Keywords

Champuru

Culture

I’ve been working way too hard lately, so I gave myself a mental mini-vacation by watching the entire two season run of Samurai Champloo (混沌武士, サムライチャンプルー). Samurai Champloo is by Shinichiro Watanabe who made my previous favorite anime TV series, Cowboy Bebop (see here). Wikipedia explains the name:

Its name comes from the Okinawan word chanpurū [チャンプルー](e.g. goya champuru), which means to mix or blend. Thus, the title may be translated as Samurai Remix” or Samurai Mashup”, keeping with the series’ blended theme.

Indeed, the show features seventeenth century rappers and graffiti artists mixing it up with ronin and Christian missionaries.

Watching the show was a bit of a mistake, because I couldn’t get back to work until i’d watched all twenty six episodes! And now I find myself wishing it wasn’t over.

I should also mention that Samurai Champloo is a major source of inspiration for the best new American T.V. animated series, Boondocks. I’m happy to hear that there will be a second season of Boondocks starting next year!

In a similar champuru vein, I recently discovered (via Language Hat) this amazing dinner of classic American comfort food for eight with a nineteenth-century Pacific colonial theme” by Alex Golub (a fellow Savage Mind) and Kate Lingley, entitled Colonialism in the Pacific Rim Themed Dinner for Eight.” Being a fishitarian there are lots of things on the menu I can’t eat, but the writing and descriptions are still great fun!

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