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Samurai Champloo 5July 14, 2004Title: Artistic Anarchy Fuu decides to model for an artist.
However, the artist turns out to be working with a group of kidnappers.
Fortunately, Mugen tracks Fuu down . . .
And saves her from her captors. The End * * * RATING: C Without a doubt, Samurai Champloo is one of this season's best titles -- it's chock full of style, polish, and superb voice acting. However, just as Sugar points out, it seems like this series is spiraling down from it's phenomenal start. To be perfectly frank, the strength of Champloo primarily comes from its unconventional fight scenes. Although we've seen plenty of samurai quests for missing people, Champloo distinguishes itself by featuring jaw-dropping action scenes, replete with slow-motion aerial shots and unusual capoeira techniques. However, this particular episode didn't feature any fighting at all -- Fuu was captured, and, as expected, Mugen rescued her later. Increasingly, this series seems to be growing more episodic as time goes on -- instead of following a single thematic thread (i.e. the search for the sunflower samurai), every episode seems to feature the immediate misfortunes of Fuu and her subsequent retrieval by her peers. Much as I like Samurai Champloo, I expect it to focus on Mugen and Jin, who are, after all, the namesake 'samurai' protagonists. Although the current Fuu-centric dynamic is pleasing to some, it's disappointing to see such a promising title deviate from its original roots. * * * disagree? read 19 comments! * * * Related Reviews
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