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.

Considering this anime is only 5 episodes long I can't really complain too much about wasting my time with this appalling series when there's much bigger and longer fish to fry. However there aren't many anime titles that I can say I actually hate as typically I'm indifferent to anime shows that I don't like. However in this case just about everything in this series is just a mess and I'm surprised it did well enough to get a movie adaptation of itself and a movie sequel (which is equally shit but I'm not here to talk about that). Anyway we're here to constructively criticise, ... not ramble like a moron.


STORY (2) - A 2? Are you serious? Surely the story can't be that bad right? Believe me it is. No originality in any way shape or form, no plausibility in both the overall plot or the chapters it has to get there, the pacing is far too fast for you to care about anything as there are too few episodes and a god awful ending that comes out of nowhere. But I will go into great lengths to explain just how shitty this story is.

The start of the first episode sets up the premise, Afro Samurai (yeah that's his real name apparently) is a man with a revenge motive because back when he was a child some bloke with a hat called Justice killed his father whom until that point was the strongest man in the world because his headband that says "# 1" on it says so. After Justice kills Afro's dad Justice gives Afro his old headband that says "#2" on it but he later loses it to some punks. From then on we realise we're following two stories. One revolving around Afro as a child trying to get the #2 headband back by tracking down whoever might have it because for some reason he needs it in order to challenge Justice to a duel to get his revenge and another when we see the present day Afro with the #2 headband travelling to where Justice is and get challenged by people from his past and a church who are essentially villains for the sake of having villains.

Is it just me or does this set up not make much sense? Afro, a small child with no fighting experience lost the #2 headband to a bunch of random guys he met and then they lost the headband to someone else who lost it to someone else. How does this prove who the second strongest fighter is? All that just happened is weaklings lost to stronger weaklings. Even if I was to accept that after so many years a #2 would be established by every named fighter in the world losing to them, the guy who turns out to be #2 kept it a big secret so such an argument can't be made!

For that matter why would people be so concerned about going after the #2 headband to begin with? especially Afro. Everybody knows where Justice lives anyway so why would they dilly dally around challenging the second best instead of just challenging the best straight away? It's a fight to the death after all so what's Justice going to do about it if you show up without the headband? Try and kill you for breaking the rules? There's no change in the circumstances whatsoever.

In the present time storyline at some point or another per episode Afro gets attacked by the church of mecha (I call them that because they somehow have the technology to build extremely talented fighting robots in a time where everybody else uses swords) The action scenes are quite entertaining at the time you see them but you'll very quickly forget everything about them. Such as who the bad guy was, what their weapon was, what kind of techniques they used and even how Afro defeated them. For the most part its very mindless too. The biggest example I can think of is when Afro had to beat the villain by doing something "spontaneous and unexpected" but he doesn't do anything creative and just does an epic slash that's really confusing what actually went on. Aside from this nothing very interesting happens except for one part that involved Afro having sex which was the only enjoyable part that wasn't a fight scene. The only thing that prevents the story from getting a 1 is a plot twist with the guy who follows Afro around everywhere. It's one of those cool twists where you don't see it coming but when you think about everything leading up to it, you could have figured it out and you kick yourself a bit for not being able to, so that much is appreciated.

As far as the past time story goes we are simply waiting for the inevitable moment where Afro will kill the guy who you could figure out is going to turn out to be the #2 headband guy straight away. This leads to another character called Jinno who was sort of like family to both Afro and the #2 guy wanting revenge on Afro which is really irritating because he should have understood what the fight actually meant to both people fighting but instead he becomes yet another villain who's just there for the sake of being a villain.

It couldn't even succeed in having at least an atmosphere to this story. It could have been a really dark, edgy, bloody, cool, serious samurai era world, but sadly it fails to deliver on that too as there's far too much comic relief (unfunny comic relief) given to us by Afro's obnoxious tag along buddy and the church who never say anything interesting and technological inconsistencies that remind you that you're just watching a cartoon. We live in a fudel era where people fight with swords, a future setting with robots and lasers and also we are in a dragon ball world where people can fall from ridiculous heights and land without breaking so much as a single bone.

