Ein schwarzer Samurai begibt sich auf eine Mission, um den ungerechten Tod seines Vaters in einem futuristischen feudalen Japan zu rächen.Ein schwarzer Samurai begibt sich auf eine Mission, um den ungerechten Tod seines Vaters in einem futuristischen feudalen Japan zu rächen.Ein schwarzer Samurai begibt sich auf eine Mission, um den ungerechten Tod seines Vaters in einem futuristischen feudalen Japan zu rächen.
Folgen durchsuchen
Empfohlene Bewertungen
Seeking to avenge his father's death, the Afro Samurai sets out to kill the #1 fighter in all the land, a man called Justice. After earning himself the title of #2, which is required for him to be able to challenge Justice, Afro Samurai sets out on his journey to revenge. His road is a dangerous one as he must first find out the location of Justice from his foes all of whom would seek to protect Justice and also win the title of #2 for themselves. His task is a lonely and dark one, but like it or not he has a companion in the constantly b1tching Ninja Ninja.
Although it will not be to everyone's taste, Afro Samurai is a perfect example of something being pitched right at the target audience it is intended for. adult swim is the perfect home for it because it is very much targeted at young males who like their hip hop, Anime and traditions of feudal Japan. It mixes these in a great series of animations that some audiences will claim is very high on style at the expense of content. Now I appreciate that most reviews here are gushing in their praise of this series and not keen on anyone criticising it but, the thing is, those saying it lacks substance do have a point. Like I said before though, it is target audience stuff and for those into it, there will be plenty of content to support the style those looking to be intellectually stimulated by the themes and ideals behind the characters will not get what they are looking for (but why were you looking here for those things). However for target audience the emotional core and the narrative twists will be more than enough to fill the running times of each episode and expand across the season.
What the series delivers in spades though is the cool world of the samurai crossed with the violent and stylish world of Anime with a big dollop of urban culture thrown in there too. It is no surprise to find The Rza involved because again it brings it back to a product that knows what its audience. So those coming to it will be looking for certain things and it delivers it well visually. The Anime animation is slick and cool and moves with all the conventions you will be used to from the genre. The soundtrack compliments it really well because, as other things (eg Boondocks, Wu-Tang etc) have shown, the mix of ninja/samurai (yes, I know they are very different) cultures and modern hip hop seems to be an easy fit. Performance wise you gotta say that Jackson is perfect for the role and again shows that he )or his agent) can pick the roles that bring him heat from his base fans. He is really good in his dual roles and brings the dialogue alive. Of course he is well supported by a famous cast even if they are not all given roles that are that big. Perlman has a great voice and uses it well, but while I think Hu is again a good example of targeting your audience's tastes, her voice is not her strongest feature. Generally though all voice work is good because they are matching the style of the series rather than giving performances per se.
Overall then, not for everyone's tastes but in targeting its audience it is as ruthlessly efficient as Afro Samurai himself. Stylish, bloody, brooding and with an overall air of effortless cool, it is a fine series that I enjoyed. Put it this way, if you like the sound of it then you will almost certainly like it it is that good at what it does.
Although it will not be to everyone's taste, Afro Samurai is a perfect example of something being pitched right at the target audience it is intended for. adult swim is the perfect home for it because it is very much targeted at young males who like their hip hop, Anime and traditions of feudal Japan. It mixes these in a great series of animations that some audiences will claim is very high on style at the expense of content. Now I appreciate that most reviews here are gushing in their praise of this series and not keen on anyone criticising it but, the thing is, those saying it lacks substance do have a point. Like I said before though, it is target audience stuff and for those into it, there will be plenty of content to support the style those looking to be intellectually stimulated by the themes and ideals behind the characters will not get what they are looking for (but why were you looking here for those things). However for target audience the emotional core and the narrative twists will be more than enough to fill the running times of each episode and expand across the season.
