samurai-champloo « WordPress.com Tag Feed

Figurine Mugen de Samurai Champloo [Craquage perso ^^]

antoineblais — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:45:25 +0000

Bon je vais faire un petit article pour présenter mon dernier gros craquage sur cette superbe figurine en résine de Mugen de Samurai Champloo que je me suis procuré pour la modique somme de 135€ (aouch!) ^^

Figurine Cold Cast, limitée et numérotée à 2000 exemplaires monde.
Hauteur : 15cm
Longueur : 26cm
Sculpteur : Takahashi Tsuyoshi

Fin voilà j’en suis pas peu fier, exposée au dessus d’une mes étagères de manga ^^

Samurai Champloo Mugen's "Typhoon Swell" SwordSamurai Champloo Mugen's "Typhoon Swell" Sword

chanzztbuz — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:10:30 +0000

Samurai Champloo Mugen’s “Typhoon Swell” Sword Sword Specs: # Overall Length: 42

Samurai Champloo Mugen's "Typhoon Swell" Sword GEN II

chanzztbuz — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:53:39 +0000

Samurai Champloo Mugen’s “Typhoon Swell” Sword GEN II Katana Specs: # Overall Leng

Weekly Wallpaper #1: Samurai Champloo

mclanier — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:52:44 +0000

From one of my favorite anime, Samurai Champloo, this breath-taking wallpaper depicts our quiet hero on a cliff overlooking a large city. A waterfall splashes down from the mountain behind him and a mythological figure is inked on a nearby ledge.

The overall feeling is clean and mellow. Bright tones but muted colors and the art style is fantastic. Of course I would love this paper anyway, because I’m a huge fan of the anime and of Jin himself.

Samurai Champloo - Review

Cello — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:18:59 +0000

The simple plot revolves around Fuu searching for the Sunflower Samurai. The group of ninjas trek through 19th-century Japan in search of the samurai who smells of sunflowers but I’ll admit that most recent shows of note have been visually striking, but Champloo really stands out. The big thing is the fighting, which occurs early and often. Fights are choreographed well with slashes and cutting happening in the blink of an eye. Now I know some people are going to say that while some episodes were good, quite a few of them were bad. In fact, I felt this way as well. In Samurai Champloo the characters are clearly not together for mere convenience because I noticed throughout the series, that they almost constantly complain about the troubles incurred by staying together. Rather, they travel together for almost no reason at all, and find themselves continuing to do so despite each of them repeatedly threatening to leave.

So far the episode structure is like Cowboy Bebop’s, with a funny episode or two followed by a sadder episode. Unlike Bebop, there seems to be no build-up to a larger plot and there’s little delving into the characters’ backstories. It may seem at times that Samurai Champloo’s popularity is driven more by its own hype than the quality of the series. I don’t give into the hype and after watching this series I thought the idea is more than just urban beats set against historical fight scenes. From the show’s soundtrack fueled by rap beats, Mugen’s break-dance inspired fighting style, episode themes, and subtle designs on the back of kimonos, the urban influence can be felt everywhere. Included here is a wide array of adventures that range from cool to corny. No matter what’s going on though, the action remains top of the line, the show is slick, and there’s a certain hip element to everything.

Samurai Champloo is one of those rare, very special shows that you need only to watch once, and right away you’re hooked. Interestingly as well, although the producers made a point of stating that the show bears no historical accuracy, watching it I felt transported back into the past, witnessing the opening of Japan to the West. The Tokugawa era to be precise, during the time of Japanese seclusion from anyone whom they considered foreign, which was nearly everyone. Yet Champloo doesn’t exactly allow itself to fall into the rules of history, or at least it doesn’t rigidly follow it. Some episodes really veer off to the left. For example: There is an episode entitled ‘Baseball Blues’, in which Mugen, Jin, and Fuu are conned into playing in a baseball game against some pushy Americans armed with cannons who will leave only if they lose the game. As usual for this series, all Western characters are portrayed as horrible caricatures of their national identity. This is somethign that bothered me quite a bit.

