History Characters / SamuraiChamploo

%%* BeautyMark

* {{Megane}}: Apparently invoked, as his glasses are just ornamental. Purely stylistic glasses are somewhat anachronistic for this series, [[AnachronismStew but what else is new.]]

* SacrificialLion: He dies ensuring that he hits a pitch that keeps Team Japan in the game, splintering his bat and being impaled on the shrapnel.

* ArentYouGoingToRavishMe: In one episode, Fuu believes she is to be the "prize" in a duel between two brothers battling to succeed their father's dojo (they had both commented on how absolutely cute something was while looking in her direction). When the duel is over, the two brothers approach Fuu as though they're going to glomp her, only to become preoccupied with her flying squirrel. Fuu is pissed.

* ShoutOut: Named after [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Cartwright Alexander Joys Cartwright]], a foudnign member of the New York Knickerbockers, sometimes referred to as the "father of baseball."

* FamousNamedForeigner: Named after [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abner_Doubleday Abner Doubleday]], the man credited with inventing baseball in American legend. Presumably not the exact same guy, since the real Doubleday was an army officer, not a naval officer.

* FamousNamedForeigner: Named after [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abner_Doubleday|Abner Doubleday], the man credited with inventing baseball in American legend. Presumably not the exact same guy, since the real Doubleday was an army officer, not a naval officer.

* RevengeBeforeReason

* NotSoDifferent: With Mugen, both highly trained fighters who don't really enjoy themselves (except in combat) and put a lot of emphasis on martial prowess. Neither experienced love in their lives until they met up with each other ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Fuu]]). Yes, that was intentionally [[HoYay hoyaytastic]].
** Jin's swordfighting technique, "The Sword of No Abiding Mind", teaches precognitive or instinctual method of fighting, with the aim of being unreadable by your opponent. Mugen just plain doesn't think and wings everything he does. These two essentially use the same fighting style, only approached from the different places.

* SatisfiedStreetRat: He's lived a lawless, violent life of crime and anarchy. And he wouldn't have it any other way.

* MixAndMatchWeapon: His katana's crossguard looks like a sai's prongs. In fact he uses it to snap a blade during a fight.

* LonerTurnedFriend: He'd been a ronin, refusing to fall in with anyone, before he met Mugen and Jin.

* SiblingTeam: After burying the hatchet and being scouted by Andou, they work a pair fashion designers.

%%* FriendToAllLivingThings

%%* HeartbrokenBadass

* NiceGirl: While she may get frustrated by her companions antics, she's ultimately a very considerate person who can even sympathize with those who kidnap her.

* ShipTease: In the anime and manga with Mugen which WordOfGod backs up.

* GoOutWithASmile: Gives a wicked grin as he commits suicide via a bomb in his wheelchair, thinking it will kill Mugen too.

* GoOutWithASmile: Dies with a peaceful grin on his face.

* HateSink: He is a horrible person in every way possible with no redeeming qualities and doesn't even have EvilIsCool going for him, unlike most antagonists.

* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Much like [[Anime/CowboyBebop Viscious]] from Watanabe's other famous work, Mukuro has no concrete points of sympathy and anytime it might seem like he does it's just a set up for him to be revealed as even more loathsome than previously thought. He has no loyalty to Mugen or his crew and even his affection for his sister shows him to be abusive and cruel.

* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler:Having grown tired of Kohza's manipulation, Mugen leaves her to survive alone despite her desperate pleas for him to kill her. Note that she has a pathological fear of being left alone.]]

* OhCrap: She gets Mukuro and Shiren killed, but then realizes that they were the only ones who knew the location of their treasure, and with Mugen wanting nothing to do with her, she has now one left.

* OffingTheOffspring Offing: [[spoiler:He was a father figure to Jin but tried to kill him under Kagetoki's orders. Jin manages to survive the attack and slew his master instead.]]

* RedHerringShirt: He turns out to be more important than Nagamitsu.

* SupremeChef: When called upon to run a cart selling fried eels, she reveals a true knack for the art-- from calling customers in, to managing the hustle and bustle, to frying up the tastiest ''unagi'' for miles.

* BlowYouAway: When Mugen try to jump on him during the fight he simply turns around and a gale send Mugen and rubble flying.

