Ambient jazz fits the wabi-sabi aesthetics perfectly. Calligraphy turns out to be a perfect source for graffiti competitions. Break-dance is just what you need when fighting a really strong enemy. And gangsta-Edo story unfolds before your eyes once again reminding of the famous Japanese proverb: 'ichigo ichie'. Every encounter is one-of-a-lifetime. This review is completely blurred by the traces of my tears.
story and characters
Maybe as a teenager I was stronger than now. I thought 'Samurai Champloo' is one of the best comedies I have ever seen, never caring for the rivers of blood and tragic stories of the characters who were appearing on the way. And it's not that it's not. I mean it IS a comedy, who would argue? Did you see all those remarks on the modern Japan? Like three guys who tell a story of a ghost as a rap-song? Or a giant crab on a local cafe just hinting us on Osaka's Dotombori?
Just if you didn't know, Edo-period Japan was a highly developed country.
I love this kind of sense of humour. I can say it many times, so I'll just shut up before I make this post too long.
Even though I still find all this hilarious, re-watching the series made me notice many new things and re-estimate what I have seen already. I can count anime series where I thought the characters worthy of my respect with fingers on one hand. Even rarer are cases when I don't really accept the characters from the beginning as my soul-mates or completely agree with what they're doing, nor I would like to meet them in reality, but still respect and support them so much that I become worried for them and gradually grow to love them so much that I wish this anime would go on forever.
But I know it won't because such journeys have to end one day. I know they couldn't stay forever together, but I cannot help being 'centimeter'.
music
The level of coolness of has been proportional to the amount of hip-hop/electronica in the background. There couldn't be any better background for fighting scenes than those by Force of Nature. There couldn't be a more beautiful ending than the soul-ful song by Minmi. There couldn't be a better choice than Nujabes for a series main composer.
Ambient is the sexiest music alive. There couldn't be better music to create such a warm, close atmosphere with a participation effect.
voice acting
Here's what I said to my friend after watching the first several episodes: 'just whatever Kazuya Nakai may tell me to do, I will'. 'Cause he's irresistible. And he's not trying to woo you with his voice, by the way, like they do it now in female-oriented audio dramas. You can melt under the voice of any popular male seiyuu, but he is one level higher: he's realistic.
That does not mean I did not appreciate other voices. While Ayako Kawasumi was predictably good, Ginpei Sato showed again a new level of voice acting, parallel to Nakai. While the latter is a professional, Sato has few anime roles, and his manner of speaking was something you will never ever hear again in an anime - a low unemotional voice with almost no amplitude uttering short phrases right near the microphone with no attempt ever to show off like most characters who are supposed to look as cold-blooded do, like 'look at me how cool I am'. You probably haven't seen such respect for the viewers ever.
Some other seiyuus were impressive too, and the most wonderful thing is that I don't know most part of them: Maria Kawamura as a mature seductive lady, Miki Shin'ichiro as a suspicious artist, Noriko Hidaka as a brave kunoichi, Sakiko Tamagawa as the blind singer, bereaved mother and excellent fighter, Hiromi Tsuru as the soft, tender Shino, and many others.
graphics
Ambient is the sexiest music alive. There couldn't be better music to create such a warm, close atmosphere with a participation effect.
voice acting
Here's what I said to my friend after watching the first several episodes: 'just whatever Kazuya Nakai may tell me to do, I will'. 'Cause he's irresistible. And he's not trying to woo you with his voice, by the way, like they do it now in female-oriented audio dramas. You can melt under the voice of any popular male seiyuu, but he is one level higher: he's realistic.
That does not mean I did not appreciate other voices. While Ayako Kawasumi was predictably good, Ginpei Sato showed again a new level of voice acting, parallel to Nakai. While the latter is a professional, Sato has few anime roles, and his manner of speaking was something you will never ever hear again in an anime - a low unemotional voice with almost no amplitude uttering short phrases right near the microphone with no attempt ever to show off like most characters who are supposed to look as cold-blooded do, like 'look at me how cool I am'. You probably haven't seen such respect for the viewers ever.
Some other seiyuus were impressive too, and the most wonderful thing is that I don't know most part of them: Maria Kawamura as a mature seductive lady, Miki Shin'ichiro as a suspicious artist, Noriko Hidaka as a brave kunoichi, Sakiko Tamagawa as the blind singer, bereaved mother and excellent fighter, Hiromi Tsuru as the soft, tender Shino, and many others.
graphics
When I think of why I consider older anime series better than those I see now, there is only one major difference: they managed to do perfect anime then, even if the graphics was poorly done. You can watch an anime for the beautiful pictures, but you'll have nothing else, or you may be attracted by the voices of famous seiyuus and give up the storyline. Things like 'Champloo' have it all. You don't need all those pretty round faces and sparkling eyes. One frame is enough to understand it all.
The simple silhouettes of Jin fighting, or Mugen's blood-covered face accompanied by the voice of the shima-uta singer Ikue Asazaki - it's enough to convey what's necessary.
music
As you may have guessed, music is the main actor in this artwork. It makes the mood, it makes the story. I didn't know about Nujabes when I watched the series for the first time, but I know it now, and I must say the world lost much together with him.
An extremely wise move on the part of the creators was to include not only Nujabes's ambient and hip-hop tracks, but more aggressive pieces by Force of Nature, strange melodies of Tsutchie and Fat Jon, soft voice of Minmi and several ethnic songs to slightly dilute the sour mix of these musicians.
conclusion
They say 'Cowboy Bebop' topped the list of must-see-anime, while 'Samurai Champloo' was included too, but somewhere lower, both being the works of the legendary Shinichiro Watanabe. I watched 'Samurai' earlier than 'Bebop', and 'Samurai' lies just slightly closer to my heart. If you asked me about my must-see list, I'd name it sooner than even 'Bebop'. And though hip-hop pseudo-historic gangsta-Japanese tragicomedy may not seem a serious thing to you, it's more Japanese than you think. I know I'm overstating, because it was one of the first series I have ever seen, but if you don't know 'Samurai Champloo', you don't know what anime is.
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