She's a What Kind of Mental?!

If you're looking for an anime with the oddest set up possible that somehow turns out as a great series full of action and entertainment, then Samurai Champloo is for you. How odd are we talking about compared to all the weird shit I've seen through my years of watching anime? Try mixing the Edo period with hip hop references and styles. No joke, that's literally the set up of the anime. One would think this would be the worst possible thing to be made by the Japanese, but thank God that impression is one hundred percent wrong. Well let's get on with the story.

It all begins in a tea shop where clumsy waitress Fuu is harassed by a band of samurai. She is saved by a mysterious vagabond known as Mugen, yet it escalates into a huge fight between him and a ronin known as Jin in a fight to see who's the better swordsman. Their combat leads to the restaurant catching on fire and burning down, taking the life of the village prefect's son. They are arrested and sentenced to be executed, but with the help of Fuu, both Mugen and Jin manage to escape death. Fuu is also able to get the two to set aside their fighting and accompany her on a journey to find "the samurai who smells of sunflowers".

The whole series is this trio traveling through Japan, meeting interesting people and saving them from the corruption of lords, Christian persecution and foreign prejudice.

A small warning that this is a pretty mature anime. Contains blood, violence, swearing and sexual references. Just in case this isn't your cup of tea then you have been warned.

Despite how weird and silly the hip hop references are placed and displayed, none of it is entirely forced in your face and a lot of the time, it's just funny to watch how awkward some of these situations are made. There's one episode where they're playing baseball against Americans and it truly is hilarious and one of the best episodes of the series.

The culture seen from the Edo period is really interesting and you do get some history as to what Japan was like in that time. And of course, our three main characters are fun and interesting people you want to follow on their travels through Japan (even though I think Fuu is annoying as all hell).

A perfect anime full of adventure, action and comedy for historical junkies.