* CrypticConversation: Her "prediction" is merely a cryptic, vague warning based on an alternate meaning of the word "tsubo" [[note]] mean "pot/vase", but also refers to dice cups [[/note]]

* KarmaHoudini: She and the members of the sexual-slavery set up receive no jail time or significant punishment for their actions beyond their operation being torn down. Their leader is arrested, but Sawa is left walk away.

* BullyingADragon: Subverted in the beginning (where those guys that hassle her have no idea that they're a mood change away from being bloody puddles on the floor), and played straight in the end where Mugen provokes her ''because'' she is stronger than he is. [[spoiler: Doubles for a TearJerker ending when she dies.]]

* [[spoiler: DeathSeeker: When she realizes that her son is already deceased.]]

* HandicappedBadass: It's interesting to note that her skills and competence do not originate from her disability. Her enhanced senses - derived from her blindness - simply compensate for her loss of sight (and enhance her awareness).

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: After traveling with the trio, she comes to like them. But ultimately, she's forced to carry out her mission [[spoiler: for the sake of her son. But after realizing he's dead, she decides the mission isn't worth it anymore and decides to die by Mugan's hand.]]
* KiManipulation: Taught to her by her master. Her weapon can cut through solid stone like butter, and every slice is accompanied by the telltale bursts of wind that occur when ki is used.
* LadyOfWar: She is a fighter on the level of 'Hand of God' Kariya[[note]]to the point where when she fails, he has to get personally involved[[/note]], and is more deadly—and probably more experienced—than both Mugen and Jin, whom she fights with an eerie elegance that makes it look as if she's toying with them.

* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:She doesn't realise until the end that her child has been dead for a long time, and even then she can't do anything about the fact that she was manipulated]]. Doubles as a TearJerker.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: In the end, it's easy to feel sorry for this big guy, even if he's, technically speaking, a bad guy.

* YankTheDogsChain: After years and years of having his art used for slave trading, he finally gets a chance to travel to Holland and become a famou artist... the Manzo reveals that he was arrested before he could make it to the ship.

* CloudCuckoolander: Though he takes his job seriously, he often overlooks important details in his plans. For instance, he attempts to sneak onto an American ship, disguised as an American sailor... even though he doesn't look Caucasian even in the slightest, doesn't speak English, and of course, the uniform doesn't even fit him.
--> '''Sailor:''': "Who are you!?"
--> '''Manzo:''' "Uhhh, I am... AN AMERICAN. YAN-KEE DOODUL."

* RedBaron: Manzo the Saw [[note]] because he cuts down his opponents even if his sword is chipped and worn out [[/note]] , if only to him...

* AffablyEvil: Inuyama never drops his kindly personality, even when trying to kill Jin. He continually praises Jin's skill and his determination and when all's said and done, he's willing to just drop the affair and go home.

* PragmaticVillainy: Rikiei's defining characteristic is that he's shrewd and businesslike. He tries to discourage violence in the gang as he feels that it will drive away customers and bring the police down on them. His criminal enterprises incorporate a lot of legality into them making them harder to dismantle and while they cheat at dice, Rikiei notes that nobody was forced to gamble themselves into debt. This becomes especially prominent at the end where when he has his rival in a bet: if Rikiei wins he will kill his rivals son and if he loses then his rival will surrender all of his territories but his son will be spared. Even though Rikiei's hold on the town is guaranteed either way he wants to cheat so that his rival will win and things will be settled peacefully.
* SinisterShades: A pair of Ray-bands to add to his smug aura. Notably unlike most examples of the trope they aren't opaque and his eyes are visible at all times.

His real name is Isaac and he represents the famous Dutch East India company, the Governor-General in charge of trade. Isaac was to meet with the shogun but wanted to see Edo instead, his subordinates had been delaying the meeting while looking for him. In an emotional scene, he reveals that he was persecuted in his homeland because of his homosexuality, and upon reading Ihara Saikaku's "Great Mirror of Male Love", hoped to find a more tolerant environment in Japan - only to find that here he's a distrusted foreigner. Fuu asks him if he's seen "The Samurai who smells of Sunflowers" and shows him her trinket. After examining it he warns Fuu to never show it to people and that it's dangerous to be showing it around at all in Japan.

