Samurai Champloo — BrandWiki

Samurai Champloo

type	tv series
director	Shinichirō Watanabe
producer	Takatoshi Hamano Takashi Kochiyama Tetsuro Satomi
writer	Shinji Obara
music	Tsutchie Fat Jon Nujabes Force of Nature
studio	Manglobe
licensee	Crunchyroll
network	Fuji TV
first	May 20, 2004
last	March 19, 2005
episodes	26
episode list	List of Samurai Champloo episodes

Samurai Champloo (サムライチャンプルー) is a Japanese anime television series. The debut television production of studio Manglobe, the 26-episode series aired from May 2004 to March 2005. It was first partially broadcast on Fuji TV, then had a complete airing on Fuji Network System. It was licensed for North American broadcast on Adult Swim, and for commercial release first by Geneon Entertainment and later by Crunchyroll. It was also licensed for English releases in the United Kingdom by MVM Films, and in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment. A manga adaptation was serialized in Monthly Shōnen Ace during 2004, later released in North America by Tokyopop the following year.

The series is set in a fictionalized version of Edo period Japan, blending traditional elements with anachronistic cultural references, including hip hop. The series follows the exploits of tea waitress Fuu, vagrant outlaw Mugen, and ronin Jin. Fuu saves Mugen and Jin from execution, then forces the pair to aid in her quest to find a samurai who smells of sunflowers. Structured similar to a road movie, the series focuses on tolerance and acceptance of minorities contrasted against its setting, with a central theme being the portrayal and acceptance of death.

Director Shinichirō Watanabe began planning for the series in 1999, creating the characters and premise during his work on

Setting and themes

Series director Shinichirō Watanabe defined the central theme of Samurai Champloo as the portrayal and acceptance around death, themes he had previously explored in his science fiction series Macross Plus (1994) and Cowboy Bebop (1998). Another theme outlined in the series pitch was individuality and finding one's unique identity. The series is set in Edo period Japan, roughly sixty years after the end of the Sengoku period. While a historical time period, the anime does not focus on historical detail beyond minor inclusions and references, mainly using contemporary-style dialogue and behavior. A conscious inclusion was emphasising cultural acceptance and tolerance of minorities including the indigenous Ainu people, foreigners, LGBT people, and Christians; the historical Edo period was a time when Japan was highly structured, conformist and isolationist. Due to its Edo setting and incorporation of samurai culture and honor codes, Watanabe was worried the anime would be seen as nationalistic in tone, prompting its focus on minorities and tolerance. Watanabe put in as much as he could manage of these themes and subjects, challenging earlier limitations imposed by a lack of historical information from the time and Japanese television codes restricting the portrayal of Japanese minorities in the period.

The main cultural influence on the anime is the music and associated subculture of hip hop. Watanabe had been a fan of hip hop music from his high school years, citing his first exposure as "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. He compared the samurai culture to hip hop through a similar philosophy of self-identity. The use of hip hop also reinforced the series' focus on its minority and counter-cultural cast, creating a cultural reference by using one with the other. Alongside his liking of hip hop, Watanabe attributed a large amount of the series' inspiration in the works of actor Shintaro Katsu, particularly his historical dramas. The narrative approach of the finished series was inspired by Katsu's notorious habit of directing projects without a set story structure. The word "Champloo" in the title was derived from the Okinawan term, with Watanabe comparing the blending of elements in the anime with the meaning of chanpurū. The food depicted in the show was originally accurate to the Edo period, but eventually expanded to include anachronistic dishes such as okonomiyaki.

The plot is structured like a road movie, with little connection between stories until the final three-part arc, contrasting against the serial structure of its contemporaries. Watanabe particularly cited the movies about the blind samurai Zatoichi as an inspiration for this style. Other influences on the series included Enter the Dragon and Dirty Harry. One episode was based around the Chinese concept of Qi. During early planning, the series' tone was far more serious, but after the first four episodes had been written, the staff were worried about the tone becoming bleak, prompting a greater focus on comedy. Several episodes incorporate references, homages, and parodies of popular media. The Japanese episode titles use four-character idioms referencing the theme of that episode's story. They drew from multiple sources, including Japanese and Western sayings (the first episode's title, "Shippu Doto", is a Japanese rendering of the German saying "Sturm und Drang"), philosophical concepts ("Inga Oho" references a proverb about the workings of karma), and pieces of classic media (the episode title "Anya Koro" references Naoya Shiga's novel of the same name). The English episode titles were created by translator Ryan Morris. Morris did not directly translate the Japanese titles, instead using alliteration to preserve the rhythm and meaning.

Characters

The series follows the exploits of the three leads−Fuu, Mugen, and Jin−when they are drawn together by circumstance and end up traveling together to find the sunflower samurai. The main cast was created by Watanabe, who wanted a cast of heroes who were silly, immature, and dangerous, with "a touch of insanity". He described Mugen and Jin as unconventional people not bound by the rules of the period. The characters were designed by Kazuto Nakazawa, who had worked as both an artist and director on multiple projects including Ashita no Nadja and the anime segments of Kill Bill: Volume 1. The early character drafts were more to Nakazawa's tastes than the wishes of the production team, resulting in numerous redrafts based on requests. The voice recording included sessions with all three leads together, which caused occasional tensions due to their different work backgrounds.

In the original plan, there were three semi-regular characters that would appear through the series. They were Rekku, a Dutchman claiming to be Japanese; Koku, a traveling priest acquainted with Jin's past; and Sara, a female ninja who falls in love with Mugen. While their roles were reduced to one-off appearances, versions of the characters survived. Rekku became the character Joji in "Stranger Searching", the priest appeared in "Lethal Lunacy", while Sara was a central character in "Elegy of Entrapment". An early antagonist is Ryujiro, the son of a corrupt government official who loses his arm to Mugen in the opening episode and later plots revenge against them. Historical figures or character homages also appear, for example painter Hishikawa Moronobu; Joji, who is a fictionalized version of Isaac Titsingh; a version of American baseball player Alexander Cartwright; and Ando Uohori, who is a direct reference to Andy Warhol.