The ending was a let down and it comes completely out of nowhere. It involves a plot to bring all the headbands in the world together because it will grant the #1 headband guy godlike powers and let him transform into a monster that looks like it would fit well into a hentai. This whole idea just comes across as a plot convenience because they couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation for why there needed to be both a #1 and #2 headband in the first place.


CHARACTERS (3) - There isn't a single character in this series that stands out as memorable, at least in a positive way. The fact it's 5 episodes long is no excuse. Anime Movies have overall less runtime and many have excellent levels of character development by comparison to this garbage.

Afro is a tiny little bit bad ass since he wins loads of fights and can cut bullets in half for some reason but he's extremely boring too. He rarely ever says anything and when he does it's always to tell the guy following him around to shut up. Silent or near silent characters have been done well. Brandon Heat from Gungrave didn't talk very much but you still understood his personality and his conflicting emotions, Afro on the other hand has no depth at all and it's next to impossible to describe his character without saying "he was kind of cool and was good at fighting with a sword."

The guy following Afro around is intolerable, just a typical comic relief character to lighten the mood. I hate that shit in anime. D-Gray Man could have benefited greatly from taking itself more seriously instead of throwing in a bunch of lame jokes and this series suffers for the same reason. The plot twist with him is the only thing that makes him kind of interesting but aside from that he's thoroughly unlike-able in personality.

Then there's the two characters from Afro's past who he kind of became family with who end up wanting him dead for no good reason. As I mentioned earlier they should have understood what the fight between Afro and the #2 headband guy meant and why it was important to Afro but instead they decide that they want revenge on him. The girl nearly kills Afro while having sex with him but fails when Afro's massive cock gives her the orgasm of her life and decides she wants to help him all of a sudden and the guy (Jinno) ends up becoming one of the most laughable side villains in anime history. Not to mention Afro spends more time fighting Jinno than he does fighting Justice, the guy who he's supposed to take revenge on. To be fair the fight with Jinno and Afro is one of the best animated fights I've ever seen but because I hated both Jinno and Afro so much, I just didn't care about any of it. That's really bad. Then in the rematch between Justice and Afro we pretty much get a one hit KO situation. Well that sucks!

The church villains are all stock. Just bad guys for the sake of bad guys. The church never say or do anything that makes them interesting, they just have a bunch of numbered fighters challenge Afro because...someone has to I guess. They are all conveniently numbered in order from strongest to weakest in the same vein as the Espada from Bleach to make them seem like they have more character and personality than they actually do but sadly you'll forget the personalities of every single one of these guys. At least Bleach had Ulquiorra, Nnoitra and Grimmjow.


ART AND ANIMATION (8) - As much as I hate to admit it the artwork and animation was very good. The character designs are pretty unique, the attention to detail is great, the weapons look awesome and the backgrounds are beautiful. However a lot of the time I kept thinking I was watching Sin City. It was black and white almost all the time and like in Sin City you'd only catch certain colours here and there like green eyes, red because of the blood splashes and the occasional piss yellow when Afro had a lemonade on the go (one of the "running gags"). There are a few daytime scenes which is when the colour comes out and during such times the colour work is great too.
Overall, not much to complain about in art design.

As far as the animation goes you'd be disappointed if it was anything less than exceptional when the show is only 5 episodes long and as such Afro Samurai demonstrates some great animation. Of course like with any anime you get the slow framed parts every now and again and sometimes you get obviously repeated clips but when Afro Samurai tries to be well animated it fully succeeds. As you might expect, the action scenes are best at demonstrating this. Although there are even little things like when Afro smokes a cigarette, it burns away so fluidly it's like the real deal! Looks way better than the cigarettes in Trigun. Oh and Afro's afro moves too. Badass!


SOUND (6) - I watched this anime dubbed and to be honest it was dubbed very well. Samuel L Jackson despite hardly having any lines with Afro still put in a good performance and his voice acting for the guy tagging along with Afro (yeah he plays him too) was good too but sadly the writing was so bad for both these characters that he couldn't save them. The rest of the cast was voiced well enough for dub haters not to be able to complain too much about but I wouldn't be ranking this up there with Baccano or Black Lagoon either.

As far as music and sound effects go, to be honest I have nothing to say. It was just fine. The soundtrack fitted okay enough for me not to be able to complain but it didn't really stand out either like say Rurouni Kenshin or Samurai Champloo's which tackle this kind of fudel era (much better I should add).

