Everything must end so just bid it goodbye when the time comes. The three often throw wrench into the natural order of things as they seek money for their food and lodgings. The gulf between the poor and the rich is vivid throughout the story as the rich use their wealth and muscle to get what they want. Also, one of the driving factors of the characters is hunger during their travels. Samurai Champloo’s main theme centers around friendship and how every journey must end. Both she and Momo have the uncanny ability to be kidnapped. She is accompanied by her pet flying squirrel named Momo. Like Mugen, he cannot avoid his past.įuu is a feisty 15 year old who coerces Jin and Mugen to help her find a man she calls “the samurai who smells of sunflowers.” Her mother’s death from an illness a year before haunts her dreams. Trained in the traditional kenjutsu style, he is stoic but kindhearted. As a lone wolf, he is rough and uncaring toward all but a select few. His fighting style is erratic, and he cares little about his own safety. Mugen is a rascal from the Ryukyu Islands. Several episodes are off tangent like Cosmic Collisions and Baseball Blues. Most episodes stand on their own and can almost be watched in almost any order. Other than the general framework of the journey and multipart episodes, the series has the same general mishmash feel that Cowboy Bebop’s episodes exhibited. Rappers show up, and “gangsta” bandits even appear strangely natural with how the surrounding characters consider it normal. Throughout Samurai Champloo hip hop and street elements are present. Fuu helps them escape and demands they travel with her to find “the samurai who smells of sunflowers.” They finally agree with Fuu’s one condition: they are not to kill each other until the journey is finished. Shortly later, they awake to discover they are about to be executed for the death of the magistrate’s son in the fire. A fiire breaks out and the two faint from the smoke. In the middle of the fight, Jin, a ronin samurai, enters the teahouse only to be drawn into a fight with Mugen.
Another thug, Mugen, enters the brawl that ensues in return for food. Her clumsiness lands her into trouble this time, however. The waitress, Fuu, is dodging the advances of various thugs. It all begins in a typical teahouse on a typical day. It also tosses in fictional depictions of various historical figures such as Miyamoto Musashi, the famous swordsman. Samurai Champloo relies on actual events from the Edo period such as the Dutch trade exclusivity in Japan and Ukiyo-e paintings. Surprisingly this mix with a dash of punk and graffiti creates an entertaining stew. The spiritual cousin of Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo mixes hip hop with Japan’s Edo period.