..and so we reach the end of another obsession

I watched the seventh volume of Samurai Champloo this weekend, the one with the last episode on it. There is no more (unless they decide to make a movie like they did for Cowboy Bebop. Please? Please?).

In some ways, I think the way Japanese shows run is the perfect story arc. 26 or so episodes. That's short enough to sustain an arc over all eposodes but long enough to allow for some asides (like baseball and zombies) (not together, but wouldn't that be cool?). Most TV shows are only good for a year or two before they start repeating themselves. As much as I loved season one of Lost and am eagerly awaiting the DVD release of season two in July or August, I share Stephen King's hope that they know when to stop. I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but it's a perfect example of what I'm talking about. The show had closure at the end of season 5. Then it had two years of denouement. (For added irony, keep in mind that season 6 is my favorite).

Samurai Champloo left me simultaneously satisfied with the closure yet hungry for more. How cool is that? I found it particularly interesting as I have read some history books about this period in Japan's history (when the shogunate had forbidden Westerners to enter their country - they only traded with the Dutch, and the Dutch were only allowed on a single island in the harbor - and when the persecution of Christians was happening). But I've never read a version told from the Japanese point of view. I particularly liked the symbolism of the sunflowers (think pretty weeds). And yet I couldn't really call their view anti-western; the show is intentionally steeped with hip-hop culture.

But perhaps the true reason I love the show is Jin and Mugen. They remind me of my sons. Aidan is somewhat like Jin (serious and mild-mannered), but Oliver is a Mugen all the way (wild and unrestrained). Mugen has a line: "Well, now that you told me not to, it makes me want to do it!" which is Oliver to a T. It's probably just as well we don't have a daughter. If she were a Fuu I wouldn't be able to leave her unattended for a minute or she'd be abducted and forced to work in a brothel.