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Samurai Champloo was a show I struggled to get into initially specifically because of the shows formatting. The main plot revolves around Fuu seeking a "samurai that smells of sunflowers" and due to circumstances she comes to recruit Jin and Mugen (a ronin and a Ryukyuan man) to help her on her journey.

PLOT 8/10: The main story takes a background seat most of the time to the travels that the 3 characters have. Sometimes they're messing around and find a crucial piece of information for their journey, other times it seems like an unrelated bonus episode with some plot thrown in at the last ... minute. It's best to enjoy this show as it is; don't expect it to be totally serious the whole time or light-weight. There are some serious things that go on such as rape, murder, Indigenous genocide/exploitation, misogyny and sexualization of minors. Fuu in particular is treated poorly throughout the show, mocked for just about anything she does or doesn't do.

CHARACTERS 7/10: All three main characters have something to dislike about them in particular, but they also go through some excellent character development. Fuu is a 15 year old girl from beginning to end, and handles the situations the way you would expect. Crying, whining and immaturity should be expected. Mugen is a few years older and is a bit more complicated than he looks. He is a Ryukyuan man from the Okinawa region and is a career criminal, with no qualms about murdering people for profit or personal gain. Throughout the show he goes through various experiences that touch on his heritage and his redeeming stubbornness.

Jin is mostly boring, unfortunately. Both Jin and Mugen are amazing fighters and seeing them in battle is a treat, especially with the background music. Jin is clearly still working through his issues and the consequences of leaving his previous life, but he is generally a clearheaded person who at least thinks before he acts (usually).

MUSIC 10/10: The music is excellent. Hip-hop is a diverse musical genre that is played throughout the show in a variety of ways, and hip hop culture and art are prominent in the show. Mugen's style of combat is based on breakdancing. There are some lovely traditional Okinawan songs.

OVERALL 9/10: While looking past some ugly parts of the show (casual threats of rape, sex trafficking, machismo), this is really enjoyable. Some of the negative attitudes or commentary serve to remind you that NONE OF THESE PEOPLE ARE PERFECT and some of them are even TERRIBLE, especially Mugen who is so out of touch with his feelings that he uses violence and aggression as a response to anything, including affection. Much of this is not redeemed until near the end of the show which can make him almost painful to endure at times. If you've been scrolling past this show thinking it wasn't worth your time, I recommend it for sure if you're a fan of samurai anime and don't want to deal with too complicated a plot. The rewatch value is high as well.

Final mention: The inclusion of indigenous people in Japanese media should be looked at critically and enjoyed with a pinch of salt. Many negative stereotypes of indigenous people, especially Ainu and Ryukyuan, are touched on or even validated in this show. Take a chance with this to learn about the descendants of the Jomon and other indigenous peoples in Japan and your own region.

A lot of judgement of this show is done around character behavior and development; I think this is interesting in the Year of our Lord 2021 with the release of the last Eva movie and I advise anyone who chooses to watch this show to watch the movies as well. The movies completely complement the show in terms of the character development, which is what appears to be the entire purpose of this show.

It's confusing, honestly. No amount of explanation has managed to help the plot of this show really make sense to me, though I've understood the basics. It's depressing and frustrating because it's ... clear that the show is attempting to get across some very intense points about trauma and abuse. Lacking empathy with children experiencing trauma and misuse of power internally and externally. I grew up very frustrated with Shinji but aged and saw him as a person needing a lot of love and care who was confused and potentially dangerous, the point the director attempts to make with the show practically smacks you in the face once you are paying real attention here. Overall I think this is a great show for learning some things about yourself and kids if you're an adult but it's an immature work and definitely the work of someone struggling a lot. The overall quality struggles later on but it's poignant and tries in many ways to hook you.

The character development is good! This is basically an anime for folks who have wanted their favorite romance light novel/webtoons to get an anime and their wish came true. The FL has a pretty good personality and while I'm only 4 episodes in at this point, I can tell the plot won't be boring even if she has men flocking to her constantly lmao.

The music is cute and standard fantasy. It's very slice of life but the MC being the focus rather than her romances is enjoyable. She's older as well which makes her relatable and her romance interests are more mature and likeable.

This is basically "creepy pedo gets a second chance at life". Rudy has times where he recognizes things like the awfulness of infidelity or sexual abuse, but then does things like sniff women's panties, plots to groom young girls, and basically observes from a distance as his perfect harem expands around him conveniently due to his perfect actions. All the men in this are absolutely awful people, which sucks and has no purpose.

Not to say the women in this are also great either. The character development and writing for just about everyone is bizarre in some way but appears as though someone thought it was ... meant to show depth. I'm hoping maybe there's eventually going to be a reason shown for why a child is growing up in a household that allows her to be so violent she can bash you within an inch of your life. Imo, depth and development requires at least explaining character quirks and behavior that is extreme and used for "comedic" value, but I'm sure it won't be and it will be written off as just spoiled rich child behavior.

*SPOILERS in this review unfortunately, couldn't avoid it*
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Forced myself as far as episode 17 on nostalgia alone. The only enjoyable character is Moroha in my opinion, and even then she's not that great.

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Making sessrin canon is just awful. Reddit can't work hard enough to justify it but there's really no excuse. Travel with a kid for 6 months or 1 week is not an excuse to get her pregnant at 14. Jfc. Not to mention there are potholes everywhere and the animation is weak sauce. It's 2020-2021 ffs.

The fact we don't even really get a new OST is irritating since it indicates to me they think they can just bank on making money off old fans watching this and young fans who don't care. There's really no integrity in this.