Mugen's Feelings for Fuu: Character Study and Observations
Firstly: this is a response to 10bat who asked me if Mugen’s feelings for Fuu are platonic or if there’s something else.
Wow, XD Well, as much as I ship Fuugen harder than hell, I don’t think I ever bothered to explain their romance before…or Mugen’s feelings.
I’d also like to say thank you to 10bat for the comments to my blog before I start ^^ (even though it’s not THAT great).
Mugen as a character is, at first glance an antihero based on his actions and appearance; the tattoos that imply arrest for theft, cocky attitude, killing people without a second thought. But out of all three characters in the anime, Mugen is the most dynamic; changing the most out of all three (although all of them did change).
Growing up in the Ryukyuan Islands, Mugen had no one who ever loved him. In Episode 20, he states that he “Never knew his parents.” The only people we know that he was acquainted with before Fuu and Jin: were Koza and Mukuro in ep 13 and 14. But Mukuro betrayed him by making him take the blame for stealing from the ship, and Koza was needy and wanted love from anyone, even using his “death” to manipulate Jin into killing Mukuro.
Now then, back to Mugen’s feelings for Fuu. I honestly think that Mugen may have developed something for Fuu even before she liked him (or maybe they developed it at the same time). By episode 14, the romantic undertones grow greater.
So here’s a list of all the ways it is heavily implied Mugen had feelings for Fuu. If someone wants me to do a Fuu rant also, I probably will someday. But for now, let’s focus on Mugen (though Fuu’s feelings will undoubtedly intersect).
Edit: all the links broke to specific scenes because YouTube took Samurai Champloo down in Japanese. You will have to just watch and see for yourself. I’m giving my rough translation to dialogue sometimes or what I remember. Some can be interpreted different ways because English sub and dub is wrong a lot.
We will be going through (almost) EVERY EPISODE. So fasten your seatbelts. There is a lot.
Ep 1: Mugen is shown first from a distance, standing on the road outside the village. Then Fuu is shown… Then Jin last.
(While yes, there is a sense of duality between Mugen and Jin, it is important to note that Mugen is officially the main character of Samurai Champloo. According to an interview by Shinichiro Watanabe found in a Newtype USA Magazine, Mugen was the main character thought up, while Jin was only invented later to make the show not “one dimensional”. So, Mugen is the dynamic hero, and Fuu and her goal is his motivation and the “purpose” of the hero’s journey. Jin is the foil and the rival that changes little by comparison. So please, do not mistake these observations as me “favoring” Mugen over Jin. It is very clear that Mugen is more a focus throughout the show. Jin only gets one episode centered around him: Episode 11.)
Fuu and Mugen meet. While there is no romance (yet), Mugen and Fuu have a stare down when he first walks in. It even goes in slow motion where he’s looking at her. Jin and Fuu had no such moment. I think it was meant to show that he is dangerous, a killer, but Fuu isn’t afraid in the slightest. She even tells him to leave if he has no money. At the same time, Mugen is able to know Fuu is in danger from one brief glance.
Mugen saves Fuu from getting her fingers cut off. Jin had no part in it. This action starts the long string of times of which Mugen rescues Fuu from harm. Jin will never rescue Fuu alone, until episode 26, when Mugen cannot.
In an interview found in the Roman Album, Japanese voice actors, Ayako Kawasumi (Fuu) was asked who she preferred more as a character; Mugen or Jin. The actress responded with “Definitely Mugen.” Shinichiro Watanabe (the main director) then decided to include more Fuugen hints throughout the series and this choice dictated the last episode.
Ep 2: When Fuu is passed out drunk, Mugen looks at her sprawled out on the cart and says “I’m going to rape you, you dumb broad.”
The English dub deleted this saying “Let’s strip her and dump her.” which could be interpreted like a prank.
But originally, Mugen says “Okasu kureru.”
“Okasu” is to “violate” or “rape”. “Kureru” is to “give someone something”.
So he’s clearly saying he’s gonna “give IT to her”, up.
Mugen never actually did, but this shows he 100% is in fact attracted to her. This throws out the whole “She’s like a sister to him.” argument that people try to make.
Later, Mugen was poisoned by a woman who said that Fuu was kidnapped by the same guy who hired her to poison him. While it is usually the Japanese dub that reveals Mugen’s feelings for Fuu more, in this case it is the English dub.
In English, Hotaru states: “He has the antidote and something else you want…even more.”
Though in Japanese, I think this was worded more along the lines of “And he has the girl.”
"That girl you’re traveling with. I wonder what he’ll do to her.”
Only then does Mugen appear worried and run off to save Fuu. Later, Fuu saves his life when Ryujiro is drowning him in the stream. Could this be foreshadowing to how she saves him again and again throughout the series?
Meanwhile…Jin is fighting a samurai that wanted to bang him in the hotsprings…ahem.
