Customer Ratings & Reviews

From the team that brought us Bebop came an underdog series that shined brighter and longer, but somehow never got Bebop's level of following. (Probably because CN still airs Bebop on AS some 15 years later.) But Samurai Champloo is to the classic samurai chanbara genre what Bebop was to the noir genre; the pinnacle in animated form. Set in feudal, Edo Period Japan, three unlikely protagonists are pitted together on a single quest to make contact with the samurai who smells like sunflowers. Fuu; the fetching lady in need of finding said sunflower samurai, Mugen; an overly confident mongrel who mixes wanton sword fighting and capoeira, and Jin; a defamed ronin incredibly disciplined, handsome and mild mannered. They'll travel from eastern Japan to Nagasaki, coming across all sorts of walks of life from tricks, to ronin, baseball players, Duthmen, ninja Tengu clans, oni clans, zombie clans that survive on wasabi, sell swords, hitmen, old rivals, religious cults, the shogunate, you name it. Samurai Champloo takes a page from Bebop and doesn't discriminate against people, rather it highlights their eccentricities. This is a series that puts a heavy penchant on satire and turns them into extreme cases of characterizations. That sort of hyperbole can be off-putting, but none of it is ever done in an offensive manner. First off, this series fires on all cylinders on Blu-ray. This came out two years before the HD format wars occurred, and it looks like a recent 2017 series! Intentional thick black lines, vivid colors, every.single.scene is intentionally drawn, animated or stylized. This may be the last anime series to have been done in this fashion before full computer coloration of cels started to take hold. The animation is extremely fast paced; blink and you'll miss it. In tune with the style of the series, there's lots of youth counter culture references in Samurai Champloo. Graffiti, beat boxing, basically San Francisco urban youth are anachronistically clashed with Japan's rural undeveloped countryside. The results are sublime. Bebop mixed genres very well too, with noir, spaghetti western, space travel and jazz. In the same vein Champloo truly shines when a modern day reference is made with people in kimonos at a teahouse. The audio is the best. Steve Blum returns as the voice of Mugen, who people will recognize as Spike in Bebop. Beau Billingslea (Jet) comes back for a stint, but the rest of Bebop's cast isn't the main voice talent. But the other voice actors make the English track the preferred option over the Japanese subs. There's two tracks; English 5.1 and Japanese 5.1, with English subtitles. Innately, there are the English subs 1 which will display when there are Kanji or Katakana writing. The menu is very well done and non-obtrusive. I have the Anime Classics edition which has a slimmed case, one wing and three discs. Comes in a slip cover. I simply cannot recommend this series enough. It's tough to catch lighting twice, but Champloo did just that. Scratch that. Champloo stuck a level 5 twister in a bottle with said lightning, and if you like Bebop, Ninja Scroll, Afro Samurai, or other works with stylized combat and bent over comedic moments, you'll adore Samurai Champloo. It is an essential series, even for non-anime fans.

As far as anime series go, this one is one of my favorites. I think I've watched it a few times through over the years and I still love the action, character work and animation. Definitely something worth adding to your collection if you're an anime fan.

This was a pretty cool show to watch especially if you liked "Cowboy Bebop" since it was the same creator. Good story and good animation with a great soundtrack!

You’ll never find an anime with better characters, better animation and art direction, better music, and a better narrative than this masterpiece.

This is a great series, it has a different spin to the style of how it is structured unlike any other Anime I seen.

You read that right. The same minds behind Cowboy Bebop stuffed even more lightning into another bottle with a second series that seamlessly blends genres together. This time, three unlikely antiheroes are placed together in feudal Japan's Edo Period on a quest to seek a samurai who smells of sunflowers. Only, the Edo Period is punctuated by San Francisco counter culture, hip hop artists, name brands, capoeira ninja skills, and super human ronin. This series is phenomenal. Bebop was messy, short lived, and iconic. Samurai Champloo is far from messy, it's just about the right length in episodes, and VERY clean. Gorgeous in fact. Even though this came out right before Blu-ray premiered, this series is striking on Blu-ray. Lush colors, thick black lines, excellent voice acting, great audio, a very neat menu, this is the only way to watch Samurai Champloo. It does have Japanese with subs, but I prefer the English voice work because the fella who played Spike in Bebop also plays Mugen (essentially a Spike expy) in Champloo. An essential for any anime fan. If you like Bebop, Afro, Samurai 7, or Ninja Scroll, you'll binge Samurai Champloo several times in a row.

Love this show. It's an awesome almost historical parody of Shogunate-era Japan. Love it.

My family enjoyed this series! I would recommend to my family and friends.

Amazing series, ranks up with cowboy bebop and outlaw star. Must have!!!

I love this anime series just wish it wasnt so expensive.

Classic anime series that i recommend to everyone!

The follow-up to the cult classic series Cowboy Bebop, which married the final frontier of space with the soothing sounds of jazz and blues music. Samurai Champloo blends sword slinging action with the fresh beats and rhymes of many notable rap artists, along with elements of the stylistic clothing of the musical genre. When a young waitress named Fuu encounters Mugen and Jin, two polar opposites and masters of the blade, she ropes them into a longstanding ambition of hers: finding the elusive Sunflower Samurai. With no money and constantly hounded by revenge-seeking foes and even the law itself, the unlikely trio carve a path across ancient Japan as their quest brings them across a colorful cast of weirdo and murderous thugs.

Picture quality was good Sound was great I wish there were more extras

I picked this up on a whim while checking out TVs, I remember watching this a few years ago and liking its art style. The blu-ray transfer is nice and the series is between 3 discs. The packaging is nice with a sleeve. The discs are barebones as there is no special features of any interest in regard to the production of the series.

I still remember watching this show on Toonami when I was in high school. I never got the chance to watch the whole series until it was added on Netflix. Such an amazing show. The soundtrack is the best I've ever heard and still listen to it. The action of fantastic and story is great.

The story of how 2 swordsmen would fight to the death after they help a young maiden find the man that smells like sunflowers with a few distractions along the way that lead to hilarious outcomes and a great ending and plot

I've watched this series before onlline but I really wanted to get it on blu-ray. Samurai Champloo ranks up there with Cowboy Bebop as one of the best anime series ever. The video quality isn't that big of a step-iup from streaming but you are still getting the best image quality currently available. The menus are also pretty cool. I'm only giving this a 4 instead of a 5 because there aren't many extras for this product. A few commentaries or a documentary would've been nice.

Samurai Champloo is not a show I thought I would like, but it has such an interesting style and the story is very good. They nailed the dub, and it's a short enough series that it doesn't feel like it drags on with padding, but long enough to be satisfying. The video quality feels a little subpar for a bluray release, but didn't prevent me from enjoying the experience.

Samurai/ninja style action! One of the best anime of all time! Must have in your collection!!

This series is incredible. Must watch for anime fans. Same director that made Cowboy Bebop made this show as well.