Mugen (無限, "infinity") is one of the main characters of Samurai Champloo along with Jin and Fuu. Both Mugen and Jin accompany Fuu in her search for "the samurai who smells of sunflowers." Mugen serves as a foil to Jin in terms of personality and disposition. His fighting style is characterized as being reckless and erratic.

During the title cards, his totem is the rooster.

Contents 1 Profile 2 Background 3 Appearance 4 Fighting Style 4.1 "Interesting. You utilize erratic movements that prevent anyone from predicting them. But you must learn to make use of your intellect in the martial arts. By relying solely upon instinct and reflex, you involuntarily reveal your limitations to your enemy." --Kariya Kagetoki 5 Quotes 6 Trivia

ProfileEdit

Age: 19

Profession: Vagabond, pirate (former)

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Weapon(s): Double-edged tsurugi with two-prong hilt, Tantō (concealed in opposite end of scabbard)

Fighting style(s): Champuru/champloo Kendo

Likes: Food, Booze, Pretty women, Killing. (Fuu and Jin as well, though he would never admit it)

Dislikes: Work, Authority

Seiyū: Kazuya Nakai, Daniel Andrews aka Steve Blum (english), Liam O'Brien (PS2 game)

Appears in: All episodes

Final Status: Alive

BackgroundEdit

Mugen was born in a penal colony on the Ryukyu Islands (most likely Miyako Island since it was a penal colony in the past), which in the Edo period was a separate kingdom with close ties to the Satsuma domain of Japan. His name means without limitation, as the components of it are the characters for "without" and "limitation." Incidentally, he writes his name using the infinity symbol (∞), a pun on his name, 'Mugen,' which is a homophone of the Japanese word for 'eternity'. His Japanese is quite rough and "Yanki." He is illiterate until later in the show. The exact date of his birth and much of his past is shrouded in mystery. His style of clothes suggests he may be of Ainu origin. This appears to be further supported later on by Mugen remarking that he grew up on the same music an Ainu fugitive was playing (though the Ainu man came from the far North, and Mugen came from the far south). Another reason for the similarity may be because the Ainu of the north and the Ryukyu of the south are from the same cultural and genetic stock before being displaced later by the Yamato Japanese. In episode 20 "Elegy of Entrapment, Verse 1," Mugen states that he never knew whom his parents were. The blue tattoos on his wrists and ankles indicate that he was once in prison.[1] The circumstances of his imprisonment are unclear at first, but it is later revealed that he was to be executed for engaging in piracy.

Rude, lewd, vulgar, and nihilistic, Mugen hates to lose and is insistent on settling the rivalry he has built with Jin. His amoral character is rooted in his impulsive tendencies. Throughout several episodes, Mugen is made out to be a womanizer. He hits on many young, attractive women he meets. Character designer Kazuto Nakazawa stated in an interview: "When I was doing character design, the most difficult one was Mugen, as I expected. I'm pretty sure that as far as the director's image went, he probably was thinking of someone like a 'rapper who acts like a bad guy.' But the way Mugen acts is relatively based on his core conviction."[2] Despite his rough demeanor, he does not harbor any ill towards Fuu and Jin. He and Jin fight from time to time, but there is an undercurrent of mutual understanding between the two. Despite periodic arguments with Fuu, he also seems to care for her, saving her on several occasions.

AppearanceEdit

Mugen has messy brown-black hair in an afro-like style (similar to Spike Spiegel's from Cowboy Bebop) and a faint mustache. His clothing is anachronistic as well, reminiscent of baggy hip-hop fashions of today.His attire consists of a grey shirt with a stitch pattern running down the middle of the shirt ending at the halfway point of the shirt. He wears this under a red long-sleeve gi that functions as a jacket. He wears hakama cut off at shorts-length, resembling loose-fitting Bermuda shorts and japanese Geta (wooden sandals) on his feet. He has two blue ring tatoos, two on each wrist and two just above the ankles. Lastly, he carries his sword on his back with a sash that goes from his left shoulder to his right hip. It has a zig-zag pattern of green and brown.

