Anime · Fuji TV
Samurai Champloo
Death, betrayal, and... hip hop!
Who's in it
Cast
The principal ensemble across the run of the series.
Ayako Kawasumi
Fuu (voice)
26 eps
Kazuya Nakai
Mugen (voice)
26 eps
Ginpei Sato
Jin (voice)
26 eps
Akio Otsuka
Okuru (voice)
26 eps
Eiji Maruyama
Biwa Minstrel (voice)
26 eps
Keiichi Nanba
Denkibou (voice)
26 eps
Kiyoyuki Yanada
Mukuro (voice)
26 eps
Takayuki Sugo
Kagetoki Kariya (voice)
26 eps
Otoya Kawano
Ryujiro Sasaki (voice)
26 eps
Makio Inoue
Enshirou Mariya (voice)
26 eps
Unsho Ishizuka
Manzou 'The Saw' Sakami (voice)
26 eps
Isshin Chiba
Ichiemon Frutachi (voice)
26 eps
Fumihiko Tachiki
Rikiei (voice)
26 eps
Shunsuke Sakuya
Pinwheel Merchant (voice)
26 eps
Sakiko Tamagawa
Sara (voice)
26 eps
Takehito Koyasu
Umanosuke (voice)
26 eps
Mayumi Yamaguchi
Sousuke Kawara (voice)
26 eps
Ichiro Nagai
Yamane (voice)
26 eps
Toshihiko Seki
Yamane (voice)
26 eps
Sayuri
Osuzu (voice)
26 eps
Norio Wakamoto
Uohori Andou (voice)
26 eps
The Nutevio profile
TV DNA
How Samurai Champloo actually feels to watch, measured on the traits our editors track across every series.
Signature profile
Samurai Champloo reads strongest on Bingeability, Spectacle and Humour.
How hard it is to stop after one episode.
Visual ambition — scale, craft and set-piece filmmaking.
How often the series is genuinely funny, by design.
How fully written and psychologically layered the ensemble is.
The scale, internal logic and texture of the world.
How much each hour depends on the one before it.
How much the series is designed to affect you.
How often an episode ends on a hook you can't ignore.
The sustained pressure the series keeps you under.
The story
What it's about
Break-dancing but fierce warrior Mugen has to deal with the cold-blooded and conceited Jin, a samurai who believes he is above all. These sworn enemies are brought together by Fuu for a special task.
Where the series peaks
Best Episodes
The hours that define the show, ranked by audience response and editorial signal.
S01E26
Evanescent Encounter (3)
Old scores are finally settled as Mugen, Jin, and Fuu finally come face to face with the ghosts of their respective pasts.
- Directed by Sayo Yamamoto, Shinichiro Watanabe
- Written by Shinichiro Watanabe
S01E25
Evanescent Encounter (2)
Jin enters a bloody grudge match with the man responsible for the ruin of his rep. Meanwhile, Mugen races to save Fuu from the clutches of a sadistic madman bent on bloodshed.
- Directed by Kei Tsunematsu, Kazuto Nakazawa
- Written by Shinji Obara, Shinichiro Watanabe
S01E21
Elegy of Entrapment (2)
Mugen's has his own deadly run-in with the same blind beauty that sent Jin plummeting towards a gruesome end. Who is this seductive assassin, and why is she targeting the Champloo crew?
- Directed by Akitoshi Yokoyama
- Written by Shinji Obara
S01E01
Tempestuous Temperaments
Fuu is a part-time teahouse worker whose life changes forever when two vagabond warriors, Mugen and Jin, stumble into her place of business and end up in hot water with the local magistrate.
- Directed by Shinichiro Watanabe
- Written by Shinji Obara
S01E11
Gamblers and Gallantry
Jin falls in love with a suicidal beauty whose husband sold her into slavery, and Mugen tries to make his fortune in the cutthroat world of beetle sumo wrestling.
- Directed by Sayo Yamamoto
- Written by Seiko Takagi
S01E14
Misguided Miscreants (2)
Mugen - double-crossed and headed for the bottom of the ocean - flashes back to his life before he died for the first time. Back on land, a pretty young thing convinces Jin to brandish his blades in the name of vengeance.
- Directed by Shukou Murase
Recently aired
Latest Episodes
S01E26
Evanescent Encounter (3)
- Directed by Sayo Yamamoto, Shinichiro Watanabe
- Written by Shinichiro Watanabe
S01E25
Evanescent Encounter (2)
- Directed by Kei Tsunematsu, Kazuto Nakazawa
- Written by Shinji Obara, Shinichiro Watanabe
S01E24
Evanescent Encounter (1)
- Directed by Tsuyoshi Yoshimoto
- Written by Shinji Obara, Shinichiro Watanabe
S01E23
Baseball Blues
- Directed by Mitsutaka Noshitani
- Written by Shinichiro Watanabe
S01E21
Elegy of Entrapment (2)
- Directed by Akitoshi Yokoyama
- Written by Shinji Obara
Behind the series
Created by
Showrunners, creators, executive producers and the writers who set the voice of the series.
Shinichiro Watanabe
Showrunner
- Photo unavailable
Sanae Mitsugi
Executive producer
- Photo unavailable
Shinichiro Kobayashi
Executive producer
Shiro Sasaki
Executive producer
- Photo unavailable
Kazuto Nakazawa
Writer
- Photo unavailable
Shinji Obara
Writer
- Photo unavailable
Seiko Takagi
Writer
Touko Machida
Writer
- Photo unavailable
Ryôta Sugi
Writer
Dai Sato
Writer
Keiko Nobumoto
Writer
The craft
Key Crew
Directing, writing, production, camera, music and editing.
Executive production
- Takashi KouchiyamaProducer
- Sanae MitsugiExecutive Producer
- Takatoshi HamanoProducer
- Tetsuro SatomiProducer
- Shinichiro KobayashiExecutive Producer
- Shiro SasakiExecutive Producer
Writing
- Kazuto NakazawaWriter
- Shinji ObaraWriter
- Seiko TakagiWriter
- Touko MachidaWriter
- Ryôta SugiWriter
- Dai SatoWriter
Direction
- Mitsutaka NoshitaniDirector
- Kei TsunematsuDirector
- Shintaro InokawaDirector
- Hirotaka EndoDirector
- Kazuto NakazawaDirector
- Masato MiyoshiDirector
Cinematography
- Kazuhiro YamadaDirector of Photography
Where to watch
Streaming
Availability verified against regional listings.
- Amazon VideoBuy
- Apple TV StoreBuy
- CrunchyrollStreaming
- Crunchyroll Amazon ChannelStreaming
- Fandango At HomeBuy
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Never stop watching
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