u/Shot_Pineapple5521

For me the appeal of Samurai Champloo is its mixture of grittiness, atmosphere and comedy. The idea of a beatboxing samurai hitting on woman in Japans Edo period sounds fuckin nuts, but the way the creators implemented it, it make you believe It M A Y of actually happened. The threat of death is still there will also having well paced jokes and awesome fight scenes. Compare all of that to the manga and you see why Id think it doesnt compare. Dont get me wrong the art is good, but everything else drags it down.

First things first, the writer LOVES putting tiny pieces of dialogue that add absolutley nothing to the story. It would be fine it wasn't done EVERY PANEL. The Panel I just posted has 3 of them already, just imagine that x 236 pages. The art conveys the emotion enough do we really need to cram in shit like this. To really get my point across heres an example Im making up. A samurai mouth wide open shaking saying "I-I... will take you d-down". and right next to his face theres a 2 inch size text saying "I'm so fucking scared!". WE COULD TELL SCREWW YOU AND YOUR MANY DESCREPTORS!!

Second off, the half assed attempt of "champloo" they do in the manga. The original show ws called samurai champloo is cause of the various things that where chopped up/mixed. From the songs to Mugens fighting style it really represents why it was given the name. Now obviously you cant include music in the manga, and there aren't that many fights to draw so how do they chop it up? Half assed references to modern day events. If they were to use it in a more unique way then it be fine but the use it like their just trying to check a box. Imagine this:

Mugen locked into a fierce battle with a hitman gets knocked back into a tree by one of the hit mans punches. Mugen looks the hitman dead in the eyes and says "Heh, not bad. Your punch is almost as powerful as little mac from punch-out". The panel cuts to the Hitman looking confused and a 2 milliliter small caption says "What the heck is a punch out" and then he gets socked in the face. It reads like a family guy cutaway, its only purpose is to piss me off.

Finally, Id like to make a comparison to the anime to really get my point across. Both material have a story that features ninjas, is a comedy episode while also having a big fight at the end. In the anime the episode covers all 3 of my favorite aspects from the series. The torture methods that other group used, the pedelling of fake gold, and seriously kickass fight scenes brought some real grittiness to the story. Chubby Fuu, Mugen wanting booty, and That jin bit with the prostitute brought comedy into the mix. And add Some Nujabes, Fat Jon, Force of Nature soundtracks into the mix, as well as the night time setting and you got 10/10 SC right there.

Compare that too the manga. Im going offa memory so I mighhht get some details wrong. You got Mugen becoming friends with some sort of lord. The lord is also being protected by a bunch of ninjas, who also wanted to off mugen cause he was trouble. Of course you gotta have the ninja that wants to be "The king of all Ninjas" (deadass almost made me drop the book). The ninjas set up some basic ass traps that fail. Then some of them try jumping mugen then they all die. Dont worry its not tragic or anything, no revenge quest, no real concern, not even a bit showing how grim these ninjas can be since they dont even mourn their own comrades. The two eventually make their way to a bar and get super drunk. The ninjas say "Fuck it" and try jumping mugen but the Lord is so drunk he starts killing his own people. Eventually Mugen kills the Lord on accident, one of the ninjas is revealed to be a girl, and she runsoff with her master- er something like that. I dont remember much of the story but what I do remember is that comedy was mid, felt like it could have taken place ANYWHERE not just in Japan, and 0 atmosphere cause most of the bg's were just white basic tree and wood pictures. Also the lord looked like he was straight out of naruto. Cool design but just waisted. 2/10 SC right there

In the grand scheme of things all im trying to say is, It reads like a shonen manga with Mugen, Jin, and Fuu just shoved into the story. Put this on the front page of V Jump with the main characters Migi, Jigi, and Figi, call it Samurai Chumps, and it would probably be a 7/10. But associating this manga with THE Samurai Champloo Anime was a step too far for me. 8/10 art. 4/10 writing. 0/10 Champloo

theres no way they actually killed off retsu. The yakuza guy took a gernade to the face, jack got his jaw ripped off, and you expect me to believe that this guy can’t tank being cut in half. it may sound ridiculous but your telling me they can revive fucking musashi but not this guy.

is it like a manga or a light novel? are the pictures still in it? SO MANY QUESTION!!!

so I’m rewatching this show after all these years, is there even a chance of my girl ending up with somebody in the show 😭😭😭