Samurai Champloo 15

[moonwise]

Nice change of pace from 13 and 14 - definitely some funny antics from Jin and Mugen were in order after the Mugen!Angst. Which is far less pretty than Vash!Angst, but Mugen doesn't have much of a problem with killing people.

Highlight of the ep: Jin tries to catch a fish.

One of the things I'm really liking about this series is that it laughs at itself. Jin isn't Mr. Super-Serious Zen Samurai all the time (like when he catches a fish.) Mugen's a vicious stray dog, but not all the time. Sometimes he's just an idiot, and a womanizing idiot at that. Very, very distracted at the thought of nekkid ladies.

It's also highly amusing to see that Mugen and Jin have reached this gentleman's agreement of "ok, we're going to kill one another, but that means no one else gets to do it instead of me, so I'll save your ass for now. And while we're at it, let's ditch Fuu and go to the brothel."

In the brothel (what is it with this series and brothels anyway?):

Mugen wants teh sexx0r.

Jin wants a backrub.

BWAH.

Oh, and Mugen X Yatsuha OTP.

(Anyone else want in on the fansubs? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?)

Comments

[arafel.livejournal.com]

Ah, that makes a lot of sense - you definitely have seen more samurai movies than I have. Certainly the theme of ronin as champions of the little guy is immortalized in "The Seven Samurai," and I think Mugen owes a good portion of his pedigree to Toshiro Mifune's scalawag samurai role.

It is very much fun that these characters are fleshed out so well, and in a believeable way! It makes our heroes much more engaging when they act like real people do and not only in the cut-and-dried Anime Role that one might expect. The sly little tweak of knowing what the viewer is expecting to see and then playing off that assumption really makes this series stand out from the crowd.

13 and 14 were great for Mugen character-building and for proving that there is a plot, after all. Like tiggymalvern said, it's one thing for Mugen to be an unrepentant bastard, but now you know why.

[fireceremony.livejournal.com]

I haven't thought about it before, but what you're saying about Mifune's role in Seven Samurai and Mugen is true. Mugen portrays the bad ass wandering ronin with poor impulse control. :)

Yeah, Samurai Champloo is a thinking woman's anime, that's for sure. :))

I really liked Mugen's bastardliness from the start. He was chaos to Jin's order, it just worked a lot. I loved Fuu's comments about them being "the same inside" in the flashback ep. I see the same desire for personal freedom in them, despite their differences in temperament and outlook. And wasn't Jin's voice a bit soft when he found Mugen limping on the beach and wondered whether he was dead? :)

[arafel.livejournal.com]

Ooh, you're so right, Jin and Mugen playing the opposite sides of the coin. And then once in a while one reflects the other one's personality, like friends giving in to the moment. Even the stoic samurai can behave like a stray dog despite his training, and the stray dog heels once in a while. It's that desire for personal freedom that makes then ronin.

Oh, Jin's possessive of his companion, if for no other reason that he wants to test his sword against Mugen and doesn't want to be deprived of the privilege.

...you know, that sounded incredibly slashy. :)

[fireceremony.livejournal.com]

LOL!

By ep 14 and 15 they do seem to have developed genuine respect and appreciation for each other. :)