Samurai Champloo is a show that begs to be watched. It may not be an outright classic, but it offers a great amount of energy, fun atmosphere, and inventive characters. Towards the final episodes drama dominates. All of the characters meet the conclusion of their own personal stories, while wrapping up their story as a group. Jin faces a man directly linked to his past as a swordsman; Mugen faces a family bent on revenge for Mugen’s past life as a pirate; and Fuu finally meets the Sunflower Samurai. The end of Samurai Champloo is both exciting and a bit sad. It’s a perfect conclusion to a perfect anime series, and sufficiently answers all the questions left behind in the previous episodes.

As the two samurai heroes say in episode two, there’s something silly about a samurai who smells of sunflowers. However, this series truly shows off some of the best battles ever seen in an anime, embellished with the gorgeous environment of ancient Japan. It’s easy to tell that the artists worked very hard to create visually interesting and pleasing characters and settings. The animation in every single scene is infused with a sense of care and precision that is never lazy or sloppy. The series has been dubbed in English and will play automatically on this setting, but I recommend going into the setup menu and enabling the original Japanese voices with English subtitles. The series is so steeped in rich Japanese culture and the Japanese actors are so superb that watching the episodes in English seems silly. It is also getting the blu-ray treatment next month, so please, you owe it to yourself to watch this series. It may not be Cowboy Bebop, but its one of the greatest animes of my generation.

Samurai Champloo

ryukaji — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:05:47 +0000

Samurai Champloo fue publicado por primera vez en la revista Shonen Ace entre Agosto y Octubre de 20

cartoon rant

mhmgrams — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:26:31 +0000

cartoons piss me off cartoon network use to be a reason to come home after school i guess i should just be a bum and do drugs ” just kidding”but seriously powerpuff girls ed edd and eddy samurai jack pokemon ” orginal” yu gi oh “orginal” cow and chicken Cartoon Cartoons and toonami dont even get me started dragon ball Runonin Kenshin Yu Yu Hakusho zoids all the gundam shows robottech those awesome promos toonami should of been its own channel like boomerang thats all i have to say or atleast all im going to type right now but dont worry this rant willl be back

ive devised a playlist of cartoon theme songs or opening themes or songs in cartoons that are really cool/memorable to me with a little help from youtube.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Theme Tune

samurai champloo opening credits – Battlecry by Nujabes

pokemon “oringinal” theme song

boondocks huey vs bushido brown – mf doom all caps

cowboy bebop opening- the seatbelts tank

Gobots intro

dragon ball z intro

fooly cooly outro- the pillows shooting star

1980’s Transformers cartoon intro

big o opening theme

megas xlr intro

AMV Mondays #3

Tavy — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:00:14 +0000

The AMV for today is a collaboration that uses Linkin Park’s Paper Cut from their ReAnimation album and features the following animes:

Links to the Creators Page:

xSamuraiKing

SeanyBoyStudios

mzilla911

Tsukikage Ran vs. Samurai Champloo: Artificial Pasts

2DT — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:33:25 +0000

Have you ever seen Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran? It was a series about a wandering ronin who goes from town to town, getting into trouble and fighting bad guys. Traveling together for unclear reasons is a barbarian, a master of a strange fighting style, who is stubborn and a bit quick-tempered. The setting is Edo Japan, and there are plenty of appropriate historical references, but the show generally plays fast and loose with anachronism as it pleases.

Does all of that sound familiar? It should.

I’m being a bit facetious.

Really, though, Tsukikage Ran and Samurai Champloo aren’t so different, at least in terms of the liberties they take with the subject matter. Both are quite irreverent. And yet, it’s tempting to say that between Ran and Champloo, the former feels the more authentic of the two. If you disagree, feel free to let me know, but I’m willing to bet you might feel the same. So, why?

Well, for example, take their respective openings: What we know as enka was adapted by Japanese musicians from western music at the beginning of the 20th century, and it was further refined in the postwar period. Enka may appear to be more traditional, but it isn’t any more authentically Japanese than rap– For perspective, it’s actually about as old as jazz. The nostalgia that enka evokes for the old days is pure artifice.

