It’s good to see anime start to get a real foothold in American culture. The other day as I was driving down Gravois Street in Saint Louis, I saw a billboard for Buick’s mustdrivemondays.com, featuring anime gals. Wow. An American car maker using Japanese animated characters to sell cars! That says a lot.
Anime is now being featured in US magazines, some newspapers, and is garnering more attention, via more time slots for shows, on more and more television stations. Much of the actual anime in question, however, is being seriously altered to cater to American sensibilities (everybody say “Dub”!). I can understand that, to a degree. But does it seem like more and more anime is being purposely chosen to be aired in the US based on whether or not the subject matter is one Americans can relate to?
It felt like that was the idea behind Afro Samurai, Spike TV’s five-episode anime series that was released this past month on DVD by Funimation. It features Samuel L. Jackson as the main character’s voice and has a very hip-hop, urban-American flavor. I was highly doubtful that the Japanese way of animated storytelling would mesh with one of the US’ youth cultures in any but the worst possible way (thinking train wreck of cultural identities).
Afro Samurai is actually the brain child of Takashi Okazaki, a dojinshi-ka whose work has been featured in the Nou Nou Hau dojin magazine. The backdrop for this futuristic tale is a hybrid reality of advanced technologies and the Japanese feudal era. In this unique setting, cyborgs run amok and the man with the best sword fighting skills is Number One, literally. And being Number One is a sweet proposition. The person holding the headband with the clearly scribed ~, Japanese for one, is top dog and is untouchable by everyone, except the person holding the headband inscribed with Number Two.
But while Number One is living the good life, whoo-ee, Number Two has it rooouuugggghhhh. Everybody’s out to challenge you if you’re wearing Number Two and everybody DOES challenge you. They all want a chance to defeat Number Two so they then can have a chance to defeat and become the next Number One.
Young Afro’s dad is the current Number One. One day a creepy looking stranger wearing the Number Two headband challenges Afro’s dad to a duel. The two fight but Afro’s father just doesn’t have what it takes to retain ownership of the Number One headband. As the stranger takes the Number One headband from Afro’s father’s corpse, he tells the now weeping boy to challenge him to a duel if he ever feels like “dueling a god”. Afro then vows to avenge his father and we learn how he begins his journey from scared, powerless boy into fearless, unbeatable man in frequent flashbacks.
Afro is now a man and he’s the rightful owner of the Number Tow headband. No one challenges him and lives. No one. His purpose has been honed into a pin point focus aimed at taking down the man who killed his father. To become the man Afro is in the present, Afro underwent trying times in his past, as an orphan. We see his trials as a young boy in the dojo that adopted him and we see how these times affect his decisions as an adult.
After years of dueling, Afro is now nearing the end of his quest as he gets ever closer to the mountain abode of Number One. The closer Afro gets to Number One, however, the more frequent and more violent become the attempts to wrest away the Number Two headband.
I was leery about Afro Samurai for about three of the five episodes. Mainly, I wasn’t really on board with the studio’s (GONZO) choice of voice actors. Don’t get me wrong, I looovvve Samuel ; He’s one Bad Ass Mother* and he seemed like the right choice for the part. However, I can’t say the same for most of Gonzo’s other picks for this series.
And the dialog! It seemed…forced. Everybody was trying so hard to be street that it came through as sad in some instances. Samuel’s penchant for dropping the F-bomb in movies was exploited in Afro Samurai. At times, it seemed like his other character, Ninja Ninja, was dropping it because he could. I have NOTHING against a judiciously used F-bomb in the right place but it seemed obligatory at times.
Aside from some of the voice acting and some of the dialog, Afro Samurai had an excellent story. It told itself better in five episodes than what most anime tell in 26. Afro Samurai optimized its screen time and though there was eye candy, it was still eye candy that helped push the plot forward.
The plot for the series is a familiar one (avenging a parent or loved one while losing oneself in the process),but the way it was spun made it seem fresh and original. For an anime filled with high flung action, Afro Samurai really has the ability to draw out emotion.
It took a while for me to get drawn into the story but then again, it really didn’t start to unfold until about the third episode. While we sympathize with Afro in his quest, we’re also taken aback at the high price he pays for it. And he pays and pays and ultimately, makes other people pick up the ticket as well.
GONZO went all out for Afro Samurai’s production. They reportedly spent an average of one million dollars per episode and it shows. The animation is smooth and highly detailed. When people say, “It’s the little things that count.” few ever take it to heart. But apparently, GONZO did.
The character designs were exaggerated and highly stylized. The characters themselves are almost all memorable, but the most memorable in my opinion is the Teddy Bear Samurai. Yes, I said Teddy Bear Samurai. He at once strikes fear and the feeling of “Awwwwwww, how cute!” at the same time, making him a fearsome foe.
Overall, the designs really complimented the themes of the story. I doubt, however, that I would be comfortable saying that if the story were one of true love and redemption.
The colors also helped strike the right mood for the series. I can’t stress how much color has an effect on us. A well chosen color palette will make anything that’s good, better while a crappy color pallet will turn even a good anime into one that’s hard to watch. Afro Samurai had the right colors.
The fight scenes were unique and well choreographed. They were a welcome change from the usual samurai sword slashing fare.
RZA composed the score for Afro Samurai and did a damn good of it. I’m not a fan of hip hop but RZA didn’t just stick with only that style for scoring the series. There are interesting riffs throughout AS that help strike the right mood that aren’t hip hop at all. In the beginning fight scene, for example, a 70’s style melody inspired by the action movies from that era helps emphasize the intense battle taking place. The music scored for Afro Samurai was a perfect fit and flowed naturally throughout the series.
After a well told and very engaging story, the ending was all net. It was at once tidy and open-ended; a rare and difficult balance to achieve.
I can honestly say that while Afro Samurai had its “WTF?!” moments, it had just as many, “Hell yeah!” moments. It’s the “Hell Yeah!” moments that put Afro Samurai on my “Lend-to-as-Many-People-as-Possible” List and renewed my faith that anime can appeal to an American audience while still being Anime.
out of a possible four gummies.
Thanks FUNimation for letting us screen Afro Samurai!
