Samurai Champloo

Anime is one of the most non feminist categories of media, due to the way they portray women. Women are usually barely covered and are the characters who complain the most. Usually Anime fuels the idea that women are only a sex object and are for the most part useless. How ever in the show Samurai Champloo it is quite the contrary. One of the three main characters is a women named Foo. She is one of the strongest characters in the show due to how strongly she sticks to her morals. She is also represented factually to the time in which the show is set, the Edo period. She is always dressed in a full Kimono and is always represented as being very polite and kind. The two other Characters in the show are two men named Moogin and Gen. They are represented very uniquely due to the fact that men are rarely looked down upon in anime. This show is a cocktail of feminism and non feminism due to the multiple feminist and non feminist qualities of the show.

In Samurai Champloo women in the show are not only reserved and proper they are the characters who think things through all they way through, and make most of the large decisions. In the show Foo, Moogin, and Gen are on a adventure to find the Samurai who smells of sunflowers. through out their journey they are faced with alot of complications that slow them down, such as the Yakuza and mercenaries. An example of a strong women who is respected by everyone in the show is the character Sarah we meet her at first being a traveling musician but over time realize that she is a hired mercenary. She is greatly skilled and is able to beat both Moogin and Gen. Only two other characters in the entire series have been able to put up a fight against them, and both opponents were men. Sarah is a great example of a strong women who will stand her ground and will not take any guff from any man.

Men on the other hand are represented to be more narrow minded. They are portrayed to be more animalistic and care only about women, drinking, and fighting. While the stereotype of women being weak is broken down, the common stereotypes of men are built higher than ever. In the show Moogin and Gen are constantly on the verge of killing each other and the only thing holding them apart is Foo. More examples of stereotypes are seen in the episodes involving the red light district. These episodes portray the men to be “the animals that they are.” Furthering the idea that all men care about is sex and fighting.

Throughout the show Samurai Champloo Gender roles are being questioned and thought over. Rather it is the woman who is leading the group of men. Or the women mercenary who all the men fear. Gender in the show is very unique and very relevant. Samurai is the one of the only Anime shows that takes this unique of a view on gender, and sex. This show can not be determined as Feminist or non Feminist due to the ridiculously complex views that the show has.