Afro Samurai

AFRO SAMURAI

A five part series taken from a self-published manga, supported and aided by Samuel L Jackson. 

OVERVIEW -Set in a world that appears to be an odd fusion of old Japan and the future, the plot follows the Afro Samurai of the title as he journeys to seek vengance on the man who killed his father. 

REVIEW -I'll be honest from the get-go here, within 10 minutes of watching this series, I wanted to stop. I'll go into why as i progress, but I feel it fair to pre-warn you all that it may be very negative. 

The plot, as such, is that there exists in the world of the series two headbands, surrounded in legend. The owner of the No.1 headband is considered the strongest in the world, is meant to obtain near-godlike power and cannot be challenged by anyone apart from the owner of the No.2 headband. The owner of the No.2 headband has the right to challenge the No.1, but can be challenged by anyone. At the start the Father of the lead character holds the No.1 headband, but is killed by a gunslinger in front of "Afro" as he appears to be called from this point on.

Through a series of flashbacks we learn that The boy runs away, carrying his fathers decaying head in a backpack, with his fathers sword and the No.2 headband. Is set upon by bandits and left for dead, rescued by a swordsman who takes care of kids and then grows up learning the ways of the sword. 

As an adult, the story pretty much picks up at a point where Afro is nearing the mountain where the No.1 dwells, and is set upon by not only oppotunistic bandits but an organisation of sorts who want the headband. The five episodes generally deal with Afro's fights with them, while giving exposition to his background. 

As plots go, its really nothing special, nothing that any other basic fighting anime/manga hasnt already done. The fight scenes, while energeticly animated, are fairly predictable and mostly boring. There seems to be an excessive amount of blood contained in every person Afro cuts as well, with literal gallons of the stuff pouring out in every fight. Afro is basically shown as a cold-blooded merciless killer from an early age, always trying to find the No.2 headband as a kid or simply killing anything in his path once he has it. Honestly speaking, Afro is a one-dimensional character, with no real redeaming features or actions, and in fact could even be described as the villain of the piece. 

During his travels as an adult, he is accompanied by a constantly talking companion (identified by wiki-search as being called "ninja ninja", as he's never named in the series) who constantly talks "street" in the worst possibly blacksplotation-movie style ever. Apparently he's not even real, an imaginary friend of Afro's brought on by guilt and an obvious mental health issue, created when his actions caused the death of all his childhood friends, and just after Afro killed his swordmaster, the man who'd cared, protected and raised him for many years. Ninja ninja is one of the most irritating characters i've ever seen, and i've seen some really annoying ones. 

The animation is fairly ok, with a washed-out desaturated feel to anything but blood or lemonade (apparently Afro's favourite drink). Sadly when any action does take place the animators went for a style which I personally hate, allowing body parts to blur, extend, distort and bend in completely unrealistic manners. Many anime use this style, Naruto being a prime offender. This really detracted from the one possible redeeming feature of this anime, and its sole focus, the battles, for me. 

Finally, lets get to the part that had me hesitant to even begin to review this series, the voice acting. While technically an "Anime", as in written by, produced in and aired in Japan, Samuel L Jackson's involvement appears to have had the impact of having the whole thing shot with an English speaking voice-cast, its initial airings in Japan being subtitled in Japanese. I've spoken before about my hesitation and trepidation over English voice casts, and sadly this anime simply enforced that for me. The voice-acting was hammy, pantomimed and either so far over the top it was laughable, or so completely devoid of any attempt at emotion it was like a kid being forced to read out loud in class. The dialogue was equally as awful, with lines like "fucking fuck! i'll fucking cut you fuck!" or possibly the worst line ever "I'm sweating in anticipation for your kill, CAN YOU SMELL ME YET?" all of which was delivered in a style you'd expect from a bit-part actor, not esteemed talents such as Ron Pearlman, Dwight Schultz and John DiMaggio (thats bender to most other people). The vocal cast was small as well, with most characters voiced by the same people (a total of 8 people voiced the major cast, with one person providing the voices for three of the same group) leading to a real lack of distinction. 

Overall, While a good-looking show, it was almost the complete opposite to what I would enjoy or call a "good" anime. 

SUMMARY -

Story - A very one-dimensional, un-likable lead, a weak plot (kill everyone, avenge father, be No.1) and some awful dialogue really do not help this anime stand out, let alone stand above others. The story by itself fails to compel, or really serve as anything but an excuse to have lots of fight scenes. 1/10

 

Production -Visually striking, with physics-defying hair and headbands fluttering away at all times, the use of the desaturation to give a bleak feel was a good touch. However, the "fluidic freedom of body-structure" animation style used in many points is a personal peeve of mine, it also made use of repeated animation scenes, and none of the fights, save one, felt in any way epic, or appealing. the voice cast were poor, with many performances feeling phoned-in or done in a rush, no real emotional conveyance taking place and far too many of them spoke like it was a 60's blacksplotation movie. its style alone is its saving grace. 3/10

 

Music - Dont even get me started. largely un-scored, when some music did kick in it was hip-hop, very out of place even given the ethnicity of the main character. None of it added anything to any scene it was used in, and in many cases distracted from the scene. Lesson here, dont let hip-hop artists from America score anime, ever. 1/10 (I'd give zero but the opening theme fitted)

Accessability -A weird mix of american and japanese culture is on display, the majority of the characters, settings and world appeared to be pure feudal Japan, then someone pulls out a rocket launcher or a cell-phone, and a robot or cyborg appears. while not offputting to any particular audience, the total lack of background for the setting makes it quite confusing in places. 5/10

 

Overall Impression - I highly doubt that without Samuel L Jackson's involvement this would have got any real momentum behind it, the plot is weak, the animation overly stylised and really lacks any kind of character development. it honestly seems to be to be a vehicle to promote the concept of a samurai with an afro, and nothing else. 1/10

 

Final Score - 11/50

(I want to add, or should i say remind people that this review is *my opinion* and it will vary to other peoples. The show has produced a couple of movies and video games so obviously has appeal to people, just not to me)