What the series delivers in spades though is the cool world of the samurai crossed with the violent and stylish world of Anime with a big dollop of urban culture thrown in there too. It is no surprise to find The Rza involved because again it brings it back to a product that knows what its audience. So those coming to it will be looking for certain things and it delivers it well visually. The Anime animation is slick and cool and moves with all the conventions you will be used to from the genre. The soundtrack compliments it really well because, as other things (eg Boondocks, Wu-Tang etc) have shown, the mix of ninja/samurai (yes, I know they are very different) cultures and modern hip hop seems to be an easy fit. Performance wise you gotta say that Jackson is perfect for the role and again shows that he )or his agent) can pick the roles that bring him heat from his base fans. He is really good in his dual roles and brings the dialogue alive. Of course he is well supported by a famous cast even if they are not all given roles that are that big. Perlman has a great voice and uses it well, but while I think Hu is again a good example of targeting your audience's tastes, her voice is not her strongest feature. Generally though all voice work is good because they are matching the style of the series rather than giving performances per se.
Overall then, not for everyone's tastes but in targeting its audience it is as ruthlessly efficient as Afro Samurai himself. Stylish, bloody, brooding and with an overall air of effortless cool, it is a fine series that I enjoyed. Put it this way, if you like the sound of it then you will almost certainly like it it is that good at what it does.
Afro Samurai started as life as manga before animation studio GONZO adapted the story into a five episode series that premiered online January 1 2007.
Like most contemporary anime, Afro Samurai is another exercise in culture jamming, straddling genres as diverse as Blaxploitation, kung-fu cinema, splatter flicks, western and, of course, Japanese animation. Samuel L. Jackson lends his talents in the voice department, and is also credited as one of the shows producers.
The plot revolves around Afro - nicknamed after his hairstyle - a perpetually silent and bloodthirsty master swordsman, whose quest involves exacting bloody revenge on the man who killed his father, and claiming the title of 'Number One'; a warrior whose powers are comparable to those of a god. Given only five episodes to work with, structure is pretty tight here, so there are no filler episodes or meandering off-sides or tangents to distract from the narrative's focus. Although the series seems to lack that 'epic' journey feel, episodes are never anti-climactic; this is a relief to the casual anime viewer who just wants to get to the carnage.
And carnage there is a-plenty. The plot of Afro Samurai is really just an after thought; it's the fight scenes that are really the star of the show here. A word to the squeamish: Afro Samurai is one of the bloodiest, goriest and most anatomically detailed anime series on the market, so if you've got stomach issues with splatter flicks, avoid this one like syphilis. If, however, high-definition animated gore-porn is your thing, Afro Samurai will not disappoint. Each fight scene is beautifully choreographed and fluidly animated to deliver some truly jaw-dropping, gut-wrenching, wince "oh man, that's gotta hurt"-inducing scenes of unadulterated devastation on the human body. Be-heading, disemboweling and eye-stabbing are just an entrée.
The only thing wrong with Afro Samurai is that it's all over too soon. Most anime fans are used to more meat on the bones, so for many the narrative will feel underdone and the characters under-developed. This is probably a side-effect of the show's creators attempting to cross anime over to a mainstream Western audience, but, in doing so, seem to have sacrificed content for carnage. And while carnage seems to be the whole point of Afro Samurai, five episodes is still remarkably short. Although the series swiftly resolves itself in a fairly predictable way, there is an immense potential for spin-off projects (there's a movie rumor already doing the rounds in cyberspace) and the show itself is re-watchable many times over, if only to sample the audacious ultra-violence again and again. For those of you with an unquenchable blood-lust, Afro Samurai will have you screaming with delight.
Like most contemporary anime, Afro Samurai is another exercise in culture jamming, straddling genres as diverse as Blaxploitation, kung-fu cinema, splatter flicks, western and, of course, Japanese animation. Samuel L. Jackson lends his talents in the voice department, and is also credited as one of the shows producers.
The plot revolves around Afro - nicknamed after his hairstyle - a perpetually silent and bloodthirsty master swordsman, whose quest involves exacting bloody revenge on the man who killed his father, and claiming the title of 'Number One'; a warrior whose powers are comparable to those of a god. Given only five episodes to work with, structure is pretty tight here, so there are no filler episodes or meandering off-sides or tangents to distract from the narrative's focus. Although the series seems to lack that 'epic' journey feel, episodes are never anti-climactic; this is a relief to the casual anime viewer who just wants to get to the carnage.
And carnage there is a-plenty. The plot of Afro Samurai is really just an after thought; it's the fight scenes that are really the star of the show here. A word to the squeamish: Afro Samurai is one of the bloodiest, goriest and most anatomically detailed anime series on the market, so if you've got stomach issues with splatter flicks, avoid this one like syphilis. If, however, high-definition animated gore-porn is your thing, Afro Samurai will not disappoint. Each fight scene is beautifully choreographed and fluidly animated to deliver some truly jaw-dropping, gut-wrenching, wince "oh man, that's gotta hurt"-inducing scenes of unadulterated devastation on the human body. Be-heading, disemboweling and eye-stabbing are just an entrée.
The only thing wrong with Afro Samurai is that it's all over too soon. Most anime fans are used to more meat on the bones, so for many the narrative will feel underdone and the characters under-developed. This is probably a side-effect of the show's creators attempting to cross anime over to a mainstream Western audience, but, in doing so, seem to have sacrificed content for carnage. And while carnage seems to be the whole point of Afro Samurai, five episodes is still remarkably short. Although the series swiftly resolves itself in a fairly predictable way, there is an immense potential for spin-off projects (there's a movie rumor already doing the rounds in cyberspace) and the show itself is re-watchable many times over, if only to sample the audacious ultra-violence again and again. For those of you with an unquenchable blood-lust, Afro Samurai will have you screaming with delight.
Afro Samurai will stay in my collection as a pure guilty pleasure, a black samurai saga that has more than a touch of being made just right for die-hard fans of blood-drenched anime (or, for that matter, members of the Wu-Tang Clan, for which RZA did the music, and is an asset via groovy beats and is an occasional deterrent with rap going on during a big battle). At the same time it's also got a little tongue pressed into cheek, as the usual clichés in a revenge saga get just the right touches of harsh comedy (the side character Samuel L. Jackson mostly voices, Ninja Ninja as the fool of the series, gives some of it, and some of it just comes through the wild ways that the other samurais send out their forms of slaughter to Afro) and rapid stylization, with not just one specific style, though it is mostly indebted to recent ultra-violent anime. Through first-time director Kizaki and the writers who are also working mostly as their first efforts, experiment with its "ghetto" influence with it looking as much like an exploitation flick from the 70s as much as a sword-revenge story (many of those out for Afro's head could be compared to those out for Grier or Williamson's heads in the classic films).
But it's also science fiction to a degree, or at least futuristic in scope, mixing feudal Japan with crafty cyborgs and robots and other technology thrown in (including a robot clone of Afro who mimics his moves but not his subconscious). It's not anything exactly masterpiece-like, and after a few episodes it does come close to being a little tiresome in seeing Afro, who has little-to-no personality and just a straightforward bad motherf***er attitude, on his quest to achieve something higher than his simple 2-level. But it's downright exhilarating, as far as today's anime can get, in seeing the extremely bloody swordplay and other violent bits that come quick but with a lasting after effect, and in seeing how the conventions inherent in the supporting characters, be they in flashbacks to Afro's training or in the present as the ones out for Afro's head on a stick. It might actually be too based on the action for some, and it is a little light on story as it goes along past the flashback episode. Yet with people like Jackson and Perlman as the voices behind the figures, and in such a distinctive blend of the usual and unusual in the genre, it's worth a look for fans, and maybe even as a curiosity to those who dug Chapter 3 in Kill Bill 1.
