Eight Chapters of Samurai Champloo

[liralen]

Went through two whole disks this morning, and my head is going... gah... *laughs* So MUCH to each of these.

Finished the wandering about in the mountains "Lullabies of the Lost" verses 1 and 2. I love how they always come back together after splitting up and the real concern in Jin seems... obvious to me, now, when Mugen is gone or in trouble or when he can hear Fuu. I loved Mugen, fighting the guy and then going, "That's WRONG" when they shot him and Mugen's the one that goes nuts even as Jin helps out.

The tagging one "War of the Words" was WONDERFUL!! I loved Mugen learning how to read!! Longmont has a tagging wall, and a bunch of the local gang artists have started getting hired to do wall art for a lot of the local businesses, so it's been an odd sort of local success story, so this one was really amusing to me. The whole things was a BLAST... and how Mugen got to top the two brothers was really great. I loved how Jin realized that the boys were out for their own kind of revenge and how they got it.

The church one "Unholy Unton" was... interesting. I loved that Fuu had full faith in the boys coming to get her, no matter what, and that she went into all that just to ask about the sunflower samurai. And that her faith and, well, everyone else's was satisfied in the end. That seemed, holy appropriate. *grins*

Oh, wow, and I'm still processing the Sarah one, "Elegy of Entrapment" the one with the blind musician. I'm in *awe* of that story, that chapter. Of the four of them being HAPPY for a little while, and the lovely little bits of them traveling together and the boys protecting the musician. And the oddly gentle romance between Mugen and Sarah. Of exactly how Jin, of course, is the one to agree to be the tiger in the jaws of the trap. And of how he escapes and what he learns and how he learns it, I loved the fisherman's jokes, brutal and effective. It was really amazing to see Mugen worried about Jin this time around, the reflection of the relationship in Lullabies from his side. Of the fact that Mugen says the ha... holding back, who am I trying to fool? That she was THAT good, and the fight sequence in the rain was just so awesome I want to just jump up and down and squeal and dance around. And then my body just stopped cold when I saw that She Had Mugen, she had the drop on him, had the hit and when I saw her reversal the first time at full speed I nearly died; and then they played it back in slow-motion and I had to just sit down. Oh my god, good. That was just... so good...

Damnit I want to get back into Kendo, so badly it hurts. I need to talk with the dojo again and see where they are...

"Cosmic Collisions" was kind of ho hum. The comparison to "Elegy" did not help it at all. But... Zombies. Gotta be good for something.

"Baseball Blues" started that way for me. Ho hum... stupid Americans... and the early part of the inning was fun as the characters were in character for their at-bat. But when the American team started cheating. THAT was when *I* perked up and went oh HO! And I cheered like a madwoman at Jin... *laughs* The overhand shot, the running of the bases, and his shame at the end. *falls over giggling* And, of course, Mugen is ALWAYS the Last Man Standing. Always.

Comments

[marith.livejournal.com]

*beams* Samurai Champloo is just so damn awesome. What impresses me the most about it is the tonal shifts - it goes from meticulously rendered history to anachronistic wacky, from bizarre to elegant, as well as funny to sad, in these wild swings that are really perfectly controlled. I got the sense that the director, like a kung fu drunken master, knows exactly what he's doing and is telling the story he wants to tell at every point.

The episode with the blind musician was perfect too, but so sad. :(

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Oh, it only *looks* like Mugen takes "wild" swings... *laughs*

Just like the director/writer of this things. The swings are exact, for all that they bound about in all directions.

There's a *LOT* I can learn about storytelling from this series, and I'm now saving up my pennies so that the next time RightStuf has these puppies on sale I'm getting them so fast my head'll spin. I NEED THESE AS MINE.

[xshelaghx.livejournal.com]

OMG I loved it! I managed to watch the entire series in 3 days. <_< The baseball ep had me rolling my eyes but I couldn't help sketching it anyway. hmm maybe time to watch again...at a slower pace. :D

[liralen.livejournal.com]

It's certainly worth savoring. *smiles*

[ross-teneyck.livejournal.com]

Did you ever get a chance to check out Escaflowne?

