Ranked #1248

Afro Samurai

When I first started watching Afro Samurai, I was blown away by the action scenes early on, as well as how contrived and generic the plot was. My early theory was that the plot was mostly around in order to set up more fights. As I got a few more episodes into the show, I was extremely disappointed to realize that the show creators didn't seem to realize how weak their own plot was, as flashbacks from Afro, and the main plot actually take up a very good chunk of the screen time, and those parts are pretty consistently boring.

Afro's plot is just plain stupid really. It starts off with the always reliable revenge story, but then it turns into a lot of stupid crap about trying to be #1 in the world. The character motivations to kill the hell out of each other never really make sense, so it's frustrating that so much time is spent on them.

They try really hard to make Afro the coolest man ever, but well, he ends up not really standing out from any "badass" character I've ever seen. Pretty much every other character in the show is basically annoying.

Afro's main redeeming point is the fights, in which there are sadly not enough of them. All the fights in Afro are ridiculously gory, stylish, and satisfying. I might even say jaw-dropping. It's easy to look forward to the fights, but sadly, they don't occur nearly as often as they should. The amount of the fights on the show do start to increase a bit as the show goes on, but for the most part, they don't seem as good as the show goes on. I think that after the initial shock and awe of the blood and gore, the fight scenes kind of lose their effect, but they are still pretty fun.

Afro Samurai's attempts to be stylish and cool really work when it comes to the fights. When it comes to the plot, the attempt to make a classic tale super cool and stylish end up falling completely flat. Afro Samurai was a shot with high potential to be an awesome guilty-pleasure. Instead, I just felt guilty that I devoted an hour and a half of my life to it. I wouldn't reccomend watching this, even if you are a total action freak. 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

For the longest time, I've been meaning to watch this after seeing AD's for it on Spike TV. Well, lucky for me I recently found it and watched all 5 episodes in one sitting and I must say... I was very impressed with it.

The story is rather simple. Afro Samurai is out for revenge for his fathers death, and he'll f*** anyone who stands in his way.
With each episode we learn just a little bit more about Afro and his haunted and blood filled history, and this all builds up to the final showdown. The plot overall, is rather simple and straight forward, but in the latter episodes things do become more heart and story driven. Not exactly the deepest story you'll find, but it still delivers the goods.

The art and animation is fantastic, that simple. Each movement is carefully animated creating a very smooth and often times beautiful animation. The action scenes are incredible to watch and should make any action junkie very happy. I'd even say the action scenes here rival Hellsing Ultimate. And that's saying something. So yeah, the animes budget is clearly seen here.

The voice acting was great, one of the best I've seen in an anime, with Samuel L. Jackson and Ron Perlman being the highlights. The soundtrack was also very good and fitting to the series, and even though I'm not much of a fan of rap, the slow rap intro was great to listen too.

The characters themselves were pretty interesting. While I thought the main protagonist Afro, was a walking badass, he was very cold... maybe even to cold. It was a tad hard to feel any sympathy for him, especially during a certain fight in episodes 4 and 5 (in which I had a tough time figuring out who I was routing for). Ninja Ninja, Afro's sidekick was pretty damn annoying, though it was interesting seeing the true role he played later on.
The antagonists weren't really that interesting in my opinion, save for 2 (one's a twist and the other being Justice the main antagonist) the others were just meh. The main bad group of characters 'Empty Seven Clan' are made up of identical monks and a big dude... yep, nothing very interesting there.

Overall, I say this is one hell of an anime and something which I wish had lasted a bit longer. An entertaining story, beautiful animations, superb voice acting, a badass protagonist, you really can't go wrong here.

So yes, this get's my stamp of awesomeness :D

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This is an out of the ordinary Samurai anime with an interesting twist to it. Not only is the main Samurai character black in race but we are presented with a twisted alternate universe of Japan.

As far as story line goes there isn't much, partly because of the series only lasting 5 episodes but also that it wasn't developed that much either. The plot line of why things are the way they are in this twisted universe is not explained, we're given a VERY brief reason to why and it doesn't make much sense aside from 'everyone wants to kill everyone'. Sadly to say the story can be summed up in one line and that is "All warriors want to be Number One". With all its flaws and open holes in the story, it still remains interesting because there has been nothing else quite like it. Seriously, when is the next time you'll see a animation about a Black Samurai with a rippin' Afro kicking some serious butt? Probably not for a looooong time.

The art style can well referenced to being very similar -if not the same as- to the art used in Todd McFarlane's "Spawn" the TV series. It can be described as a very flowing but detailed art style with often a dark tone to it. The attention put into the finer details in the art form to make the action really come to life and defining the scene, it gives a surreal feel to the series. I particularly like this art style for its detail alone but the dark overtones really sets off really dark series like this one very well.