Fun fact: This entire episode is officially in reference to the anime film Ninja Scroll according to the Roman Album. It’s a love story. One of the iconic scenes is when the main character (who is poisoned throughout the film) tries to save his canon love interest from a giant, ugly ogre in a temple, who kidnapped her.
There is an identical scene where the giant grabs main characters face, just like how Oniwaka grabs Mugen’s. Hm. (Maybe I’ll make a giant post about all the others ways this anime movie is referenced).
Ep 3 and 4: Mugen runs off from Fuu after not wanting to help her at all. But in ep 4 he saw her locked up in the brothel.
“Ran away?! That idiot!” or “That bitch!” in English.”
He kept searching for her, but when he found her with Jin at the gambling den, he said “I only came here because no one was chasing after me.” which we as the viewers see, is a bold faced lie. He JUST went to the brothel to break her out, then went looking for her.
Meanwhile, Jin doesn’t bother to save Fuu at the brothel. He only coincidentally met up with Fuu at the gambling den because he was helping Sousuke, the son of the gangster.
Later that night, he asked Jin what happened to Fuu. “Hey, where is she?” Jin is too being playing Japanese chess. Mugen says:
“Well, it’s not like I care or anything.”
This line. Is such. a Tsundere line.
The following morning, Mugen literally goes to the artist’s studio and finds a picture of her and asks the artist where she was. She was kidnapped and he ran all across town to rescue her. He ends up saving her but gets no credit as usual.
Jin meanwhile…is still playing chess lol.
Ep 6: Not much. She just scolds him in a hay stack and he ignores her.
You can interpret it that he was pissed at the guy for stealing from them and not at all worried about Fuu….
But when he crashed into the building and was going to attack him, Fuu screamed at Mugen to stop. And he did. Even though he hated the guy, Mugen stopped and helped him escape because Fuu told him to. Mugen never takes orders from ANYONE. But when was safe, he defended the thief for her.
Once again, he technically saved Fuu from the drug dealers that were after the thief.
Jin meanwhile, waits outside…
Ep 8: When a man hits on Fuu, she says rather proudly to Mugen “It’s soooo hard being popular.” most likely to validate herself to being appealing and maybe even get Mugen jealous.
When Mugen gets hit on by a woman, he repeats the same line to Fuu to DEFINITELY get her jealous “It’s sooooo hard being popular.”
Jin is meanwhile…too drunk to say anything and is dragged along by Mugen. But Mugen isn’t one to share a woman with Jin (he won Yatsuha over Jin in ep 15)…So why did he bring Jin along? Maybe he didn’t want Jin and Fuu to be alone together(?)
Also,the man who hit on Fuu said his wife looked like Fuu when she was younger. Funny thing, the woman who hit on Mugen was that man’s wife…So Mugen is actually physically attracted to Fuu after all.
Ep 9: Mugen had every intention to go back to save Fuu and Jin instead of letting them die…but he accidentally got high instead. He TECHNICALLY saved the day because it was his fault the trippy plants got set on fire. Sooooo, then all the guards at the border line were too high to kill Fuu and Jin.
Fuu is concerned for Mugen the entire day. Every time something bad happens to him, she comically makes mention of the exact thing that happened to him. To the very end she holds faith he will return, even when Jin gave up on him. They even play romantic music as she sees a silhouette in the distance…
But. Nope. Romance foiled again. It’s the jogger.
Mugen once again, technically…saves the day(?)
Ep 10: This one connects to a later episode, ep 16. Mugen ends up getting his hand badly hurt.
Fuu grabs one of them "What happened to your hand?!”
“It’s just a scratch.” and he pulls away rather quickly.
Foreshadow to ep 16???? After leaving Fuu and Jin he lays on the grass. he puts his hand…the same hand that she touched above his face, saying “that little bitch” which is a nickname he calls her throughout the series. There is a video of this on youtube. “Subliminal Mugen/Fuu clip” Watch ittttttt.
Ep 11: Pretty big proof in this one.
Jin canonically falls in love with Shino the courtesan. Not Fuu.
When Fuu is talking about Jin going to brothels, Mugen takes it that she’s jealous and in turn gets jealous of her and Jin, saying “What, are you saying you want to be his girl? That’s big talk…coming from a girl so flat.”
He even told her to show him her boobs, once again showing a physical interest in her, despite his incessant denials of such a thing in Ep 16.
“Don’t tell me you’re in love with her! You promised to help me find the samurai who smells of sunflowers. If you go, we’re not friends anymore.”
When Jin left…Mugen is shown actually awake, listening to the entire conversation. Jealousy. THIS IS IMPORTANT FOR EPISODE 24. DON’T FORGET. FORESHADOWING.
Later when Mugen and Fuu are running to give Jin back his swords, Mugen says “I thought you two weren’t friends anymore!” I think it can become plainly obvious that by now, Mugen is getting really jealous of their “relationship”, even when Jin and Fuu are the platonic ones.
