Samurai Champloo Part 6 Episodes 22-26

The end is in sight as Mugen, Jin and Fuu arrive in Nagasaki.  The Sunflower Samurai is close but so are a cadre of assassins looking to collect not just his head but the heads of the traveling trio as well.  Mugen, Jin and Fuu confront their sorted histories one more time, pushing themselves to the limit to see their long journey through.  And even if they survive the onslaught, there’s still the matter of Mugen and Jin’s unfinished business?  Will this story only end if one of them dies at the hands of the other?

Now that I’ve watched the finale of Samurai Champloo, I’ve come to realize that one of it’s biggest problems isnt the adventure as a whole, though some stories were certainly better than others.  No, it’s that with all the lack of build up, lead in, and Fuu being generally a pain in the ass not revealing what she knew about him, there was no way the Mystery of the Sunflower Samurai was ever going to get an adequate conclusion.  And while there’s still plenty to love about the final five episodes, a lot of that positivity falls not on the completion of the “main story”, but rather everything else that’s worked for Samurai Champloo across all 26 episodes: the action, the music, the animation, the humor and Mugen being Mugen.
 

T5W#545-Top 5 Things to Remember Before Seeing Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe

Even though we’ve been getting plenty of exciting new Gundam projects these last few years including The Witch From Mercury and SEED Freedom, the one Gundam story everyone has been waiting for is Part 2 of the Gundam Hathaway Trilogy.  Originally intended for a Summer 2020 release but delayed due to the Pandemic, Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway dropped in the Summer of 2021 in Japan and on Netflix and took fans into a new struggle as the Earth Sphere crossed the UC0100 line.  It’s been five years since the first part of this new saga arrived and fans have been eagerly wanting to see where the rebellion of Hathaway Noa goes from here.  To get you caught up before we send Mobile Suits into the ocean (judging from the trailers), today’s Top 5 Wednesday will be looking at the Top 5 Things to Remember Before Seeing Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe.

 

Samurai Champloo Part 5 Episodes 18-21

Mugen, Jin and Fuu might’ve finally caught a break in their search for the Sunflower Samurai in a town held hostage by religion and lies.  They have a name.  They have a destination.  Now all they have to do is get there.  But when a beautiful, blind musician named Sara joins the party, everything’s on the verge of changing once more.  Is Sara someone who’s too good to be true or is she an opponent even Mugen and Jin’s skills might not be able to overcome?

I feel a little let down that I’ve gone through so many sets of Samurai Champloo episodes and only a couple have stood out each time.  Yet here we are at the penultimate chapter and wouldn’t you know it, I really liked each of the four offerings presented.  Sure I had some gripes here and there and three out of four were so much stronger than one.  But besides my usual nitpicks (Fuu related mostly), this weeks Samurai Champloo had a lot I really liked about it and I wish the show was this consistent with the overall quality and not just relying on the animation or soundtrack to pick up some of the slack.  Anyway, got nothing but mostly good things to say here, let me ramble.
 

T5W#544-Top 5 Anime Turning 30 in 2026

While maybe not the same kind of landmark year 1995 was, 1996 was still a stellar year for Anime, especially when it came to Mecha.  We’ve obviously got a lot of brand new and returning titles in 2026 including the continuations and conclusions of Jujutsu Kaisen and Bleach respectively.  Today on Top 5 Wednesday though, we’re warping back a couple of decades to give celebratory shoutouts to the old school titles that remain fondly remembered starting points in the genre for fans such as myself (even if I found some of them much later on Toonami).  These are the Top 5 Anime Turning 30 in 2026.

Samurai Champloo Part 4 Episodes 13-17

The search for the Sunflower Samurai comes to a halt when an unexpected reunion leads Mugen to some unfinished business he thought he’d left behind long ago.  Meanwhile, wanted terrorists seek revenge for a terrible deed and the discovery of gold in a river could lead to our trio losing their heads.  Blood, betrayal, rage, redemption and maybe even a little romance are waiting for Mugen, Jin and Fuu, if a petty argument between them doesn’t threaten to end their journey first.

Samurai Champloo enters its second half this week with two 2-Part adventures and one stand alone sandwiched in between them (hence why today we’re looking at 5 episodes).  The thing about two partners is that there has to be a very good reason for them to be two parts and not just one episode being stretched painfully thin to fill run time.  Samurai Champloo has good and bad examples of this with both of these stories.  Plus the stand alone episode is easily one of the best and most hilarious so it mostly balances things in the good column but let’s break it all down shall we?