Lullabies of the Lost wraps up. Then Mugen learns to rap. The show contains multitudes.
Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover "Lullabies of the Lost (Verse 2)" and "War of the Words,” Episodes 17 and 18 of Samurai Champloo.
"Lullabies of the Lost (Verse 2)" picks up the three separated threads: Fuu's involvement with the traveller reaches its climax, Jin deals with his past again, and Mugen questions what it means to be alive. The episode's closing sequence, set to a rare one-time-use piece from the Nujabes score, is one of the more quietly beautiful moments in the series.
Then "War of the Words" is the show doing a comedy episode in a way that’s oddly moving: Mugen admits that he can’t read, and a local teacher drags him off, declaring that a man without words isn’t a man at all. At the same time, Jin and Fuu end up in the middle of a contest between two graffiti artists, both of whom are also struggling to communicate.
We discuss what the Lullabies two-parter ultimately delivers on and where "War of the Words" fits in the show's catalogue of confident nonsense.
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