Ep 12: Mugen is much more curious than Jin about what she is hiding about her sunflower samurai, to the point where he sneaks through her stuff for her diary…even though he can’t read. When she begins saying “The first guy who came in was the type I never wanted to be friends with! And after talking with him I was absolutely right!” he got extremely pissed off and even began swearing at her diary.
After talking shit about Mugen, he gets annoyed. When she said that Jin was attractive when she first saw him, Mugen again got more jealous.
It’s almost like everything she put in there was to piss Mugen off.
At the end of the diary, we discover that Fuu added lies in case they read her diary. “Serves you right. Idiots.” Note: She didn’t know that Mugen couldn’t read yet.
Ep 13: HUGE PROOF! The starting point when Fuugen becomes more obvious. This is our first glimpse into Mugen’s past. He doesn’t trust anyone, he was an ex-pirate and was betrayed by those who should have been his friends.
When he sees Koza and Mukuro, his shame at the past is reignited.
For the first time Mugen declines an offer to make money and says about Fuu and Jin “They’re not my friends or anything.” to which Fuu turns her head at him…upset… He then says “I promised I’d protect ‘em until we get to Nagasaki, that’s all.” Mugen is actually referring to Fuu since Jin doesn’t need protection (and he wants to kill him, not protect him).
This is the first time Mugen admits to desiring to keep his promise. Note how it zooms in of Fuu’s surprised face. Then Koza’s surprised face here. This will reveal Koza’s jealousy and assumptions on what Fuu means to Mugen. Assumptions that also…happen to be correct.
Mukuro turns to Fuu: “Hey, do you have any idea what kind of things he’s done? You know how many people he’s killed? This is hysterical! A guy like you protecting people?!”
When Mukuro said that, Mugen seems defensive and angered, as his expression and eyes covered by his hair. He lashes out by pointing his sword at his neck to shut him up from speaking on the subject. Once Mukuro goads him by saying “This is the kind of man you are.”, only then does Mugen relent, to prove him wrong.
He is not proud of his past. And he doesn’t want Fuu to know about the awful things he’s done. This is interesting… Notice how Fuu is also hiding behind Jin in this part…not Mugen. It would seem Jin is the ideal, noble bodyguard, while Mugen is inferior and sinful.
Mugen scoffs, sheathes his sword…and turns to look at Fuu and Jin standing beside each other. He then turns away.
“Mugen, wait!” Fuu calls, following him…
Koza follows as well. “Wait!”.
“I ain’t given it much thought.”
In English she then says “Fuu is lucky.” THIS IS WRONG. She says
“Fuu -chan wa shiawase.” Shiawase means happy. So Koza said “Fuu…is happy.”
“Yeah. She’s happy because she gets to be with you….”
WOAH THERE KOZA! Blatant dialogue?
Then Koza lays her head on his abdomen, saying she wants to be happy with him too, as in be romantic with him in the way she perceives how he is with Fuu. He says that he’s not that type of guy.
But…while he abandons Koza on the beach…he does stay with Fuu after this episode.
Later, the ship explodes. Fuu screams Mugen’s name and the episode ends on her screaming. You can really tell it’s her in English, though it’s harder to tell in Japanese. Initially I thought it was Koza because they show her face at that exact second. But notice how they then show Jin’s face, THEN FUU’S FACE. Her mouth is wide in a scream, unlike Koza.
Ep 14: Fuu cries for Mugen for the first time, which will be the start of a log string of times Fuu cries for him. Jin tries to calm her down, and fails.
When Mugen is drowning after being again tricked by Mukuro…he sees images of his past. Right before he fades from consciousness, he sees an image of Koza, the first person he really befriended (who betrayed him). Then he sees Jin.
The next morning when Fuu spent all night searching for him on the beach, she finds him and begins to cry for a second time and nurses him back to health. (She removed all his clothes ahem. They are hanging outside, and Mugen doesn’t wear underwear as is seen in ep 15).
The next scene in the shack is…well it’s subtle and yet not. The romantic undertones are very strong.
Ater nursing upon him, she turns to leave. But…Mugen grabs her wrist.
(In Japanese and Korean culture, wrist grabbing is incredibly romantic!)
Personally, I believe he wanted to thank her or same some kind word. But, instead, he says he’s hungry. This scene( and this entire episode) is 100% a reference to Cowboy Bebop, and fixes all the “mistakes” of the Spike and Faye relationship. It is likely he also told her he was hungry so she’d leave quickly. He likely didn’t want her to worry about him and stop him from killing Mukuro. (who Jin already killed).
Fuu returns and yells that Mugen is gone again.
This episode shows their bonding, how Mugen realizes the only woman who cares about him in his life is Fuu. She brings him back from death when the paantu figures came to take his soul. His thoughts of her are what made him live; he has unfinished business in life.
Ep 15: Mugen and Fuu are for the first time shown getting along, laughing together and talking about food. Notice how this is after their huge episode last time.
He then goes to a brothel to relieve some sexual tension. Now, I have the need to point something out.
