I hate the damn bird at the end. It has the structure of a partridge with unidentifiable colors. My best guess is that since it's the last episode, the artists got lazy and/or were out of money and couldn't be bothered to draw a bird on model. The bird in Mugen's flashback is 100% a tanager, the bird at the end sits on the same type of scene composition, so most likely, it's meant to be a mirror of the same scene and bird. The closest it looks like is a rufous crested tanager. -Lin
Above: the credits bird from samurai champloo, Below: a rufous-crested tanager.
Lin is referring to the below post about the bird being a fuugen hint due to Fuu’s name in its gana form being short for “tanager bird”. She says though the bird from the flashback is fuzzy, it is indeed either a flame-colored tanager or summer tanager because of its unmistakeable colors, (likelier to be the former because of its “darker break”) while the above bird is more difficult to place, but very likely to be a tanager as well.
Since Lin is a huge bird expert (and japanese) I would go ahead and trust her on this. She can confirm for that poster that both birds are symbolic fuugen hints and “probably the closest to canon confirmation you can get out of that damn ending” according to her, lol.
I fucking knew those two birds were tanagers. Just like Fuu's name “fuukinchou” means “tanager”. I just thought I was overthinking it for Fuugen hints. But I guess I wasn't. Fuugen guys.
I honestly believe that it is a representation that she'll always be a part of his life, watching him from a distance...maybe to the point of following him. It's almost as if the bird is what is calling him to her too O.o
The last episodes of the anime had so many Mugen x Fuu hints, finally reinstilling the fact that it was not Jin that Fuu loved. The scene that Jin had no equivalent to was when Fuu screamed way louder for Mugen over the cliff when Jin got stabbed. Afterwards, Fuu called back Mugen from death. Fuu never called Jin back from death. They had that heartfelt conversation, and when Jin and Mugen had their final fight, it was Mugen she stood behind.
Its also interesting since crows represent death in Japanese culture and are always following Mugen, trying to take him to the afterlife.
Since Fuu represents tanagers, she is the colorful bird that chases the crows away from him. When he was letting go, everything was black, white and grey... But her voice brought him back to a world of color.
It's also funny since he was always yelling at her to shut up and tanagers have a sweet high pitched call (much like Fuu's voice in Japanese).
Finally, Mugen is the last person shown in the credits. One would think it would be Fuu... And then they show the tanager (fuukinchou) watching him.
They will meet again. They are meant to.
