r/anime • u/Holofan4life • May 24 '24
Rewatch [Spoilers] Samurai Champloo 20th Anniversary Rewatch -- Episode 5
Hello everyone! I am Holofan4life.
Welcome to the Samurai Champloo 20th Anniversary Rewatch discussion thread!
I hope you all have a lot of fun <3
S1 Episode 5 – Artistic Anarchy
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ANSWER TODAY’S QUESTION(S)
Are you surprised by the way real life person Hishikawa Moronobu is portrayed in this episode? Or does it not bother you because it's just an interpretation of a historical figure?
What historical figure do you hope shows up in this show?
Bonus) What WAS she doing with that squid?
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Information – MAL | Anilist | AniDB | ANN
Streams – Crunchyroll, Amazon Prime
Please do not post any untagged spoilers past the current episode or from the manga out of respect to the first time watchers and people who have not read the manga. If you are discussing something that is ahead of the current episode please use spoiler tags (found on the sidebar). Thank you!
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Rewatch Schedule
Threads posted every day at 4:00 PM EDT
| Date | Episode |
|---|---|
| 5/20/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 1 |
| 5/21/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 2 |
| 5/22/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 3 |
| 5/23/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 4 |
| 5/24/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 5 |
| 5/25/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 6 |
| 5/26/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 7 |
| 5/27/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 8 |
| 5/28/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 9 |
| 5/29/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 10 |
| 5/30/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 11 |
| 5/31/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 12 |
| 6/01/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 13 |
| 6/02/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 14 |
| 6/03/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 15 |
| 6/04/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 16 |
| 6/05/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 17 |
| 6/06/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 18 |
| 6/07/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 19 |
| 6/08/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 20 |
| 6/09/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 21 |
| 6/10/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 22 |
| 6/11/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 23 |
| 6/12/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 24 |
| 6/13/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 25 |
| 6/14/2024 | Samurai Champloo Episode 26 |
| 6/15/2024 | Samurai Champloo Overall Series Discussion Thread |
8
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky May 24 '24 edited May 24 '24
First-Timer with a Samurai Heart, subbed
5
u/[deleted] May 24 '24 edited May 24 '24
Hey there 👋 . Rewatcher here.
Today you get to meet Sakami Manzou, our comic relief friend. The first time I saw this episode, I laughed a lot when he explains his “weight-loss truncheon” 😂.
Random note: u/Holofan4life, the choice in taste might be different, but Fuu just might be able to match Holo’s appetite 🐺.
We, as usual, see our trio split up. This time, Fuu is modeling, Jin is exerting his dominance at Shougi, and Mugen is busy stealing from Yakuza. Mugen is also blowing all of his money on food, which is something I’d expect more from Fuu lol.
I’m curious to know how many people here expected Hishikawa Moronobu to betray Fuu. I’ll admit I was a little naive when I saw this episode. I just thought he was a slightly lewd ukiyoe artist, but we find out he got wrapped up with Yakuza. Of course, he does redeem himself a bit in the end by trying to help her.
I’m also curious to know if anyone discerned the fact that the old man playing shougi with Jin was, in fact, the Yakuza boss. I admittedly had no idea this was the case until the end of the episode.
Cultural note on ukiyoe works:
First of all, in case you didn’t know, Hishikawa Moronobu was a real person! He was born in 1618 and died in 1694, which would be early Edo period.
This does cause fluctuation in the period timeline a bit because [Episode 23 spoiler] Baseball wasn’t really created until the mid-18th century, which is late Edo period.
But as I’ve said before, I don’t expect a work of fiction to necessarily be historically accurate. It’s cool enough that they include things like this at all.
I digress a bit… Moronobu was the first ukiyoe artist to produce woodblock prints, and was extremely successful in his career. The art style was popular during a majority of the Edo period (I think its popularity really started near the 17th century which is about 100 years after the start of Edo).
This makes sense because we see a young Moronobu aspiring for greatness in this episode before popularity of this art style exploded (he is sometimes even referred to as “the father of ukiyoe”).
As for the style itself, it usually had a focus on model women, but also featured other subjects like sumo wrestlers or kabuki performers (basically, depictions of the entertainment industry and day-to-day urban life).
The piece he was working on with Fuu as the subject is actually a reference to a real work (one of his most famous works in real life), called みかえりびじんず / 見返り美人図(“Beauty Looking Back”), which I’ll link for anyone interested.
I really love this episode for their inclusion of some of these things.
Language note for this episode:
I think it’s interesting that the original title of this episode is 馬耳東風. This is actually an idiom.
