Afro Samurai Movie

The movie begins with a flashback of young Afro watching his father slayed for his No. 1 headband. He who dons the No. 1 headband is the ultimate warrior and can only be challenged by the owner of the No. 2 headband. Anyone and everyone will challenge No. 2 for his coveted headband. The movie follows Afro in a futuristic feudal Japan as he defends his No. 2 headband against many able foes, including his childhood friend who is also hell-bent on revenge.

It took me many, many tries to actually sit and watch this movie because of the art style. The chiseled faces and ... almost comic book style characters are incredibly unappealing to me. The action scenes were well animated and flowed well, offering interesting viewing angles. The majority of the movie is in either grey or sepia tones, which make the crimson blood more prominent. The color scheme complimented the dark mood of the movie.

The soundtrack was produced by RZA of the Wu Tang Clan and is primarily R&B and hip-hop. I am personally not a fan of those genres, but the music did portray the mood and gave the movie a more futurist vibe. Samuel L. Jackson gave voice to Afro. Unfortunately throughout the movie Afro only muttered a handful of lines. I was surprised to read he also dubbed Ninja Ninja. Jackson's legendary bravado is truly lost on that character.

Afro is a very flat, monosyllabic character. You only learn about his personal motivations through his flashbacks and interaction with Ninja Ninja. Ninja Ninja serves as his conscience, often pleading with him not to fight. As shallow as the character development is, the script has a lot of unexpected depth. Through the flashbacks and chance encounters, the viewer really gets a feel for the burden Afro is carrying by following the path of revenge. The quote by the antagonist "Do you think it is coincidence you don't have a father, friend or master?" summed up the movie in my eyes.

This movie has a lot to offer a broad audience. It will appease those looking for a trendy score and flashy action, but it also has unforeseen complexity.

The Story: Basic and easy to follow in this movie with revenge centering around the plot for our "hero" if you would, for this tale.
The Art: Dark and Bloody would be strong ways to describe the movie with animation quality being second to none.
The Sound: Nailed in every facet down to the slashing of body parts or the lines delivered by the cast in the english dubbing. No corners were cut when it came to this area as it offers some of the best sounding and acted works in a long time.

Personally, This movie was fantastic as it fulfills the expectations of Action and gore ... fans to the utmost. Encapsulated in a gripping tale of strength and will it will leave you will that "Fuck Yea" feeling while maintaining a killer pace from the word GO! to the very end.

The Afro Samurai Movie is one of those films that you watch not for the plot, but rather for the interesting and unique characters that surround the story. The movie follows a very cliché and unoriginal format, one that has been precedented by various other works built around the subject of revenge. However, one minor yet distinguishing detail that does set this film apart is its depiction of hierarchy among samurai through characters' struggle to obtain headbands. This form of ladder ranking not only drives forward the plot but also adds a sort of distinctiveness to what would have been a very ... mundane storyline. While the story may fail to deliver audiences with a new and exciting experience, the film's ability to create vibrant and enjoyable characters is what truly captivated my attention. Characters shown in the film are brimming with individuality (just take a look at Ninja Ninja), which is represented not only in their actions throughout the plot but also in their distinct appearances. The main character, Afro, is designed in such a way that makes him easily discernible from both other characters in the movie and other characters from different anime. Although the art may not be revolutionary, it certainly has a flair to it that sets it apart from other works. Overall, while the premise of the story remains fairly bland, Afro Samurai provided to be a very entertainting watch due to its rich characters and their unique interactions with each other.

As I have seen the Afro Samurai series first, I can easily see that Afro Samurai the Movie is not only an adaptation of the series, it is in fact pretty much the same thing. If you take away the openings and endings you no longer have any difference between them 😊.

But all in all, I see some good points in watching the movie instead of the series. To begin with, for someone who does not like interruption, you can see the whole story without having to change from one episode to another. It also helps you dive better in the atmosphere, building ... stronger impressions.

Afro Samurai’s resolve to avenge his father’s death is continually challenged in his heart while pondering over what happened in his life, good and bad. And this, combined with the tragedy of the characters affected by his decisions, gave me a long-lasting feeling of emotional languor and sadness, which I haven’t experienced during the series. However, it was a meaningful sensation as I felt it conveyed better the message of the story.

You wanted to watch brutal sword fights with heavy HIP-HOP beats in backround?? Here you go, Afro Samurai is must watch anime movie for you.There is small suprise in in it,we got f.cking Samuel
L. Jackson as voiceactor of main character,finally he is in every movie genre.
Plot isn't something new, we can see story of Afro trying to revenge his father and be The Number one.On his road to revenge have to overcome many obstacles in form of fighs .BTW those fight scenes are well made,overall art in this movie is good,kinda dark mooded ,the way i like it.Soundtrack is fitting, fight mood have ... heavier sound and chill scenes have more funky/jazzy music in backround.I had problem with dub,it's like they want 1 good fitting voice and others are bad in my opinion,good one is Samuel.Also i don't know why,but there are loot of same characters in enemy lines,not main ones but those random guys who get killed in one slice on Afro's katana.Overall it's decent movie,personally i enjoyed it. 7/10

PROS:
+Samuel L. Jackson
+Nice art
+Good Soundtrack
+Well coordinated fights

CONS:
-Dub
-Repetetive characters