Samurai Girl: Real Bout High School Part 1 Episodes 1-4

In the illustrious halls of Daimon High School, disputes are settled through the K-Fight System: where students can settle their differences in one on one battles.  The greatest champion of the system is Ryoko Mitsurugi, a beautiful Samurai obsessed girl whose skills are second to none.  But Ryoko’s life is about to get more hectic than constant K-Fight challenges when she discovers a pendant that transports her to an alternate reality where Monsters roam and she’s the only one who can stop them. 

So this is an interesting case: this isnt an out of the blue random title for me.  I read the Real Bout High School Manga back in high school and I really loved it…ok the first half more than the second half but maybe I’ll touch on that later.  I knew there was an Anime sequel but never got around to watching it cause it was really hard to find and I hadn’t heard great things about it.  Well I came into possession of the entire series recently and for the month of Romance and Love, we’re gonna spend it with cute high school girls who love to pick fights in school hallways.  Though there might be a little bit more going on alongside that, which could hamper the experience. 
 

T5W#546-Top 5 Mugen Moments in Samurai Champloo

While it might not be quite on the same level of Cowboy Bebop, no one can deny that Samurai Champloo’s greatest weapon is leading man Mugen.  While the overall ensemble of Mugen, Jin and Fuu might not always work in most episodes (mostly on Fuu’s end), Mugen usually gets the biggest stand out moments ranging from action to hilarity to surprisingly heartfelt dramatic bits.  I still stand by my notion that Champloo should have been his show with Jin as a secondary lead getting into adventures while earning each others respect and pseudo friendship along the way…so basically Samurai Champloo without Fuu or the Sunflower Samurai.  On today’s Top 5 Wednesday, it’s the unofficial ancestor of Spike Speigel’s show as I count down the Top 5 Best Mugen Moments from Samurai Champloo.

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.