Samurai Champloo (サムライチャンプルー Samurai Chanpuru) is a seinen anime series consisting of twenty-six episodes. It was broadcast in Japan from May 20, 2004 through March 19, 2005 on the television network, Fuji TV. Samurai Champloo was created and directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, whose previous television show, Cowboy Bebop, earned him renown in the anime and Japanese television communities. The show was produced by the Japanese animation studio, Manglobe, Inc.

The word, champloo, comes from the Okinawan word "chanpuru" (as in goya chanpuru, the Okinawan stir-fry dish containing bitter melon). Chanpuru, alone, simply means "to mix" or "to hash." Therefore, the title, Samurai Champloo, may be translated to "Samurai Remix" or "Samurai Mashup."

The series is a cross-genre work of media, blending the action and samurai genres with elements of non-slapstick comedy. It is also a period piece, taking place during Japan's Edo period. The series is interwoven with revisionist historical facts and anachronistic elements of mise-en-scene, dialogue and soundtrack. The shows most frequent anachronism is its use of elements of hip hop culture, particularly rap and the music it has influenced, break dancing, turntablism, hip hop slang, and graffiti. The show also contains anachronistic elements from the punk subculture and modernism, but less prominently.

Samurai Champloo is largely about the journey of a girl named Fuu -- accompanied by two bodyguards/travelling companions, Mugen and Jin -- across Japan in search of a particular samurai who smells of sunflowers. Fuu meets Mugen in the tea house where she is employed as a waitress. Seeing that Fuu is confronted with a band of ruffian customers, he offers to take care of the unsavory bunch in exchange for food. But, upon agreement, Mugen instigates a wider brawl via his insolence toward his opponents. Just as the fight is escalating, Jin walks into the teahouse unaware of the unfolding situation. Mugen mistakes him for an enemy and sparks a duel between the two. However their battle doesn't last long. One of the ruffians, who was maimed by Mugen, re-enters the establishment and, in a delirious state, sets the wooden restaurant ablaze. Mugen and Jin attempt to continue their battle amid the conflagration but end up passing out from smoke inhalation.

A splash of water revives the duo, at which time they discover that they've been arrested and are to be executed for the arsonous murder of a magistrate's son, who was in the teahouse. However, they manage to escape execution through their quick-wittedness, physical skill and help from Fuu, who detonates two powerful firecrackers at the execution site, diverting the captors' attention.

After the resultant melee and escape from the scene, Fuu recruits Jin and Mugen to her quest for the samurai who smells of sunflowers. Since they are indebted to her for the assistance in escaping execution, they agree to join her and abide by her one condition: they may not settle their duel until after the journey is over.

Their quest takes the three on a generally southward trajectory through the largest Japanese island, Honshu. Travelling along what appears to be the Pacific coast of the isle, they arrive by ferry in the Tokugawa capital, Edo. Exploring the city at the beckoning of a mysterious red-headed stranger named Jouji, they venture through the city's bustling streets, dropping in on the Yoshiwara district and viewing a onnagata-starring kabuki performance.

Ultimately, Jouji is exposed as the pseudononymously concealed gay Dutchman, Isaac Kitching, the governor general in charge of trade for the Dutch East India Company in Japan. Kitching had absconded from his post in search of acceptance as a homosexual in Japanese society. Before Kitching's staff convinces him to return to his post (per the Shogun's decree), Fuu begs him for any clues he might have as to the whereabouts of the samurai who smells of sunflowers. After showing him an item that belonged to the mysterious sunflower samurai -- a tiny skull ornament on a string -- Kitching offers her a lead: go to Nagasaki for more clues.

Following Kitching's advice, the group then begins its trek to Nagasaki, a port city on the island of Kyushu, the third largest and southmost isle among the four Main Islands in the Japanese archipelago. Along the way, the broke and starving trio is forced into a pawn shop to barter goods so they can purchase a meal. The pawn broker isn't much interested in Fuu's tanto or Mugen's katana but, strangely, sees much value in Jin's spectacles. Reluctantly, Mugen and Fuu convince Jin to relinquish the treasured merchandise, and this allows them to feast that afternoon at a local restaurant.

During their meal, they are introduced to a flashy, arrogant but harmless man named Sakonshougen Nagamitsu and his two lackeys, one of whom beatboxes a background tune over which his master delivers high-handed soliloquies. Nagamitsu is looking to "make it big in this world" and isn't embarrassed to tell everyone about his ambitions. As documented in his scroll-written autobiography-in-progress, "The Road to Big," he originally set out to challenge the shogun to a battle, figuring that, if victorious, he would be the greatest man in all of the land. To his regret though, he mistakenly went to Osaka castle, instead of Edo castle, and so the duel never occurred. In Osaka, however, he met Ogura Bunta, who joined the beatboxing youth as one of his flunkies. Ogura told Nagamitsu of a legendary fighter named Mariya Enshirou who was undefeated in 1000 duels. If Nagamitsu could beat Enshirou, his reputation would rise considerably. Unfortunately, though, Nagamitsu was once again the recipient of disappointment, eventually learning that the master fighter was killed by his star pupil. Since that day, Nagamitsu has been searching for this murderous pupil, a man who wears glasses and goes by the name, Jin.

