By Takashi Okazaki
Tor Seven Seas, 176 pp.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)

In a distant future, there’s a legend of two headbands. The owner of the Number One Headband is the best fighter and killer in the world and rumored to be as powerful as a god, and only he who holds the Number Two Headband may challenge him. The current Number Two, Afro Samurai, sets about to avenge the death of his father at the hands of the current Number One, Justice. Unfortunately for him, while only Number Two can challenged Number One, anyone can challenge Number Two and just about everyone does.

After a long wait the first volume of Takashi Okazaki’s Afro Samurai manga finally makes its way to the US. While this isn’t the original manga that inspired what’s fast becoming a multimedia franchise (that was a short doujinshi series that we get a glimpse of in the back of this volume), it was created during the same period as the original anime. The result is a tale that will be familiar fans of the anime, but the material has been expanded upon and taken in slightly different directions. The main cast is all present: Afro Samurai, his imaginary sidekick Ninja Ninja, the gun wielding Justice, the group of monks known as the Empty Seven, and the teddy bear samurai Kuma. These familiar faces are also joined by several new characters, most of whom are one-off villains placed in Afro’s path, though there is an new and unnamed ally of Kuma’s as well.

As for the plot, it’s pretty much the same as the anime and most of the volume consists of the over-the-top action sequences as Afro mows through opponent after opponent, heedless of the carnage caused by the battles or those caught in between them. In fact, one of the striking differences between the anime and the manga is the cold cruelty that Afro displays here. In one battle he callously uses innocent bystanders as shields and distractions. While he wasn’t exactly Mr. Warmth in the anime, he was never quite that cold and uncaring.

Okazaki’s art is amazingly detailed and so closely resembles the art style of the anime, that parts of the opening look like they may have been an alternate story board for it. The action tends be fast and brutal, with splashes of red coloring added to emphasize the blood sprays, of which there are plenty. Aside the smattering of red coloring it’s all black and white with toning… lots and lots of toning. In fact, the toning is so heavy and dark in places that I occasionally had problems making out the details of just what was happening. That’s a bit of a shame too as the clearer portions look fantastically detailed.

In a surprising move, Seven Seas chose to flip the manga, I’m guessing this was done to entice non-traditional manga readers to the book. Hopefully it’ll work for them, but I’d imagine that the overdone toning might actually put some folks off. Flipping through it casually, one might just see page after page of indistinct gray splotches.

Plenty of anime and manga fans didn’t like Afro Samurai when it aired, and I doubt this manga will be change their minds about it. Chances are, if you’ve seen the anime then you probably already know whether or not you’ll enjoy this manga.

Volume one of Afro Samurai is available now.