Samurai Champloo
Volume 3: Money and Blood
(MVM Region 2 PAL DVD)
(2005)
review by Blackgloves

With the directorial eclecticism of "Cowboy Bebop's" Shinichiro Watanabe at its disposal -- not to mention the skills of the artistic team behind the anime section in "Kill Bill" lending a hand -- it's hardly surprising that "Samurai Champloo" bursts onto the scene a ready-made sensation. The hype that heralded the series can be forgiven; no publicity team could resist playing up credentials like these -- but from the stylish opening titles one can see Watanabe's colourful playfulness at work and the fluid animation style only compounds first impressions that this series is set to be something very special. Inevitably, the show doesn't quite live up to these incredibly high expectations; but that doesn't mean it's anything less than the high quality, intelligent mix of beautiful visuals and diverse story-lines one would hope to find from such an inventive director.

Set in the latter half of 19th Century Japan, as the rule and customs of the samurai were beginning to break down, the series takes it traditional pastoral setting and promptly screws around and then dispenses entirely with historical rectitude -- as one immediately notices when the hip hop theme song kicks in during the opening titles! Hip hop, human beat-box and trippy music cues provide the musical backdrop to the period-set adventures of the three main protagonists throughout the series, but that is only the start of its "post modern" diversity: a dizzying collection of modern cultural references somehow invade the quiet, simple world of rogue samurai Mugen & Jin and their co-traveller, scatty hostess Fuu, as they make their way across dangerous countryside on their obscure and lonely trek.

Mugen and Jin are two Samurai warriors of rather incompatible temperament. When they meet at the teahouse where young hostess, Fuu, works they inevitably end up in a heated battle that leaves Fuu's place of employment devastated. Mugen is a hot-headed, talkative firebrand while Jin is a man of few words and controlled emotions; Fuu needs two bodyguards for trip across the wilds of Japan in search of "the samurai who smells of sunflowers" -- these two guys will have to do! As they face a multitude of bizarre adventures on their travels the three grow closer; but what lies behind young Fuu's strange quest?

Once this set-up is established, the series follows a very disjointed structure; there is no real continuity between episodes and most of them could be shown in practically any order. The ensuing lack of development is one of the show's big drawbacks but this structure also has its advantages since it allows the series to spiral off in all sorts of unusual directions and to encompass a wide variety of moods. Each tale on this disc is libel to include a variety of different narrators, stories within stories, or the same events examined from different points of view, and this -- in turn -- allows a superabundance of animation styles to be incorporated (some of them extremely beautiful and creative) which brings a very lively and unpredictable aesthetic to the show. This is what makes the show such a pleasure to watch -- so perhaps we can forgive its fragmented nature.

This disc includes four episodes presented in a widescreen anamorphic format and featuring both Japanese and English dubs. Extras are pretty much non existent though, and include only a few trailers for other MVM titles.