Samurai Champloo

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Television series
German title Samurai Champloo
Original title サ ム ラ イ チ ャ ン プ ル ー Samurai Champloo
Country of production Japan
original language Japanese
year 2004
length 23 minutes
Episodes 26th
genre Action series , adventure , drama , comedy
idea Shin'ichirō Watanabe
production Takashi Kochiyama, Takatoshi Hamano, Tetsuro Satomi
music Fat Jon, Force Of Nature, Nujabes, Tsutchie
First broadcast May 19, 2004 - March 19, 2005 on Fuji TV
German-language
first broadcast		 September 4, 2006 - September 21, 2006 on VOX
synchronization

Samurai Champloo ( Japaneseサ ム ラ イ チ ャ ン プ ル ーsamurai chanpurū ) is a Japanese anime series by the anime production studio Manglobe , which was also implemented as a manga series. It is about the experiences of an unconventional samurai travel group in Japan during the Edo period , but makes no claim to historical accuracy.

Origin of the title

The word “Champloo” ( チ ャ ン プ ル ー , Champurū ) comes from the Ryūkyū language and originally means “to mix”. Today is meant by Champloo generally a particular dish of Okinawa , where various vegetables such. B. the Goya vegetables typical of Okinawa , mixed with tofu or the like.

Champurū bunka ( チ ャ ン プ ル ー 文化 ) means something like a “culture mix”, especially in relation to the Ryūkyū Islands , which have been exposed to a wide variety of cultural currents throughout history.

Samurai Champloo is thus an allusion to the fact that in the series completely opposite elements from hip-hop to ancient Japanese culture are mixed together to form a samurai story . It is also an indication of the origin of one of the main characters: Mugen, who is from Okinawa .

Publications

Anime

Samurai Champloo comprises 26 episodes and was broadcast on the Japanese television channel Fuji TV from May 19, 2004 . Directed by Shin'ichirō Watanabe ( Cowboy Bebop ). All 26 episodes of the German dubbed version were shown for the first time between September 4 and 22, 2006 in a six-part feature film version on VOX. Since the beginnings and ends were mostly cut away when the VOX movie version was made, some gags that are contained in the normal individual episodes of the DVDs were lost. From March 2, 2007, the TV broadcaster VOX again broadcast the 26-part anime series "Samurai Champloo" in German as part of the dctp night club. The anime, which is completely available on DVD from Panini Video, was shown over two nights.

synchronization

The German dialogues were written by Christian Schneider , who also directed the dubbing. The dubbed version was created at G&G Tonstudios .

role Japanese speaker ( seiyū ) German speaker
Mugen Kazuya Nakai David Nathan
Jin Gimpei Sato Markus Pfeiffer
Fuu Ayako Kawasumi Corinna Riegner

Manga

The manga series by the draftsman Masaru Gotsubo was published in Japan in 2004 in individual chapters in the manga magazine Shōnen Ace published by Kadokawa Shoten . These individual chapters have also been summarized in two anthologies.

Both volumes have been published in German by TOKYOPOP since December 2005 .

action

The young girl Fuu works in a tea house and is molested by a customer there. She lets something like that happen to her because she needs the money to go on a journey to the 'samurai who smells of sunflowers'. This samurai is her father who left her and her late mother when she was a small child. For this reason, Fuu wants to take revenge on him.

When this customer tries to use violence, Mugen, an outlaw, happens to come into the restaurant. He only wants to help Fuu (who is in mortal danger) if he gets food for it. Fuu agrees and Mugen begins to fight when Jin, a ronin , appears in the scene. Such a heated argument sparked between the two that in the end the whole teahouse was destroyed. Mugen and Jin are arrested and supposed to be executed, but Fuu saves their lives - but only on the condition that they will fight their fight after the search is over. You accompany them, and they are supposed to act as bodyguards in the search for the 'samurai who smells of sunflowers' . In addition, the three embark on a journey through half of Japan, which they finance with small jobs or competitions.

The three of them experience some adventures on this trip. Fuu is kidnapped or held hostage several times. On the one hand, Mugen and Jin are annoyed by the young woman, but on the other hand, this long journey together welds them together. Regardless of whether they are separated from each other involuntarily or voluntarily, they keep bumping into each other. On their journey they meet numerous wise people through whom they gradually mature.

