Imagine We Still Had VHS - Samurai Champloo - Volume 1

*Blog post started on September 3, 2020.

I cannot really recall the last time I truly slept in since moving to my new place. Perhaps I just need to use the cushy bed in the bedroom opposed to the firm twin that is in the living room. It is either that or come up with an accident for Skimble. The cuddling is great but my sinuses are not. Maybe some threatening photo(s) like Skimble in my air fryer or stock pot will light a fire under my ex to move out of her the place she shares with her boyfriend who was moved to tears by the Republican National Convention.

I do not know that paranoid guy's last name, which is silly because I worked with his bilingual brother who is living with the "Mexican Super Friends" from my last hospitality job. Why would I want to know his last name? So that I could go and include him on my list of conservative trolls to harass when they go after the best Americans. That kind of heat would further encourage my former better quarter to find a cheap one bedroom to care for fluffy allergy boy.

It is 3:45 pm, and it feels like I am just now waking up. The headache has finally faded. If it is my sinus instead of taking fat soluble vitamins on an empty stomach, the pain is migrating and spread out through my face. This sensation is rather Pink Floydian.

I best be careful with how quickly I finish this blog. If I conclude it today, then I will want to watch something tonight and stay up way too late. Pizza and straight to bed sounds like the best strategy.

If you have kept up on my blogs, thank you. I request that you do not give me too much grief about eating the obvious blood sugar spiking that comes with dough. There is nothing in my fridge otherwise except an egg and Eggo waffles. Yes, chicken drumettes are also in the freezer, but I do not want to get tired of chicken. It is all I have left.

One of my coworkers had just turned 24 today, and as we were documenting something, I thought they were going to sign in the wrong place. It turns out I was wrong which sucks because it would have been great to make an aging joke about the potential mistake.

The oldest employee here (me) made the error and tried to cover up by acknowledging their comedy strategy. In turn, the targeted employee said how they were still waiting on their AARP card. I responded with you are not even halfway there. And then the math in my head occurred, and I realized that I am 80% the way to receiving those discounts for Consumer Cellular.

We could not help but laugh at the concept of retirement. I laughed because retirement is a pipe dream for a blogger. They laughed because they claimed that they were just going to die young. To that I responded with, "You need to put a lot more initiative into that plan." A high SPAM diet is not going to get you there. My body has been abused for years and yet I stand.

I held up on suggesting that it is all about how you slice with the blade. I swear that I did not know it was a long the arm, not across. Do not fear, I am working to a segue here.

My best suicidal tweet/Facebook status update did not end up being a tweet. This was on a flip phone when I would text Twitter to post. Too bad my phonebook was organized in a way that put Mom's number next to Twitter's. The text went something like this:

I wish my cat had opposable thumbs so that she could be my second so I could commit seppuku. She could take off my head after the disembowelment.

Mom was a little freaked out, but seemed to appreciate the drama behind it. When you take in my last ten years or my 2005/2006 into consideration, I wonder if she understood ritual suicide to restore honor. I never knew she watched so much samurai-related programming. Was "Kill Bill" enough for her to get it?

She does not get Quentin Tarantino, that is for sure. His admiration for urban culture in the arts and relating to them via the concept of ACAB is something she will not get behind. The moment he stated that, Mom has refused watch any of his films. The woman just refuses to understand the power of great art. If she did, maybe I could expose her to "Afro Samurai" (She loves Samuel L. Jackson's Capital One ads.) or the far superior "Samurai Champloo".

Samurai Champloo - Episodes 1 - 4

Fuu was a waitress at a tea and dumpling house that had to deal with a dubious clientele which primarily consist of the local magistrate's son and his samurai friends. Once the rogue vagrant Mugen stopped in to coerce some dumplings from her by offering to get rid of the gang, her life goes through a complete upheaval. The restaurant is burnt down by a samurai Mugen mutilated. He is in turn arrested for the murder of the magistrate's kid who did not make it out before the flames consumed the building.

Mugen is not imprisoned alone. Jin, a calm ronin who had just dispatched the magistrate's body guard to protect a man who failed provide the magistrate an acceptable offering for work, was drawn to the racket at the tea house. Hearing that he killed three of the most feared swordsman in Japan, the rogue immediately engages in combat with him. Only when the flames became to intense did their fight end.

With no job or family, Fuu sees the two warriors as a means to fulfill her destiny. She offers to help them escape their death sentences provided they assist her in finding the samurai who smells of sunflowers. They accept, probably because they did not expect her to come through on her end of the agreement.

Our trio and Fuu's flying squirrel Momo are now off to scour Japan in search of Fuu's samurai. Mugen and Jin just want to get this over with so that they may conclude their battle. Since neither is familiar with the scent of sunflowers, this mission will more than likely last a long time.

That is provided their past does not catch up with them first or the urge to go their separate ways does not overtake them. Good luck to Mugen and Jin on the latter. Fate seems to allow Fuu to always bring them back together. Perhaps they are destined to be the family she never had.

ELTaay - Pinterest

"Samurai Champloo" is the ultimate product of cultural appropriation. Being set in 17th century Japan while celebrating hip hop culture, both Western and native audiences get to understand what each society holds dear about the other. This is something that no other anime that I have viewed has captured.

Shinichiro Watanabe had previously directed "Cowboy Bebop" which is the series that I would claim allowed anime to be part of Adult Swim. The setting of that series, an interplanetary future, allows for a blend of all modern cultures and the pasts we hold on dearly to. "Samurai Champloo" incorporating cultures in a setting that would not allow it serves as a greater celebration of two cultures instead of trying to show that we will all end up being the same. It suggest we are already the same. If only we had a way to do that with the culture divide in this country but I digress.

The series knows that it is embarking on an experiment, and wisely is quite self referential to the aesthetic not being what the past was. Like "Bebop's" jazz, the hip hop allows any viewer who is not a fan of the action subgenre to settle in and be comfortable. "Champloo" also has an art style that is totally distinct from "Bebop". It captures a more Western vibe while still incorporating the big eye, small mouth style fans of anime as a whole enjoy.

What "Champloo" offers that makes it more amusing to me than "Bebop" is less of a dependency on the standard 30-minute story arc. "Bebop" seems to jump into that immediately while "Champloo" gets the most out of introducing up to these characters before the situational format of resolving a primary plot is the standard. It will end up doing that, but you will not pick up on that so quickly.

"Samurai Champloo" is a step in the evolution of director Shinichiro Watanabe that furthers my need to watch his most recent Adult Swim offerings. Story wise, it is an improvement upon the legendary "Cowboy Bebop" and you have to appreciate the director changing his character design style. The best thing about the series is that it demonstrates that anime is not just an Eastern product.

It is meant to be appreciated by any animation fan. I hope to find more products like this. "Samurai Champloo" shows that this otaku has a lot of catching up to do. It shows a bright future that being stuck in my ways had deprived me of.