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.
#5-MLB’s Not Ready for Mugen Mugen seems the perfect guy for any kind of sport out
there.
He’s got speed, strength,
agility, and plenty of stamina to space, pick your game, he’s your best player,
even if he doesn’t understand all of the rules.
When it’s his turn to pitch in a secret game lost to history against a
bunch of Baseball loving America Sailors, Mugen’s traditional breakdance style doesn’t
quite get the job done.
So what does he
do?
He plays the game properly…sort
of.
Turns out a baseball launched by
Mugen is essentially a lethal weapon and he send the American pros back to
their ship mostly on stretchers with the amount of bones he breaks in the
process.
#4-That Epic Tea Shop Battle
From the moment Mugen steps into Fuu’s little Tea House,
you know the bad ass has arrived on the scene.
You quickly get to know Mugen in a few short sentences, mostly that he
wont do anything without the promise of money or, more importantly, food.
But once Fuu desperately agrees to Mugen’s
dumpling demands, it’s like revving up the chainsaw.
Mugen is quickly unleashed on the Magistrate’s
bratty son and his entourage, showing off his unique break dance style close
combat and ferocity.
And then Jin show
sup and we get the beginning of their legendary rivalry in an old school
Samurai duel.
This intro (and Champloo’s
first episode altogether) is the stuff of Legends.
#3-Mugen’s Lucky Girl
One of Mugen’s greatest weaknesses is Women and the
promise of wild times in the bedroom.
When he wins a night with the beautiful Yatsuha Imano, Mugen thinks he’s
hit the big time as she’s the whole package in terms of beauty and sex
appeal.
Turns out she’s more than that;
Yatsuha is a freaking Ninja looking to bust an underground counterfeit money
ring.
Having a one track mind, Mugen doesn’t
get it one bit.
What he does get is that
if he helps Yatsuha bring down the ring…well you can figure out the rest.
It’s enough to make Mugen go full one man
army against the poor saps dumb enough to get between him and a good time.
And while Mugen might not get the girl that
night, he might just get her in the future as Yatsuha professes later Mugen is
the man she’s gonna marry.
See?
Persistence (and being a loveable idiot) do payoff sometimes.
#2-Purple Haze
After getting busted trying to sneak past a checkpoint,
Mugen is tasked with bringing a criminals head through a forest filled with
Ninjas to spare his Jin and Fuu’s lives.
Things go sidesways when Mugen is captured by the Ninjas who are
actually Priests looking to start a “revolution” with their “special grass”.
Well we find out exactly what that means when
Mugen sets it all on fire during his escape annnnnd the visuals speak for
themselves as Mugen goes on one helluva trip.
It all culminates in Jin and Fuu finding Mugen chillin out with the
Priests by the fire.
“It’s all good man,
it’s all good”.
Honestly it’s impossible
not to laugh at this one.
#1-The Million Way Drum
This is hands down most dramatic moment on this list and
one of the best in the whole series.
The
entire second part of Misguided Miscreants should be in anyones Top 5 for the
entire flashback sequence alone.
For me
though, it’s the very end of the episode when Mugen settles things with the
past once and for all.
After two
episodes of being double crossed and left for dead, Mugen’s just done.
And I don’t mean in a “everybody’s gonna die”
way, in a “I’m just done with this crap kind of way”.
A the amazing “Million Way Drum” rumbles in
the background, a barely standing Mugen viciously cuts down one guy and then
just walks past the girl who played him like a fiddle for years.
Even her cries for help go unheeded.
Mugen’s got better things to do, freaking
awesome stuff.
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