The characters in this series are movie motion perfect for an action series and fit greatly into their roles but something is lacking. We learn very little to nothing about the characters in the series and what we are given we have to use our own imagination to fill in, which isn't too bad I guess (again, if it was more than 5 episodes I'm sure there would have been more). Artistically the characters are well formed but they lack strong vocal characterization. What I mean to say is that most of the characters and dialogs sound as if a poor designed robot is try to articulate emotions it knows nothing about. More work could have been put in.

Overall? This is a series that should be watched just for being what it is, a super-awesome-bad-ass-black-samurai-adventure. Not the greatest animation out there but like I said before, when else are you going to run into something this different. read more

After watching is father die in a duel against an unbeatable villian known only as 'Justice,' young Afro fixes his life on the study of swords and revenge. The tale of Afro Samurai is one of bloody hardship and pain. Along his solitary path of revenge for his murdered father, he sheds no tears and knows no love. Forever chased by powerful enemies in a lawless technology-speckled dystopia, he evades bullets and blade to reach his final prey: a man who will not die. But Afro will reach his quarry - even if it means painting a road of blood and brains from here to the bitter inevitable end.
REVIEW

The shortest anime ever, consisting of only 5 episodes. Even though the anime was 5 episodes, it kinda felt like a big anime. I kinda liked Afro Samurai because the whole 20 minutes of the anime they stayed on the story other than fillers and other stuffs. The story wasn't the best ever but for a small anime it was great. I gotta say that the action are off the hook. Through out the story all you see is is fights and lots of blood. The violence in this anime is off the chart, every second you will see someones head chopped off and blood spurting. I like when they have violence such as like Afro Samurai in animes. The music was also awesome, it had a hip pop kinda theme that went great with the anime. Every song was kinda fast and it would have been great if they could have put some melodies here and there.

Well i think everybody should spare a few hours of there time to see the short 5 episodes. Its an awesome anime but watch out children it has a lots of violence and sexual content. I dont seriously recommend it but, I liked it and maybe you will too

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I'm the rare reviewer that gives this movie 10's across the board and some of it is due to the fact that this series opened the door to the world of anime for me.
Story-If you like revenge stories this is a great series for you. The bandana storyline is also pretty clever.
Art- I know people that didn't like the way this was drawn, but I loved it.
Sound-Original soundtrack by RZA
Characters-Samuel L. Jackson in a duel role-'nuff said
Enjoyment-If you don't mind alot of blood you'll love it

ive read an article in the past that samuel l jackson will voice a character named afro samurai. it made me curious because i just dont like english dubbed anime it sounds icky to my ears.

so here is my review

story: i liked the story of the show very classic samurai elements and all. with the mix of new technology elements. and a setting of a world of killing and chaos made me want to watch more.

art: very superb art and the detail is marvelous. the movement of the characters was art itself. the art has a gory element on it so it gives a little plus for me.

sound: the opening song was nice but not good enough for me they couldve made a better track.

character: i just loved how ninja and afro talked about stuff and the like. really made me watch more because of their chemistry.

enjoyment: i had fun to watch this its like a moving canvass. plus the way that ninja talked was tight.

overall: if you wanna watch some all out samurai action. watch this one it wont disappoint.

but there is one dissapointment for me i wished that they made this into a movie. not a 5 part anime so that the viewers could grasp the story even better. read more

The instant I heard the title "Afro Samurai" I knew I had to see this series, and the fact that Samuel L. Jackson plays the main character only raised my expectations. My expectations were met.
To start (extremely) positive the animation is pristene and the direction of battle is executed exceptionally well with the animation style. Granted it the cliche blood physics are kept, but it is used to great effect during both battle and character development.
My one criticism of the story is the not so original main character motivation of revenge and the reason for it. However, the character, or rather characters, formed from this origin is far from predictable. As well as the underlying plot is not very imaginitive but what is seen on the surface is pure gold.
The main character(s) is pretty much unbeatable: silent type, vengance driven, efficient killing machine samurai played by Samuel L. Jackson with an afro (black), and a loud mouth, weed smoking, counterpart also played by Samuel L.Jackson with an opposite afro (white). The villains are very unique and give new meanings to: never-ending supply, creepy, robotic ninjas, gunslayer, and insane teddy bears. Their motivation is not unique i.e revenge or power but still the story behind the explained is rather moving.
One more, and final criticism I make, is sound during battle. I don't know why but I prefer to be able to tell which sound goes to what action to the extents that I think I'm supposed to. Yet, with this the awesome sound track as well as fast paced cool fighting sequences threw me off a bit.
It's fair to say I really enjoy watching this series, because I do and I watch each action and blood filled episode with a feeling of great anticipation. read more

I'll be straight foreward about this one. Not quite my cup of tea. I went into this expected hip hop samurai antics and thats what I got.

