Series · 2004
Samurai Champloo
サムライチャンプルー
Fuu persuades two very different swordsmen to help her find a samurai who smells of sunflowers. Mugen’s unruly fighting and Jin’s formal training make them difficult travelling companions. Their journey takes a samurai road story into an explicitly hip-hop-inflected version of Edo-period Japan.
Their agreement begins with a debt: Fuu offers to rescue Mugen and Jin from execution if they travel with her. She therefore supplies the destination while the two men supply protection, even though their tempers threaten the arrangement. The opening makes keeping this unlikely party together part of the journey.
Travelling also requires money. When the three cannot afford a small ferry, they separate to look for work, and Fuu accepts a modelling job that proves dangerous. The next obstacle can be paying for transport rather than winning a duel, bringing the journey back to the needs of people who have to eat and keep moving.
Complete television anime · Approx. 10 hours · 26 episodes
Complete 26-episode 2004–2005 television anime.