Production

Samurai Champloo was the debut television production of animation studio Manglobe, which was started in 2002 by Sunrise veteran Shinichirō Kobayashi. The opening animation was contributed to by the studio Madhouse. A production committee to support the project was formed by Victor Entertainment's Shirō Sasaki, partnering with Tokuma Shoten and North American company Geneon Entertainment. Watanabe acted as the series director, in addition to creating the project. Kobayashi, Sasaki, Sanae Mitsugi and Hideki Goto were credited as planners and executive producers, and the producers were Takatoshi Hamano, Takashi Kochiyama and Tetsuro Satomi.

The story was composed by Shinji Obara and Yukihiko Tsutsumi of Office Crescendo, with scripts written by Obara, Dai Satō, Touko Machida, Keiko Nobumoto, Seiko Takagi, Ryota Sugi, and Watanabe. Nakazawa wrote and storyboarded episode 15, being credited as Uwadan Shimofuwato in the former role. Nakazawa also acted as both character designer and chief animation director. The art director was Takeshi Waki, the storyboard director was Kazuki Akane, and coloring was led by Eri Suzuki. Additional characters were created by Hideto Komori. Weapon designs were co-created by Mahiro Maeda and Manglobe managing director Hidero Okamoto. The cinematographer was Kazuhiro Yamada, with Syuichi Kakesu as lead editor. Numerous guest creators were also brought in for different episodes as artists or animation directors, including Shūkō Murase Takeshi Yoshimoto, Naoko Nakamoto, Hiroyuki Imaishi and Tensai Okamura.

Concept and development

The concept for Samurai Champloo was created by Watanabe in 1999, then known for his work on Cowboy Bebop. He wanted to create a series antithetical to the largely calm and mature atmosphere of Cowboy Bebop, wanting a complete change due to fatigue after working on one project for such a long period. The success of Cowboy Bebop meant he was permitted to develop whatever he wanted for his next project. As with his other projects, he drew inspiration from music, then matched a narrative to it. His approach was combining two of his favorite things, classic samurai adventure films and series and hip hop music, into a single work. He created the concept for Samurai Champloo during this period, but work on it was delayed due to his work on Cowboy Bebop: The Movie and his segments of The Animatrix at Studio 4°C. Kobayashi had invited Watanabe to work on an original project at Manglobe when it was founded in February 2002, and Watanabe sent the Samurai Champloo pitch in May of that year. The pitch included the central concepts for the series, and draft designs for the lead characters. Watanabe invited Nakazawa on board as he was a fan of his work and wanted the opportunity to work with him. Obara, known more for his work on live-action movies and television dramas, was brought in through a mutual friend at Office Crescendo.

The eventual unstructured production style was unheard of in anime, and at the outset Obara created a series structure. The three-episode finale was not planned ahead, emerging naturally as part of the design approach. As the project evolved, Watanabe pushed for this structured approach to be discarded aside from the lead characters and premise, and Obara agreed to the new approach. The lack of a structure meant that the series narrative was constructed piece by piece, with few plot details being decided in advance.

Scenario and art design

Samurai Champloo was Obara's first time working on an anime series, and Watanabe attributed him with bringing a new style of narrative and pacing to the series. Sato had worked with Watanabe before on Macross Plus. He described the process of discussing plot concepts with Watanabe and building upon voiced ideas, treating his own contributions like sample discs that might be accepted or rejected. The script meetings were unusually long, beginning with the synopsis and ending up with the final form, alongside off-topic conversation that was sometimes incorporated into that episode's plot. Due to Watanabe's reputation and the success of his projects in the West, the anime was created with a Western audience in mind with the expectation that it would be more successful outside Japan. This resulted in more overt references to Western culture being included. An assassin character who appeared in the second episode was intended to appear during the finale, but he was cut due to time constraints and a general lack of people remembering his earlier appearance.

Nakazawa had trouble getting a feel for the characters, with Mugen's design still going through adjustments when production on the first episode began. For the animation of Mugen's fighting style, the team used gymnastic footage as a reference alongside incorporating breakdancing moves. For Jin, Nakazawa "ignored all of the conventions" for sword fighting and kept his fighting style inconsistent throughout the series, basing his reactions and tactics on combat sports. He broke animation conventions to make these techniques work, confusing the animation team. For his work as art director after joining during production of the first episode, Waki was instructed to create extremes of light and darkness in scenes, creating a realistic impression of the period when artificial light sources were scarce and expensive. The variety and more contemporary elements prevented Waki from growing bored with the Edo setting. The approach to the animation, lacking an overarching plan, was described as a reflection of the lead characters' non-conformist personalities.

Nakazawa designed the men's kimono to resemble contemporary jackets, incorporating homages to sports designs such as Adidas and Puma. Many secondary characters were designed based on both the series' voice actors and staff members. During the production of the second half of the series, it became increasingly difficult for Nakazawa to design all guest characters, resulting in Komori being brought in. Due to most of these characters being older men, when the early plan was for a young cast with several female characters, Komori felt disappointed by his workload. Maeda was brought on for weapon designs when the plan was to have strong antagonists with unique weapons for each episode, but the plan never came about, and when Maeda moved to working on Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, the design work shifted to Okamoto. The incorporation of graffiti was suggested by Sato to further enhance the hip hop aesthetic and tone. He also suggested the inclusion of references to Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat.