Clocking in at 125 minutes uncut, Afro Samurai isn’t so much a television series as it is a long movie chopped up and serialized into five parts. At its heart, it’s a simple and very old story- the hero was wronged by the antagonist, who destroys both something precious to the hero and the hero’s innocence. The hero, in turn, seeks righteous revenge against the antagonist. It’s a time tested tale, and has been recycled over and over again in countless martial arts films, novels old and new, and a few notable 80’s anime. The series’ creator Takashi Okazaki uses this trustworthy archetype as the bones that he fleshes the rest of the series around. The world of Afro Samurai is actually a collision of worlds and cultures- the core of it is hip-hop and samurai, and there‘s a dash of the post-apocalyptic here, a lot of mad and fantastic machinery is running loose, and only a blind man would miss the Akira homage planted square on the noggin of one character- but it is the revenge story that acts as the simple, accessible crux that keeps the whole potpourri together.
Afro Samurai has a lot going for it: Samuel L. Jackson, samurai, Samuel L. Jackson, slickly animated fights, Samuel L. Jackson, a seamless blend of post-apocalyptic sci-fi with hip-hop aesthetics, and a kickin’ soundtrack by the RZA. Oh, and did I mention it has Samuel L. Jackson? I’ll admit it: I was stoked at the idea of one of my favorite live-action actors being a voice actor in an anime. The first time I wrote this review, though, I was sorely disappointed because Jackson, as the voice behind the title character, didn’t get any more than twenty words in the whole series. It seemed cheap and gimmicky, since Jackson was the Big Name that attracted a lot of attention to this series, hyping Afro Samurai above every other action release this year before it even premiered on Spike.
Jackson does earn his paycheck here though, as the voice behind Ninja Ninja, who is Afro’s companion throughout the series and the comedic foil. And while Ninja Ninja may at a casual glance seem like just another funny, fast-talking sidekick, viewers who pay careful attention to detail in the anime will find out something disturbing about him that’s never explicitly spelled out. That kind of subtlety isn’t something you’d normally expect from a hack-n-slash action flick, but it is very rewarding to viewers like me who appreciate being able to dig further into their entertainment.
The entire vocal cast of Afro Samurai is superb, even without Mr. Jackson. The DVDs only come in dub, but I think that even with the option for sub, I would have stuck to the dub. The music is good and generally unobtrusive, which I honestly didn’t expect from a genre known for being loud, crass, and arrogant about how good it is at doing both. The animation by Studio Gonzo is lush in every detail, from the shining, sleek nudity of a temple maiden (and she will not stay that way for long once Afro comes to town) to the scarlet showers of blood. And in this anime, there is a fair amount of the former, and a generous amount of the latter.
My only complaint about Afro Samurai is that violence is not only used as entertainment in the anime, it’s also a message. The final five minutes are very clear that violence only begets more violence, creating a cycle of grief. The “Violence is not the answer” theme feels very out of place in an escapist action flick like this one.
Overall though, I enjoyed the show, and recommend it for any fans of action flicks. A new season of the series is slated to release in 2008, and what I’ve seen so far has been good enough that Spike TV can count me in among the viewers who will be tuning in to see what happens next to our afro-and-katana wielding lone wolf.