Mugen is a womanizer. Hits on so many women throughout the series. But. He. Never. Gets.Laid. In. The. Entire. Show. Gee, I wonder why… It’s comedy, and lightheartedness, and for me personally, it would diminish the value of the Fuugen romance.
Jin meanwhile, had sex with Shino in ep 11, and dubiously with two unattractive courtesans in ep 15.
Ep 16: They get into a huuuuge argument.
“You just want to travel with a cute girl like me! You’re not the least bit interested in finding the Samurai Who Smells of Sunflowers.”
Notice. How. Jin. Sideglances. At. Mugen here.
Mugen goes into some wild yelling denials. By this point, they’re both hiding their delicate feelings and poor Jin is literally stuck in the middle.
Mugen also makes the cruel comment that the samurai who smells of sunflowers was probably a guy who raped her and dumped her… Mugen in the English subtitles of ep 2 said “I’m gonna rape you, you dumb broad.” when Fuu was passed out drunk. Projection??? Not exactly but, it’s almost like he’s showing off his cruelty, baring his fangs, because she’s making him go soft.
“I’m trading you up for a tougher model!”
“You ain’t gonna fire me, I quit!”
Jin looks down the road at Fuu. Then he looks down the road at Mugen. He sighs and turns around, following neither of them.
Later in this episode is where Mugen holds his right hand up when he lays on the grass, saying “That little bitch.” He’s obviously still thinking about Fuu. See Subliminal Mugen/Fuu clip on youtube again. It’s 37 seconds long. She grabbed the same hand.
Ep 17: At the end of the episode (after arguing with Fuu last time), they intend to all split up. BUT MUGEN speaks up. He looks rather…upset too. Like, he feels guilty over it. He was always the one who asked about her relationship with the sunflower samurai. He was always the one who was curious, more than Jin. He even asks “Is it revenge?” It makes me wonder if Mugen was gonna beat up the sunflower samurai if it hadn’t been her father and someone who hurt her instead? Jin says nothing, only says they should head out then, only saying what Mugen was going to say if he wasn’t so damn stubborn.
Jin has unlocked the “Mediator” achievement. Nice Jin.
A love song plays. You by Kazami.
Ep 18: Mugen gets very defensive when Fuu makes fun of him for not reading… But she actually wanted to teach him, even shooed Jin away so they could have quality time together. Sadly, he got kidnapped by the drunken master teacher.
Fuu is then a prize in a graffiti contest between two twin brothers.
BUT, when she says the compeitition to get her is is a “word” contest, he gets all interested “Words?”
Sure…Mugen was showing off. But boy does he look happy at the end. He protected Fuu from men trying to have her for their own.
Jin also meanwhile WAS TOTALLY OKAY WITH PIMPING HER OFF TO WHOEVER WON IT. God. Jin. You are such a bad friend.
PLOT TWIST: it turns out the winner gets Momo (not Fuu) …But Mugen, Jin and Fuu didn’t know that at the time lmao.
Next episode, Mugen wakes up shirtless to Momo attached to his face. He got his prize.
Ep 19: Mugen is the one who wakes Fuu up when she got knocked out. He grabs her by the cheeks and pulls, in a funny intimate gesture. (In the manga, he grabs her cheeks again with some cute dialogue.) When Fuu gets kidnapped this ep, Mugen starts yelling, saying she’s an idiot.
He is the one to go wild and attack the false Frances Xavier. Jin is kinda just…backup. Crazy bastard jumps off a cross. Mugen saves the day.
At the end, when Fuu says that Kasumi Seizou is her father, Mugen hangs his head low when walking away, more so than Jin. Mugen never really walks like that… Though I’m uncertain, I wonder if this is shame at how he’d spoken so badly about her father: “some pansy”, “a guy who raped you and dumped you” etc.
To begin with, this ep more reveals Fuu’s feelings for Mugen. But since we’re focusing on Mugen’s feelings, we’ll skip around.
Mugen and Fuu see each other naked. A painfully common romantic trope in anime and dramas. Painfully. Jin is meanwhile, cleaning his sword (not a dirty pun).
When Sara asks Fuu privately what Mugen looks like, Fuu gets extremely defensive on the subject.
“You shouldn’t waste your time on a guy like that! He’s an ugly toad! Sometimes I wonder if he’s even human. More like a monkey or a…gorilla.” Her voice falls low.
In Japanese, Fuu mumbles, then sinks into the hot spring and starts blowing bubbles. Painfully. Obvious. Fuu was lying. She was jealous that Mugen might have a thing for Sara and wanted to prevent it. It was especially strange how right after this, Fuu stomps to Mugen and Jin’s room, whips open the door when Mugen is shirtless, stares at him with a blush and…apologizes.
Apologizes for all the bad things she said about him.
When Sara asked Fuu “Who would you rather not want to separate from?” Fuu gets flustered saying “We don’t have that type of relationship!” hiding her face underneath the blankets. We later see…that while Fuu is upset to separate with either of them, she inevitably chooses Mugen to stay over Jin.
