C&C - Samurai Champloo - "Stranger Searching" [6/18]

[The Landstander]

Rawr.

[Youko Recca]

Ha, the eating contest. Artimus Gigan's foreshadowing is coming to pass.

[livingfruitvirus]

"To hell with vegetarianism." Well I'll admit it's not a common catchphrase.

[Mugen]

Wait, Fuu is only 15? I thought she was much older than that(like 21).

[Dub]

This was one of the first eps of this show I saw subtitled (something I rarely if ever do, but a friend reccommended and sent it to me) and I fell in love with. The talkback for this is gonna be fun since this episode is just gold. XD

[Tash]

Well, that joke didn't translate well. :shrug:

[Seiken Izumi]

Well, that joke didn't translate well. :shrug:

God, what an awful 2000th post. If I dlete this message, will my post count go back down?Yeah, I suspect alot of jokes won't in this episode..

EDIT: ok joke TOTALLY skipped on that one ("traditional Japanese beauty")...

[Youko Recca]

Yeah, well in return we can laugh at how he said Holland. Not even about his accent. It's how he drew it out like a cough, I laughed.

[Animeforever'04]

omg heys gay!?

[Jack Frenzy]

I knew there was something suspicious about those wooden shoes.

So, he's actually Dutch.

[Seiken Izumi]

NOOOO

Fansub translation: "Hopefully this country will open up its *******"

Am I seeing it...subtitles on [as]?

[Timmay]

Original japanese audio on the dutch speaking.. if you were wondering why when the guy was speaking dutch he sounded nothing like he did before.

[GMB]

Last week, a pretty good episode that showed us "the lighter side" of sex slavery and pornography, and a good time was had by all.

I love these title cards that constantly thumb their nose at historical accuracy. "This is the 400th anniversary of the Tokugawa Shogunate. This story has nothing to do with that."

A "Big Eater" contest? Something tells me no good will come from this. That said, just what is the ingredient Edo's kitchens are known for?

The constant attrition among the contestants was kinda amusing, especially Jin's reaction to Mugen's inability to swallow, as was Fuu's super-metabolism. I felt like it started to drag as it went on, trying to make the Fuu/gajin contest funny, but it didn't really work.

The gaijin guy they showed around Edo wore out his welcome pretty fast as well, but the tour itself was depicted fairly well. The fireworks scene was particularly well done.

The fight after the break picked things up a little but felt too short, as did the very beautifully staged kabuki play. So long as the episode stayed visually interesting or turned up the action, I liked it, but when European Guy took over the episode it ground to a halt and died, especially given his motivation felt pretty weak and the resolution was a little inexplicable. The chase right before the big reveal was pretty interesting, though.

This episode was pretty directionless with a few amazing scenes, all of which seemed pretty incidental and propping up a pretty weak plot, and never seemed to divert from the plot (which I was bored by) for very long. Not really sure what this episode was trying to accomplish, but it sorta succeeded and sorta failed at it, and I ended up being indifferent and neutral about it. Let's call it a C+

[Railith]

A "Big Eater" contest? Something tells me no good will come from this. That said, just what is the ingredient Edo's kitchens are known for?

If memory and Iron Chef serve me correctly I think it's eel.

I liked this episode, sure nothing really happend but it was fun. I kinda wanted a better fight but hey that's what other episodes are for.

[Mr_Millions]

I actually thought that this episode was pretty entertaining. Big Dutch guys...comedy gold.

Not sarcastic, I'm just easy to please.

[Tash]

Yeah, I suspect alot of jokes won't in this episode..

EDIT: ok joke TOTALLY skipped on that one ("traditional Japanese beauty")...If next week is the episode I think it is, it'll be even more Lost in Translation.

Next week is the one with the guy from the Japanese samurai show, right?

[Timmay]

If next week is the episode I think it is, it'll be even more Lost in Translation.

Next week is the one with the guy from the Japanese samurai show, right?
I think i'll post the translators notes on that one..

[Mr. Pedro]

Another solid episode. The interaction between the three leads was top-notch. The eating contest provided more than it's fair share of laughs (coulda sworn Fuu was channeling Roseanne in the scene right after the contest. The big gay Dutchman provided some humorous moments as well. Stuff like the fights and the kabuki were fun to watch.

[Carlos]

I thought this episode was average. The Dutch samurai was an interesting twist, but I thought it could be better. Now we go into the Nagasaki adventures. I must ask though:

Does the crew end up finding the Sunflower Samurai, or do they come up short? I don't mind being spoiled, so if you know, put in a spoiler box.

