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While Cowboy Bebop often leads discussions about the top anime of all time, its close relative, Samurai Champloo, warrants equal praise. The impact of this samurai saga remains relevant today, most recently in Sony's flagship Ghost of Tsushima line.

A Deeper Homage

This month's the new sequel, the successor to the original PlayStation 5 game, enriches its nod to samurai films with the inclusion of the classic film mode. This feature offers black-and-white visuals, vintage film look, and vintage audio. Fresh features include the intense director mode, which focuses the view and heightens violence and filth; and the anime-inspired mode, featuring a lo-fi hip-hop score crafted under the anime director’s vision.

For those curious about the Watanabe mode, Watanabe is the creative force behind the jazz-soaked Cowboy Bebop and the hip-hop-driven Samurai Champloo, among other notable anime.

Mixing Time Periods

Watanabe’s 2004 show Samurai Champloo blends historical Japan with hip-hop culture and contemporary attitudes. It tells the story of the unlikely trio of Mugen, a wild and unpredictable warrior; the calm ronin, a stoic and principled ronin; and Fuu, a courageous waitress who recruits them on her mission to find “the mysterious sunflower samurai.”

While the soundscape is primarily his work, much of the series' music was inspired by legendary beatmaker Nujabes, who died in 2010 at the young age of 36. Nujabes earns his recognition next to Watanabe when it comes to the music the anime is renowned for and pays homage to in Ghost of Yotei.

Artistic Blending

Much of what made Samurai Champloo distinguish itself on the Adult Swim lineup was its perfect fusion of hip-hop and Eastern traditions. That fusion has been a mainstay in urban art since Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) in 1993, which itself stems from an whole cohort growing up on Kung Fu movies starring Bruce Lee and Sonny Chiba.

For many, Adult Swim and Samurai Champloo served as an gateway to underground music, with musicians like the beatmaker, Shing02, and the electronic artist, the last one of whom went on to create music for the Netflix anime Yasuke.

Stylized Storytelling

Artistic and meaningful, the series' opening introduces the protagonists through kindred animals in the background — the wild one moves confidently like a rooster, while Jin moves with the serene, elegant posture of a colorful fish. Although Champloo’s protagonists are the highlight of the series, its secondary characters are where the deep emotion of the anime can be found.

There’s thief the young character, who has a heartbreaking background of endurance in one chapter, and another character named the guard, whose interactions with Mugen affect him so deeply that Yamane ends up in his diaries years later. In the eleventh episode, “the episode title,” Jin becomes enamored with a spouse sold into prostitution named the female character and helps her escape from a establishment.

A Unified Narrative

At initial view, the full season appears to tell a episodic adventure of the trio’s journey to finding the mysterious warrior, but as Samurai Champloo develops, incidents from earlier installments begin to merge to form a connected plot. Every experience our heroes experience along the way has an influence on both them and the overall narrative.

Historical Roots

The series also draws from feudal Japanese events (the same setting as the game), interpreted by Watanabe’s imaginative take. Events like the historical uprising and locations such as the security station (which the character guards) are embedded in the story.

Early on, traditional painter Hishikawa Moronobu is featured and temporarily obsesses on the female lead as his subject. After she rejects him, his work later ends up with the hands of the Dutch artist, who, in Champloo’s alternate timeline, is motivated to create his renowned still-life pieces.

Lasting Influence

All of these components tie directly into Champloo’s score, giving this warrior tale the kind of distinct identity that other productions have long tried to achieve. Titles like Afro Samurai (featuring the renowned producer), Tokyo Tribe, and the Netflix original all tried to mirror its blend of style and sound, but with mixed results.

Ghost of Yotei has the chance to pick up where the classic anime ended, triggering a new wave of inspiration much like the anime once did. If you’re playing the game, it’s recommended watching Champloo, because without it, there’d be no “Watanabe mode,” no trend of hip-hop-infused anime, and no enduring influence of Nujabes, from which the influence originates.