Samurai Champloo

Music Record Katana

Review by: Mimi P

Anime Series Soundtrack

Company: Geneon Entertainment

CD Length: 66 minutes

Rated: PG (mild themes)

EXTERNAL EXAM

Who’s this mysterious samurai “who smells of sunflowers”? Mugen and Jin are obligated to help Fuu find this strange samurai, and find themselves in all sorts of interesting situations. In the end, the ultimate question is whether or not Mugen and Jin will kill each other before they actually do.

What’s this about samurai action and hip-hop music? Are you nuts?! Hey, wait a sec….this actually sounds good!

FINAL EXAM:

“Samurai Champloo” is an anime by the man behind “Cowboy Bebop”, Shinichiro Watanabe. As some of you may know, the “Samurai Champloo” story revolves around three main characters. There is Jin and Mugen, two warriors who are the complete opposite of each other. Jin being the one who holds tradition very highly while Mugen could care less about it. Then there’s Fuu, the simple-minded waitress with a kimino full of secrets.

After Fuu saves Mugen and Jin from being executed one evening, they are obliged to help Fuu find a mysterious samurai “who smells of sunflowers”. That’s pretty much the start of their long and interesting journey.

Soundtrack-wise, the producers were aiming to do what was achieved in “Cowboy Bepop”. Just subtract Yoko Kanno and jazz, and add in Tsutchie, fat jon, and Force of Nature along with hip-hop and you get the idea.

Best track

Battlecry. This is the opening theme to “Samurai Champloo” showing the talents of Nujabes and Shing02. Seeing how the song is about “the way of the samurai”, I can say it fits the series appropriately. Nujabes’ voice reminds me of those underground Asian rappers, and maybe even the music composition is similar to what you might hear from that scene. Okay, the music quality isn’t bad like some underground rap stuff we’ve heard. I do know that fans of “old-school” style rap will enjoy this. It’s a decent opener, but not anything to make you rush out to check it out.

Worst Track

YOU. I’m going to point out a positive to “YOU” before I totally bash it. First off, I really like the musical composition. It is nice and soothing to the ears like the soulful R&B tunes we’re all used to hearing. Even with that, it doesn’t help save this tune from being an absolute disaster. The vocals are awful. Am I allowed to say awful again? Yes, it’s that bad. Kazami could use some work since all I can do is imagine how many other artists would do a better job. I think singers like Crystal Kay or Lisa (former m-flo member) could pull this off.

Perfect for Fans of:

M-flo, Heartsdales, or anyone into Hip-hop or trance in general.

The soundtrack has lots of variety. It’s got slower R&B and hip-hop influenced tracks like “Shiki no Uta” and blazing “Vagrancy”. Then you’ve got the jazz-influenced “Tubed(Drum Please!!!)” instrumental track that sounds like something you would hear running in the background of a shop or even as elevator music. “Sneak Chamber” has a Mediterranean or Caribbean twist, it’s sure to keep your interest from start to finish. Granted some of the tracks would be more effective as interludes rather than full-length pieces, but it doesn’t take away too much from the overall soundtrack. The only big negative that I can give you is in the vocals department. The vocals on a whole are very disappointing. Besides Najabes’s effort on “Battlecry”, the rest of the vocals on the album range from so-so to horrible.

I must say that after a couple of listens, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Samurai Champloo is one of the better anime soundtracks that I’ve come across lately. If you enjoyed watching the anime, the soundtrack would be something you might want to check out.

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