However, when Nagamitsu finally encounters Jin, he doesn't have a chance to challenge him. Instead, Ogura reveals that he was a pupil at Mujuushin, the same kenjutsu dojo in which Jin trained. He declares that he sucked up his pride and followed the braggart wannabe, Nagamitsu, with the hope that he might one day find Jin and exact revenge on behalf of sensei Enshirou. Ogura demands to know why Jin betrayed his master, but Jin, who insists that the situation was more complicated that it seems, does not deny the charge or make excuses. In response to Jin's high-handedness, Ogura charges at him in a jodan-no-kamae posture, sword unsheathed, but Jin easily deflects the attack and knocks him to the ground. Ogura, realizing he is outmatched, demands an honorable death, but Jin refuses to grant it to him. Ogura then points out that many of the disciples are out to kill Jin in Enchirou's name. Jin, however, is not moved by this and suggests that Ogura tell these other students that he is ready should they choose to attack him.

Continuing on their way, the group makes a tumultuous crossing at the Hakone checkpoint, one filled with out of control brushfire, fields of smoldering marijuana, a severed head and hundreds of sohei disguised as tengu in the hills around Mount Fuji. Finally, when on the other side of the checkpoint, they settle in a small town plagued by random street killings by an unknown tsujigiri. Mugen gets into a battle with the tsujigiri, named Shouryuu, who, as it turns out, was a student of the Buddhist monk, Zuikou, who is housing the three in the town's monastery. Zuikou explains that he used to be a samurai himself and trained Shouryuu, who at that time was called Ukon. Ukon killed a fellow student in practice and was expelled from the dojo. Upon his return, he had changed his name to Shouryuu and had mastered a new ryuha that allowed him to attack his opponent with nothing more than his qi. Despite the fearsomeness of Shouryuu's style, Mugen diligently trains himself for the few weeks before their next encounter. When they finally meet again under the subsequent full moon, Mugen out-maneuvers Shouryuu and kills him in a local river.

The three leave that town and travel onwards to another village, where Jin falls smitten for a woman forced into prostitution to pay her husband's debts. Unable to continue with the woman in subjugation, Jin frees her and sets her adrift on a boat down the river for a nearby enkiri dera, a safehouse (usually a temple) for women ending relationships. Since Edo era Japan was patriarchal, a woman was treated as property of her husband and, therefore, did not have the right to divorce and could be forced into prostitution to pay a husband's debt.

After romantically springing the woman from her servitude, the three find some respite at an inn. While Fuu goes for a bath, Jin and Mugen take a peek at her diary. In the diary, they learn that Fuu's mother died; somewhere along the jouney, she had dreams involving her corpse. She also muses on whether she did the right thing teaming up with the two guys. It is exposed that at Zuikou's temple, the warrior monk offered the three spiritual guidance. Jin was given wisdom on the nature of freedom for a samurai beholden to his master; Fuu was told that meeting Jin and Mugen was destiny, by nature; and Mugen was refused advice for his insolence.

Walking through the forrest, Mugen notices the scent of the sea. Sure enough, within moments, they are standing on a bluff overlooking a beach and endless ocean water. Down on the shore, they notice a girl sitting on a beached piece of driftwood. She recognizes Mugen and wears a headband with the same saw-toothed design as Mugen's sword strap. Suddenly, before Mugen can respond, a massive fishing net with weighted edges along with a slew of arrows fly their way. Mugen and Jin dodge the web and slice the arrows; only Fuu is mired in the netting. Raiders jump down from the bluff with the intention of looting their prey, but stop after their apparent leader fires a pistol in the air. He shirt also contains the same saw-toothed design. Mugen and the man, whom they call Mukuro, clearly know each other from the past. Mukuro says that he is shocked to see Mugen alive, having believed him sunk to the bottom of the sea. He further explains that he is not in search of booty but rather for strong men for a pirate job that is to reap in big money. Mugen explains that he has been travelling as a bodyguard for Jin and Fuu, to which Mukuro laughs at the idea of a man who has killed as many as Mugen protecting anyone.

Fuu and the girl, Kohza, who is Mukuro's sister, talk in the meantime. Kohza explains that she, Mukuro and Mugen all grew up together in the Ryukyu islands, a Japanese island chain extending between the southern tip of Kyushu and the northern tip of Taiwan. It was a dangerous childhood, she explains, due to the fact that prisoners were often exiled there from the four Main Islands of Japan.

The trio is also forced to face many elements of their pasts. It is revealed that Jin killed his master, Mariya Enshirou, and in a number of episodes ("The Art of Altercation"; "Lullabies of the Lost") he is pursued by students of his former dojo who wish to exact revenge. Jin is reluctant to kill these pursuers.

In the final three-episode arc, "Evanescent Encounter" (a.k.a. "Circle of Transmigration"), all three must confront their unresolved pasts. Fuu finally meets and confronts the Sunflower Samurai. Jin is challenged by a master swordsman, named Kariya Kagetoki, who is revealed as the primary antagonist of the series, although he has remained behind the scenes until this story arc. It is revealed that Kariya attempted to gain control of Jin's dojo and train its adepts for the purposes of assassination. Mariya Enshirou was ordered to kill Jin because of his opposition to the plan, and in the ensuing fight Jin killed his master in self-defense and was forced to flee the dojo. It also turns out that Kariya had the group tracked so that he could find and kill the Sunflower Samurai, Kasumi Seizou, as punishment for his role in the Shimabara Rebellion. In the course of the story, Mugen is also forced to confront three brothers seeking revenge because Mugen crippled one of them during his days of piracy.

- From Wikipedia