Slice And Dice
Samurai Champloo is a tale of three unique characters bonded together (no matter how reluctantly at first) to unravel a bizarre riddle. The main characters are Mugen, Fuu, and Jin. Mugen and Jin are two exemplary fighters, each with their own style and mannerisms. Mugen is a tough, confident fighter who employs a variety of break dance and evasive maneuvers to outwit and cut down his foes. Jin doesn’t have the same verbal confidence as Mugen, but is a deadly force with his blade. Finally, Fuu is a waitress who manages to save the duo from their death during the first episode. In return, she wants their help to solve a riddle that involves finding a samurai who smells like sunflowers. Reluctantly, Jin and Mugen team up, and the three of them go on a variety of strange adventures while trying to discover this samurai.
I haven’t made my way through the entire series to this point, but as someone who generally doesn’t get into anime, Samurai Champloo has got me interested. I’m tempted to hit up eBay for the old PS2 game in fact. Anyway, while I can’t directly compare the video quality of this Blu-ray release to the DVD, I will say that the Blu-ray discs do look good — but they’re aren’t exactly amazing. This shouldn’t be too surprising given the show was created with an SD outlet in mind. In reading on some forums for more hardcore fan opinions on the matter, the general consensus is that the Blu-ray version has just a very slightly better picture, but one that isn’t worth the upgrade. Additionally, in still images, the DVD’s lack of filtering can make for a better image, but the Blu-ray version is uncompressed. For owners of the DVD, it’s not a fun situation to be in, but for anyone who hasn’t made the purchase yet and is considering their options, this Blu-ray release is the better choice.
As far as extra features go, there aren’t many, and they’re really just about useless. The extras are included on the third disc of this three disc set and are:
-“Battlecry” Opening Promo Video
-Promo Video
-Teaser Trailer
-Conceptual CArt
-Bumper Gallery
-Textless Opening Song
-Textless Closing Song
-Trailers
As you can see, no extra feature here really carries any ‘weight.’ You basically get a bunch of promo stuff, or fluff I should say, without any intriguing documentaries or deleted scenes, or anything like that. It’s a missed opportunity for this Blu-ray set that is unfortunate.
To the summary…