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Not yet. Too much to do, and when I'm in output mode it's hard to be in input mode, but now that I am, I may well get started on that, too, when I'm done with this one. As the SamCham series is only two more disks, so it's short.

(hugs) I'll definitely post when I get there. *smiles* I suspect it'll be well worth the doing.

[r0ck3tsci3ntist.livejournal.com]

LOL wait until you finish Evanecent Encounter! If you're anything like me, you'll weep. Like I keep saying, what is really amazing was that this series wasn't popular. I think people just didn't know what to make of it.

Elegy is such a beautiful arc and in Lullabies the characters sort of become clearer, although Jin remains an enigma until the very end when we find out just what happened at the dojo and we realize that he's actually suffering from a sort of PTS syndrome. Also, being the perfect samurai doesn't help.

Mugen is such a wonderful character. He just keeps you smiling, even when you don't want to be. And Fuu is the pivot for the whole series and the guys typically ignore her. And I just love Jin, I love the ones you can't figure out.

It's such an artistic show on every level. Can't wait to hear your thoughts about the ending.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

In Lullabies Jin confronting the younger man and jumping off the cliff instead of doing the mutual kill was... enlightening. And when he really did kill the guy, that was... amazing, too, in its own way. The moment when the younger one's forehead rests on Jin's shoulder made my heart ache. Poor Jin.

I need to figure out Fuu's symbol. Or maybe just pull one of the flowers from her kimono... Mugen made me grin like a madman when he tagged all their clothing with their names. *laughs and laughs*

Yeah... Elegy just... god. I watched both episodes three times just to... wow.

[r0ck3tsci3ntist.livejournal.com]

Thinking about it, Elegy is probably the most all around well executed arc. Although, damn, there are some gorgeous moments in all of them with EE pretty much taking the cake. But all things considered, from an artistic standpoint Elegy was the best story. You just loved every character. And Sarah, for the very first time finds that there are people like her in the world but she must kill them in order to complete her mission and protect her son, only to find that she was betrayed in the end.

And Mugen, the thing about him is that you never feel sorry for him, not because you don't like him, but because you know he would hate you for it. He never feels sorry for himself either. He just takes what life hands him and deals with it because he's never had any other choice. The root of his strength is that he doesn't waste any time bemoaning anything, he just does what he wants or has to do. And he does have a certain amount of compassion in his "what's in it for me?" kind of way.

Jin too, he seems so cold and in many ways he is. At the same time he won't stand for injustice. He's a believer in karma so he doesn't stand in the way of what he sees must be, like the inevitability of killing his old friend/lover? who is determined to punish him for abandoning him. In the first fan sub I saw of that scene it said, "I just wanted to be with you." And I tend to think that was the most accurate to the tack the story was taking, what with Yukimaru going on about Jin running away and betraying him and whatnot. We also discover in Elegy that Jin might indeed have some feelings for Fuu, since he is the one who seeks her out (he's always the one who seeks her out).

Also I just love Fuu's prophetic dreams. She's the one who knows what's going on in all cases but because she a woman the guys ignore her intuition. But she always ends up being right or at least the one who's actions put everything into motion.

Anyway, you can tell I loved the show. There's also some fantastic fanfic for it out there. ;)

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I love every character.

Interesting thing is that I don't find Jin at all cold. He's contained, but he's anything but cold for me. But maybe it's because I have a lot of people in RL tell me I come across as aloof, cold, and intimidating. Heh.

Yeah, Jin has that resignation, that near appreciation for the bitter things in life and is able to let go. OOooo... that line would have had even more impact for me, when I first read the sub with the *way* it was said, I thought that what that fansub said was what the Yukimaru meant, but on the reread I was like, huh. That... doesn't fit the rest.

Interesting.

I love Mugen for how he just does what's in front of him and even the things other people would rather he just didn't notice. The little argument he and Jin had about stepping on the Christian icon kind of wrapped it all up in a bow for me.

I do love how Fuu is the center of it all, she's very, very much the epitome of the Tao to me. *laughs* The lowly water that no one notices in the ditches, but which is the source of all life. Her actions and impulses drive everything at a level that's not thought. I love that.