This past week I had the enormous pleasure of watching all twenty-six episodes of the fantastic Shinichiro Watanabe anime series Samurai Champloo thanks to the grace and goodness of a Netflix free trial.

Though this activity kept me from focusing on other very important things (like working on a show that I'm in or drawing three-month overdue art for someone), I'm very, very glad that I did it. I'm not really an anime fan, but I am a naturally curious person, so, knowing that anime is a popular art form in the world, I've always felt a desire to check it out. So, when I saw, long ago, an interesting-looking show on Adult Swim that featured traditional Japanese samurai in a hip hop-themed ancient Japan, I innocently watched the first few episodes and subsequently became thoroughly intrigued. But, having never been a person to keep a regular schedule or routine, I quickly fell out of the habit of watching Samurai Champloo on TV, and so, after having been initiated, I remained Champloo-less for about two years. But the desire to watch it always lingered.

Luckily for me, the entire series has been released to DVD, and when an opportunity arose to borrow it from Netflix (since you'll never find these DVD's in any store in my town), it not only gave me the opportunity to see the entire series from beginning to end but also to watch it in its original Japanese language with English subtitles, which, if you are a person of any taste or dignity, you know is the best way to watch an anime.

So, now I have Samurai Champloo under my belt, and OMG! I love it. It was different from what I expected it to be in that its story was more in-depth, its characters more fleshed-out, and its through-line intact from the very beginning--something I couldn't have known from only the first few episodes. Plus, its art style is very visually pleasing with simplistic lines, interesting character design, dynamic camera angles, and fast-paced animation. Besides which, the music is simply killer, from record-scratching hip hop to traditional Japanese folk songs; and, the whole show is packed with symbols and metaphors (and anachronisms), both seen and heard, which make the viewing experience intellectually delicious. And the character actions and interactions are beautifully simple and realistic! On top of all that, it's funny and violent, so what more could you want?

Favorite episode? Fourteen, in which we learn the unfortunate past of my favorite character to the tune of the most beautiful and sad Japanese folk song I have ever heard (though, granted, I haven't heard that many), Obokuri Eeumi by Ikue Asazaki. That's my favorite song in the whole series, period. It unfairly biases me to like its episode best. But, to tell the truth, the last three episodes (twenty-four through twenty-six) are miraculously good, too.

Favorite character? Mugen. Period. The end (of all time). CX I have yet to come across a character who is the absolute embodiment of everything I could ever like in a character, but Mugen comes pretty close (as does Link from The Legend of Zelda, but that's a different story). Mugen has many of the traits I look for in an ideal character: male gender, badass attitude, beautiful body, exotic fashion, horrific past, tormented spirit, phenomenal physical ability, and the tendency to frequently sustain grievous injuries. XD I can't tell you how delighted I was to find that he played a bigger part in the story than I originally expected. I love that man. Jin and Fuu are wonderful, too, but man, have I got a thing for Mugen.

I can hardly wait to watch the series again, actually. Now that I've seen it through to the end, I want to go back and pick up on all of the things I'm sure I missed in the beginning. Besides, I want to analyze it a bit and decipher some of those metaphors and symbols I mentioned earlier. Serendipitously, a new box set was just released June 30, so it's ready and waiting for me to go buy it. 8D

I highly recommend this show, so go watch it now. C:< That is all.