She even cries when thinking about parting from them, Jin finds her at this part… I believe she may have been crying over Mugen, so that’s technically the third time if you decide to count it. But it is possible she is crying for Jin too.
Towards the end of the episode, Fuu cries for Jin leaving. (This is the only time she ever pfficialluy cried over Jin) But unlike the emotional, painful times she cries for Mugen, this is instead served as comedy. We’ll tally up all the times she cried over Mugen at the end.
He comically stomps away. Maybe he believed that Fuu actually wouldn’t have chosen Mugen over Jin after all, and she was only testing Jin to see if he’d leave too…. I think this pissed Mugen off, like he doesn’t matter, and he actually wasn’t planning on leaving Fuu anyway, but she had more faith in Jin than him. He’s “expendable”.
Also, let’s rewind a bit! Didn’t Mugen only stay with Fuu so he could duel Jin by the end? With Jin gone, why the hell would he stay with Fuu alone?! Plus, when Mugen wants something, he gets it. So if he wanted to go with Sara, he would’ve left Fuu.
I think Mugen was also a little pissed with Jin that he so easily left Fuu. He says “…That bastard didn’t put up much of a fight.” with a disapproving look on his face, before Fuu started crying.
Jin meanwhile…gets attacked by Sara.
Ep 21: HUGE PROOF. This is the ep where Fuu subtly confessed her feelings to Mugen. Mugen’s ep to confess to Fuu is 25.
When Sara badly wounds Mugen she says “Even though I can’t see you, I can still sense it.”
“It’s as if you’ve never been loved by anyone.” When she says that, Mugen’s eye narrows in anger. “It’s as if you are like me.”
“Are you telling me that you know how I’m gonna come at you?! THAT"S A LOAD OF CRAP!"
"STOP IT, JUST STOP IT!” Fuu screams.
He collapses in pain as soon as he hears Fuu’s screams. .In ep 2 when she screamed for Mugen to stop fighting, he didn’t. Instead, the ogre Oniwak a did. Now, as soon as she screamed to stop…he stopped and fell and Sara didn’t. It was likely just from pain, but the parallels still exist.
“Don’t come closer!” he yells to Fuu, because he is afraid she’ll get hurt by Sara. “STAY BACK!” He maybe doesn’t want her to be attached because no one should be attached to him. If she does, she’ll only get hurt.
(If any of you watched the Japanese movie Azumi, this is the exact lines Hyuga screams to Yae when he is bleeding on the ground dying. Hyuga had feelings for Yae. Here’s the link to that scene… Though…unless you plan to watch the whole movie, don’t finish the scene or just start from the beginning)
But then, Fuu jumps across his wounded body, saving his life. She couldn’t bear to see him die. Mugen’s face is one of shock and it is there that he realizes that Fuu…cares about him more than anyone in his life.
When Sara said that “It’s as if he’s never been loved by anyone,” she was proved wrong by Fuu because Fuu loved him enought to risk her very life to save him. That is why Sara spares them.
Earlier to Fuu in Ep 20, Sara had said “One thing I can’t understand is what people are feeling. Which is the one you don’t want to leave?”
Here, Sara realizes that Mugen means so much to her, that she would rather fucking DIE than see him die.
Fuu again takes care of Mugen. There is a little scene of her applying green paste to his cuts. And him being all annoyed. Cute shit. Later, when they are still alone, she says: “Hey, let’s stop this.” as in, let’s stop looking for the samurai who smells of sunflowers.
“It’s just…with you gone… I don’t know what I’ll do.”
Can’t get any more painfully obvious than this folks. Or can it?
When he goes off to fight Sara for a second time, she even wakes up in the middle of sleep saying “Mugen?” sensing that he’s gone again.
Jin could’ve very well be dead throughout this episode and Fuu didn’t even shed a tear… Honestly, poor Jin. This is probably another reason why Ginpei Sato got so damn annoyed with the writing in his interviews.
But at least Shino cried for him right?
Ep 22: Umm…Mugen fought off zombies. Mugen saves the day(?) Nope. Jin did. WITH LOGIC.
Ep 23: This episode is frickin’ goofy as all hell. The baseball one. However, there is proof. Fascinating proof.
While Jin meanwhile, dies on the field (”I am…ashamed.”) along with everyone else, Mugen, the ninja and Fuu are the last three standing.
When Fuu is next up to bat…MUGEN STOPS HER!
That concern. Fuu nods and scoots away. Who knew such a goofy ep showed how much he cared about her, wanted to protect her from getting killed by flying baseballs. Once again, Mugen was the hero of this ep. Just saying.
In addition, this goofy episode actually shows a giant shift in Mugen’s whole character.
In episode 1, Mugen proudly declares “I don’t give a damn about all this. I’m from the Ryukyus.” Mugen sees himself as an outsider. Not Japanese.
But in this episode, he screams, “Go back to your own country!” to the Americans. Mugen officially identifies as Japanese. Why? Because he wants to protect a Japanese woman from the “foreign menace”, which seems to be a reference to Japanese sentiment during World War II.
