Welcome to 2007! To greet the new year, I thought I’d give a quick review of SpikeTV’s Afro Samurai! You can view the first episode here!
Story
Afro Samurai tells the story of two ancient headbands - number one and number two. The wearer of headband number one has the powers of ‘a god’ - or something. They can only be defeated by the wearer of headband number two. Afro Samurai’s father originally wore headband one before he was killed. As Afro Samurai says in the first episode: “Nothing personal. It’s just…revenge.” Another quote that sets up the driving force of the series: “My aim is to only move forward.”
Animation
The animation of episode one was outstanding - the character designs are really strong with detailed shadow and highlights throughout. Animation production is handled by GONZO and features their usual high-caliber work.
Credits
The cast includes Samuel L. Jackson as the voice of both Afro Samurai and Ninja Ninja, with Ron Perlman as Justice and Kelly Hu as Okiku. This is a joint English/Japanese production with Spike TV and FUNimation. Music is by RZA. You can also watch episode one of Afro Samurai online (you have to sit through 2 commercials).
Conclusion
Overall I thought it was pretty good. A bit more violent than I was expecting, but oh well. Episode one showed some interesting elements of sci-fi too, which seems cool. We’ll find out more with episode 2, which airs Thursday, January 4th @ 11:00pm on Spike TV. Let us know what you think of the Afro Samurai anime in the comments!
