The word 'chanpuru' comes from Okinawa. It's the name of a type of stir-fry dish, but in a broader sense, it means "cultural diversity." Okinawans celebrate their Champloo, in a country that simply doesn't have a lot of diversity in race or background. Samurai Champloo isn't a stir fry in the literal sense, but does seem to have a preoccupation with food. The ways in which the series celebrates cultural diversity prove to be richly ironic and often humorous. That is, if you can manage to look past the main characters.

Set in the Edo period of Japan, where the Tokugawa Shogunate ruled the country, Samurai Champloo mixes hip-hop and other modern marvels in with a literal journey to the west. It all starts when the nephew of a provincial governor stirs up trouble in a restaurant run by an old couple and their niece, Fuu. Another guest, Mugen, promises to deal with it in exchange for some dumplings, and when Fuu reluctantly agrees, he proceeds to turn the place upside down.

Across town, a ronin named Jin cuts down some of the governor's men for essentially blocking the road. He then enters the same restaurant, and Mugen takes him for one of the governor's men. The ensuing brawl catches the place on fire and levels it, Jin and Mugen get arrested, and Fuu is left without a home or a job. It's at this point that she decides that she'll seek out a "samurai who smells of sunflowers," and those two will be her bodyguards...after she figures out a way to spring them from the lockup.

Jin is the stoic, disciplined swordsman, who can't abide injustice. By contrast, Mugen is a wild animal, who confounds his opponents with unpredictable and often hair-brained moves. Fuu, the brains of the operation, is a complete ditz who likes to get herself kidnapped. Since Mugen and Jin now want to kill each other at the earliest opportunity, the fact that Fuu somehow keeps them in line while dragging them across the countryside is nothing short of a miracle. What's the other term? Plot device. But it works, and for the same reason that Watanabe's motley space crew in Cowboy Bebop worked: it's funny.

One of the running gags is homosexuality. From a Dutchman who is simply delighted when he finds out that an effeminate kabuki actor is male, to the "weapon" of a law enforcement official (and narrator), which looks like a sex toy, there are plenty of jokes and innuendo to be had. The show also approaches the subject seriously, though, with some narration about the decidedly liberal views on sex held by the old Japanese. (Modern Japanese society is said to operate by the don't ask, don't tell principle — one of the aforementioned ironies in a celebration of cultural diversity.)

The arrangement and subject matter of the Samurai Champloo episodes will seem random at first, but a pattern emerges over time. Small drops of clues appear about who the sunflower samurai really is — of course Fuu knows his identity all along, but the journey has lessons for her, too. And as the group draws closer to their target, it becomes apparent that somebody out there doesn't want this meeting to happen. The persecution of Catholic Christians at the hands of the Tokugawa is a central topic of the show's later parts, with the sunflower's natural brutality toward weeds being the operative metaphor.

The series can be difficult to get into, because the characters aren't all that likable or understandable at first. But, what starts as heavy plotting eventually turns into a real sense of camaraderie, borne by circumstance. As the show progresses, the sketchy details of its beginning matter less and less, and the subject matter becomes more compelling. The overall package is a real treat.