I'll be frank, the story is kind of cliche. I liked the idea of the headbands though. But other than that, the idea was terribly cliche and i've seen it done better elsewhere.

The art style was utterly phenomenal. There are few anime that truly impressed me with the level of artistry. It was fluid, it was unique, and it captivated me. They way that the characters looked was gorgeous.

The soundtrack while not normally what i listen to (Serious Metalhead here) It fit the overall feel of the piece. No complaints here.

The characters were pretty damn interesting for the most part. The main character was a bit stereotypical of the Samurai Vengence Super Swordsman type, but everyone else was pretty damn neat to me. Especially the Teddy Bear samurai and Justice. Oooh Justice was cool.

Despite all that I really enjoyed about this anime, something was off. I never could place my finger on it, but something failed to click with me in any cohesive way. It felt...rushed I suppose one could say. Something was missing. Maybe it could have stod to be a little longer, I dunno. It didn't feel right after all was said and done.

Overall, I give it a five simply because that feeling of incompleteness was so profound to me that it seemed to almost mar everything else about the series to me. I just couldn't shake it. Stunning visuals, awesome characters a cliche but still interesting story, fitting soundtrack, and I still couldn't seem to enjoy it.

Thats my two cents and I'm sticking to it.


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Take a mental trip back in the day, well back in the day in the year 2001. Where were you and what were you doing that year? A lot of us were in high school, and knowing a lot of the inhabitants of this website middle school. I only bring that year up because that was the last time I watched any anime dubbed. Ever since Sakura Taisen dubbed, I've never let my ear be poisoned by horrible English voice acting. But Afro Samurai gives you no choice... oh and it has SAMUEL L JACKSON!

Afro Samurai starts with a young Afro and his father atop a mountain. A mysterious stranger appears to challenge his father to a duel to the death. His reason? To obtain the #1 headband that Afro's father possesses. After a short duel, Afro sees his father decapitated in front of his eyes and the stranger take the headband. This sight puts only one thought into his mind... revenge.

The entire point of Afro Samurai is our main hero Afro heading back to that mountain to regain that headband and revenge for his father. Afro wears the #2 headband which allows him to be the only one that can challenge the #1, but the #2 is fair game to anyone who wants a shot. So Afro while trying to get to #1 must fight all comers as they try to take it over and give themselves a shot at being the best fighter in the world. What this means is lots of fighting and lots of blood.

Afro Samurai can be comparable to a Ninja Scroll for this generation of anime fans. It's got lots of action and lots of mindless violence to give you that pure feeling of bloodlust. It has the same kind of crazy cast of characters, the same inclusion of sex (just not AS graphic) and that main character that can only be described as a "bad ass". Problem is... it's just kinda boring. The entire show consists of a fight between Afro and some kind of villanous character followed by a flashback showing Afro's upbringing, rinse and repeat. He eventually reaches the summit, wins his battle and that's game over.

Afro Samurai proves to be a love it or hate it show in the animation department. This is Gonzo Digimation so you can expect a high attention to detail and an overall great look. It has a certain feeling to it but it can prove to be distracting when the action gets hot and heavy as characters just become almost a bit too loose in their movements. Character designs on the whole are quite good but again remind me entirely too much of Ninja Scroll, just prettier. Afro's character exudes that pure sense of awesome in his dark complexion and smooth walk... well that and his gravity and weather defying hair. He can be inside a building where there is clearly no draft of any kind, and yet his headband will wave and wave. I know, it's anime that happens all the time, but still.

Really the animation is hard to describe, judge for yourself.
As I said before, SAMUEL L JACKSON! I'll be the first to admit that seeing that name on the front cover of anything makes me want to watch it. Snakes on a Plane anyone? Anyway Sam Jackson delivers all the types of lines you'd want to hear from him... such classics as "What!? You got a mother f*%kin RPG in your backpack!?" Or "You's a crazy mother f*%ker". Problem is he never seems to shut up. Sam plays the part of Afro and his friend Ninja Ninja. Afro rarely says much but Ninja squared never stops blabbing throughout the entire show. He's always advising Afro to not fight and talking about "hitting that" and other various one liners. At first it's funny and overall kinda cool.

Music on the other hand are the best. No composer by the Nobuo or Yuki here, instead you get The Rza (WU-TANG FOREVER - THE BEST HIP-HOP Group). The Rza "lays down his phat beats" for Afro Samurai and adds a nice feel to show.

This shows how much effort has been put into anime. EXCELLENT, the ultimate THE BEST. 10/10 read more