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While Cowboy Bebop often tops conversations about the top anime ever made, its close relative, the iconic series, warrants equal praise. The influence of this samurai saga continues to echo today, especially in Sony's flagship Ghost series.

A Deeper Homage

This latest the new sequel, the follow-up to the 2020 PlayStation 5 exclusive, deepens its nod to samurai films with the addition of the classic film mode. This option offers black-and-white visuals, textured effects, and vintage audio. Fresh features include Takashi Miike Mode, which focuses the view and intensifies blood and mud; and the anime-inspired mode, featuring a relaxed urban music shaped by the filmmaker's guidance.

For those interested about the latter, Watanabe is the visionary behind the jazz-infused the space opera and the hip-hop-fueled the Edo-era adventure, among other notable anime.

Fusing Past and Present

Watanabe’s 2004 series the groundbreaking series combines Edo-period Japan with urban culture and current perspectives. It follows the unexpected group of the wild swordsman, a reckless and spontaneous fighter; Jin, a calm and disciplined masterless samurai; and the brave waitress, a determined waitress who recruits them on her journey to find “the mysterious sunflower samurai.”

While the soundscape is ultimately his work, much of Champloo’s music was influenced by Japanese hip-hop producer the late artist, who tragically left us in 2010 at the age of 36. Nujabes earns his flowers next to Watanabe when it comes to the music the anime is known for and pays homage to in the new game.

Style Mixing

Much of what made the series stand out on the cable schedule was its smooth integration of urban music and Japanese heritage. That fusion has been a fixture in urban art since the classic album in 1993, which itself stems from an entire generation growing up on action cinema starring the martial arts legend and Sonny Chiba.

For many, the programming block and Samurai Champloo served as an introduction to underground music, with musicians like the beatmaker, Shing02, and Flying Lotus, the latter of whom went on to create music for the Netflix anime the historical series.

Visual Flair

Stylized and symbolic, the series' opening introduces the main characters through symbolic creatures in the visuals — the wild one walks proudly like a chicken, while Jin moves with the calm, graceful demeanor of a carp. Although Champloo’s protagonists are the focus of the series, its secondary characters are where the deep emotion of the anime resides.

There’s pickpocket Shinsuke, who has a tragic tale of endurance in episode 7, and another character named the guard, whose exchanges with the wild swordsman change him profoundly that he ends up in his memoirs years later. In the eleventh episode, “the episode title,” the ronin falls in love with a wedded lady forced into sex work named the female character and helps her escape from a brothel.

An Interwoven Tale

At first glance, the complete show appears to tell a fragmented story of the characters' quest to meeting the elusive figure, but as Samurai Champloo progresses, events from previous episodes begin to merge to form a unified story. Every experience our protagonists experience along the way has an impact on both the characters and the broader story.

Historical Roots

The series also incorporates Edo-period history (the same setting as the game), filtered through Watanabe’s imaginative take. Incidents like the feudal conflict and places such as the Hakone Checkpoint (which Yamane guards) are embedded in the story.

At the start, traditional painter the historical figure appears and temporarily obsesses on Fuu as his muse. After she declines his offer, his work ultimately reaches the hands of Vincent van Gogh, who, in the series' creative version, is motivated to create his famous sunflower paintings.

Continuing Legacy

All of these elements tie directly into the anime's music, giving this period drama the kind of distinct identity that other productions have long attempted to capture. Titles like the urban samurai series (featuring Wu-Tang’s RZA), the hip-hop anime, and the Netflix original all tried to mirror its fusion of music and visuals, but with mixed results.

Ghost of Yotei has the potential to pick up where the classic anime concluded, sparking a new wave of impact much like the anime once did. If you’re diving into the game, it’s worth watching Champloo, because without it, there’d be no “Watanabe mode,” no trend of hip-hop-infused anime, and no lasting legacy of Nujabes, from which the influence comes.