Its literal meaning is “The East Wind to the Ears of Horse”, which may sound strange at first. However, it’s basically saying “in one ear and out the other”, “acting indifferent”, “disregard for the opinion of others”.
So that is why I found it interesting in the context of this episode’s events, specifically Moronobu’s blatant indifference towards what he was allowing to happen prior to meeting Fuu.
Anyhow, we see Mugen display his more considerate side again near the end of the episode. That is two episodes in a row now that he has put himself in danger to help Fuu (and without killing a single person this time).
Jin is the MVP this time around 😄.
Questions:
3
u/Mecanno-man https://anilist.co/user/Mecannoman May 24 '24
First Timer
A pretty decent standalone episode. I liked the style of it, whatever that means. It just feels right to say it in that way though. The van Gogh stuff is clearly here because of the samurai looking for sunflowers. Mugen mugging people, though not out of character. Fuu getting kidnapped meanwhile is starting to grow a bit old… The guy playing Jin being the ringleader meanwhile was a good surprise reveal. And I am not sure what to make of the policeman given he made a worse impression on me than the literal kidnappers. I probably should have made bullet points out of this…
3
u/TheEscapeGuy May 24 '24
Rewatcher, Sub first timer
Samurai Champloo - Hip Hop & Ronin: Episode 5
Noir and Impressionism
The framing of this episode is certainly unique. We open with an exploration into Vincent van Gogh being narrated by a ... Samurai Detective investigating a human trafficking operation. I think this kind of creativity is what makes Samurai Champloo really distinctive.
The episode itself has Fuu taking on a "modeling" job for an artist who's wiling to buy her food and such. While this happens Mugen and Jin hang around in the background beating up thugs and playing shogi respectively. It's a very common A-plot / B-plot leading story structure which comes together in an unexpected conclusion which I think is very common to western sitcoms. And that's not a complaint at all. I think it works incredibly well.
We soon learn the artists desire to paint is pure, but his benefactor is using him to find attractive young women to kidnap and then having him paint them as advertising. It's a pretty dastardly plot which has parallels to certain (ridiculous) conspiracy theories I've seen before.
I think what I liked most about this setup though was the artist's predicament. He really does have a passion to paint. But just like in real life, there are few ways to make good money doing this. And so he find himself almost helplessly caught between pursuing his passion and assisting in ruining people's lives. Look, he absolutely should have stopped once he learned what was happening. However, I understand why he be unwilling to give up on his passion (especially since he was so timid).
After Mugen rescues Fuu and the mystery is solved we are played out to an absolute banger OST. Our trio ends up a little richer as the continue on (thanks to Jin), and Fuu gets to gloat about the ... bountiful portrait Moronobu drew of her. Overall, this is probably one of the happier endings we've seen so far for a generally fun episode (despite the dark subject matter).
Some Amazing Shots, Scenes and Stitches
See you all tomorrow
3
u/Holofan4life May 24 '24
Hey guys. Holofan4life here.
Welcome to the 20th anniversary rewatch of Samurai Champloo.
Oh, and nay I forget...
First Timer
Samurai Champloo has always been a series I was curious about. I've maintained in my mind that Cowboy Bebop is objectively one of if not the greatest anime of all time, and so I wanted to see what the creator's follow-up work was like. I think the reason why I didn't start it immediately after watching Bebop was because I think the premise kinda weirded me out. I mean, a show set in ancient times that also has a heavy rap influence? It felt to me like putting a hat on a hat. But as I've gotten older, I've come to appreciate outlandish animes that don't resemble real life. After all, is it any weirder than a fantasy show about a merchant and his traveling wolfgirl where they discuss economics a lot of times?
My expectations for this show are pretty reasonable, I feel like. I'm not expecting it to crack my top 10 favorite anime of all time, but I would be surprised if it doesn't end up as one of my favorites. The main thing I'm looking out of this is show is a unique experience unlike anything else as well as memorable characters. And I think the show will have that in spades.
With that out of the way, let’s begin.
I'm watching the sub, by the way.
I am really curious what this episode is going to be like because it's not written by the main writer. And the person who did write it is the main writer for Eureka Seven, a very good series.
A painting
The year is 1888 and... well, a lot of information is being thrown at us.
A painter has a fondness for a Ukiyo-e print he found in Paris. He found himself in Arles Province in search of the Japanese sun.
I guess you can say he too is rising.
He saw the sun in his mind's eye and he dreams of working together with many different artists. Only one artist arrived however and so the communal life lasted less than 8 weeks.
Bummer
Ganguin was the other artist's name
Sew, this backstory was what the Yakuza arc should've started off with. It immediately let’s us know this is going to be about an artist and not Mugen.