Ep 24: Really big proof again. Fuu chooses Mugen to talk first about his past at the campfire…which he doesn’t. Avoidant and nonchalant as always.
Fuu and Jin instead share heart to hearts. When Fuu is talking…there is a SPECIFIC part where Mugen is staring at her with a strange, almost soft look on his face.. But then he looks at the campfire as if with regret.
When Mugen lays “asleep” (this is how it connects to ep 11 with Jin and Fuu talking about Shino and Mugen jealously listening in secret) Fuu and Jin talk alone again.
“Fuu.” This is the first time Jin used Fuu’s name. Ahem…there was no honorific either, showing closeness more than rudeness: which are both circumstances to use no honorifics.
“Once you find the samurai who smells of sunflowers. What do you intend to do after that?”
Fuu’s facial expression changes from a smile to a sad look… She looks down, then up. “That’s a really good question. I ought to give that some thought.
But she interrupts him. “You know, I don’t really want to think about stuff like that. If you did, Mugen would-” but she interrupts herself, crying and saying “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” she hugs Jin, who puts a reassuring palm on her shoulder.
Mugen is meanwhile shown briefly; not asleep at all, watching this with a sad/angered look on his face. Jealousy. Connects to ep 11 where he listens in secrete when Jin and Fuu are alone.
This conversation between Jin and Fuu has made TONS of speculation. I personally think Jin was going to say “If I should survive. If I should kill Mugen, would you like me to still keep traveling with you?” after all, Jin and Mugen were planning to duel to the death once their debt was paid to her. Plus, he must have felt bad for Fuu; seeing as how she’d be alone. I don’t at all believe Jin harbored romantic feelings for her, more like a brother of father figure. And he saw her as his lord worth serving.
The exact phrase Fuu uses here is: “Datte, Mugen no aitsu ga…”
I have read once, that a possible continuation of this line is “Mugen no aitsu ga suki desu.”
This fits surprisingly well, and makes toooons of sense for the context of the entire scene. So let’s just humor this possible dialogue for a moment.
BELOW IS MY INTERPRETATION OF THE UNSAID WORDS BETWEEN THEM:
“Once you find the samurai who smells of sunflowers. What do you intend to do after that?”
“That’s a really good question. I ought to give that some thought.”
"If I should win against Mugen in the duel…would you like me to continue to serve you?”
"You know, I don’t really want to think about stuff like that. Because I love Mugen.”
"I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
This makes…a lot of sense??? It makes even MORE sense when this is added on to the later scene…in which Jin flashbacks to that riverbank scene and SENDS MUGEN TO SAVE HER. HE KNOWS.
Mugen was just as confused about this scene as us viewers lol; showing jealousy by revealing to only the viewers, that Mugen was watching from afar as Fuu hugged Jin.
The next day, when Fuu hands the coin purse over, she hands it to MUGEN. MUGEN THE IRRESPONSIBLE MONEY WASTER. When he gets it, he shoves it over to Jin…I think again, showing distaste, believing she prefers Jin.
At the end, Umanousuke, whose sole purpose is to get revenge on Mugen, follows Fuu. He says:
Umanousuke is referring to Mugen, saying he wants to hurt Fuu to give him a good taste of pain. To have him lose something precious to him, just like how Mugen ruined Umanousuke’s life.
At this point, he’s developed some serious feelings for her.
“W-what are you talking about?”
“I’m saying that…this place will be your grave.”
This was all foreshadowed in ep 2, where the man used Fuu as a bargaining chip to get Mugen. Funny…
“NO! You go!” Mugen is being stubborn again. And I think it is largely based on what he saw on the riverbank. Fuu hugging Jin.
But then, Jin has a flashback of that scene where Fuu cried into his chest about Mugen. This is where Jin accepts that Fuu always chose Mugen over him, Mugen always saved her throughout the series, and ultimately, it’s Mugen she wants to save her again.
“Take care of Fuu.” This is the English subtitle and also the english dub. HOWEVER, I’m not a complete expert in Japanese but Jin said “Fuu wo tanomu.”
I believe another translation could be “I am entrusting Fuu to you.”
There’s a silence. The wind starts blowing. Mugen’s mouth opens with confusion.
Mugen grits his teeth. That was all Jin needed to say and Mugen is off running to save the girl, as always.
Reminder: MUGEN NEVER TAKES ORDERS! When someone tells him what to do, he does the opposite. Any time Jin told him what to do, Mugen refused to listen or did the opposite. The only person he listened to was Fuu (reluctantly). And now he’s listening to Jin when it concerns Fuu? Hmm. Plus, Mugen must always defeat and opponent stronger than him. He MUST kill Kariya Kagetoki. But he abandons that, let’s Jin take the samurai out (even if that means Jin took down someone he couldn’t!) all because he’s going to save Fuu.