[Youko Recca]

I sent you a PM.

This episode was funny to me when I saw it intially in sub form, but I still love the eating contest. Good way to start an episode. Was never as fun as Beatbox Bandits, but was good in it's own right.

[Shnay]

I didn't like this episode all that much (am I just in a pissy mood tonight?). Most of it just dragged on , with only a few interesting things here and there. I didn't think the comedy was that funny, there wasn't much action to speak of, and the Dutch guy was largely uninteresting. Just kinda "meh," and lacked a lot of the things I usually like about the show.

[PickHut]

I really liked this episode. It was a nice, light-hearted break from all the "serious" episodes. The eating contest was humorous, along with what they had to do to get their stuff back from the winner.

I give Stranger Searching a A-.

[Duke]

"To hell with vegetarianism" is one of the greatest quotes in the history of quotes, including all of television and speeches.

And I know somebody in real life that has a metabolism similar to Fuu. She has to eat 5-6 times a day because she gets really hungry after about 3 hours or so.

[Gruntling]

"To hell with vegetarianism!" is something worth quoting! A good laugh there. The episode was decent with it's bouncy attidude. The Dutch guy also provided a few funny quips. I wasn't expecting "manly love", but all in all the episode held it's own.

I give Stranger Searching a B.

[Demonic Raven]

The eating contest was great. The rest...not so good. The dutch guy was pretty much an annoyance the whole episode. You can pretty much tell that some stuff got lost in translation.....big time. Things got really weird toward the end with the man loving or...whatever it was. What the hell was that about anyway? The fight was too short too...

Has to be one of the weaker episodes, 7/10.

[Master Moron]

"To hell with vegetarianism" is one of the greatest quotes in the history of quotes, including all of television and speeches.

And I know somebody in real life that has a metabolism similar to Fuu. She has to eat 5-6 times a day because she gets really hungry after about 3 hours or so.

Everyone's metabolism slows after 3 hours. Eating 5-6 times a day should be the norm as it's much healthier for you than eating three big meals a day. After 4 hours your body goes into starvation mode and begins to store calories as fat.

Actually, most people do eat 5-6 times a day or more and don't realize it. The problem is they eat snack foods like donuts and chips throughout the day rather than a healthy meal.

Now, if your friend eats 5 or 6 meals as big as the one Fuu ate in this episode...then your friend probably has a parasite living in her stomach like Carl did on that episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force and she should see a doctor.

[adoptedBatpuppy]

The eating contest was funny, so is the guy from Holland. Why wasn't he welcomed in Japan?

[Jack Frenzy]

Why wasn't he welcomed in Japan?
The Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, afraid of the influence of Catholic missionaries, banned most Europeans from Japan. However, the Dutch were granted permission to stop at a few places for trading purposes, but free movement beyond those areas was forbidden.

[Freedom Fighter]

I also concur that "To hell with vegetarianism" was a great line!

The eating contest was a fun little diversion, and I'm surprised that despite his love for his sword Jin wasn't willing to humiliate himself any further. The 'bucketheads,' as I'll call them, were weird, but considering the hate prevalent on outsiders, it was understandable. Also, the theater performer whom the European guy thought was a girl but was a guy. Love how this show continually states it's not historically accurate, yet it still makes references to it. (Theater performers in any country at that time were limited to all male casts... even in productions that had male and female characters.)

Also found it weird to be back to the 'scratching' scene transitions, like in Ep 1.

8.5 out of 10 for "Stranger Searching."

[Mugen]

I thought this episode was pretty good, nothing special. The tall gay Dutch guy pretending to be Japanese was funny and the beginning with the eating contest(Jin telling Mugen to "swallow dammit!" made me laugh) was a nice diversion. That skull thing Fuu had with her seemed to have surprised the Dutch guy and said the answers would be in Nagasaki. I can't wait for those adventures. Oh, is next week:

the one where the zombies show up? I haven't seen the series prior to AS showing it, but some were telling me how cool it was.

[Youko Recca]

No, next week is the one before Beatbox Bandits. The one you're talking about is way late into the series. After the Mad Pierrot of this show turns up.

[Wolfie~Giri]

I knew there had to be some sort of touching realtionship about people and happiness towards the ending. And now I'm leaning towards Gin instead of Mugen, whoops.

[Duke]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned how much the Dutch guy resembles a certain Govenator...

[Delthayre]

I must confess, and I think I'm showing my stripes here, the highlight of the episode for me was when they spoke Dutch.