But it's also science fiction to a degree, or at least futuristic in scope, mixing feudal Japan with crafty cyborgs and robots and other technology thrown in (including a robot clone of Afro who mimics his moves but not his subconscious). It's not anything exactly masterpiece-like, and after a few episodes it does come close to being a little tiresome in seeing Afro, who has little-to-no personality and just a straightforward bad motherf***er attitude, on his quest to achieve something higher than his simple 2-level. But it's downright exhilarating, as far as today's anime can get, in seeing the extremely bloody swordplay and other violent bits that come quick but with a lasting after effect, and in seeing how the conventions inherent in the supporting characters, be they in flashbacks to Afro's training or in the present as the ones out for Afro's head on a stick. It might actually be too based on the action for some, and it is a little light on story as it goes along past the flashback episode. Yet with people like Jackson and Perlman as the voices behind the figures, and in such a distinctive blend of the usual and unusual in the genre, it's worth a look for fans, and maybe even as a curiosity to those who dug Chapter 3 in Kill Bill 1.
Everything about it is what I wanted for a anime, a actual good style (unlike boruto), great use of fighting, and not a too long story that will lose it's purpose, I only rated it a 8 though due to the fact that many things are just left out in the open, what about justice (the guy who killed afro's father) legacy and Afro's Father too? They seem like great characters and should have been shown more. I highly recommend it, and it is definitely a anime completely different from other animes, way more mature, unlike those disgusting anime shows that use girls as tools, 8/10, my favourite anime despite not watching anime as much as I used to.
Hip-hop in feudal japan? Guy on a quest to become "number one"? My first impressions of this anime, based on promotional material back in 2007, were not too good. I'm not a big fan of hip-hop for one thing, and neither do I dig the overused plot device of a lone warrior traveling the country to seek vengeance, which was handled so much better by Yoshiaki Kawajiri in Ninja Scroll or Highlander. Dismissed it immediately.
It is 2009 now and I discovered Afro Samurai: Director's Cut in the discount bin at the DVD store. Bought it, watched it, and GOT HOOKED by it.
The first thing that struck me was the whole "attitude" of the show. Science fiction, fantasy, samurai films, blaxploitation, all blended together into one tasty soup. If shows like Ghost in the Shell appeals to the higher reasoning and logical portions of the brain and Grave of the Fireflies appeal to the emotional centers, Afro Samurai would be a show that appeals to the most basic drives of human cognition.
It is pure "Id" given form, striving to do no more than to satisfy the instinctual needs for pleasure. In the same way the ancient Romans loved their gladiatorial combat and their lions vs prisoners shows, this anime digs deep into the dark recesses of the human mind which hides that aggressive streak and answers its denied cravings by delivers non-stop violence with a whole new attitude. The highly stylized art works well for such a show, containing an exceptionally high level of detail more common in feature film animation than in a direct-to-DVD miniseries. The animation is fluid, smooth and conveys a sense of "free flow", like watching a professional break-dancer; everything is constantly in flux. Like the "Id", the action is excessive and illogically over-the-top: A testament to the limitless potential of animation and the illogical and almost random nature of our basic human instincts.
Even the slightly disjointed and simplistic story reflects the properties of the "Id". In keeping with the "style over substance" the creative team did not even try to make an original narrative. The story presented here is an extremely simple one, stocked to the brim with clichés. As a kid, young Afro watched his dad die at the hands of an evil gunman(played by Ron "Hellboy" Perlman), and vowed to spend the rest of his life training in the samurai way to take down his father's killer and become "Number One." Along the way, he meets old friends, new enemies and host of quirky characters in a stylish world where ancient feudal japan meets post-modern science fiction and fantasy.
Clichés also extend to the many characters in this show. Stoic silent wanderer with comic relief sidekick (sounds like Vampire Hunter D and his left hand), femme fatale who falls for our hero, mysterious mafia-like villains, etc. What lends new life to these tired old clichés is the fresh new attitude and style that Afro Samurai brings with it. It is like an all new liquor cocktail which uses existing ingredients, but what sets it apart from other cocktails is how everything is mixed together.
Special mention goes to Samuel L Jackson who plays both the stoic Afro and his loud mouthed trash talking sidekick, Ninja-ninja. His acting, as with every other member of the cast is spot on, and I love how he can play the two characters so differently with the same level of professionalism. Honestly if I never looked at the cast list, I would have never thought he voiced those two characters at the same time.
