The Disorder Diaries

The Disorder Diaries (温故知新 Onkochishin) is the 12th episode of the anime series Samurai Champloo. It originally aired on August 12, 2004 in Japan and aired on July 30, 2005 in the USA.

Episode Info
The trio are resting in a lodge for the night, with Fuu taking her time relaxing in a nearby hot spring, as Mugen and Jin begin contemplating and expressing skepticism towards their mission. All this time spent hunting down The Samurai Who Smells Of Sunflowers and they’re not even sure who he is or what Fuu’s connection is to him.

Mugen, desiring to find out what’s up, decides to sneak through Fuu’s possessions to find some kind of clue, and he does in the form of a small book. Jin, having to read the book because Mugen is illiterate (he can't read), sees that it’s a diary that’s been chronicling their adventures from the very first episode, starting on the 10th of July.

Fuu reminisces on her first encounter with the two samurai, having a low opinion of Mugen and an equally negative view of Jin (although she admits Jin looked cute which annoys Mugen). As the two continue through her diary, she touches upon every episode of the series up to now, some in greater detail than others in her perspective.

One event in particular she focuses on is her encounter with Hishiwaka Moronbu, the sketchy ukiyo-e painter from Artistic Anarchy. Fuu contemplates if Hishiwaka ever successfully escaped to Holland, and a sudden narration by Sakami Manzou (Manzo The Saw) reminds us that he did not manage to escape.

While reading, the diary stops to focus on the encounter with Shinsuke, and at one point she wrote about a dream she had concerning her deceased mother, relating it to Shinsuke’s mother and vowing to write a letter to her one day.

Next, the diary focuses on her encounter with Nagamitsu, condemning Mugen and Jin for wanting to go after Budokiba despite the fact that even Fuu herself admits that she was sexy. She laments the fact that all the group’s time is spent earning money to survive instead of directly pursuing their target.

The diary then covers their imprisonment at the Hakone checkpoint where Fuu express frustration at Jin’s complete lack of conversation throughout the entire ordeal, only responding with “Hmms” or “aahs” instead of opening up to her.

The diary then talks about the events of Lethal Lunacy where Mugen fought against Shoryu, and their one on one conversations with Shoryu's teacher Zuikō. Jin is informed of the nature of human freedom, Fuu questions her association with Mugen and Jin before being told her journey with them is her destiny, and Mugen makes a bunch of crass bald jokes before Zuikō whacks him with his staff.

The diary concludes with Fuu coming to terms with her continued journeying with the two questionable samurai, even expressing a bit of gratitude that they’ve helped her get this far. However, this turns out to be a trick, as Fuu knew Mugen and Jin would sneak around and said that everything she said about being grateful was a lie (although this is shown to be false, as Fuu deeply cares for them) which makes Mugen scream in annoyance and anger. Hearing Mugen's scream, Fuu wakes up as the episode closes.

Characters

 * Mugen
 * Jin
 * Fuu
 * Nagamitsu (flashback)
 * Budokiba (flashback)
 * Sakami Manzou (flashback and narration)
 * Moronbu Hishikawa (flashback)
 * Shoryu (flashback)
 * Zuikou

Trivia

 * This is the first (and only) recap episode of the series.
 * Sakami Manzou would often interrupt to narrate things that happened in the story. For example, Sakami Manzou would talk about the non-fictional Japanese author Harumachi Koikawa after events in Artistic Anarchy
 * Manzou would also narrate about the sexual freedom in Japan, describing a perceived boom in sexuality in the present day and relating it to the massive amount of open sexuality present in the Edo period. Sexual freedom evidently didn’t become taboo until the Meiji period and the sudden influx of Western cultural influences.
 * Manzou's final narration is when he is educating the viewers on the influence of Zen Buddhism on the American beatniks of the ‘50s and the hippie flower children of the ‘60s.
 * Fuu says that Jin is cute, however it is unclear if she actually thought he was cute, or she did it just to annoy Mugen.