It was a curious experience. It sounded very similar to German, but I could make out only a few odd words of it. Of course I can't say how well the voice actors pronounced it.

I've never heard Dutch accented English, but somehow I doubt it would sound suspiciously like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[Fresh V]

This was a fun episode (Oh my god, Fat Fuu!). It must've been hella frustrating when Fuu accidently surrendered. There was some good action at the end, and it was surprising when we found out that the European guy was.. gay.

[Zero Kagayaki]

It was a fun episode in this series

[LordByronius]

BIG GAY DUTCHMAN

I can say with utmost certainty that this episode was the biggest, gayest, dutchmanest episode of anything Adult Swim has ever aired.

[The Collector]

An eating contest? That has to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen in an anime. Perhaps I heard wrong, but I could swear that Dutchman said Boo-yah, that damn phrase is everywhere and I'm really sick of it. More minus points. And another gay guy. Is there anything made anymore that doesn't have a gay person in it? All in all, this was easily the worst episode so far.

[Hakuhatsu]

I'm really groovin' on this series, so I thought this ep was alright. The eating contest and Fat Fuu were nice touches, I chuckled a little.

I will also concour, the "to Hell with vegitarianism!" line was great, although, I thought most, if not all Buddhist monks were vegitarians if I'm not mistaken(Buddhist edicts against butchering animals and eating meat...), which makes the line all that more humorous.


adoptedBatpuppy,

allow me to elaborate a little more about what Jack Frenzy said...

The Tokugawa period (also known as the Edo period) of Japan followed the sengoku, or "warring states" period of Japan, which was a period of civil war that lasted about 150 years or so. When Tokugawa Ieyasu came to power and established the bakufu ("military government") at Edo peace had come to the land.

Around that time, the Franciscan and Jezuit missionaries in Japan (believe it or not, some of the daimyo (the fudal lords of the feifdoms under the Shogun) actually converted to Christianity and had their subjects convert as well, since one of the principle edicts of Christianity is allegiance to one lord and could thus draw parallels to their reigns) started to fight amongst each other and the Shogun, not wanting fighting to start again, kicked the foreigners out, limited a few countries (like the Dutch and Chinese) to trade at Nagasaki, and instituted the death penalty for any foreigner caught in Japan.

Japan remained an isolated country from 1616 to 1853, when Commodore Mathew Perry arrived in Yokosuka with a proclomation to open the country. Debate began, in earnest, to open the country to foreign trade, but no real progress came until 1859 when the first foreigners were allowed in (and limited to a small district in Edo). It really wasn't until after the Boshin Revolution (1867-1868) and restoration of Emperor Meiji to power that regular trade resumed en masse.

(Note, that was the abbreviated version of the story)

... at least, that's what I remember from my Japanese and East Asian History classes in college.

[Duke]

Japan remained an isolated country from 1616 to 1853, when Commodore Mathew Perry arrived in Yokosuka with a proclomation to open the country. Debate began, in earnest, to open the country to foreign trade, but no real progress came until 1859 when the first foreigners were allowed in (and limited to a small district in Edo). It really wasn't until after the Boshin Revolution (1867-1868) and restoration of Emperor Meiji to power that regular trade resumed en masse.And it's all thanks to the Hitokiri Battousai.

[Youko Recca]

Don't you mean....government?

[richiekim]

I wonder if the eating contest is reference to the fact that the Japanese are constantly winning eating competitions around the world (like the Nathan's hot dog eating contest).

[AkirQueen]

NOOOO

Fansub translation: "Hopefully this country will open up its *******"
I liked that line better than "The world won't be so tight-assed" -__-

[ClockStomper]

An episode where no one has to rescue Fuu from near sexual victimization? A+ in my book.

And the gay Dutchman should have come in last week's episode, that effeminate artist would have been his type.

[Ultra8]

A cute, funny, weird, and fun episode.:D
Looks like Fuu's quest to return that skull is gonna put her on the path of danger(well more danger, it's not like being with Gene & Mugen has been a walk in the park). That skull must be big trouble if it spooked the Dutch general.

10/10

[RailRide]

I wonder if the eating contest is reference to the fact that the Japanese are constantly winning eating competitions around the world (like the Nathan's hot dog eating contest).It's been said that skinny folks tend to do better at such contests due to the fact their stomachs can stretch more, not being confined by fat deposits or (speculation) strong abdominal musculature. We're just accustomed to the notion that big people can put down more.

(ymmv and all that)

---PCJ