Samurai Champloo

Samurai Champloo is a Japanese anime series, developed by Manglobe, that featured a production team led by director Shinichirō Watanabe, character designer Kazuto Nakazawa and mechanical designer Mahiro Maeda. Samurai Champloo was Watanabe's first directorial effort for an anime television series after the critically acclaimed Cowboy Bebop. The series was first broadcast in Japan on Fuji TV on May 20, 2004 and ran for 26 episodes until its conclusion on March 19, 2005. Samurai Champloo's musical score predominantly features hip hop music produced by Tsutchie, Nujabes, Fat Jon, and Force of Nature. Shing02 and MINMI are also featured in the opening and ending themes, respectively.

Like Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo was critically acclaimed, and the series was dubbed in the English language and licensed by Geneon Entertainment for releases in North America. Funimation Entertainment began licensing the series after Geneon ceased production of its titles. It was also licensed for English releases in the United Kingdom by MVM Films, and in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment.

The series is set to begin airing on Adult Swim's Toonami block on January 2, 2016.

Plot
Mugen is a ferocious, animalistic warrior with a fighting style inspired by break-dancing. Jin is a ronin samurai who wanders the countryside alone. They may not be friends, but their paths continually cross. And when ditzy waitress Fuu gets them out of hot water with the local magistrate, they agree to join her search for the samurai who smells like sunflowers.

Incorporated within the series are signature elements of modernity, especially hip hop culture, such as rapping, bandits behaving like "gangstas," censorship bleeps replaced with record scratching, and much of Mugen's character design.

Setting
Samurai Champloo employs a blend of historical Edo period backdrops with modern styles and references. The series relies on factual events of Edo-era Japan, such as: the Shimabara Rebellion, Dutch exclusivity in an era in which an edict restricted Japanese foreign relations, and Ukiyo-e paintings. However, fictionalized versions of real-life Edo personalities like Mariya Enshirou and Minamoto Musashi were also featured. The exact placement within world history is questionable and is likely somewhat distorted by artistic license. For instance, the appearance of a six shooter in the episode of "Misguided Miscreants Part I" suggests that the story takes place after 1814, which is when that style of weapon was first invented, yet in the episode "Stranger Searching" it is explicitly stated that trade relations between Japan and the Dutch East India Company exist, the latter of which went defunct in 1798. Also, the samurai who smells of sunflowers is said to have taken part in the Shimabara Rebellion, which historically occurred between 1637 and 1638.

Characters
Mugen — A brash vagabond from the penal colony Ryukyu Islands, Mugen is a 19-year-old wanderer with a wildly unconventional fighting style. Rude, lewd, vulgar, and nihilistic, Mugen is something of an antihero. He is fond of fighting and has a tendency to pick fights for petty reasons. It is implied in a few episodes that he is also a womanizer, with his libido sometimes getting the better of him. He wears metal-soled geta and carries an exotic sword on his back. In Japanese, the word mugen means "infinite".

Jin — Jin is a 20-year-old reserved ronin who carries himself in the conventionally stoic manner of a samurai of the Tokugawa era. Using his waist-strung daishō, he fights in the traditional kenjutsu style of a samurai trained in a prominent, sanctioned dojo. He is pursued by several members of his dojo as he killed their master in self-defense. He wears glasses, an available but uncommon accessory in Edo era Japan. His pair of glasses is purely ornamental, as Mugen later found out after getting a chance to peer through them.

Fuu — A spirited 15-year-old girl, Fuu asks Mugen and Jin to help her find a sparsely described man she calls "the samurai who smells of sunflowers." Her father left her and her mother for an unknown reason. Without her father around to support them, Fuu and her mother led a difficult life until her mother died of illness. After a not-so-successful stint as a teahouse waitress/dancer she saves Mugen and Jin from execution and recruits them as her bodyguards. A flying squirrel named "Momo" accompanies her, inhabiting her kimono and frequently leaping out to her rescue.

Episodes
Samurai Champloo premiered in Japan on Fuji TV from May 20, 2004 to March 19, 2005, for a total of 26 episodes. Geneon licensed the show for distribution in North America in 2004 and began releasing the series on DVD in January of 2005.

After Geneon ceased distribution in 2007, Funimation acquired the rights to distribute Samurai Champloo and, in association with Geneon, re-released the entire 26-episode series in a box set in June 2009 and on Blu-ray in November 2009. As of November 26, 2010, Funimation has fully licensed the series and once again released the series under the Classics line on May 24, 2011.

Broadcast History
Samurai Champloo aired in Japan on Fuji TV from May 20, 2004 until it was pulled from the schedule after the 17th episode aired on September 9, 2004. The series returned to the schedule in January and the final 9 episodes aired until March 19, 2005. An edited English dub of the series, licensed by Geneon, premiered in the United States on the Adult Swim anime block on May 14, 2005, with foul language replaced with sound effects, in addition to cutting out blood and nudity. The final first run of the episodes concluded on March 18, 2006; However, the final 6 episodes premiered 6 days before they aired on Adult Swim on "Friday Night Fix," an AS online streaming block that premiered on Friday, February 3, 2006.

Samurai Champloo debuted in Canada on December 24, 2006, on the digital station Razer. The series has also aired in the United Kingdom, France, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and Germany. The series made its return to US television on the FUNimation Channel starting March 21, 2011. The series will return to Adult Swim on January 2, 2016 on the Toonami block, replacing Michiko & Hatchin.


 * Japan (Fuji TV) — May 20, 2004 - September 9, 2004 ; January 22, 2005 - March 19, 2005
 * United States (Adult Swim) — May 14, 2005 - March 18, 2006; January 2, 2016
 * United States (Funimation Channel) — March 21, 2011 - 2012
 * Australia (SBS) — 2006
 * Canada (Razer) — December 24, 2006 - June 17, 2007
 * Cartoon Network (Latin America) — 2006 - 2007
 * Brazil (OTACRAZE) — March 5, 2007 - 2007