by a man. Mugen's return throw convinces the man to enlist him, along with Fuu and Jin, in a baseball game to preserve the honour of Japan against the Americans, who are trying to open the island nation up to the West.

10. Cosmic Collisions

February 2, 2006

Jin, Fuu, and Mugen literally fall into an excavation site. The leader of this site, according to his family tree, is hundreds of year old and the men working the site don't seem capable of dying.

9. Elegy of Entrapment (Verse 2)

January 26, 2006

Sara makes a request of Fuu: She asks if either Mugen or Jin can accompany her to see her son. With a heavy heart, Fuu selects Jin to go with her. On the way, Sara reveals who she truly is to Jin and attacks him.

8. Elegy of Entrapment (Verse 1)

January 19, 2006

One day at a bar the trio meets a blind woman named Sara. She follows the group on their travels, but Jin senses there is something hidden in the grace of her movements.

7. Unholy Union

January 12, 2006

Fuu helps a woman being pursed because of her Christian faith. Meanwhile Jin and Mugen meet a man claiming to be the grandson of Japanese Christian hero Francisco Xavier.

6. War of the Words

January 5, 2006

Taggers are making a mess of the city. Jin and Fuu learn that Mugen can't read, much to his embarrassment. Jin visits an old d?j? where he used to train and helps to solve a dispute between the twin sons of his old master.

5. Lullabies of the Lost (Verse 2)

December 17, 2005

Fuu, Mugen and Jin have separated. Mugen has been mistaken for another; the same mysterious stranger that helped Fuu. Fuu reveals the reason for her search for the Samurai that Smells of Sunflowers.

4. Lullabies of the Lost (Verse 1)

December 10, 2005

Jin, Mugen and Fuu have a falling out while traveling in the mountains. That leaves them to confront their own monsters on their own. A little more about Jin's and Fuu's pasts comes to light. Mugen is mistaken for another.

3. Bogus Booty

December 3, 2005

While fishing. Jin finds a bag of gold coins, which means for our impoverished group a much needed blessing. However, it's soon discovered that these coins aren't what they claim to be, nor is the prostitute that takes a strange interest in them.

2. Misguided Miscreants (Part 2)

November 26, 2005

With the boat heist in full swing, Mugen has decided to temporarily trust his old crew. To add to his uncharacteristic move are renewed feelings for the sister of the man who betrayed him and their is still no reason to believe he won't betray Mugen again.

1. Misguided Miscreants (Part 1)

November 19, 2005

Mugen runs into his old gang who helped shape the persona he now has but also betrayed him and left him for dead at the hands of his enemies. Now Mugen must balance his own desire for revenge, the payoff of a new heist orchestrated by these people, and the fear of another betrayal.

Samurai Champloo

Trailer - 1 min 37 sec

Description

Mugen's fighting style is mad, manic, and heavily improvised. Not only does it involve sword strikes with a single blade, but he also tends to employ break-dance style maneuvers, letting him kick heads with his thick and durable wooden sandals. His name means "infinite" in Japanese. Jin's fighting style is more of a traditional focused method, relying on nothing more than precise sword strikes from a pair of blades with the occasional feint. His name means "benevolence" in Japanese. Fuu doesn't really have a fighting style, yet her wits and the occasional access to explosives ensures that she's far from helpless. Her name is a shortened version of the Japanese name for a type of bird, fuukinchou.

The series contains several noteworthy and awesome episodes. These include battles between two sons of a martial arts master who battle with graffiti instead of martial arts, an eating competition, an episode focusing on Mugen overcoming his illiteracy of even basic kanji (initially he only knows the character "No," which means "and" in Japanese), a baseball match against the American Black Ships that gets downright violent, and even an impressive battle with some rebelling warrior monks against the background of a burning marijuana field.

The music and soundtrack of the series is heavily influenced by hip hop and rap, obviously spoken by Japanese singers. However, the opening theme "Battlecry" has an excellent grasp of how English should sound and is quite enjoyable.

Samurai Champloo is a series that is currently running and has 2 seasons (40 episodes). The series first aired on May 14, 2005.

Where to Watch Samurai Champloo

Samurai Champloo is available for streaming on the Cartoon Network website, both individual episodes and full seasons. You can also watch Samurai Champloo on demand at Amazon, Hulu, Apple TV and Crunchyroll.