Cheap Samurai Champloo - Volume 1 + Series Box (DVD) (Shinichirô Watanabe) Price

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Customer Reviews of Samurai Champloo - Volume 1 + Series Box

4.5; Stylish and enjoyable anime
One of the most popular animes as far as having a more universal appeal aside from just anime fans in general is Cowboy Bebop. While not as marketable (i.e videogames, trading cards and the like reserved for Yu-Gi-Oh!, Naruto or Inuyasha), it was filled with likable characters, great soundtracks and a rarity in most animes: compelling one-off episodes or stand alones. So of of course director Shinichiro Watanabe has got to feel the pressure for his follow-up right? Probably not as immensely entertaining, Samurai Champloo is a treat in its own right. <
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>The tale centers on 3 main characters: Mugen, a sort of rough-and-tumble guy who uses hip-hop moves and a more, shall we say, graceful sloppiness in his fighting? His rival/friend is Jin, very cold and introverted with the swordsmanship of a trained master. One day, they meet Fuu, a young teahouse waitress who asks of them a favor: to find a samurai that smells of sunflowers. Why that particular samurai? And why the smell? All will be answered...eventually. <
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>First, let's talk about the music. Yes, the music is primarily hip-hop and it's strangely enough, a kind of successful blend to the point where you don't even notice it after awhile. Sure you'll raise an eyebrow when you play the first episode and its rap-flavored song comes through the speakers but eventually the music is just part of the scenery. One thing to note though as far as the characters are concerned is that while good characters on their own, you can't help but feel shades of their spiritual predecessors. Mugen looks like Spike Spiegel's grittier unemployed brother that pops in while drunk and there's shades of Faye Valentine in Fuu. <
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>Like a lot of top premier anime titles, Samurai Champloo is quite something to see in motion. Just like Samurai 7, the animation is very vibrant with attractive looking characters and a fluidity to it all. As for its story, the idea of a Sunflower-smelling samurai sounds kind of silly but it does give the story a go ahead for something to find out unlike in most anime where the main arc doesn't kick in until halfway. In this disc you'll see the initial rivalry between Mugen and Jin as well as the people who try to exact revenge or just being hired by the wrong people. <
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>Walk into this thinking you're going to see a cool anime and you'll walk out feeling that way. Just don't expect you're walking into a Cowboy Bebop part II, unless you hate that show which is just funny to me but oh well, to each their own.

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Exceptional, but often unbalanced.
Watching Samurai Champloo is, at times, an uneven experience. <
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>Watanabe brings his audience exactly what they expect: quality. The music is a stellar mix of traditional Japanese folk songs and hip-hop beats. The art is beautiful and the story line is engaging. The characters are interesting and fully developed by the conclusion of the series. <
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>In certain ways Watanabe has improved on Cowboy Bebop. Samurai Champloo leaves no gaps in the lives of the characters or the motives behind their actions. Watanabe fleshes out the story line completely and evenly. The journey of Fuu, Jin, and Mugen moves steadily and the conclusion lasts three episodes; the most important segments of the show take place over more than one episode and have a much more prolonged affect. And unlike Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo effectively introduces elements of past history into its story line: the Satsuma Rebellion and the Tale of Heiki/Genji for example. <
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>However, Samurai Champloo suffers from overflow. No anime in recent memort has provided its audience with side characters of such depth. The villians and friends they meet on their journey feel as real and as significant as Fuu, Jin, and Mugen. But there is simply too many of them and they occupy too many episodes. <
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>Episodes such as "Baseball Blues", "Cosmic Collisions", "Art of Altercation", "Beat Box Bandits", and "War of Words" have too many eccentric characters and are not relevant to the story. They are single episode stories that drag down the flow of progress. A single season show shouldn't feel like it has filler episodes to reach 23 weeks of airplay. In certain cases - these side-stories provide great entertainment. My favorite episode happens to be a single episode story - "Gamblers and Gallantry." But more often than not, the audience may feel like the series is dragging on with extra filler adventures that affect neither the three main characters or the audience to any great degree. <
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>Despite this weakness, I do highly recommend the show. Watanabe does not let his creativity become a distraction nor does he let his refreshing take on the "hip-hop samurai" become a gimmick. Watanabe nails all the core elements of story telling and animation on the head. Just be prepared to watch some filler before you get to the meat. <
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>As a sidenote-do not pass up "Misguided Miscreants" and "Elegy of Entrapment." They are the highlights of Watanabe's work in any show.

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Dub quality?
Wow, so I loved this series in the original japanese, but after watching some of the dubs I have to say, Bang Zoom Entertainment did a pretty bang-up job getting the essence of the series down. I think the chosen voice actors fit the characters really well and that it didn't seem cheaply done or overdone in any way. That's really hard to get down, I think, and as I fan of subs only most of the time, I can't help but commend Bang Zoom for the work they did on this title. I approve.