Review of Samurai Champloo: Volume 6

Introduction

From Shinichiro Watanabe the creator of the sci-fi Cowboy Bebop, comes a show where he turns his attention back to the feudal period of Japan, when Ronin Samurai roamed the land, when the sword ruled and honour was a fading memory. He takes a genre that has been explored many times before, and infuses it with a healthy dose of… Hip-hop! Given this and his eye for characterisation, Samurai Champloo has been a series for which I have been eagerly awaiting. The penultimate volume of this series arrives for review, with three more stylish episodes of Samurai mayhem and confusion, as our heroes come closer to the end of their journey and the object of their quest.

Former waitress Fuu wants to find a nameless Samurai who smells of sunflowers. To that end she has recruited a couple of itinerant warriors, the wild and undisciplined Mugen, and the more refined and precise Jin. The two fighters` first encounter resulted in them trying to kill each other, and it`s only because Fuu saved them from an execution that they reluctantly put aside their rivalry long enough to help her. This sixth volume from MVM begins with the conclusion to another nail-biting cliffhanger.

21. Elegy Of Entrapment, Verse 2
The rope bridge outside town has fallen, and the last people on it were blind singer Sara and Jin. In the ensuing search, all the rescuers are able to find are Sara. While Fuu nurses Sara back to health, Mugen searches the area for Jin, and it isn`t long before he realises the truth. Meanwhile an eccentric hermit has rescued Jin. Could the two warriors have finally met their match?

22. Cosmic Collisions
Our travellers` fortune takes an odd turn. After Fuu wishes on a falling star, the three find a patch of lucky mushrooms, although this goes against what their horoscope had prophesied, after which they promptly fall down a hole. They don`t exactly find themselves in Wonderland though.

23. Baseball Blues
Mugen, Jin and Fuu are skipping out of paying for another meal, when they run right into a baseball game. It`s a game that the country`s future depends on though, as the US Navy is in port, and they are forcing the hapless villagers to accept their trade deal. Rather than resort to violence, they bet the deal on the outcome of the game. But the home team is lacking a few players.

Video

Samurai Champloo gets a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer from MVM. The image is clear and sharp throughout, and the immaculate transfer does the splendid world design and distinctive characters full justice. This is an action packed show, and the swordplay is brilliantly realised, with both of the main characters having their own individual styles. The world design is worthy of appreciation, with the environments enhanced by some lush and vibrant backgrounds

Audio

You get a choice of a DD 2.0 and DTS Japanese, as well as a DD 5.1 English dub. Listening to the Dolby Japanese track, I found it to be a straightforward stereo track, with a fair bit of separation, and putting the music across well. I spot-checked the English track, and found that the soundstage opened up well with the surround track, although the show remains predominantly front-focussed. It`s an excellent English dub, with the actors suiting their characters perfectly. Dubbing has certainly come a long way since the early years of anime. You can watch the show with the signs translated, a translated English subtitle track, or no captions at all.

Features

You`ll find a jacket picture, DVD credits, and trailers for Requiem From the Darkness and Gunslinger Girl. Specific to the release there are 10 images in a concept art gallery, but nothing more.

Conclusion

I was going to begin by lamenting discs with reduced episode counts, but I find that it doesn`t matter. There may only be three episodes on this disc as opposed to the usual four, but they are three perfectly formed episodes, ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime, and utterly entertaining throughout. We`re getting close to the conclusion of the series, but other than the conclusion to the previous story, the two stand-alone episodes take a break from the main story to just have fun. Of course trying to extol the virtues of this series at this point in the run is a little redundant. If you haven`t been watching thus far, then the last volume but one would not be an ideal place to start. But this volume is certainly another example of the quality and consistency of this brilliant series. With brilliantly written central characters like the self-assured and quirky Fuu, the ill-spoken wild man Mugen, and the fastidious and elegant Jin, it`s very easy to become engrossed in their hard, although occasionally anachronistic world.

We begin this volume with the conclusion of the Elegy Of Entrapment two-parter. While the first episode was a slow and languid affair, that focused on character development until the last minute where it threw a big spanner in the works, the conclusion is much more dramatic and action oriented and makes all the prior character growth come alive. In terms of the story there is a major thread established regarding Mugen and Jin, but it`s also useful to see that superior opposition can overwhelm these two, who have thus far fairly comfortably handled all that could be thrown at them. It also reveals more of the bonds that have formed between the three. Of course any more than that would entail spoilers, so I`ll move on to Cosmic Collisions. This is Samurai Champloo playing in another genre, as it opens with an ominous shot of a meteor heading for Earth, and a ponderous voiceover commenting on the nature of fortune. It`s small preparation for what is imminent, as the three find themselves in the middle of a zombie outbreak worthy of George Romero. This episode is a complete departure from what I normally expect from Samurai Champloo and as such is utterly charming.

Finally on this disc is the usual anachronism episode. Last volume it was graffiti, this time round it`s baseball, as the three wind up on the Japanese team, playing for the honour of their country against the capitalists of the US Navy. The political comment on our times isn`t allowed to get in the way of one of the funniest episodes yet, as Mugen reveals a talent for pitching that verges on the homicidal. It`s humorous, at least in the Japanese version listening to the Japanese actors attempt American accents, and while the characters swear like, well sailors, in a bizarre move middle fingers remain firmly pixellated. This episode also sees the reappearance of Manzou the Saw, who was in an earlier episode investigating illegal shipping. Here he gets drafted into the team when an octogenarian player expires on the way to home plate.

Brilliant drama, a dose of comedy horror, and perhaps the funniest episode yet comprise the cream of the crop in a series that has consistently performed beyond expectations. Don`t let the reduced episode count put you off, this is the best volume so far, and I find myself looking forward to the series conclusion with glee.