Ranked #1239

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 was told that this was a very stylish, very gory anime. It was recommended several times to me, but when I got round to watching it, I was appalled at the terrible, nonsensical story.

First of all, the story as a whole is VERY mediocre: boy loses father, boy gets revenge on fathers killer, etc. It's like something from Daredevil. But the thing that really, REALLY pisses me of is this: he hardly ever fights humans. Seriously. He fights killer robots, humanoids and weird monks (one armed with a bazooka!), and finally a guy with 3 arms.

That is why this series comes off as poor.

However, this is saved by the excellent animation with unique styling and excellent sounds. The artwork is great, and the voice acting by Samuel L Jackson adds the extra bad-assery that the show needs.

The charaters were pretty bad. You know how I feel about the enemies, but even Afro-Samurai is badly portrayed. He's a 2D character, and the writers thought that if loads of bad stuff happened to someone, I'll automaticly feel sorry for him and be on his side. No, it doesn't work like that.

Overall, not a series worth avoiding, but only because it's so short. There are plently of better anime to watch in the mean time. read more