Fighting StyleEdit

"Interesting. You utilize erratic movements that prevent anyone from predicting them. But you must learn to make use of your intellect in the martial arts. By relying solely upon instinct and reflex, you involuntarily reveal your limitations to your enemy." --Kariya KagetokiEdit

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Highly unorthodox swordplay and a fighting style based on breakdancing - dubbed "champuru kendo" and ostensibly developed by himself - taking bits and pieces from all forms of martial arts and making up the rest as he fights his opponents, make him a force to be reckoned with although it looks like capoeira. [3] An example of this being his battle with Shouryuu, as he was able to mimic and use the technique 'Hakkei' seemingly picked up in their first duel, turning the tide of the battle. His fighting style is probably best described by Kariya Kagetoki when they fight in Episode 25. His limitations were further exploited in his fight with Denkibou while on a small boat, as his inability to fight well in small areas was shown. This is further evident in that his moves become increasingly erratic and unique as his opponents are more powerful. He carries two blades, his principal weapon a unique sword with a curved blade and a hilt with two prongs sheathed across his back and the other a small tanto concealed at the end of his scabbard (only resorted to as a trump card). His main weapon appears to be an amalgamation of the okinawan sai and Japanese katana. Mugen also has a tendency to parry attacks with the steel base of his geta.

Even without the use of his sword, Mugen is a very capable hand-to-hand fighter. This is evident when he "fights" against Jinpachi Yatsuha, a well trained ninja, under the presumption that it's foreplay to her promising to sleep with him in episode "Bogus Booty". He later helps Yatsuha take on over 20 armed men bare-handed, after being promised she would rock his world plus a bonus (the bonus is whispered to him and never heard, but it's helps motivate Mugen to fight). This figthing style is more or less like his swordplay, relying on breakdance-type movements to defeat his opponents.

Mugen seems to be incapable of dying, or at the very least has a body that is more resistant to life-threatening injuries than the average person. When on the verge of death, he appears to cross into a mystical world in the Ryūkyūan religion called Nirai Kanai—depicted in Samurai Champloo as an upside-down mirror world—overseen by the Futuchi who are dressed in black-feathered robes and carry spears. With each visit to this world he is subsequently 'rejected.' He has been brought back to life in this manner on at least three occasions.

Quotes Edit

• "I don't give a rat's ass about going to hell. I guess it's because I feel like I'm already there."
• "Do you need a reason to kill someone?"
• "Stop talking to me like you're all hot shit!!!"
• "We're gonna get filthy bitch!!" (Fuu later corrects him, saying rich)

Trivia Edit

• Mugen's dub actor in the english version is Steven Jay Blum, credited as Daniel Andrews to circumvent union regulations.
• At the end of the series, Mugen has his tsurugi replaced with an european broadsword similar in resemblance to a claymore.
• In the PS2 videogame adaptation, Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked, Mugen's sword is dubbed by the nickname "Typhoon Swell."
• In the final episode, ("Evanescent Encounter III") Mugen's appearance after being stranded on the shore somewhat resembles Bruce Lee in "Enter the Dragon". His hair style as well as scratch markes look alike even though this resemblance may be a coincidence.
• The symbol on Mugen's back may be an indirect reference to the family crest of the Hojo clan. This would be fitting as his two companions, Jin and Fuu, respectively donn the coat of arms of different clans, Jin wearing the crest of the Takeda Clan, and Fuu wearing the flower of the Chosokabe Clan.
• Although he is a womanizer, Mugen seems to have enough to charm to woo the heart of Jinpachi Yatsuha at the end of Episode 15. She states that she is in love with him, and that at the end of her journey she will try and find him and marry him.
• Despite his thuggish and uncaring demeanor, Mugen ironically ends up in situations where he performs nice or somewhat chivalrous acts, though he is almost always fueled by intentions of self gain, or unintentionally. For example while he travels with Fuu and Jin out of the dept he owed her, he also did so with the intention of dueling Jin when it was over. In episode 15 he assisted an undercover investigator, to bust up a counterfeiting operation, but only because the investigator(who was undercover as a prostitute) said she would sleep with him after(which she never did). Episode 5, is the only case where he acts with no thoughts of self gain, fighting slave traders while trying to track down and save Fuu.