After Mugen and Jin have kept their promise and accompanied Fuu to the end of their journey, they have to protect her one more time and are badly wounded. They survive after a week of recovery. It is briefly indicated that Mugen and Jin become friends, since Mugen no longer feels the desire to kill Jin and Jin, on the other hand, has noticed that he has always lacked friends in his life.

Nevertheless, Fuu says goodbye at a nearby intersection so that they may see each other again soon, but everyone goes different ways. In the credits you can see everyone going their own way for a while.

main characters

Mugen

Mugen (ム ゲ ン) comes from the Ryūkyū Islands . The most famous of these islands, which for 600 years formed a separate kingdom with close ties to China and Japan, is Okinawa Hontō . In the anime series, it is an island that prisoners are taken to. Mugen was born there. Mugen is rude and selfish so he can cause some problems for those around him. Mugen always has two swords with him, one is a small Tanto knife. His clothes are somewhat similar to hip-hop fashion. He always leaves his black hair uncombed so that it looks slightly like an afro. In combat, his style is unconventional; he performs many unusual movements that are sometimes reminiscent of capoeira and breakdance , the so-called champuru kendo , which makes him a feared opponent. He fights Jin every now and then, but the two form a strong team when necessary. His Japanese sounds pretty rough and by the time the series begins he is illiterate. Mugen worked as a pirate at least once. In episode 18 of the anime series it is mentioned that his name means something like "infinity" ( Japanese無限 ム ゲ ン).

Jin

Jin (ジ ン) is another main character in the series. He and Mugen have vowed to each other that they would kill each other after dueling in the tea house where Fuu previously worked. But as long as they have not kept their promise to Fuu, who saved them from execution, and found the samurai, who smells of sunflowers , they cannot keep this vow. Unlike Mugen, Jin is allowed to carry a daisho with him because he belongs to the samurai class. He wears a traditional indigo blue hakama and keiko-gi with a white diamond collar. (This collar is reminiscent of that of the Takeda clan , which has led to some speculation about the origin of his family.) Although it was very rare in Japan at the time, Jin owns glasses. He is a highly talented fighter who fights in the fighting style of the Mujuushin Kenjutsu school. Many people - mainly those who were trained with him - want to kill him because Jin killed the instructor Mariya Enshirou. (Mujuushin was a real sword fighting dōjō and Mariya Enshirou is known as the third master; he tries to kill Jin in his sleep under pressure from outside and is defeated in the process.) Jin's name comes from the Japanese jin , "benevolence", the third of the seven virtues of Zen Buddhism , see also Bushidō .

Fuu

Fuu (フ ウ) is a 15-year-old girl who comes from a samurai family but has very little money. She has a positive and trusting character and magically attracts difficulties despite her sensible actions. Before their mother died of an illness, they led a difficult life together because the father was not there to support the family. After that, Fuu was dependent on his own money and started a less than successful job as a waitress in a tea house. In the first episode, she saves Mugen and Jin from execution. The two therefore have to help her with her mission: She is looking for the samurai who smells of sunflowers , but she never explains in detail what a sunflower smells like or what the samurai she is looking for looks like. Mugen and Jin are often reminded of the obligation, especially when they are about to fight each other or are already at it. In the course of her journey, she falls a little in love with her two companions and wishes that her journey would never end. Fuu wears a kimono in a matte pink, which is decorated with floral patterns, and has a matching tanto . The flying squirrel Mo-mo (obviously short for Japanese momonga , which translates as "flying squirrel") lives in the pockets of your clothes.

reception

In an article about anime on American television, the New York Times counts Samurai Champloo among the series that can compete with real-life films at prime time. The anime is also a hit in terms of time and station of broadcast. The action takes place in a semi-realistic Japan of the 19th century, drawn like Ukiyo-e by a graffiti artist.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Ending of Samurai Champloo. In: Japan Powered. January 3, 2016, accessed August 16, 2020 (American English).
  2. ^ New York Times article Just Watch Out for the Fox Demon in the Ninja's Body about anime in the USA

Web links