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CompleteMartialArts.com - Samurai Champloo, Vol. 1

Samurai Champloo, Vol. 1
List Price: $9.99
Our Price: $9.99
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: TokyoPop
Average Customer Rating: Average rating of 3.5/5Average rating of 3.5/5Average rating of 3.5/5Average rating of 3.5/5Average rating of 3.5/5

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5952
EAN: 9781591822820
ISBN: 1591822823
Label: TokyoPop
Manufacturer: TokyoPop
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 184
Publication Date: 2005-11-08
Publisher: TokyoPop
Release Date: 2005-11-08
Studio: TokyoPop

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Editorial Reviews:

Based on the hit anime! In a world filled with evil, three strangers meet and suddenly find themselves on the run from the law. A hardworking waitress, an arrogant mercenary, and a mysterious samurai form an uneasy alliance. They are searching for the enigmatic Sunflower Samurai, but along the way they come across a collection of deceptive and insidious characters: ninjas, assassins, and even a prince in disguise. The journey proves to be nothing less than a roller coaster ride of battles, danger, desperation and companionship! Finally, here is a fresh spin on the samurai genre, based on the hit anime that Anime Insider calls, "The spiritual sequel to Cowboy Bebop!"


Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating: Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5
Summary: Okay
Comment: This is a review for the 1st volume of the Samurai Champloo manga. It's starts out quite similar to the anime, but branches off from there.

The stories are okay; they may seem too silly and outrageous. The complaint I have is the art. The art looks like it had been done either lazily or in a hurry. Most of the time the artist didn't care to use a straight edge to draw buildings, giving it a sloppy look.

Also, the anime could incorporate music during the amazing fight scenes. The manga can just have numerous samurai getting their heads lopped off or getting cut in half.

If you're a Champloo fan, you might want to pick it up, but if you don't you're not missing much. I'd stick with the anime.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5
Summary: A valiant attempt
Comment: The first volume was a very enjoyable read, dispite the slight differences in story and characterization. But hey, who wants to read a story that's exactly the same as the anime? Unfortunately the second book has a very rushed and confusing feel to it, explaining why the title was discontinued in Japan. Rather a shame, but it was probably just too much of a good thing.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5Average rating of 1/5
Summary: Dismal
Comment: This manga is everything the Samurai Champloo television series is not: sketchy, cliched, predictable, cheap, poorly written, poorly illustrated, boring pop-pulp trash.
I can't express how utterly terrible this manga is, especially since its based on Shinichiro Watanabe's equisite series.
The cover is nice, and thats about all it has going for it. The artwork within the story is in ridiculously sketchy cartoon anime style, with NONE of the stylishness, depth, or a dynamic motion of the series. Simply put, its bad. Thirteen-year-old-back-of-the-school-book bad.
The writing is even worse, based about a couple of new storylines. Initially I was very pleased to hear that thered be some new stories being added to the travelling trio, but the ones contained in this manga are just pathetic imitations of some of the ideas from the series itself. They contain none of the flair which Watanabe's writing staff brought to the episodes. Its not worth going in to details of plot here, since theres not much to it.
I have not read the first volume of this manga, and now do not care to.
Newcomers will be put off Samurai Champloo, and fans of the series will hate it even more since we know just how much potential was squandered with this crummy book.
Don't waste your time or your money.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5
Summary: Good, But Violent
Comment: The Samurai Champloo manga is ok. All the senseless killing turned me off, however. Mugen is a violent person who devours a hapless frog alive in the first three panels. Then Mugen slaughters a large number of people just because "they are stronger." Is that a reason to kill someone? There is nothing likeable about this guy, until the last few pages of the manga.

Fuu and Jin are more compelling characters. Jin is a handsome, old-fashioned samurai who is very skilled, but seeks a reason to fight. Fuu's quest is a simple but intriguing mystery: she seeks a samurai who smells of sunflowers.

I will keep reading this manga, but the story and characters are average.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5
Summary: WANTED: Glasses, Slacker, and..err...We can't classify him.
Comment: Very exciting! If you are a fan of the Anime series that airs on [Adult Swim], A fan of Edo Japan & Samurais, Or you are into a good book with a unique style of art- You are in for a real treat!

Samurai Champloo Volume 1 is a wonderful grab. Confronted with three characters- Jin [pronounced gene] who is a quiet and reserved samurai, Fuu [Foo] who is a waitress in a tea house thats not the brightest or most resourceful thing on the planet, and Mugen [Moo-gen]a samurai with no certain rythem or rhyme to his fighting techniques who can be called merciless and a womanizer at times-You are thrown into a freestylin', out of wack, crazy society, better known as the Edo Japan era -Just not the one you hear about in books..

The Manga starts out the same as the anime, where Fuu rescues the two samurai from execution in order to get them to help her on her quest for the mysterious Sunflower-Scented Samurai. All though it braches out from the anime and doesn't follow it to a tee -it gives you a quicker ensight into Fuu's background aswell as the same intence action. It also still gives you the same anxious rivalry & want on both Mugen and Jin's part to beat the other in a battle!

So Join this misfit gang on their journey for the Sunflower Samurai as they run into fights, trouble, danger, and...other peculiar incidences along the way. You'll enjoy this Killer sweet and satisifying Champloo spin on Edo Japan and the people in it with your soon to be favorite trio!

-Winry


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