For the enjoyment section I'm going to tie it in with the overall since I have pretty much the same things to say about both.


OVERALL/ENJOYMENT (4) - You know what? Since when was decent worse than mediocre? That's what this scoring system seems to think. I always thought decent fell between average and good. To me 4 means BAD!

If you worked out the mean average score of the 4 categories you'd notice it actually averages out to 5. However the characters and the story are the most important aspects to a show so if both characters and story are both lower than art and sound I deduct an extra point since it would more accurately represent my feelings. This is a bad series, not an average one. However if the characters and story were higher than art and sound I would have given an extra point overall, so it's not like I'm being unfair in that regard. Anyway now for the conclusion.

It's kind of fun to look and the action scenes are fairly entertaining because of the really good animation but the story and characters are really what screw this anime up. The revenge story was boring and the concepts were just ridiculous with no good characters to prop it up even a little bit. They just written to be used for action scenes or to attempt to give shock value. If you want a really good show that deals with people from this kind of era I'd recommend Rurouni Kenshin as it has a plausible set up, the characters are much better and the story is highly enjoyable. Sure the action scenes aren't as well animated but you'll like them a lot more for the simple reason you actually care about the people fighting and why. Afro Samurai however is a massive crock of shit and I do not advise watching it at all unless the only thing you care about is mindless action and nothing else. If you want a good revenge story then I would recommend either reading Berserk or watching Hunter X Hunter for Kurapika's storyline (plus it's a great anime all around anyway).

NO SPOILERS.

I tend to like going into anime that don't require me to think deeply, or search for symbolism. I mean I like thought provocative stuff but it's just this type of thing appeals to my more lazy nature.

That being said Afro Samurai definitely doesn't require you to analyse details or think about character motivations, let alone explore their psyche. I went into this show looking for action, maybe some good technical performances (BGM, animation, good fights) as well. Sadly this doesn't make it any good to me. If I were to take aside the brilliant animation and art to explore this show ... from a critic's point of view — there would be nothing to redeem it.

Whatsoever.

The show starts off strongly, showing a boy witness the brutal decapitation of his father: an act that justifiably sees him take on a journey of vengeance to eventually murder his father's killer in the future. Now THAT is a statement. Buuuut...even a person who loves this show greatly would agree that...there's pretty much no story. I went into this anime expecting nothing from the story either way. Yeah, there's a ton of flashbacks in between fight scenes to add some superficial layers to Afro or the people he's in contact with — but that's pretty much filler to the action scenes. Overall very poor in the story department, but that's understandable considering what this anime is trying to be.

Before I take rip this anime apart, I want to list its positives.

The animation for this show is downright gorgeous. I love how smoothly done the fights are: channeling the best of Samurai Champloo in some of its fights together with all these satisfying sound effects when blades make contact with each other, or when tear into flesh. The artists have done a good job nailing the atmosphere as well, I was in love with some of the shots in Afro Samurai. There's really some great cinematography here. Also the dubbing is the best lol. Samuel L. Jackson knocks his role out of the park, with some of the greatest voice work I've ever seen. He brings such life to his character that actually highlight his abilities as an artist himself. Job impeccably done.

Sadly that's about it. That's all I can enjoy about this show.

A lot of people are fans of the soundtrack, but I'm just fully underwhelmed by it. Let's start with the BGM...which feels so cheaply done at some points. Some of the sounds feel like the things you produce when you go to a 90's keyboard and click on the different modes (Latin/Bossa Nova etc) while playing four or five notes again and again. While there are a few scenes where the music complements the mood/action sequences, they are sadly too few and far between. The overwhelming majority of the BGM put me off so bad. There are occasions where important characters are thrust into (what's supposed to be) emotionally draining situations—and you just have an awkward BGM that keeps you stoned in your seat, just not feeling anything.

That kinda pissed me off.

Maybe some of you may like it, I agree that music is a very subjective experience...but I feel it could have been miles better. It didn't bring anything new to the table and it wasn't faithful to hip hop. But if you're expecting something along what Nujabes contributed to Champloo, please just don't get your hopes up.

