Ranked #1235

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

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

I had read rave reviews about this in a couple of anime magazines. I mean an anime that features the voice of Samuel L Jackson in the lead role is got to be cool right? I had to check it out.

I have to say I was very disappointed. The story is just a cliché, and there is virtually no character development. Had Samuel L Jackson not done some extra voices (like the annoying Ninja Ninja character, who is just a tad more tolerable than Jar Jar Binks) he would've had about 5 seconds of dialogue since the 'hero' isn't much of a talker.

The only saving grace for this is the quality of the animation, which is nothing short of superb. It would've been so much better if they ditched it as an anime and used it as a music video or something like that.
read more

I'm gonna go out ahead and say that most people should watch Afro Samurai at least once, or give the first episode a chance.

Story: The story is pretty flat, but at it's heart it follows the traditional revenge story. Samurai blaxploitation revenge even. Not at all uncommon for anime. However, this anime is genre wise ALLl over the place. The main antagonist Afro seems to be pursuing through the anime is a gunslinger, so you think a bit of a samurai spaghetti western for a moment ( think Sukiyaki Western Django ), but then he's totally fighting cyborgs. Now, you ask yourself what the hell just happened, but that's the thing it does it really well and fits into the Afro Samurai universe by itself that you really pay no mind.

Art: For a nation that hasn't exactly been known for it's positive portrayal of people of color ( and use of black face among other things ), I honestly think the creator got Afro right for this. I have no complaints about the animation. It flows beautifully. I don't think I could like the anime nearly as much if the art wasn't as good as it is.

Sound: The sound is very good in Afro Samurai also. The wind blowing scenes do very well, as you can hear their clothes blowing smoothly, not choppy crappy sound effects you get in a lot of anime or recycled sound effects used in some movies. The music is done by RZA, and if the name isn't familiar then you're probably not familiar with the Wu-Tang Clan. The soundtrack is dare I say it...and I think I do, "dope". It is amazing, it is a mixture of not only hip hop but some rock for some tunes. Not to mention the voice acting. Samuel L. Jackson is the icing on the cake for the voice. I could listen to this man's lines over and over again. "DO THEY SPEAK ENGLISH IN WHAT!?!"

Character: Afro is pretty flat. He only has one objective: "Get the headband."
I'm honestly not sure what compelled me to like Afro, by all means he's kind of boring minus his awesome blade skills. The other characters aren't really developed upon much, but toward the end of the series we see a lot more into Afro's thoughts through flashbacks. However, Afro himself remains stoic, even though his previous incarnation was quite animated. Due to the events we witness through flashbacks, it's safe to assume when we find Afro now he's sealed himself off. He doesn't grow through out the series visibly, I'd say he's not very round at all.

Enjoyment: I really enjoyed this anime. There are good animes ( that win awards ), and there are AWESOME animes. The difference is, awesome animes aren't always good or thought provoking, and good animes are not always awesome ( think A Whisper of the Heart, good anime, but not awesome ). If you're the kind of person who watches movies lots of action movies and frequently says "There weren't enough explosions." chances are you'll like Afro Samurai for it's awesome factor.

Overall. I give it an 8. read more

A samurai. With an afro. And they point it out in the title, like watching his head wouldn't be noticeable enough.

Anyway, this is a pretty butt kickingly awesome anime about a samurai. While this samurai does not want to know what's the up with the mother-f*cking snakes on his mother-f*cking plane, he does want sweet, smelly revenge for the decapitation of daddy Afro.

Art has some cool fight scenes, like in Samurai Champloo, just more violent. The sound has excellent hip hop origins, so that's good too. So is Samuel mother-f*king L. Jackson's voice.

Afro and the dude who is his annoying sidekick never grow or change, but damn aren't they funny and cool, anyway.

Watch Afro Samurai. Mother-f*cker. read more

While not the best wandering samurai show, it certainly takes a decent stab at the genre.

Story - Non-existent, if you're looking for one, try any harem series. Although if it's action you're looking for, this maybe for you.

Art - Gritty animation gave Afro Samurai it's own style, highlight of the series.

