Ranked #1246

Afro Samurai

I watched this series on Spike TV and i must insist this is one of the best dubbed animes i have ever watched!

The voice over cast list start off with Samuel L Jackson (pulp fiction, Starwars) and Kelly Hu (X2: Xmen United) two A list actors very famous for their action movies. And their voices get put through the test as they use their voices for multiple characters in the series. And the voices they portray are very believable in my opinion.

As in terms of animation value, one only needs too look at their hair and their tattered clothing flowing in the wind just like in a classic samurai showdown of the old days. Everything is very artistic and not to mention VERY gory (which is a plus for me).

As expected of a 5 episode series, the story is not very detailed on character backgrounds and side stories except the main character (their website more than explains each character). But, they do throw you in the mix right away. The main character "afro samurai" is the second samurai in the world. And he is on a mission to become the number one samurai in the world. And thats where the story starts, his journey to his headquarters.

the verdict? For those who want a quick pick me up action anime that you can finish in one sitting, by all means pick this up! but if youre looking for a super long anime, youre looking in the wrong place. read more

I picked this anime up one night while just walking through the anime section. I had heard it was pretty good so i wanted to check it out. To my surprise I noticed that the series was only five episodes long. They do in fact just through you into the story without a lot of backstory on any of the characters except for Afro Samurai.

Story: The story was short, but it got straight to the point. Their are two rankings of Samurai in the world, The Number One, and The Number Two. The whole series is really about Afro Samurai, being the Number Two samurai trying to become The Number One and Avenging his father who was killed for the number one spot. I liked the story because as it does follow the traditional style of anime, it is different in it's own right.

Art: I found the animation to be really good, but that's just in my opinion. I thought the detail of everything in the settings was animated very well, and the characters themselves as well. The gore is brought out the best way it could be without being excessive.

Sounds: The music for this anime was different being more of a rap song, with a sweet beat. It's not something you would expect in a normal anime, but compliments this show very well, and the music throughout is also very good.

Overall I would give Afro Samurai an 8, because it was very good even thought it was only five episodes, it had the copasity to be so much longer, probably even as long as a traditional anime being 25 to 50 episodes. It's a good anime that I myself would recommend to others that are looking for a action filled anime that they can watch in one sitting.

Thanks for reading, and this is my first review!! ^_^ read more