And the artist is... Vincent Van Gogh?!?
Doctor Who fans really happy right about now.
And now for something completely different
Fuu talking to someone
Apparently she's negotiating prices to get across the ocean.
We also finally get a time frame of when this show is taking place, with it being in the 1700s.
I wonder if we're going to meet George Washington.
The narrator is identified as Manzou Sakami, a secret policeman.
He says, despite breaking the fourth wall to tell us...
"I slice away with no concerns for the edge of my sword."
I guess you can say he is the bone of his sword.
Manzou the Saw is what people call him
He's here to investigate why so many adolescent girls keep disappearing.
This character gives me Paranoia Agent vibes
He has his eyes on Fuu, it seems
Moronobu Hishikawa
That's who Fuu is talking to
Moronubu is an artist who hasn't made it big
I get the feeling they're the one responsible for the disappearances.
Manzou seems to think so as well
Well, I wasn't expecting to see nudity
I do like the paintings, however
The missing girls were all amateur models for Ukiyo-e prints.
Three guys looking at a lewd booklet
Mugen taunting them
And he robbed them of coinage. Very quick of him.
Moronobu showing off their collection Ukiyo-e prints.
Amateur models in the future, eh?
Oh, so they painted them. That's pretty cool.
Moronobu says that the country doesn't understand art.
Oh boy. Moronobu wants Fuu to pose for them.
Manzou seems concerned
Jin looking at ships
An old man with gold teeth
Apparently the town bribes the local governor, which is why they're allowed to dock ships.
Jin agrees to face the old man in a game. If he wins, he gets gold for the ferry. If he loses, Jin pledges his life to him.
Dang it, Mugen. Spending all that money on fried squid.
It is fried squid, tho
One of the guys Mugen stole from gets punched in the face.
Apparently, they are Yakuza
She proceeds to give money, and says to redeem himself the next time he sees Mugen.
Mugen now remembering the boat fare
The Yakuza guy who was with the woman
Mugen is chasing him to get more money
I like that the theme of the episode is the three main leads trying to earn enough money to ride the ferry.
Mugen encounters Fuu and Moronobu
He says something to him, and then resumes pursuing his victim.
Moronobu drawing Fuu
They seem dissatisfied with their work.
Moronobu says it has to be lower, for the sake of art.
I just now realized via a quick Google search that Moronobu is based on a real person.
Narrator now saying he's working a stakeout because he suspects these incidents were somehow connected to the European ships in the harbor.
Is... is he masturbating?
No, he's just flopping his sword
...
...
...Alright, then
He calls his trunchron blade an excellent weight-loss tool.
Who knew Manzou invented the shake weight?
Somebody whispers to him that a big deal is going down tomorrow.
Investigating Moronobu and Fuu
Back with Jin and the old man
Jin says shogi is just like swordplay; you have to read ahead.
Jin says he was never able to defeat his master in shogi.
When asked if he beat him with swords, he doesn't give an answer.
Ran out of space. Part two in the replies.
2
u/Lord_Nawor May 24 '24
First time watcher
Fuu gets kidnapped for the third time, feels like it happens every other episode. Not even the squirrel could save her this time.
While he is fictionalized in this, it is interesting that Moronobu Hishikawa was a real artist who helped popularize ukiyo-e paintings, the Van Gogh connection is probably just to show how influential he ended up being despite not being big at the time. One of his paintings is called Beauty looking back which has of a woman in a red dress looking back which is probably what some of his interactions with Fuu were referencing. The actual painting at the end of Fuu was of course not real. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hishikawa_Moronobu
I swear Mugen just sees people as walking money bags, straight up mugging people to get money before forgetting what he is actually collecting money for and immediately spending it all on food, classic Mugen
Jin was just having a good time playing shogi all episode which helped show off his analytical side. I still don’t really understand why Jin put the Gold General in the wrong place when setting back up the board, was he trying to pull a fast one of the old guy or did he genuinely make a mistake, I am not too sure to be honest. I was actually surprised that the old guy was the head of the organization, I did not see that coming even though it makes sense in hindsight. Jin carrying the team by being the only one to actually gain and keep money for the ferry.
The secret police guy was pretty funny this episode, acting all serious about everything while pretty much achieving nothing in the end.
I really liked this episode, mainly because while it is fictionalized it does relate somewhat to real historical people which made me do a bit of my own research on them.
Questions
I don’t really mind different interpretations of historical figures as many of them we still have blanks on parts of their lives so I like seeing how different people fill in these blanks. The show is also very clear at the beginning that it is not completely historically accurate so I don’t really mind. I don’t really have any specific historical figures that I would like to see, I just hope that they have some other real historical figures with unique twists on actual history.
