Samurai Champloo/Awesome

• Mugen generally has too much badass to count but one instance sticks out: when promised sex with a hot ninja girl if he helps her (but doesn't get anyway) he defeats an entire room full of armed guards while unarmed and half-naked, and in the dub even shouts something like "I want my nookie!" What's more, Yatsuha, the ninja, ended up falling in love with him, and swore to herself that she would find him again someday (as her partner questioned her taste in men).
• The fact that Mugen dies at least three times, at minimum, utterly awesome. Every time, he passes into Nirai Kanai, the afterlife of the Ryukyuan religion. He then tells the Futuchi, basically the Japanese grim reapers that he's not ready, at least once demanding that he be returned. Yes. Mugen basically tells the Grim Reaper to bite off.
  • In a much more poignant example, Mugen nearly drowned after a friend betrayed him, and survived as if by a miracle, with barely enough strength to walk. After Jin appraised him of the situation, he used his sword as a cane, hobbled up to two of the conspirators, killing one of them, effortlessly, with three strokes of his sword in as many seconds, leaving the other, his childhood friend Kohza (possibly the only person who ever cared about him, and vice-versa) to live the rest of her life alone. She begs him to kill her, but he keeps limping away. End episode. Wow. The music playing during this scene really drives home what kind of person Mugen is, at least at that moment.
    • Context makes this even more awesome; Kohza and the conspirator Batman Gambit'd Jin into killing her brother, just so said conspirator would be the only one who knew where the treasure Mugen helped steal was. Which means that after risking his life, or at least another prison term, to steal the gold, Mugen gave up any chance of ever finding the treasure.
• The second fight scene with Mugen and Sara. While his opponent does have awesome manuevers i.e. the staff cutting through a downpour of rain exposing open air, Mugen's final move is so expertly animated that it sent a shiver up this troper's spine. Never mind the fact that Sara could have killed him but she held back.
  • It increases in awesomeness when it is revealed Sara's son has been dead for a long time and the government killed him. The last scene ties it all together.
• Jin's final battle against Kariya Kagetoki, in which he intentionally shows a brief opening, allows himself to be impaled, and, while his opponent is close, Jin strikes, killing Kariya and only barely surviving himself. He is also shirtless with his long hair down throughout the scene, which, according to the fangirls, helps. It also helps that he's using the Ultimate Technique of his dojo exactly the way it was intended.
  • Jin's fight against Mukoro, who is Mugen's Evil Counterpart, is also well worth a mention.
• Jin's fights with Yukimaru are also crowningly awesome, the first one ending with him leaping off a waterfall to avoid killing an old friend, the second in death with only the slightest movement of his sword.
• Jin effortlessly trouncing at least six sword-wielding thugs unarmed is pretty awesome.
• Though not a hero, Kariya Kagetoki's first fight with Mugen and Jin is unbelievable. Significant challenges to either had been extremely rare, but when they team up to fight Kagetoki, they turn out to be hopelessly outclassed.
  • The assassin Sara, whom Kariya appears to have trained, is badass enough to crack a bridge with the ki surrounding her lance...while blind.
• Let's not forget how Mugen deals with Umanosuke, the assassin with the scythe on a chain: Mugen gets really close to him, and after he throws his sword into the ground behind the guy, Mugen avoid Umanosuke's sword, puts the guy in a hold (including grabbing his pants with his teeth) then uses a combination of his sword, sheath, and his own body to catch the chain and send the scythe flying right back at his attacker who it beheads. That may be the first time in the series he really thought about an attack.
• You people! What about Fuu?
  • "Her Stomach is like a cosmos unto itself." (Please note the capital letter 'S' when describing 'Stomach'.)
  • Her encounter with the various pots she bumps into in the fourth episode eventually leads up to some of the most impressive... uh, dicemanship, this troper has ever witnessed. I know this because the stunt even draws fourth a genuine (if momentary) expression of astonishment from the resident stoic.
  • Or the fact that she manages to keep the two men from shredding each other for the majority of the series?
  • Or even the very reason that she makes the entire journey with two virtual strangers just so she could find her father and 'slug him one' on her dead mother's behalf?
  • Plus she lied about that coin flip.
  • Several characters in the series (including Jin's Evil Counterpart and Jin himself) even comment on just how feisty and determined she really is. In fact, Samurai Champloo would be non-existent as a series if it wasn't for her!
  • Not to mention she provides the only Recap Episode ever that was worth watching.
  • Heck, what about the first episode? We see her in a shop, then in the next scene she looks like she's gained several cup sizes. Only, we discover she's packing explosives? Didn't See That Coming.
  • Her wall-ricocheting dice roll.
  • You see? You don't have to dodge bullets or break dance in order to qualify into the CMOA hall of AWESOMENESS.
• Any fight scene from the final three episodes deserves special mention.
• Full Contact Baseball. That is all.
  • Graffiti . Hip Hop . Post-Modern commentary. Breakdancing. Pirates. Samurai. Ninja. Katanas .Revolvers. Lovable sociopaths. Flying squirrels. Open ended conspiracies. Zen Buddhism. Kung-fu sorcery. Zombies. Ganja. Crossdressing. Portable cannons. Breathtaking scenery. Steel plated sandals. Eccentric characters. And much much more.