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.
Let’s start with the big two part episode “Elegy of
Entrapment”.
This is Samurai Champloo’s
4
th two parter and it might be by far the best one.
While I did like Mugen’s two part double
cross reunion with his Ryuku friends, most of the good stuff happened during
the second half.
Elegy more than
rectifies what it means to be a double sized episode after last weeks failure,
“Lullabies of the Lost.”
You’ve got a
great new character, Sara, who somehow endears herself to all three protagonists
and makes you wish she could have been a bigger part of the shows last
stretch.
But as sad as it is that’s not
the case, Sara more than delivers on being the biggest and baddest opponent
Mugen and Jin have taken on yet.
To see
them finally outmatched and in actual trouble is pretty exciting.
As for the tease as to why Sara was sent
after our wandering trio, here’s hoping those seeds don’t go to waste.
Should also mention that a major part of
Elegy’s success is Sara’s music.
Her
voice and Shamisen playing combo are a beautiful melody of sadness that
permeates the entirety of both episode.
In short, Elegy of Entrapment had it all: good character work,
ridiculously good action and a heart tugging finale that sets in play that even
worse things are waiting for Mugen, Jin and Fuu as they close in on the
Sunflower Samurai.
Speaking of whom, yeah is anyone surprised this guy is
Fuu’s Dad?
Yeah they kind of just gloss
over that quick reveal and just carry on without asking a ton of
questions.
Honestly, I don’t get why Fuu
didn’t just come out about this several episodes ago to Mugen and Jin and,
again, it’s a miracle they stick with this girl as she holds out a lot on them
just to keep them around.
Be that as it
may, the episode where this “big reveal” was made might be the weakest of the
four in this set but it’s still a good outing for the show.
If you’ve ever seen FX’s Shogun series (and
if you haven’t go watch it), you’ll know that Feudal Japan and Christianity
have a tricky first few year together.
To see someone exploit bringing this religion to the Japanese for their
own personal gain was an interesting plot and it led to some a very cathartic
climax.
Seriously, the false Priest
deserved a worse fate but I guess getting blown up by your own gun works too.
This set also features an episode
I saw a lot when Samurai Champloo was airing on Adult Swim. War of the Words is another absolute win and
not just because it had more fantastic Mugen humor. It actually managed to fit all three leads in
a satisfying manner that made all of their stories matter to the episode as a
whole. With Mugen being forced to learn
how to read and Jin mediating a dispute between the sons of an old friend,
maybe only Fuu thinking she was the object of everyones affections (again) wasn’t
all that important. Jin’s reasoning as
to the brothers quarrel and why they are more proficient with graffiti art than
swords was well told too, giving the episode a slightly deeper feel despite all
the humor. And, of course, we have said
graffiti tagging antics lending itself to the evolution of fashion in the time
period. If it feels like I’m rambling on
this one, I kind of am. But this really
might be one of my Top 5 favorite episodes of Samurai Champloo and it’s worth
watching without a lot of pretext.
It only took the show a few weeks but as the end closes
in, Samurai Champloo really embraces everything that makes it great and hardly
spends any time dragging its feet, deciding to be both fun and intense at the
same time.
Really though, the reveal of
Fuu’s father being the Sunflower Samurai kind of pales in comparison to the
greatness of the rest of this set.
This
really is Samurai Champloo at its best but hopefully this isnt it’s pique since
we’ve got five more episodes taking us to the journey’s end.
What will Mugen, Jin and Fuu find when they
get to the Samurai who smells of Sunflowers and will the adventure be worth
it?
Find out Next Monday as we check out
the Series Finale of Samurai Champloo right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.
No comments:
Post a Comment