Afro Samurai is to this new century what Ninja Scroll was to the 90s: A bloody, violent, fresh, unabashed display of excessiveness that delivers what it promises. A highly original concept recommended for fans who are bored with your typical shonen anime and looking for something new, refreshing and just oozing with ATTITUDE.
It is 2009 now and I discovered Afro Samurai: Director's Cut in the discount bin at the DVD store. Bought it, watched it, and GOT HOOKED by it.
The first thing that struck me was the whole "attitude" of the show. Science fiction, fantasy, samurai films, blaxploitation, all blended together into one tasty soup. If shows like Ghost in the Shell appeals to the higher reasoning and logical portions of the brain and Grave of the Fireflies appeal to the emotional centers, Afro Samurai would be a show that appeals to the most basic drives of human cognition.
It is pure "Id" given form, striving to do no more than to satisfy the instinctual needs for pleasure. In the same way the ancient Romans loved their gladiatorial combat and their lions vs prisoners shows, this anime digs deep into the dark recesses of the human mind which hides that aggressive streak and answers its denied cravings by delivers non-stop violence with a whole new attitude. The highly stylized art works well for such a show, containing an exceptionally high level of detail more common in feature film animation than in a direct-to-DVD miniseries. The animation is fluid, smooth and conveys a sense of "free flow", like watching a professional break-dancer; everything is constantly in flux. Like the "Id", the action is excessive and illogically over-the-top: A testament to the limitless potential of animation and the illogical and almost random nature of our basic human instincts.
Even the slightly disjointed and simplistic story reflects the properties of the "Id". In keeping with the "style over substance" the creative team did not even try to make an original narrative. The story presented here is an extremely simple one, stocked to the brim with clichés. As a kid, young Afro watched his dad die at the hands of an evil gunman(played by Ron "Hellboy" Perlman), and vowed to spend the rest of his life training in the samurai way to take down his father's killer and become "Number One." Along the way, he meets old friends, new enemies and host of quirky characters in a stylish world where ancient feudal japan meets post-modern science fiction and fantasy.
Clichés also extend to the many characters in this show. Stoic silent wanderer with comic relief sidekick (sounds like Vampire Hunter D and his left hand), femme fatale who falls for our hero, mysterious mafia-like villains, etc. What lends new life to these tired old clichés is the fresh new attitude and style that Afro Samurai brings with it. It is like an all new liquor cocktail which uses existing ingredients, but what sets it apart from other cocktails is how everything is mixed together.
Special mention goes to Samuel L Jackson who plays both the stoic Afro and his loud mouthed trash talking sidekick, Ninja-ninja. His acting, as with every other member of the cast is spot on, and I love how he can play the two characters so differently with the same level of professionalism. Honestly if I never looked at the cast list, I would have never thought he voiced those two characters at the same time.
Afro Samurai is to this new century what Ninja Scroll was to the 90s: A bloody, violent, fresh, unabashed display of excessiveness that delivers what it promises. A highly original concept recommended for fans who are bored with your typical shonen anime and looking for something new, refreshing and just oozing with ATTITUDE.
Wusstest du schon
- WissenswertesSamuel L. Jackson and Phil LaMarr appeared in Pulp Fiction (1994).
- Zitate
Afro Samurai: Nothing personal. It's just revenge.
- Alternative VersionenThe DVD is available in two versions: a Spike TV edited version and a Uncut/uncensored version with more sex and violence.
- VerbindungenFeatured in Anime: Drawing a Revolution (2007)
- SoundtracksHate
Written by Michael Baiardi and Christian Altman and Matthew Harris
Published by Soundfile Publishing (ASCAP)
Performed by M1
Courtesy of Soundfile Records
Top-Auswahl
Melde dich zum Bewerten an und greife auf die Watchlist für personalisierte Empfehlungen zu.
Details
Zu dieser Seite beitragen
Bearbeitung vorschlagen oder fehlenden Inhalt hinzufügen