"KICK-ARSE JAPANESE ANIMATION" – FHM

It is the age of the samurai… a time for honour… a time for courage… a time for Hip-Hop!

Director Shinichiro Watanabe's highly anticipated follow-up to "Cowboy Bebop", the martial arts series SAMURAL CHAMPLOO launched to huge public and critical acclaim in September 2005, with Touch Magazine hailing it as "the Kill Bill of anime" and Neo Magazine calling it "the hippest, fastest and sharpest animated series of the year".

Now, the entire 26-episode series has been collected together in the must-have, seven-disc SAMURAI CHAMPLOO BOX SET, set for release in September 2007. And for collectors, the box set comes complete with an exclusive limited edition Samurai Champloo bandana!

Packed with smart-talking heroes (and villains!), cool one-liners and dazzling action set-pieces, SAMURAI CHAMPLOO is a smart, sexy and violent mix of martial arts action, Tarantino-esque cool, irreverent comedy and hip-hop stylings.

Japan, several hundred years ago. Mugen is a young and arrogant, but highly skilled, warrior. He's also a violent, selfish womaniser. Jin, on the other hand, is a vagrant ronin – mysterious but honourable and virtually unmatched when it comes to swordsmanship. When the paths of these two fiercely independent warriors cross it looks like only one will survive the experience. But fate deals the pair a different, more favourable hand when they are both arrested after a violent, and unfinished, swordfight. Sentenced to execution, Mugen and Jin are rescued by a ditzy young waitress named Fuu, who Mugen had earlier defended against a gang of hooligans intent on causing trouble at the tea house where Fuu was working. As payment for saving their lives, Fuu convinces the pair to assist her in her search for a mysterious samurai "who smells of sunflowers". So begins their journey together – a touching story of love, friendship and courage… well, not quite!

Boasting a cinematic flair rarely seen in anime, SAMURAI CHAMPLOO is guaranteed to amaze and entertain in equal measure.

The seven disc SAMURAI CHAMPLOO BOX SET (cert. 15) will be released on DVD (£59.99) by MVM on 3rd September 2007.