* GratuitousJapanese: He speaks a heavily-fractured Japanese, and struggles to surpress his European mannerisms, such as making the sign of the cross when stating that he speaks the truth.

* LimaSyndrome: Towards Fuu. After holding her hostage, he lets her escape after they sort of bond over their sickly mothers. They even make a promise to not forget about each other. [[spoiler:Becomes a {{Tearjerker}} when Shinsuke is killed only a moment after.]]

* {{Ephebophile}}: Has a crush on Fuu
* DirtyCoward[=/=]LovableCoward: The one time he's faced by a serious opponent he only wins through sheer, unadultered luck and it looked like he was about to surrender.
* MilesGloriosus: Despite all his talking, this bufoon is not the great samurai he think he his.

* BodyHorror: ...and very painfully. Shoryuu's Hakke makes him puke blood out of all his orifices.

* DudeWheresMyRespect: ...but only initially. By the time he gets to fight Mugen, he may or may not have confessed that he doesn't really care about this any longer.

* VillainousBreakdown: Aside from the motivation that gives him his reputation as ''tsugiri'', the reaction he has to Mugen duplicating his Ki blast with only a month of training (which betrays the possibility that it may have taken him much longer to practice with his own ki attacks) might be a flicker of this.

* AutomaticCrossbows: Wields a chinese ''zhu ko nu''. Makes little sense, since he's an Ainu, not a Chinese.

* DullEyesOfUnhappiness[=/=]ThousandYardStare: In his flashback we see his eyes change from normal to this. Mugen compares them to the eyes of someone who has just died.

* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: But Mugen thinks that he does anyway.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: ''He calls himself Johnny.''

* FatBastard: He's morbidly obese and at one point takes Manzo out of commision by ''sitting'' on him.

* ManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:He's the one who ordered Mariya Enshirou to kill Jin.]]

->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/KiyoyukiYanada (JP), Kim Strauss (EN)

* {{Adorkable}}: In sharp contrast to stoic Jin and temperamental Mugen, Fuu's just an awkward, cheery teenager.

* BadassAdorable: Despite her cute looks, this {{Adorkable}} girl managed to continue eating in the Edo eating contest ''without stopping''!

* TheKirk: If Mugen and Jin fighting, then Fuu is usually the one to stop them.

!!Francisco Xavier III
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/JurotaKosugi (JP), Creator/LexLang (EN), César Soto (LA)

A man who claims to be the grandson of the first Francisco de Xavier, an evangelist who introduced Jesus to Japan. He deceives an underground Christian village into producing firearms for him to make money. His crown is shaved in the fashion of a Western monk, and he is highly amblyopic.

!! Bundai
->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/NorioWakamoto (JP), Creator/PaulStPeter (EN)

A man who is very enthusiastic about being literate and forces Mugen to learn how to read.
----
* LargeHam: He is a man of great passion and expression, especially when literacy is involved.
* ManlyTears: When Mugen's extreme literacy training is complete.
* MundaneMadeAwesome: He takes teaching and words to a stage of hot-blooded combat.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: He's pretty much an anime version of [[Film/LeanOnMe Joe Clark.]] Now get to class.

* YourCheatingHeart: Though she loves her husband she's quite smitten with Moronobu.

* TokenEvilTeammate: Though he's far from evil, he ''is'' an asshole with little regard for human life, a hair-trigger temper, absolutely zero impulse control, and enough {{Berserk Button}}s to give [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk the Hulk]] a run for his money.

* UnskilledButStrong: Being a self trained swordsman, Mugen uses eratic movements in fights with opponents instead of actual technique. Majority of the time it works to his favor. When facing opponents like Ukon and Sara, Mugen found himself outclassed and forced to actually use his head. [[spoiler: When facing Kairya, he's ''hopelessly'' outclassed and Jin convinces him to leave the fight.]]

* AnimalMotifs: Is associated with carp (symbol of samurai values) and other sea creatures in the opening. This creeps into the show itself through his interactions with Johnny.

* BloodKnight:
** Although he doesn't go out of his way to start trouble, Jin never backs down from a fight.

* PurelyAestheticGlasses: Anachronistic ones, at that. [[spoiler:He stops wearing them after they break in the final episode.]]

->'''Voiced by:''' Takayuki Sugou (JP), Creator/SteveKramer (EN), César Soto (LA)