Jin smiles as he leaves. (He’s the biggest Fuugen shipper. And that’s a damn fact.)
At the Church, Fuu tells Umanousuke that Mugen doesn’t care, that he won’t come to save her… But he does. And he’s not very happy about how Umanousuke has been treating her.
“Kaishite“ implies possessiveness. “Return”. “Give back.”
Just. Watch the scene. Really actually watch it.
Like the Sara scene of episode 21, this is where Mugen says he loves her. He gives up his sword for her. Unlike Jin, his sword doesn’t represent honor or title. He isn’t a samurai. All he is, is a wandering drifter. No home, no money, no nothing. His sword is his life, the only thing that kept him alive. He gave it up for Fuu. This is similar to how Jin gave up his katana to the brothel for Shino. JIN NEVER GAVE UP HIS SWORDS. HE LOVED THEM AND CUDDLED THEM AT NIGHT.
Notice how Jin never gave his swords up for Fuu, only for Shino. Both men did the same action to their respective love interests.
“Go. You still haven’t found your sunflower dude.”
A calm, almost romantic sounding background track begins to play. It only plays here, and nowhere else. Its name is “Your Purpose” by Fat Jon. The one lyric is… “You”.
“But Mugen… I can’t leave you.”
“Don’t give me that crap. I’m gonna be pissed off if we came all this way for nothin’. Get lost.”
He cares that she’ll find her father. He wants her to survive. And he might die. But he doesn’t want her to see that.
“I ain’t gonna die. Have some faith in me, will ya?”
In Japanese, he uses the word “Shinjirou”. Faith. Believe in. Trust.
Now, this little bit interestingly connects to his dialogue in Episode 12. In Fuu’s diary she says at a point, “I vowed to never trust Mugen again.” Here, Mugen screams at her diary. “Good! See if I care that you don’t trust me!” But now, Mugen is practically begging Fuu to trust in him, believe in him.
He always came back to her every time he left. Always saved her. Always. This time is no different.
With that she finally departs. When she runs, she’s again crying for him because she believes he’ll die. That marks the fourth/fifth time she cried for him in the series. 1 was when she saw the ship explode in 14. 2 When she found him washed up on the beach in 14. 3 Possibly when Jin found her crying when Sara wanted to bring one of them along. 4 When she saved him from Sara.
Umanousuke laughs: “You almost make me cry! Are you really gonna throw your life away for a woman!“
Mugen has no reply. It shows Mugen’s stone cold face as a reaction to that statement. Umanousuke speaks the truth. He is throwing his life in the way for her, just as she did for him in Episode 21.
He gets tortured for her etc etc. etc. Throughout his torture, she continues to cry up the path to the cliff.
When the bomb goes off in back of her, she screams “MUGEN!” much more emotionally.
This is significant. Back to the Samurai Champloo actor interviews, Ayako Kawasumi confirms that she initially held back on the Mugen scream, but the sound director told her to scream louder and to not hold back. “Don’t worry about Jin.”
“Oh, it’s you? I thought you were death for a second.”
She has her hand on his chest in this intimate, heartwarming moment.
“It seems like all I ever do is cry… And here I was trying to make it on my own…” This is the last time she cries for him. Sixth/Seventh. She needed him throughout the journey. Mugen needed her to come back from death, and to finally be redeemed by the paantu figures that haunt him throughout the series.
In Japanese, he says “Baka yarou.”
This is one of his common nicknames he always says to her throughout the series. But for the first time, he says it calmly, with no spite or anger. It’s almost teasing and endearing.
Mugen never used Fuu’s name. She always said his name even more than she said Jin’s. The irony.
“Did you meet the sunflower samurai?” he asks.
Unfairly, Jin never has any moment like this with Fuu at the end, just like he never had a slow motion moment when he first met her, or had a moment where Fuu throws her life in the way to save him, etc etc.
Jin is meanwhile, over there…chillin’. As always.
Then, Mugen gets up and Jin and him will have their final duel.
She closes her eyes. If you look at the silhouette on the water; Fuu’s shadow is behind Mugen’s.
Interestingly, this is identical to the end of episode 14, with Mugen, Shiren and Koza.
Shiren stands in front of Koza on the right. Mugen eviscerates him from the left.
Here, Mugen is in front of Fuu on the right. Jin is on the left.
Perhaps, Fuu believes Jin will win, which would then connect to the implications and interpretations I made about the strange cryptic dialogue on the riverbank in episode 24. This is all purely speculation though.
They heal, they part ways. If you look at the ending credits… They are very hopeful.
It ends on Mugen, who is always shown first, signifying a new beginning. A bird is also watching him from a tree, just like in episode 14. Another parallel. There has been some speculation that this bird and the one in 14 are tanagers, as they have similar color patterns. Why this is significant is, in Japanese, tanagers are called “Fuu…kinchou.”
Fuu’s name, has other variants such as wind or style. So this is more speculation. Will we ever know?