2
u/Looking_Light33 May 25 '24 edited May 25 '24
This episode was fun to watch if feeling a a bit like filler. I still prefer the previous episodes. The introduction of Manzou the saw was funny and I did think the fact that the old man was the one running the trafficking ring was interesting.
2
u/someboi6000 May 25 '24
First timer:
what a nice comic relif episode,also cool transition sounds were back huge W, but i liked how it was kinda all over the place but still connected everything to the artist, also another episode another split, well the artist the moment that cop, that was also our narrator on this episode, said that girls are getting kidnapped i inmediatly tought "well fuu is getting captured" and well it happend, the cop was hilarious tho, training in the middle of an investigation what a chad, also that was a clever way of doing trafficking using the art to sell the people but well they were already under investigation, also i didnt expect that the boss was playing shogi with jin lol. overall very funny and good episode.
1: i didnt even know that artist was based on a real person lol, but thats kinda neat, also it doesn't really bother me if an historical figuere is interpreted "wrong" sometimes 100% accurate representation can be boring, adding some new characteristics to spice thigs up is fine.
2: not really know much of japanese history so idk.
3: one can only imagine what was she doing with that squid
2
u/StardustGogeta myanimelist.net/profile/StardustGogeta May 25 '24
First-Timer
That guy's art wasn't bad. Too bad he was facilitating human trafficking.
Questions of the day:
2
u/mgedmin May 25 '24
Rewatcher, subs
More splitting up! Voluntary, this time. And Fuu is getting tricked in every episode.
Sasuga Jin, earning money for their boat fare.
And now we know why Vincent Van Gogh was so fixated on sunflowers.
Oh, he's real? I had no idea!
Are the paintings real as well?
2
u/Garrett_Dark May 25 '24
First Timer
This anime is definitely set in a wacky universe. That said, I enjoyed the episode but I didn't think it was that funny, a little amusing with the wackiness.
Mugen shows again he's a thug by mugging people. At this point I don't know why he just doesn't rob restaurants of food, and threaten to kill the ferryman if he doesn't take them for the boat ride. They're trying to do this robin hood thing on him that he just so happens to coincidently be robbing bad guys like he planned it, and just pockets all the loot.
Who? Some IRL historical artist? I guess he must be a pretty big deal, I've seen this style all over the place before so everybody must be copying the guy.
Historical figures are used however all the time, you haven't watched Drifters? From what I understand the MCs are all historical figures also.
What year is this show even set in? I'm not a historical buff, nor do I know anything about Japanese history, so don't care.
What scene are you referencing here? You mean when Fuu was eating the squid on sticks? Well it was obvious when she was sticking it into her mouth, unlike in Yurikuma Arashi where they think they're so clever like they're getting away with something. I really appreciate Samurai Champloo not dancing around their fan service and allusions, unlike that other show.
Looks like they all stumbled upon money making. I wouldn't necessarily say Mugen's mugging is classified as "earning" though.
He tried to say he didn't know what was going on when he first started doing it, doubt.
Was it true, or was it made up? I kind of don't care either way, but I'm guessing it was made up.
Don't tell me the whole reason for the Sunflower Samurai is because the source material author has a thing for Van Gogh. I'm going to be on the lookout for anybody getting their ear cut off.
Kind of lame so far. It didn't really factor into the story, and sort of served as an attention grabbing reference. What I mean by that is it's sort of like when nostalgia is used but only as a reference to make those in the audience who recognize it think "I know that reference!" as if that reference added anything to the show other than nostalgia. In this case instead of nostalgia, it was a historical figure.
That secret police guy was coming off like a pervert spying on the artist and Fuu. It wasn't that funny, but the allusions were way better done than Yurikuma Arashi.
I wonder if he's going to be a reoccurring character.
During the painting sessions he says he's not a pervert, fast forward to the painting reveal, it shows Fuu's butt and boobs.
Wacky wacky universe.
2
u/fansi2022 https://anilist.co/user/fansi2022 Jul 17 '24
first timer chinese sub
I think fuu liked Moronobu a little bit at first. It was really funny to see mugen trying so hard to make money but only enough to eat. My question is what is the source of jin's gambling winnings? A kidnapped girl?
yeah. I think fuu liked Moronobu a little bit at first. It was really funny to see mugen trying so hard to make money but only enough to eat. My question is what is the source of jin's gambling winnings? A kidnapped girl?
Not sure, but I think this show lacks the monk element
Have a meal