Sound - Samuel Jackson's performance as Ninja Ninja, the apparent comical side-kick didn't work for me. His chit-chatter of Afro Samurai's foreseeable demise is a common irritation throughout.

While the voice acting was mediocre, RZA can be commended for his polished musical score for the series.

Character - Being 5 episodes long, there was no chance of any character development whatsoever, you either loved the protagonist from the start or loathed him, which would explain why sympathy was used as the initial attention puller. For me, it failed, I've seen this too many times, done better.

Enjoyment - No story=snore. There is a stiffy moment in there for you H fans, though. *raises hand*

Overall - The series caused more sparks than lighting anything imaginative. Was AS a big disappointment? It has to be said, initially I felt AS would not interest me at all and it didn't fail in that department.

Watch this series once then put it with the rest of the pretenders. read more

I was actually kind of reluctuant to watch Afro Samurai. There was no reason why, but I'm glad I watched it.

The plot is pretty much about a man seeking revenge for a samurai killing his father. In a way, the plot isn't that original, but with the voice talents of samuel L jackson, it brings a little comedy into the "seriousness" of the plot.

The animation I would say is quite good, not outstanding, but not too bad. Alot of samurai action, which I would say is the main point.

The fact that it's 5 episodes is really a plus, because this kind of plot couldn't go on forever. So.. really, if you want to watch something short and sweet, and isn't drawn out, give it a go. read more

I think some of the reviewers missed the point of this anime.

It's not trying to be thoughtful and original. It's not trying to be a masterpiece.

Rather, it's a typical samurai-looking-to-avenge-his-father story, the only difference being that here our protagonist is black, and enjoys an icy glass of lemonade. The series does manage to succeed with its characters; while they're mostly cliches, they're also humorous and light-hearted enough that one enjoys their presence.

But ultimately, this series is all about the action.

And in that capacity, this anime succeeds; the fights between Afro and his enemies are visually stunning and well-choreographed. The movements are original, the enemies are bizarre and detailed, and motion feels very fluid.

As with "Snakes on a Plane", the title tells you all that you need to know; "Afro Samurai" is a fun, entertaining series, which is all it ever strove to be. read more

It's been a while, so forgive me if i go off by memory. Afro Samurai is the resulting mess you receive when you let americans take over production of your anime, It's like taking a joyride on your Dad's favourite lamborghini, a short-lived enjoyable thrill, but there'll be hell to pay when you're home.

The so-called underdog story this time is that there's a samurai, who happens to be African, in Japan - And he's not happy with being number 2! No, he can't just let it go, he has to decapitate/sever/dismember/BBQ his way through thousands for a number 1 headband (collector's edition (tm). It's a story, but only by definition - they needed a reason to fight.

The high point of this anime is the art, FUNimation did a spectacular and gruesome job of making this show flow smoothly, every fight scene is a sick pleasure to watch, with guts and blood covering no less than 1/4 of the screen at all times - Quentin Tarantino would be proud.

There's no such thing as an english Dub this time, since it's the original language. Samuel Jackson performed his part spectacularly well, as Ninja Ninja that is. Afro himself is an emotionally devoid zombie that speaks 5-6 times with breath-taking one liners such as "..shut..up". Oh, and Kelly Hu - why is she here? Couldn't you find any woman off the street with a bearable voice? Regardless, based on Jackson's performance alone i'm giving this some decency.

A character is an artificial entity that doesn't exist, but with his own personality, experience and charm - can make us try to understand him as a real human being. That's something to be worked on by the way. EVERY character in this series is absolutely forgettable, EVERY character is 2-dimensional.

To be quite truthful, i think Afro is a bastard, and despite being the protagonist, he's far more twisted and sick than all the villains. To contrast that think of Yagami Light from death note, misguided and corrupt, he's a teddy bear compared to this maniac.

Like I said in the intro, you'll enjoy the ride. If you don't like anime and know little or nothing about anime when you first watch this, you'll believe that this is some sort of anime nirvana, a real masterpiece. I believed that 2-3 months ago.
But if you've been around for a while and watch more thought provoking pieces than Naruto, you'll notice problems, cliches, left and right - that'll make it somewhat harder to enjoy.

Final score (calc'ed): 5.8 out of 10. Not good, not bad - average. read more