Exhibit A: Tsukikage Ran OP

Exhibit B: Samurai Champloo OP

If I had to put my finger on it, I think Ran feels more authentic because it’s essentially an animated jidai-geki show. It painstakingly recreates the formulae of historical television dramas that Japanese people have been eating up since the days before most towns even had television. Jidai-geki shows in themselves (along with the whole “chambara” genre, like Zatoichi and Akira Kurosawa’s films) aren’t terribly authentic, but they’re the first reference that modern Japanese people have to their past.

Samurai Champloo is quite cool, no denying that. But in many ways it stands on its own, a big floating anatopism. What a difference four years makes.

Weekend BREAK

James Lafayette Delgado ("Jimmy") Riggs — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:09:50 +0000

Sayz the great Wikipedia:

Samurai Champloo (サムライチャンプルー, Samurai Chanpurū^?) is a Japanese animated television series consisting of twenty-six episodes. It was broadcast in Japan from May 20, 2004, through March 19, 2005, on the television network, Fuji TV. Samurai Champloo was created and directed by Shinichirō Watanabe, whose previous work, Cowboy Bebop, earned him renown in the anime and Japanese television communities.^[1] The show was produced by studio Manglobe.

The 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. Only Afro Samurai completely sucks [Ed.]).

As the wise wiki points out, Samurai Champloo mixes samurai and hip-hop. It does so primarily with an excellent down-beat soundtrack, featuring the beats of Fat Jon, Tsuchie, Force of Nature, Nujabes (featured in last weekend’s World Government Edition as well as at the beginning of part 1 of this episode), and a few other, mostly Japanese hip-hop artists. The 4 or 5 disks which comprise the soundtrack are highly recommended, but also not in print in the USA. Download the Impression disk here for an indication.

Above and below you have one of the series’ best episodes (#23), particularly for American audiences, and particularly during the World Series. See how Japanese hipsters viewed the good ole USofA during the Bush Years. One of the best satires of American culture and Japan/American syncretism I’ve seen, ever.

VOTD: アホな走り集

s2tephen — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:10:30 +0000

“アホな走り集” by 大月壮 (Ootsuki Sou)

Saw this on Mike’s Facebook wall (posted by Hiro) and couldn’t resist sharing it with you guys. Roughly translated as “Fools’ Running Compilation” (someone correct my shitty 日本語), this clip sets slo-mo shots of various people running through the streets of Japan to the chill beats of Nujabes. This song specifically is Luv (sic) pt. 2 feat. Shing02, who also did the vocals for the Samurai Champloo OP. The result is a whimsical, happy-go-lucky video that will have you all smiles.

Music Filler -- Nujabes feat. Shing02

Eds — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:31:52 +0000

I’m sure you’ve see this video already. If not, take a minute and get acquainted.

It’s the super cool video featuring Japanese people, slowed down on film, doing silly running towards the camera. The music track playing in the background is by Japanese hip hop producer/DJ Seba Jun, or Nujabes. (Nujabes is his name spelled backwards.)

The video above is from a Japanese chillout DVD directed by Sou Ootsuki and produced by Tokyo Cultuart (CULTuArt = Culture Cult Art), a project of the popular Japanese company Beams. The DVD features the video above and two other videos. The music for the DVD, which advertises %100 percent chillout, features music by Ken Takehisa, Libro, and Evisbeats. I couldn’t find the first two artists, but I did find Evisbeats; and if this is the type of stuff on the DVD, it may be worth the purchase. (Hopefully the DVD is formatted for playback outside of Japan.)

Adult Swim lovers may recognize Nujabes’ music in some of the iconic Adult Swim bumps. Anime lovers may know Nujabes’ style of music from the anime Samurai Champloo. Champloo was made by Shinichirō Watanabem, the creator of the popular series Cowboy Bebop. In addition to being a great anime, Watanabem made sure Bebop featured a beautiful selection of jazz music to accompany the dramadies. For Samurai Champloo, Watanabem made sure the series featured great hip-hop tracks by asking Nujabes to contribute to the background music and soundtracks.