Okay. Now then. Based on all of these scenes, It’s pretty obvious that it was not one sided on Fuu’s part. Mugen genuinely cared for Fuu and is implied to have developed a romantic and intimate love for her that differs greatly from how Jin’s interactions were portrayed with Fuu.
While yes, Mugen is proven to be physically attracted and curious about her by multiple examples of his own dialogue, there is definitely a bigger emotional love at work here.
Sidenote: Before anyone tries to pull the moral card on me, Mugen being nineteen/twenty is NOT weird for liking a fifteen turning sixteen year old girl. This is Edo era Japan. Hundreds of years ago. Women were considered as young as thirteen and the brain doesn’t fully mature until the age of 24 for every woman anyway. Even in America not a hundred years ago, girls were getting married younger than that age.
Fuu’s mental age is also much higher considering her responsibility, her work, being an orphan and the trauma she experienced and endured through. Women also can physically stop developing at a very young age. Personal anecdote: I stopped developing physically around thirteen/fourteen, and was often accosted by men at that age… Yes, it’s awkward. But I will not attack those men for making the mistake. How could they have known my age when even up to 20, I looked nearly identical? To me, in modern society, it is wrong and disgusting when an older man finds out a young girl’s age and continues to pursue her. If he didn’t know and apologizes, he shouldn’t be crucified for it.
Another controversial sidenote for westerners: In Japan, the age of fifteen is glorified as beautiful… It is not uncommon of frowned upon for Japanese idols and bikini models to start their careers around this age… Many, many teenage anime characters are often portrayed sexually despite the young age. It’s morally deplorable for us Americans and sometimes extremely difficult to look at from an outside lens…
Back on topic, Mugen and Fuu romance is not at all morally reprehensible in Tokugawa era Japan, or in the Japanese universe of fiction. It’s a 4/5 year age difference… That’s not a lot. As time goes on between them, that age gap is gonna diminish. Though, a personal interpretation on Mugen as a character is that he held back on pursuing her because of not only his issues with trust, but also because he seen her as so pure, and innocent, and good, when his entire backstory is cruel and sinful.
The symbolism of using Paantu, Ryukyuan entities that ward off evil, as the things that want to kill him, seem to solidify this. They aren’t demons. HE’S THE DEMON THAT THEY ARE KILLING. But notice what stops them from going after him.
It is Fuu’s love and his love for her, that saves him from them. He is purified. Healed. Redeemed.
He has become a hero. Not a villian.
Mugen saves Fuu a bazilion times. Jin saves her once in ep 26.
Fuu saved Mugen from death on 3 occasions. Fuu never has any such moment with Jin…
Fuu cried over Mugen six/seven times. Fuu cried over Jin one/two times. And the one time, it was comical.
The possible second time, was when Jin found Fuu on the bridge and she began to cry about giving one of them to Sara. It could have been about either Mugen or Jin, or both. We don’t know.
So, some personal interpretations, I believe Mugen as an individual suffers from emotional dissonance, since he is a person with an identity that is supposed to be cruel, unloving, antihero etc. But Fuu takes that identity and how the world perceives him and throws it out of a window. She makes him care when he’s not supposed to. She makes him a protector, a savior. She ultimately changes him as a person who could give two shits about others, into a better human being willing to die to save her. Fuu gave Mugen identity crisis.
Furthering this, Fuu also makes him question his taste in women. He claims he likes busty women. But he also states he likes “hot blooded women” and “i can get used to this rough stuff.” Fuu hits him, screams at him, tugs at him, demands things from him etc etc. She protects other people, isn’t afraid to fight (even though she’s bad at it). She bashes guys with pots, bites their fingers, jumps out of brothel windows, whips out her tanto etc etc etc. She’s one tough cookie.
More proof it’s romantic love, Fuu became infuriated and jealous with him flirting with women throughout the show, and it finally boiled over with Sara. Mugen meanwhile, was extremely possessive and jealous when it came to the artist Moronobu, went out of his way to win her in Episode 18 in a contest against “two men vying for her”, and finally…Jin. Notice how Jin didn’t get jealous over Fuu or Mugen’s interactions with anyone…
By my interpretatipn, his feelings for Fuu, romantic and intimate, were strange and foreign to him. And he never ended up acting upon them, but he thoroughly expressed them with his actions by putting his life and well being on the line for her. When two people suppress their feelings, it turns into an extremely subtle romance. And that was what made the anime so perfect. If you aren’t into romance, you can watch it for the action, the story. But if you’re like me, you can examine the character’s interactions too.
For Mugen specifically…his words often don’t align with his actions.
I ship it. I believe Mugen and Fuu’s feelings were undoubtedly mutual, and I hope that added some insight.
On another note…Mugen flipped the coin that saved him from the fate of traveling with her. And Fuu tricked him into thinking he lost. Jin, chill as he is, was just along for the ride and made some annoyingly loudmouthed friends.
ONE FINAL NOTE..Mugen and Fuu still have some…unfinished business from episode 1. Whatever happened to the 100 dumplings?