I also mentioned that the animation was pretty sick—but based on what I've watched so far, all of this is style and not substance. I draw parallels from the hand to hand fight scenes in Cowboy Bebop or even Fate: Zero. Every move made sense in the flashy fights you see in those shows, there was a REASON for every punch thrown, an intended effect. Drawing back to even shows such as Samurai Champloo (the easiest comparison here): Afro's swordplay (at its best) is animated as gloriously as Champloo's, but the tactical nature of the latter is missing in the former. Afro Samurai is choreographed to be more of a flashy dance, flying from wall to wall and breaking through stuff; rather than to actually defeat an opponent with style.

And I don't know, but for a fighting/action anime to lack meaningful choreography...it just made this anime harder to enjoy given that it has little to no plot, exceptionally shallow characters and as I've mentioned, an overall underperforming BGM. On the note of characters here; again...nothing much. It doesn't have an expressive cast, and its MC shows nothing much and isn't relatable in the slightest. Perhaps the only thing worth noting about Afro was how much regret and doubt he harbours in him for most of the show, but that's really all there is to say about him. I can't really go into the other aspect of this show because that would be a spoiler, but rest assured — it's nothing much. You shouldn't be looking for characterisation in this anime either, won't find a single ounce. Every other character is extremely forgettable, not playing a role at all—unless they're fodder to Afro's blade.

And ah yes, the final boss fight. I expected something at least...gripping. But I was met with the same "gore is god" mentality after a cheap and insignificant plot twist. Not even a decent fight. No great moves, none of the fun animated fight pieces that the show flaunted in its first 30 mins.

Meh.

I enjoyed probably the first 30 mins of Afro Samurai but the action got very repetitive after that. It's only strength and selling point was something that lost me as the show went on longer; and given that there aren't strong characters, or anything else of value besides for the action...I found myself just hoping it would end already. And right now as I type this review, I'm just glad I'm done with this. Maybe there's stuff I missed, but I'm just not in the mood to revisit this show anywhere in the near future.

TLDR: Afro Samurai is not a show that EVERYONE can enjoy. I sure as hell disliked the living daylight out of it, but it's something you should consider giving a go nevertheless—if you feel you may like it. As you can see it rubbed me off the wrong way, but several of the points I penalised it for may actually appeal to you, as this kind of experience varies with the individual.

Afro Samurai is a very visually appealing series, even in 2022. Unfortunately, there is very little to enjoy outside of that.

The 2007 anime is a quick watch, sitting at only 5 episodes. While you may initially be led in by the smoke-like hair of the main character Afro and a gritty introductory scene, the show falls very flat afterwards.

You will immediately recognize the heavy blaxploitation inspiration throughout and while that is perfectly fine, any show in my opinion needs a fairly well-written story to fall back on as the appeal of visual aesthetics can only get you so far.

Compounding the lack of a ... good story, it is very difficult to get invested in any character and their arcs (even Afro to an extent) as the writing is below average, at best. A majority of the dialogue hinges on dated African-American cultural archetypes, with it almost feeling like a purposefully awful dub of a 2000s anime. Even the ending is lackluster in most regards. It overstays its welcome which in turn hurts its narrative impact.


Luckily, the show doesn't overstate its welcome too long with it's 2:30 runtime over the whole series. If you sit down and view it as a fun, yet hollow thrill ride of a anime, then you'll have a great time; just don't expect much nuance or substance beyond the surface.

Afro Samurai is a gory revenge story with elements of blaxploitation mixed in and Samuel L. Jackson voicing the lead. Sounds amazing, right? However...

Story: 3/10
Afro Samurai has a really generic revenge plot- boy's father is murdered in front of him, killer encourages boy to seek revenge, boy grows up and seeks revenge. It's not the worst premise I've ever seen. However, as the story progresses, the premise gains absolutely no depth. There's a hamfisted attempt at pushing a "break the cycle" moral, but it never seems to have any bearing on the plot or the characters whatsoever. The main plot is honestly boring, which is ... a major negative when considering how much screentime is devoted to it.
The episodic plots are even worse somehow. They don't really have any relation to the plot besides "#2 headband" and they leave a lot of loose ends dangling and plot holes. I found myself constantly confused about where these subplots came from. My guess is that they're mostly excuses for a gore-fest or a really uncomfortable sex scene.

