Forgive me if my thoughts on this, or anything on this page, are a bit unorganised. I'm just typing whatever comes to mind.
Anyway, I rewatched this about a month or two ago. It was my first time watching in ages so I didn't remember too much of it. That said, This rewatch cemented it in my top 10 anime.

My fondness for Champloo is definitely influenced by nostalgia but even ignoring that I'd still say it's an amazing series. I've never really been good at describing the feeling that some pieces of media make me feel but I suppose Champloo just makes me appreciate the connections I have with others. Even at times when they get on your nerves, you still bare with them you know?

Though i guess depending on the context that can be a bad thing but you get the idea. I'm a sucker for the found family trope so I really do love seeing how the main trio end up sticking together through everything they experience along the way.
Episode 17 (if i remember correctly) is my favourite episode because of this.

Seeing them lose patience with one another ,in the previous episode, and split up and then seeing them at the end of episode 17, barely any words spoken after the events that took place, silently acknowledging that they're gonna continue their journey together, it warms my heart. And the ending music is nothing shot of a chef's kiss to the episode. The music of Champloo overall is really good.

Goes without saying, that all the artist brought to make music for this show did great jobs, some my favourite tracks including, the opening and ending for the majority of episodes, You, Aruarian dance, Who's theme, Counting stars, Same ol' thing, and so on. Might as well just list every song in the soundtrack. But yeah, the soundtrack is great and you should listen to it. As the for the animation, I think its nice. Like there's nothing that absolutely blows my mind but It is consistently good. I dunno what else to talk about right now but I guess I might as well talk about the other minor characters that show up.

This series is very episodic so you're usually gonna get characters showing up for one or two episodes or so and then never again unless mentioned. There aren't too many exceptions if i remember correctly. Anyway, I liked the dude from episode 16 and 17. Forgive for not remembering names lol. Simply respect the way he goes out considering he was prosecuted for crimes. I like to dislike the girl from episode 13. Cunning son of a gun but got what she deserved in the end. I really like the end of that episode. No words needed, just check it out for yourself. The americans in the baseball episode made me laugh. Ninja lady was cool. Samurai guy who's name i don't remember from the last few episodes was cool too. Quite menacing. And i like the monk from episode 10 I think. Those grafitti brothers and the caligraphy guy too. Moderately amusing.

Thinking about it now, the episodic nature of this show really goes well with the kinda journey our main trio is on. Though she does ineed find the sunflower samurai at the end, the meeting is short lived and bittersweet but by the end of it all I was left with this feeling of like, the journey was greater than the destination. That kind of feeling. Not to say that the destination and the events that took place there were insignificant in comparison.

okay so I'm probably not gonna write all of my thoughts because I haven't watched it in ages but I just wanted to talk about how I feel about it briefly. Simply put, This adaptaion resonated with me emotionally way more than brotherhood or,to a lesser extent, the managa did and I can confidently say I prefer it other the two, particularly Brotherhood. I like the overall tone and presentation of '03 more and the themes and messages it conveys.
Whilst the manga and Brotherhood have a more optimistic view when it comes to its messaging, '03 feels, at least to me, a lot more realistic and grounded because of how bittersweet and somewhat tragic with the way certain things and especially the ending play out. A lot of stuff isn't resolved perfectly or given what may be considered proper closure and because of that it makes the story feel more real. Life doesn't always give a fair deal to all of it's participants as we see with examples such as Winry never getting closure with the death of her parents, Hughes never being properly avenged and, in the ending, the brothers being seperated, Edward making a sacrifice to bring his brother back, even if it means potentially never seeing him again. And it's because of moments liike these, why 2003 left a lot more of a mark on me than Brotherhood did.
I dont't think Brotherhood is bad by all means nor do I think having a good ending for almost all your cast is either, but I suppose I find it somewhat predictable and a tad bit idealistic when thinking about it deeply but I digress. That's about all I have to say for the time being, Other than that I like the music for 2003 waaaaaaaay more due to it's more classical, cinematic vibe which feels like it belongs in some kind of drama from the 20th century.