| Start: | Jan 27, '10 8:00p |
| End: | Jun 15, '10 |
| Location: | Asia |
From wikipedia are some facts about the show:
Samurai Champloo employs a blend of historical Edo period backdrops with modern styles and references. The show relies on factual events of Edo-era Japan, such as the Shimabara Rebellion ("Unholy Union;" "Evanescent Encounter, Part I"), Dutch exclusivity in an era where edict restricted Japanese foreign relations ("Stranger Searching"), Ukiyo-e paintings ("Artistic Anarchy"), and fictionalized versions of real-life Edo personalities Mariya Enshirou and Miyamoto Musashi ("Elegy of Entrapment, Verse 2").
Incorporated within this are signature elements of modernity, especially hip hop culture, such as rapping ("Lullabies of the Lost, Verse 1"), graffiti ("War of the Words"), bandits behaving like "gangstas" (both parts of "Misguided Miscreants"), censorship bleeps replaced with record scratching, and much of Mugen's character design, including a fighting style influenced by breakdancing. Samurai Champloo's musical score predominantly features hip hop beats. Aside from hip hop, anachronisms include mon resembling Adidas and Converse logos, baseball ("Baseball Blues"), and references to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki ("Cosmic Collisions").
Samurai Champloo is considered to be an example of the popular "chanbara" film and television genre—the trademarks are a setting in the Edo period, a focus on samurai or other swordsman characters, and lots of thrilling, dramatic fights. Chanbara was used in the early days of Japanese cinema (when government political censorship ran high) as a way of expressing veiled social critiques.
The word champloo comes from the Okinawan word "chanpurū" (as in gōyā chanpurū, the Okinawan stir-fry dish containing bitter melon). Chanpurū, alone, simply means "to mix" or "to hash."
from Animax -
ReplyDeleteSamurai Champloo is a unique anime series that breaks the barriers of a conventional historical samurai tale with a modern, hip-hop twist. Set in Japan in the Edo era, the series centres on Mugen and Jin, the former is a fierce warrior with break-dance-inspired fighting moves, while the latter is a cold-blooded and conceited samurai who thinks he has no equal. Their paths cross amidst a series of fights as ditzy waitress Fuu convinces them to join her search for a mysterious samurai that “smells like sunflowers”…
About its characters, extracted from Wiki -
ReplyDeleteSamurai Champloo tells the story of three strangers in the Tokugawa era (also known as the Edo Period) who come together on a journey across Japan.
* Mugen: A brash vagabond from the Ryukyu Islands, Mugen is a wanderer with a wildly unconventional fighting style that fuses elements of breakdancing. He wears metal-soled geta and carries a Japanese sword on his back (although, historically, the Tokugawa government prohibited unauthorized men from carrying daishō (traditional samurai arms) or any of its components). In Japanese, the word "Mugen" means "infinity" (literally, "without limit" or "limitless").
* Jin: Jin is a mild-mannered ronin who carries himself in the conventionally stoic manner of a samurai of the Tokugawa era. Using his waist-strung daishō, he fights in the traditional kenjutsu style of a samurai trained in a prominent, sanctioned dojo. Jin wears glasses, an available but uncommon accessory in Edo era Japan. Spectacles—called "Dutch glass merchandise" ("Oranda gyoku shinajina" in Japanese) at the time—were imported from Holland early in the Tokugawa period and became more widely available as the 17th century progressed. In Japanese the word "Jin" means "benevolence" or "compassion."
* Fuu: A feisty young girl of approximately 15 years of age, Fuu recruits Mugen and Jin to help her find a sparsely-described man she calls "the samurai who smells of sunflowers." A flying squirrel named "Momo" (meaning "peach" in Japanese and also short for "momonga," meaning "flying squirrel") accompanies her along the way, inhabiting her kimono and frequently leaping out to her rescue when she encounters trouble.
Apart from this trio, the other characters tend to appear only once or twice throughout the entirety of the series.
from wiki -
ReplyDeleteThe series is a cross-genre work of media, blending the action and samurai genres with elements of slapstick comedy. It is also a period piece, taking place during Japan's Edo period. The series is interwoven with revisionist historical facts and anachronistic elements of mise-en-scene, dialogue and soundtrack. The series' most frequent anachronism is its use of elements of hip hop culture, particularly rap and the music it has influenced, break dancing, turntablism, hip hop slang, and graffiti. The show also contains anachronistic elements from the punk subculture and modernism, but less prominently. It is one of the first anime TV shows based on hip-hop (Afro Samurai is the other, having been released in 2007).
i watched it already.. so cool!!! \m/
ReplyDeletebtw, English lang talaga sya di ba, like Cowboy Bebop?
ReplyDeleteas usual, hanap ako ng Eng-sub eh..
...though the action is still cool even if I am distracted by the English dialogue spoken :-)
hehe yup.. english tlga sya.. di ko pa napanuod C.bebop... hehe
ReplyDeletewatch the movie also ng Cowboy Bebop...galing!
ReplyDeleteno wonder kanina, when I was looking at the first ep..I said to myself it reminds me of Cowboy Bebop..e kaya naman pala....
CB jazz is still cool after all these years..
it makes me wonder bat di sya naka Japanese sa orig version nya..hmm..
ReplyDelete