All Gamers Exploring <em>Ghost of Yotei</em> Must View This Epic Show In Advance.

While the classic series often dominates discussions about the greatest anime in history, its spiritual sibling, the iconic series, deserves similar praise. The influence of this samurai saga still resonates today, most recently in Sony's flagship Ghost of Tsushima series.

Expanded References

This latest Ghost of Yotei, the successor to the 2020 PlayStation 5 title, enhances its nod to samurai cinema with the return of the classic film mode. This setting offers monochrome graphics, textured effects, and vintage audio. Additional modes include the intense director mode, which enhances visual clarity and intensifies blood and mud; and the anime-inspired mode, featuring a lo-fi hip-hop score influenced by the filmmaker's guidance.

For those curious about the latter, Watanabe is the creative force responsible for the jazz-soaked the space opera and the hip-hop-driven Samurai Champloo, among other prominent anime.

Fusing Past and Present

Watanabe’s 2004 show the groundbreaking series merges feudal Japan with modern music culture and current perspectives. It tells the story of the improbable team of the wild swordsman, a untamed and erratic warrior; the calm ronin, a reserved and formal wandering warrior; and the brave waitress, a brave young woman who recruits them on her mission to find “the mysterious sunflower samurai.”

While the audio landscape is ultimately his creation, much of the series' music was influenced by renowned musician the late artist, who tragically left us in 2010 at the young age of 36. Nujabes earns his tribute next to Watanabe when it comes to the sound the anime is renowned for and references in the new game.

Style Mixing

Much of what made Samurai Champloo distinguish itself on the cable schedule was its smooth integration of urban music and Eastern traditions. That mix has been a mainstay in the music scene since Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) in 1993, which itself stems from an entire generation maturing on action cinema featuring the martial arts legend and Sonny Chiba.

For many, Adult Swim and Samurai Champloo served as an gateway to underground music, with musicians like Nujabes, the rapper, and the electronic artist, the last one of whom went on to create music for the Netflix anime Yasuke.

Visual Flair

Artistic and meaningful, the series' opening introduces the protagonists through representative beasts in the scene — the wild one walks proudly like a rooster, while the disciplined one moves with the calm, graceful demeanor of a carp. Although the show's central characters are the star of the series, its side players are where the real soul of the anime can be found.

There’s thief the young character, who has a heartbreaking background of endurance in episode 7, and another character named the guard, whose exchanges with Mugen change him profoundly that he ends up in his memoirs years later. In the eleventh episode, “the episode title,” Jin falls in love with a married woman forced into sex work named Shino and helps her escape from a red-light district.

An Interwoven Tale

At initial view, the complete show appears to tell a fragmented story of the trio’s journey to finding the Sunflower Samurai, but as the series progresses, incidents from past chapters begin to interconnect to form a single, cohesive narrative. Every encounter our heroes face along the way has an impact on both the characters and the overall narrative.

Historical Roots

The series also references feudal Japanese events (the same time period as Yotei), seen through Watanabe’s imaginative take. Occurrences like the 1637 Shimabara Rebellion and settings such as the mountain outpost (which the character watches over) are embedded in the story.

In the beginning, ukiyo-e artist Hishikawa Moronobu appears and momentarily focuses on the female lead as his muse. After she declines his offer, his work eventually falls into the hands of the Dutch artist, who, in Champloo’s alternate timeline, is inspired to create his iconic floral artworks.

Enduring Impact

All of these aspects tie intimately into the anime's soundtrack, giving this samurai story the kind of distinct identity that other projects have long attempted to emulate. Titles like Afro Samurai (featuring Wu-Tang’s RZA), the hip-hop anime, and Yasuke all tried to capture its fusion of music and visuals, but with mixed results.

Ghost of Yotei has the potential to continue from where the classic anime left off, igniting a fresh surge of impact much like the anime once did. If you’re diving into Yotei, it’s worth watching Champloo, because without it, there’d be no “the special setting,” no wave of urban-music-inspired shows, and no continuing impact of Nujabes, from which the influence originates.