For more Japanese hip-hop check out Evisbeats below.

Anime Brain

BT — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:41:17 +0000

All of a sudden, I miss Samurai Champloo. I’m still not focusing on my lecture notes. My bum hurts from sitting like this.

SDAFF Extreme -- Afro Samurai Resurrection

aliciamovie — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:27:55 +0000

Reviewed by Alicia Glass

Studio: Fuji TV

MPAA Rating: N/A

Director: Fuminori Kizaki

Review Rating: 7

Afro Samurai, accompanied by Ninja-Ninja, returns to battle arch-enemy Lady Sio, her band of henchmen, and an unexpected foe that will test the limits of Afro’s endurance!

Despite being an avid anime fan, I haven’t actually seen the original Spike Afro Samurai series. The animation style of Afro Samurai rather reminds me of an insane combination of Aeon Flux, the World Record segment of The Animatrix, and Samurai Champloo! It’s not odd enough that we have a black samurai with the voice of Samuel L. Jackson, oh no, we have to have insane animations, Lucy Liu doing another voice, African-American culture being spliced into feudal-style Japan, and all the sex and violence you can shake a headband at!

Yes, it’s way cool. However, not for everyone, especially considering what they showed us at the SDAFF was the unedited directors cut of the movie. I thought it was very strange but quite cool to see men and women dressed in very traditional feudal-era Japanese costumes, dancing to the beat-box rhymes of a huge parade float that was boppin Dre-style beats! Sam Jackson does the voice for both Afro Samurai, when he does speak at all which isn’t often, and for Ninja-Ninja, the sidekick character who seems to be a will o’ the wisp companion of Afro. Lady Sio is voiced by Lucy Liu, who does a more or less fine job for a rather sick and twisted bad guy character. I don’t want to give the whole plot away, so let’s just say Lady Sio’s plan for revenge on Afro is one of the more evil I’ve come across. The movie is very much worth a look, although it might be a bit more comfortable to just own the thing so you can watch it at home, surrounded by friends and alcohol, to cheer on the big bad black man in the number one headband!

And for an exclusive SDAFF scoop, the guys from Afro Samurai who did a Q&A after the movie confirmed that yes, there will be a live-action Afro Samurai movie starring Sam Jackson!

Check out the trailer!

Weekend East II

James Lafayette Delgado ("Jimmy") Riggs — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 02:26:31 +0000

Samurai Champloo

Reverend Zombie — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:27:19 +0000

Samurai Champloo

Some things are just straight up tight. I wrote earlier about a movie that changed my life — the anime classic Princess Mononoke — and now for a series that did the same thing. Strangely, many people have not heard of Samurai Champloo.

“Samurai what?? .. Samurai shampoo?? .. What kind of name is that?”

Yeah… Anyway, it’s legit. I remember sitting up on the phone back in high school, watching the first episode of this show, with me and Karl screaming at each other the whole time about the ridiculous krunkness of what we we were watching. The series follows the battles and lives of Jin, Mugen, and Fuu as they journey together on an endeavor to find the “Sunflower Samurai,” as directed by Fuu. Their relationship is dynamic and dysfunctional at times, but at the end they walk away — literally — as friends. Champloo combines the holy trinity of what makes an anime for me: action, animation quality, and story — and it hits each one with astounding precision.

In every episode is a deeper look at some aspect of human relation. They cover it all — living with society vs living outside it, following the heart, crazy ass evil vs controlled and thought out evil, sex — specifically, men getting the living s**t tricked out of them by women AND women getting the living s**t tricked out of them by men, and many aspects of true love are included, as well. It’s incredible.

And I don’t even want to get started on the music. You can enjoy the series JUST for this — a nuclear fusion of hip hop, jazz, techno, soul, and Japanese traditional. Every episode is like a mini concert played from the soul of a break dancing samurai.

