is samurai champloo based on a true story
Samurai Champloo contains many scenes and episodes relating to historical occurrences in Japan's Edo period. In episode 5 (``Artistic Anarchy''), Fuu is kidnapped by the famous ukiyo-e painter Hishikawa Moronobu, a figure prominent in the Edo period's art scene. Episode 23 (``Baseball Blues'') pits the main characters in a baseball game against Alexander Cartwright and a team of American baseball players trying to declare war on Japan. As for Western influences, the opening of the show as well as many of the soundtracks are influenced by hip hop. In episode 5, Vincent van Gogh is referenced at the end in relation to Hishikawa Moronobu's ukiyo-e paintings. A hip hop singer challenges the main characters in episode 8 (``The Art of Altercation'') and uses break dance throughout. In episode 18 (``War of the Words''), graffiti tagging, a culturally Western art form, is performed by characters as an artistic expression and form of writing. The ending of the episode has Mugen writing his name on the roof of Hiroshima Castle, the palace of the daimyō in Edo Japan.
Samurai Champloo