Subtle Fuugen Proof: Fuu’s Mysterious Broken Sandal
I’m not sure if anyone noticed this…and it was really bugging me for a while. So I decided to take it upon myself to point out this very subtly placed hint of MugenxFuu found in the FIRST episode, and explained in the second.
In the very ending of Samurai Champloo Episode 1, Tempestuous Temperaments, after the coin toss, the trio are pursued by the guards of the town.
Mugen utters a swear before him and Jin proceed to run. Then, Fuu removes the coin from her forehead, which is heads, but claims it is tails. She yells, “Yata!” A noise of victory, similar to “Alright!” and is used in the same context as “I won!”
Upon taking a step forward in order to follow Mugen and Jin…her zori (sandal) strap breaks and she trips.
If anyone has ever owned Japanese shoes…these things are an incredible hassle to fix (I couldn’t figure out how to fix mine.) I am unsure if it was common knowledge to repair them in the Edo era… but I highly doubt common people knew how. Just like nowadays, not everyone knows how to fix their shoes from scratch. They’d have to go to a professional shoe repair shop.
Anyway, the episode cuts off there, and we are never shown the fate of Fuu’s broken sandal. What we do know however, is that in the next episode and in the rest of the entire series, she is still wearing the same sandals… She never bought a replacement pair. That means someone must have fixed them before the beginning of Episode 2…
Most likely (DEFINITELY) Mugen.
Because of the only hint we are given, is found in the next episode 2, showing a strong connection between him and sandal fixing.
In Episode 2 Red-eye Reprisal , Mugen and Jin trek through the woods with a drunk Fuu being carted.
Suddenly, Mugen stopped walking, seeing an attractive woman (Hotaru) in the distance, walking barefoot, her zori sandal having broke. She was unable to fix it.
Again, this makes me believe that it was not common knowledge to know how to fix the straps. Of course, she’d been hired by Ryujiro to poison Mugen and most likely broke her sandal as an excuse to start a conversation with him. But if it WEREN’T common knowledge to fix them, wouldn’t Mugen and Jin have gotten suspicious that she needed help? So…it must have not been that strange for most people to be unaware of how to repair them.
Mugen ends up fixing Hotaru’s sandal and she thanks him. He responds, “I never said it was free.”
…Jin nor Fuu, nor anyone else in the series has any scene or connection with fixing sandals in the entire show. Only Mugen had done so. This would make an incredible amount of sense that he does, considering he grew up in the Ryukyuan Islands (most likely Miyakoshima) where poverty was rampant. He has very few possessions to his name and probably fixed everything he did own. And, his geta (wooden clogs) actually have steel plates nailed to the bottom for guarding against katana. (a design that he most likely added himself since this is not at all typical.) Mugen is apparently a shoe fixer!
You could argue “Well, maybe Jin fixed Fuu’s sandal!”
Sorry…but this is unlikely.
Upon doing some historical research, Jin (who wears the crest of the Takeda Clan) had most likely grown up in a castle. Yes. Castle. While he may have only mentioned the dojo in the anime..he’d been an orphan taken in by Mariya Enshirou, who was in fact a REAL historical person of the Takeda samurai clan. This samurai really did own the Mujushin Kenjutsu Dojo…as well as a small castle called Kururi Castle founded in 1540. Also, Jin was taken in personally, and Mariya had decided he would be his succesor to the dojo… This was before Kariya Kagetoki forced Mariya to try to assassinate his own pupil. All of this implies that while not at the dojo, Jin spent his days tucked in a castle, a lonely, sheltered samurai boy.
This explains how Jin is far more reserved and well spoken than Mugen (who has a yanki accent) and Fuu (who talks tomboyishly), and many other samurai shown. And he is so incredibly pale, even more than Fuu. Light skin is actually a sign of wealth since people who toil in the fields or travel would have to be in the sun quite often, rather than have leisure activities inside. So, Jin probably didn’t have any experience fixing things, as this is peasant’s work. This also explains how Mugen and Fuu knew how to fish in episode 15 while Jin had no idea at all.
Back on topic, it is then heavily implied Mugen is the one who fixed Fuu’s broken sandal. The act is incredibly romantic in Japanese culture too. Many Japanese dramas and manga contain a similar scene (that is actually shown) where a girl breaks her sandal (a common occurrence!) and the man either fixes it and slips it on her foot…or carries her upon his back if he doesn’t know how.
Of course…the animators had never shown this scene since it would be far too obvious of the fuugen relationship dynamic (though it is quite obvious as the series progresses) and is unneeded in the episode composition. I also love how the moment where her sandal breaks is super quick. It took me forever to screenshot it without pausing. That way it is subtle and most people don’t notice it, let alone put two and and two together…
Now…you could even wonder if Mugen had also carried her after episode 1, since the guards were running after them, Fuu is clumsy and can’t run fast (even without a broken sandal), and Mugen would most likely get frustrated and carry her until they found a decent hiding place, then fixing her sandal afterwards. But unlike everything else I have mentioned, this is just purely fan speculation.
Mugen fixed Fuu’s sandal before episode 2. There. Ya got more fuugen proof from me.
P.S. I am going to write a fanfiction of this concept.
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