Art: 8/10
The art is very stylized and certainly hard to get used to, but the longer I watched it the more I grew to like it. The use of grayscale is intentional and gives the (copious amounts of) blood a stark contrast. One could also say that it's symbolic of Afro's mindset, and given how artsy it feels I wouldn't argue.
The animation itself is also good. Nothing about it feels clunky or cheap. The blood spurts are definitely Kill Bill-esque, but I believe that's intentional.

Sound: 9/10
The soundtrack is where Afro Samurai really shines. The Wu-Tang Clan breathed life into this thing, giving it a hip-hop feel that isn't there without it. This is one of those cases where the soundtrack actually enhances the series instead of just acting as background noise.
The voice acting was generally very good. SLJ's characters in particular had excellent voice acting. A few side characters sounded awkward, but I've honestly never seen a dub this good. My only complaint is with how godawful the few Japanese words sound when spoken by the English cast, something I've never encountered before.

Character: 1/10
This is the main problem with the series: none of the characters are likeable. At all. Ninja Ninja is annoying, Afro himself is a forgettable silent badass with no redeeming qualities, and all of the side characters and villains managed to grate on my nerves somehow.
To make it worse, none of the characters really experience any kind of development. Sure, there's a limit to what you can do in 5 episodes, but the main character at the end should be different from the main character at the beginning. The only "character development" we get is in Afro's flashbacks, and they really only show him as a kid fostering his hatred and anger. There's also a huge gap in character between child Afro and adult Afro with nothing to bridge it, to the point that I can barely even recognize that they're supposed to be the same person.

Enjoyment: 3/10
I may have enjoyed looking at the art and listening to the soundtrack, but I was bored pretty much the whole way through and I couldn't wait for it to be over. If you're looking for senseless violence and sex, you may enjoy it more than I did.

In closing, I'd only recommend this anime if you aren't interested in plot and don't care about characters. If you just want mind-numbing blood and swords and stuff, this would be a great way to waste a couple of hours. Otherwise, I'd give this a pass.

meh.

First, the art style and animation are the main draws of this series. The character designs are well done, regardless of anything else. There are some decent stills and a few semi-worthwhile sequences.

The Waterfall scene is memorable, the aesthetic there was calming and the framing and motion worked well. Colour use in some of the scenes is very well done.
The fights will interest those looking for action. One can simply skip to these and not miss anything important.
There are several sex scenes, which are illustrated well with the main one highlighting and romanticising the sensuality, but then soontherafter immediately undercut by falling to ... a mix of offensive and dehumanising depiction and banality.
There some amusing interaction in the bar scene which is the best the dialogue gets in the series.
The scene where the 'side kick' is on the fence had potential if not for the dialogue. The framing for the scene there is memorable.

The follow-up film: Resurrection, also has some memorable art direction. With some outright trippy choices I have to praise the teddy-bear headed character and the contrast with the female antagonist.
Use of colour is also realy good in the lair and the strip club, and general art direction is solid here.

That's basically where my praise for the series ends...

I found a good deal of the character dialogue not just bland and grating, but insensitive, demeaning and distasteful - in the wrong kind of way.

The story revolving around some all powerful headband and having a component of revenge and dystopianism isn't in and of itself bad as a starting concept...

But the execution...

Better to be actually executed.

The script and dialogue leave the series better left on mute.

Overall, the show is a fever dream of insecure machismo coupled with shallow and insenstive writing which embodies and promotes various boorish racial stereotypes and comes complete with misogynistic flare. It is grating, tasteless and at the same time 100% bland.

The positives are, the art style is unique and memorable with solid framing and use of colour and movement.

4/10

This anime just isn't very interesting. Guy wants to be the best, then becomes the best. It completely lacks any story and this should be obvious from the fact there is only 5 episodes. It gained lots of popularity from the fact it was written and voiced bu Samuel L. Jackson.

To then release a squeal movie makes no sense. Make a half season of anime if you have to wait for source material then wait. The lack of content to immerse you into the anime is where this anime falls short by a long shot.

Jackson is good don't get me wrong but maybe ... writing anime isn't the best idea for him. You may say you can't compare it cause it isn't anime, well it is animated by studio Gonzo, who made Full Metal Panic and Hellsing.

