Samurai Champloo/ Shinichiro Watanabe music

I've surmised based on what I've seen of the two animé series that Shinichiro Watanabe's directed that the man's taste in music is pretty damn good. Two questions for anyone familiar with his work:

1. Which episode(s) in the series feature this song? I can't stop listening to it I love it so much. 2. Do most of Shinichiro Watanabe's works feature similar musical themes to Cowboy Bebob and Samurai Champloo?

I remember that song being in episode 5 & 18. As for question 2, I don't remember many works with him being the director for project, other than Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo. He just worked as a supervisor for most of his projects.

edited 13th Dec '10 7:58:10 PM by Thenamelesssamurai

The girl who was the music director (head hancho) of bebop also did the music for Darker Than Black.

It has very similar, and very awesome music.

This song is heavenly.

Mystline and Same ol' thing are my other two favorites. Mystline plays when Mugen fights that one guy in the 5th or 6th episode to "preserve his honor". It ends with the guy looking down, accepting death.

The other plays right when Jin faces down Kamiya the last time.

Anime directed by Shiniciro Watanabe generally tends to have the only anime opening/ending songs I care to listen to.

I feel like you must have some really narrow taste then.

He was always in charge of the musical direction for Michiko To Hatchin which is one of my favorite openings.

Of course credit should always be given to the track producers themselves, as Nujabes/Force of Nature/etc really brought this show to life with their music.

edited 21st Jan '15 7:19:40 PM by Vertigo_High

No, it's that most anime OPs/EDs these days are just generic, bland J-Pop songs that you could put over almost any OP/ED and it'd still fit. Shows like Future Diary, The World God Only Knows, Penguindrum, and of course, Watanabe's works are the exception rather than the rule.

Everyone really needs to get familiar with a man called Nujabes. Other Wiki. Feel free to start with either Metaphorical Music or Modal Soul, both are far beyond excellent.

He's the only artist thus far upon whose death I felt a genuine, surprisingly deep sense of loss.

edited 22nd Jan '15 10:38:24 AM by GabrieltheThird

You're saying these days so I thought you just meant in general. Idk even the J-pop stuff is nice when it sort of vibes with the visuals. I feel like it's the combination that gives you the effect.

I don't go out of my way to listen to Nujabes, but what I've heard of his stuff is nice.

Check out Kids On The Slope. It has a jazz sensibility like Bebop, but it's a slice of life, not an action anime. It features really great jazz.

edited 3rd Feb '15 4:45:36 AM by editerguy

The symbol on Jin's kimono, the four diamonds, isn't that the Takeda clan's symbol?

There's a scene in Episode 24, where the gang is eating raw meat, placing it in boiling water and letting it cook first mind.

It's called shabu-shabu.

And I finally found a video of it being prepared. God I want to try this.

Annual reminder that Samurai Champloo has an almost magical quality to it, and that certain episodes were oozing with thematic complexity.

"Lullabies of the Lost" is probably the most haunting episode of the series - ^note it's kind of depressing. Very depressing actually. The only guys who show up are a bunch of musty old guys. I hate to say this but it's kind of heavy-handed. Children shouldn't watch it. Ladies should avoid it to. And on top of that it's better if you young guys don't tune in either in which Mugen and Jin simultaneously encounter memories of their past. It ends with a Disney Villain Death and a main character's uncertainty that the death actually stuck. Mugen asks Fuu a pointed question about her goal, the goal defining the show's entire plot at this point, and gets an answer that darkens her character who up until this point has been a selfish, but mostly good-natured person.

Then you hear a breath-taking song about love and comfort.

Edited by Soble on Sep 28th 2018 at 5:27:32 AM

The first cover of Shiki no Uta that I've actually liked:

Afro Samurai fighting Mugen from Samurai Champloo. Yes.