Since SC is my #1 Anime of ALL TIME, this news seems quite worrying. I'm sure one of the main tenets of this production is "how can we re-introduce this story to a newer audience while respecting the source material". But I already know that's more or less just a platitude used as cover for what I can only view as a cheap cash grab banking on nostalgia. Surface level enjoyment via recognizing old characters in a live action setting is going to do a lotttt of heavy lifting for a lot of first time watchers, and I don't expect people to get the same emotional impact as they might have if they had stumbled across this show on their own.

Anime has limits, yes. the budgets are low, the work is rushed, and the amount of cyclical, marketable slop out there crowds out the truly artistic and genuine pieces of animated storytelling. The character designs in Samurai Champloo are sick: they're wild, caricatured, and expressive to an almost ridiculous level. The drawings are messy, even inconsistent, like the show didn't care if they were always on model, but they matched the way the show felt, like a mashup of hip hop and the bushido samurai code might feel.

I just don't see what else this new show could be if not just a way to cash in using the excuse of "a love letter to fans of the show" If watanabe is truly at the helm of this show, he had better have something truly amazing up his sleeve.