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While Cowboy Bebop often tops debates about the greatest anime in history, its close relative, Samurai Champloo, warrants similar praise. The legacy of this period masterpiece continues to echo today, particularly in Sony's premier Ghost series.

Expanded References

This latest Ghost of Yotei, the follow-up to the 2020 PlayStation 5 exclusive, enhances its tribute to samurai films with the inclusion of Kurosawa Mode. This setting offers black-and-white visuals, film grain, and old-school sound. New options include the intense director mode, which enhances visual clarity and intensifies blood and mud; and Shinichirō Watanabe Mode, featuring a lo-fi hip-hop score shaped by the filmmaker's guidance.

For those curious about the second one, Watanabe is the mastermind who created the jazz-infused the space opera and the urban-music-inspired Samurai Champloo, among other prominent anime.

Mixing Time Periods

Watanabe’s classic 2004 anime Samurai Champloo combines Edo-period Japan with urban culture and contemporary attitudes. It tells the story of the unlikely trio of the wild swordsman, a untamed and erratic swordsman; the calm ronin, a calm and disciplined masterless samurai; and the brave waitress, a brave young woman who recruits them on her journey to find “the samurai who smells of sunflowers.”

While the audio landscape is ultimately his work, much of the series' music was influenced by Japanese hip-hop producer Nujabes, who died in 2010 at the young age of 36. Nujabes merits his recognition alongside Watanabe when it comes to the music the anime is famous for and references in Ghost of Yotei.

Artistic Blending

Much of what made the series shine on the Adult Swim lineup was its smooth integration of hip-hop and Japanese heritage. That mix has been a mainstay in urban art since Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) in 1993, which itself was inspired by an group of youth maturing on Kung Fu movies featuring Bruce Lee and Sonny Chiba.

For many, the programming block and Samurai Champloo served as an introduction to lo-fi/experimental hip-hop, with musicians like Nujabes, Shing02, and Flying Lotus, the last one of whom went on to create music for the Netflix anime the historical series.

Artistic Narration

Stylized and symbolic, the series' intro sequence introduces the protagonists through representative beasts in the background — Mugen struts like a bird, while Jin moves with the serene, elegant posture of a carp. Although the show's central characters are the star of the series, its secondary characters are where the deep emotion of the anime resides.

There’s thief Shinsuke, who has a lonely story of endurance in episode 7, and another character named Yamane, whose encounters with Mugen affect him so deeply that he ends up in his memoirs years later. In the eleventh episode, “the episode title,” the ronin becomes enamored with a wedded lady trafficked named the female character and aids her flight from a establishment.

A Cohesive Journey

At first glance, the 26-episode series appears to tell a episodic adventure of the characters' quest to encountering the Sunflower Samurai, but as the series progresses, happenings from previous episodes begin to weave together to form a unified story. Every experience our heroes experience along the way has an influence on both the characters and the overall narrative.

Historical Roots

The series also references feudal Japanese events (the same time period as the game), interpreted by Watanabe’s creative revisions. Events like the feudal conflict and places such as the security station (which Yamane guards) are embedded in the story.

In the beginning, traditional painter Hishikawa Moronobu shows up and momentarily focuses on Fuu as his subject. After she turns him down, his work later ends up with the hands of the Dutch artist, who, in Champloo’s fictional history, is motivated to create his famous sunflower paintings.

Enduring Impact

All of these aspects tie directly into Champloo’s music, giving this period drama the kind of unique character that other productions have long sought to achieve. Titles like Afro Samurai (featuring Wu-Tang’s RZA), the hip-hop anime, and Yasuke all attempted 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 concluded, igniting a renewed interest of inspiration much like the anime once did. If you’re diving into Yotei, it’s worth watching Champloo, because without it, there’d be no “Watanabe mode,” no trend of beat-driven series, and no continuing impact of the producer, from which the legacy comes.