Also there is only English dub. There is no Japanese with subtitles but why would you watch it with subs if all it's going for it is the voice acting

Story, there isn't one 3/10

I did quite like the Art style but it wasn't anything special, the backdrops where kinda of bland and it didn't do much for story building 5/10

I don't even remember the Music so I'm going to say it had 0 impact on me, the Sound bonus is the voice acting 6/10

Characters are kinda just there in the show no time development or to learn about them 4/10

Best bit? Quick to watch cause there is only 5 episodes so you don't waste too much time. Enjoyment? 4/10

Overall for an anime with no story or in-depth characters with mediocre everything else don't be surprised 4/10

REVIEW WITH NO SPOILERS

Afro Samurai is a gore and not creative samurai story.

I need to admit that it can be a very stylish anime... the strange design, the hip hop elements... but in terms of plot and story, it's cliché and predictable. Besides the strange design turns to be a problem because the animation is actually pretty bad.

The Samuel L. Jackson's character is really funny and compensates a little the weak story... but it can't save the anime to be lower than the average.

But it's not THAT bad... if you are looking for a gore, bloody and not that complex anime (besides the little funny ... moments) about samurais... here it is Afro Samurai!

I have no idea why but I have a decent amount to say about this anime, when most of the time I have almost nothing to say on anime after finishing it, but whatever.
This anime is very goofy, in good and bad ways, I believe they knew what they were doing when making this anime, because of all of the clichés and how they sorta poke fun at them, but at the same time they don't really do anything interesting with it, they say "lol, this plot point is in other anime!" without doing anything all that clever with that concept with being a ... parody of other shion anime. Along with that the voice acting is awful, they are able to get incredible voice actors but do nothing with them, the only one who actually had an outstanding performance was Ron Perlman, but even then he's hardly in the anime and he's probably not the reason why you watched the show, I feel like I can safely say when someone hears "Samuel L. Jackson anime" it probably peaked their interest, and that's what happened to me, and I was stoked to watch this anime because he's one of my favorite actors, but they don't really do anything with his skill as a actor, they just have him this kind of racist portrayal of this "funny token black guy" who is the main character's subconscious, which could be interesting, but once again do nothing with it.
Overall this anime had great potential but ends up falling flat on it's face, with the only thing being done well is Ron Perlman's character, but he's hardly in the show so we don't get much time with him, I would still recommended this anime, but only to laugh at it with some friends. (op fire doe)

I had honestly forgotten this anime existed, till randomly stumbled upon looking for a good "high" of stylish action and gore. Afro samurai seemed like the perfect pick and despite the relatively low score, I decided to binge it.

The short verdict is that it really disappoints in most areas even in those it tries to sell. Afro Samurai, for all the production value that seems to have been given, feels amateurish at best. I feel like everyone who's ever seen anime will notice it, too. The show feels off in a bad way, but it took me some time to pinpoint the issues.

Ok, I ... like simple stories. Short and easy to understand goals, help shows focus on other things. But this is simply at an unacceptable level. The setup, for me at least, was fine. Revenge stories are simple and fun. The premise was fine, by the standards I expecting at the start. But this "simplicity" starts affecting the rest of the show. Every character is one-dimensional and only one stands out, simply for the comedy he offers. Love interest?, scenes that make no sense story-wise random nonsense ramblings from characters we do not care, nothing seems to work and all stands out as an amateurish attempt at (something??). I have no idea what the point was to most of the the non-fighting scenes.

Continuing with the amateurish theme, the entire voice and sound design feels completely off. It's sad to see good music and good voice acting feel butchered by lackluster directing. Quick switches in music tones, weird sound effects that actually made me pause to check if YouTube was open, bad lip syncing and voice acting. It all culminates in a cheap product, despite all the A-list music and voice actors they had.

Animation was supposed to be the selling point of the anime. And I don't want to be too harsh on it, as there are some beautiful fights scenes and a few good shots. But again, it feels amateurish as some shots are hard to follow and with too many close ups. Again feels more of a directing issue than anything else.

Short edit note: Really just another directing (nitpick?), I saw so many scenes fade to black, that it actually made me wonder how other anime ended scenes. It is done so many times, that I had to open a random anime just to see that I am not stupid in feeling off every time the screen faded to black.

To summarize: AMATEUR WORK, I wouldn't recommend this to most people.

