Samurai Champloo
I know everyone discovered this series back when the Earth's crust was still forming, but I just recently finished watching Samurai Champloo from front to finish. It's directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, the mastermind behind my favorite anime series of all time, Cowboy Bebop, so comparisons between the two series are inevitable.
Now, don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed Samurai Champloo, but it just doesn't stack up against Bebop. But then again, what does? I think the non-plot episodes of Champloo were more abundant and felt a lot more like "filler," with a couple of notable exceptions (like the hilarious baseball episode); however, when the series was "on," it was incredibly on-target and as good as anything else I've seen. Also, as Quentin Tarantino taught us with Kill Bill: Volume One, samurai sword fights can be excellently scored with offbeat music selections. Samurai Champloo has some really great fights with very catchy tunes in the background. The ending felt like a tiny bit of a cop-out after an amazing amount of build-up, but that's a relatively easy flaw to forgive. Overall, the series is excellent and I definitely recommend it.
In other anime news, Bleach can't make up its mind whether to be good or not. I really enjoyed the first twenty or so episodes, but then it started unravelling. Then it started getting good again, but the lastest episode (thirty-seven) was complete poo. Stay good, Bleach, stay good!
I should have a couple of Word Dumps coming up next week! Yes, this was a "filler" post. Anyone have any anime recommendations? I've heard a lot of good things about Last Exile. (Speaking of recommendations, thanks to everyone for the abundance of music picks, I've started checking them out!)
Now, don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed Samurai Champloo, but it just doesn't stack up against Bebop. But then again, what does? I think the non-plot episodes of Champloo were more abundant and felt a lot more like "filler," with a couple of notable exceptions (like the hilarious baseball episode); however, when the series was "on," it was incredibly on-target and as good as anything else I've seen. Also, as Quentin Tarantino taught us with Kill Bill: Volume One, samurai sword fights can be excellently scored with offbeat music selections. Samurai Champloo has some really great fights with very catchy tunes in the background. The ending felt like a tiny bit of a cop-out after an amazing amount of build-up, but that's a relatively easy flaw to forgive. Overall, the series is excellent and I definitely recommend it.
In other anime news, Bleach can't make up its mind whether to be good or not. I really enjoyed the first twenty or so episodes, but then it started unravelling. Then it started getting good again, but the lastest episode (thirty-seven) was complete poo. Stay good, Bleach, stay good!
I should have a couple of Word Dumps coming up next week! Yes, this was a "filler" post. Anyone have any anime recommendations? I've heard a lot of good things about Last Exile. (Speaking of recommendations, thanks to everyone for the abundance of music picks, I've started checking them out!)