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While the classic series often dominates conversations about the best anime ever made, its artistic counterpart, the iconic series, warrants equal acclaim. The impact of this period masterpiece continues to echo today, particularly in Sony's major Ghost of Tsushima franchise.

Expanded References

This month's Ghost of Yotei, the follow-up to the original PlayStation 5 game, enriches its nod to samurai cinema with the inclusion of the classic film mode. This option offers grayscale imagery, textured effects, and vintage audio. Fresh features include the intense director mode, which enhances visual clarity and intensifies blood and mud; and Shinichirō Watanabe Mode, featuring a lo-fi hip-hop score shaped by the filmmaker's guidance.

For those intrigued about the latter, Watanabe is the creative force responsible for the jazz-infused Cowboy Bebop and the hip-hop-fueled the Edo-era adventure, among other notable anime.

Fusing Past and Present

Watanabe’s classic 2004 anime Samurai Champloo combines feudal Japan with hip-hop culture and contemporary attitudes. It chronicles the unlikely trio of the wild swordsman, a reckless and spontaneous fighter; the calm ronin, a reserved and formal masterless samurai; and the brave waitress, a determined waitress who recruits them on her quest to find “the mysterious sunflower samurai.”

While the musical backdrop is fundamentally his design, much of the series' music was inspired by Japanese hip-hop producer the late artist, who died in 2010 at the young age of 36. Nujabes earns his tribute next to Watanabe when it comes to the sound the anime is famous for and pays homage to in the new game.

Cultural Fusion

Much of what made the series stand out on the cable schedule was its smooth integration of urban music and Asian culture. That fusion has been a staple in the music scene since the classic album in 1993, which itself was inspired by an group of youth maturing on martial arts films with Bruce Lee and the iconic actor.

For many, Adult Swim and the anime served as an introduction to underground music, with producers like Nujabes, Shing02, and the electronic artist, the latter of whom went on to compose for the Netflix anime Yasuke.

Stylized Storytelling

Stylized and symbolic, Champloo’s intro sequence introduces the main characters through kindred animals in the background — the wild one struts like a chicken, while Jin moves with the composed, fluid style of a colorful fish. Although the show's protagonists are the focus of the series, its secondary characters are where the real soul of the anime lies.

There’s pickpocket the young character, who has a heartbreaking background of endurance in one chapter, and another character named the guard, whose encounters with the wild swordsman change him profoundly that he ends up in his writings years later. In the eleventh episode, “Gamblers and Gallantry,” the ronin develops feelings with a spouse forced into sex work named the female character and helps her escape from a red-light district.

A Unified Narrative

At first glance, the full season appears to tell a fragmented story of the trio’s journey to meeting the Sunflower Samurai, but as Samurai Champloo progresses, events from earlier installments begin to weave together to form a unified story. Every encounter our heroes undergo along the way has an impact on both them and the main plot.

Era References

The series also references historical happenings (the same era as Yotei), seen through Watanabe’s creative revisions. Incidents like the historical uprising and settings such as the security station (which Yamane guards) are embedded in the story.

Early on, woodblock printer Hishikawa Moronobu appears and briefly fixates on Fuu as his muse. After she declines his offer, his work later ends up with the hands of the Dutch artist, who, in the series' alternate timeline, is influenced to create his iconic floral artworks.

Enduring Impact

All of these aspects tie directly into the anime's music, giving this samurai story the kind of singular style that other works have long sought to achieve. Shows like the urban samurai series (featuring the renowned producer), the hip-hop anime, and Yasuke all attempted to mirror its mix of aesthetics and audio, but with diminishing returns.

Ghost of Yotei has the potential to continue from where the classic anime left off, igniting a new wave of influence much like the anime once did. If you’re playing the game, it’s valuable watching Champloo, because without it, there’d be no “Watanabe mode,” no trend of hip-hop-infused anime, and no continuing impact of the producer, from which the influence stems.