I'll get to the pros and cons of this anime but first, I'll give a short summary of my experience with it... I hated every moment of it that didn't involve swordfights. There, that about sums it up.
Seriously, I have never been more enraged by an anime. I hate it so much that I decided to write this review, mostly to vent, but also to warn people who've heard about this thing and think it may be a fun ride. Oh, my poor summer children... You could not be more wrong.
I'll just start by getting the good stuff out of the way. The animation in ... this show is very good, especially during the fight scenes. The way the characters move and the way they pose is very dynamic and lets viewers gleam small details about their personality. The color palette is also pretty interesting, giving it an old timey samurai movie feel. The story is decent, focusing on revenge and the effect it has on not only the protagonist, but also the people closest to him. It's nothing new, but it's reasonably well told.
And that's about it. Now for the more substantial part of the review...
The sound design is a complete mess. Some music tracks are pretty good, but they're inserted really awkwardly. And the fight scenes tend to be pretty silent most of the times. The swords seem weightless, their clashing packs no punch and the bombastic action on the screen needs bombastic sounds to go with it.
The voice acting is atrocious. Afro's the best out of the bunch, but only because he barely speaks. The rest sound stilted or bored. And Samuel L. Jackson sounds like he was in some other gig, some kind of comedy with slapstick action. His character is one of the most annoying and pointless in the entire history of anime.
Character development is a joke. Characters are introduced and dropped so fast that you never get to feel invested in any of them. And yes, I am mostly talking about a certain character who should have been one of if not the most important player in Afro's life. they should have been a major bump in his road towards vengeance, but screw that. Here's some awkward fan service, a reason for being dropped from the plot and then they're dropped from the plot.
And the dialogue... Who in the blue hell allowed such crap to make its way onto people's screens. I could write better, more believable, less cringey dialogue... And I'm not even an amateur writer... It's ear-bleedingly awful. Maybe that's why the characters sound so bored. It's like the actors saw the dialogue and went "Screw it! If they're phoning it in to such a degree, then so am I!"
Afro Samurai is not a good anime. More than that, it's a horrendous abomination that dares call itself an anime. If you think this is hyperbole, then by all means, have at it. But after you've gone through this ordeal, dear anime lover, know that I will not be sharing this bleach that I am now pouring over my eyes, into my ears and down my throat... You'll have to scrub this vile filth from your memory some other way.

Throughout the whole show I was extremely bored. The Samurai concept itself already doesn't peak my interests but I tried to show an open mind knowing its popularity. The headband concept itself showed potential, however the dialogues, the fights were just plain bad. At around episode 3 I was just begging the show to finish so I would be put out of my misery. I did however find the background story given to Afro mildly interesting however nothing more than that.

When looking at it through the ratings I give the story a generous 3 and that is due to the potential it had until it ... was destroyed. The sound effects to be fair was pretty decent and well done in my opinion so it deserved a 6. The art itself was unique and well drawn so I have to give credit to where its due. The characters were horrible as I noticed zero character development nor zero emotions, it was awful. Overall I give it a 2 despite giving the Art 7, but that is because within my tastes and preferences certain factors such as story and characters contribute more than art in my opinion. If a story is poor it is more than likely i won't enjoy the anime, however if a animation is poor I can still enjoy it.

if you see one episode, you’ve seen them all.

A story of revenge featuring an afro-clad Samurai (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson), the number 2 warrior, who must defeat the number 1 warrior that killed his father for that title. The animation is fast paced, features graphic content, and overall nice to look at, especially for an early 2000’s anime. The voice acting is good, and features an all star cast. With only 5 episodes, it is understandable that the world and characters are not very complex or fleshed-out, however, it still seems as though the goal was to be bad-ass, as opposed to delivering a ... powerful story. It’s fun, but not essential viewing, and if you see one episode, you’ve seen them all.

I honestly had high expectations before watching this anime since many Anitubers often compare it to Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop due to the impact of their music but this wasn't enjoyable at all.
I'm not a fan of gore but this anime does really bad at it.
The plot is very generic, just your typical revenge story. A boy sees his father get his head cut off, he trains and vows to avenge his father. It's just a bad Seinen, bad at gore and the dialogue is too forced. It tries to hard to sound Black, it doesn't come out natural.
Though ... the artwork is decent the action scenes are badly executed.
Everything seems rushed and just sucks