“The Sunflower Samurai” … haha I could go all day on this. Even when you think you’re there, when you think you’re going there, there is no “there”. You never get “there”. Adjust your goals, and tighten your life up.

Jin

Mugen

Fuu

and, just for effect, my favorite woman in the series:

Yatsuha

It’s cuz she’s such a good fighter, I swear!

_Reverend Zombie 13:26

Quote of the Day

Sophia Alexandra — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:28:48 +0000

“I dont give a rats ass about your common since”- Samurai Champloo

Its an amazing anime (yes anime) show that is infused with hip hop themes. Its amazing.

Samurai Champloo online

Nnychan — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:35:16 +0000

Aqui os dejo uno de mis animes favoritos!!^^ no me canso de verlo!! SC cap 1 español SC cap 2 esp

Manga Samurai Champloo Online

Nnychan — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:39:59 +0000

Fuu es una chica de 15 años, que trabajaba en una casa de té hasta

RATM - mic check AMV Samurai Champloo

p3semne — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 08:14:21 +0000

super tare AMV. Sunt multe cu Samurai Champloo, dar asta-i poate cel mai reusit.

RATM - Mic Check AMV Samurai Champloo

p3semne — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:55:12 +0000

Un AMV foarte reusit. Pe Samurai Champloo sunt multe tari de tot. Asta-i poate cel mai tare.

Samurai Champloo revisited.

IWICSYI — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:56:38 +0000

If you follow this blog 24/7 , you might notice that I wrote an impression post about Samurai Champl

A quick post-Labor Day recap........

innovatorsnetwork — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:32:07 +0000

The last three weeks of August went by very quickly. Anime scripwriter Dai Sato was in town along with Ryan Morris, his interpreter, for a couple of weeks to teach Anime Production/Scriptwriting to 25 high school students. Here are some summary videos of the classes he taught during those two weeks. Learn about 起承転結 (Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu) and 鳥獣戯画 (Cho-Ju-Gi-ga), Japan’s oldest manga. It is fascinating!

Also here is a link to Dai Sato speaking about how to create anime characters.

On the last day of the two weeks, the students divided into 5 groups presented their work at the auditorium. Here is a link to the 15 second previews that each group created. The preview was presented along with their story proposals. Dai told me later that he was intrigued that how all the groups had the notion of fate/destiny embedded in their theme. He also thought that all story proposals dealt with the issues of coping with diversity and different values. He felt that groups made up of Japanese high school students would have come up with totally different theme and story ideas. Dai also had a chance to meet up with his old acquaintance, Justin Leach, also an IN member, who currently works at the Blue Sky Studios as a Senior Pipeline Engineer. We paid a visit to Blue Sky in Connecticut and Dai was invited to speak about his work and the creative process to the storyboard department staff. Then we all took a tour of the studio. Dai kept on saying how amazingly better the work environment is for creators like him in the U.S. It was indeed a beautiful office space with huge windows overlooking a forest outside. There were ping pong tables and pinball machines, too.

Justin Leach and Dai Sato

During the last week of August, the Kyomachiya preservation group was in town after attending a symposium in Boston on historic preservation. The occasion was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of sister city between Boston and Kyoto. It was great to see Fusae Kojima again, a machiya owner and the President and Executive Director of Kyomachiya Revitalization Study Group. She was one of the panelists at the symposium we organized in collaboration with Kyoto Center for Community Collaboration (Machisen) last November at Japan Society. The symposium summary is featured in a new book titled Machiya Revival in Kyoto edited by Machisen. It just came out in July. As part of the Innovators Network activities, we continue to support the Kyomachiya preservation group’s effort to gain further recognition abroad.

Last but not least, we have some newly edited videos of the Social Design Forum we organized with JIDPO (Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization) back in February. I highly recommend that you watch Valerie Casey’s video on Design Thinking especially if you are a design student.

Masaaki Ikeda’s video, which touches on the history of social design in Japan, is also quite interesting if you heard about Michael Linton, who had designed the LETS (Local Exchange Trading System).

(Fumiko)