Afro-Samurai: The Director’s Cut

Distributed by FUNimation
125 minutes (5 episodes)

Samuel L. Jackson plays a quiet, brooding, and murderously formidable ronin with an afro, engaging in ridiculously well-animated samurai combat with a variety of cutthroats, assassins, ninjas, robots, and warriors with an assortment of melee weaponry and really big guns. That is, no doubt, a high level scientific formula for good TV, and more than likely has already convinced many of you to give it a try. Spike TV and FUNimation thought so too, and aired all of Afro Samurai’s six episodes for their violence hungry audience of eighteen-to-thirty-five-year-old males. Afro Samurai is hardly a benchmark for deep, thought-provoking television, but that isn’t what it wants to be. For what it sets out to do, however, Afro Samurai does well enough.

Synopsis
Copy first paragraph of review, paste it here, and done.

Not enough? Okay, okay. Here’s the deal: in a world resembling both feudal and futuristic Japan, complete with traditional Japanese buildings, kimonos, cell phones, and RPGs (the weapon, not the game genre), there exist two sacred headbands, the number one and the number two. The owner of the number one headband, known as “number one,” is considered the most powerful person alive, and can only be challenged in combat by “number two.” The number two headband is constantly sought out by warriors the world over who want a shot at the number one title. You following me so far?

Afro, the hero of our story, is the son of the former number one. His father killed before his very eyes by Justice, a strangely benevolent zombie cowboy (you read that right) who was number two at the time, a young Afro claims the title of number two for himself, and embarks on a quest for revenge. Afro treks towards his fate, slowly but surely making his way to Justice, now number one, cutting through anyone foolish enough to stand in the way.

Storytelling/Characters
There isn’t much to say here. Afro starts as and finishes as the same character: quiet, brooding, and murderously formidable. He’d be downright boring if it weren’t for the fact that, in a fight, he’s like Kenshin on crack, dancing and slashing across the fields of battle with violent gracefulness.

Afro’s constant companion, Ninja Ninja, is much more colorful but just as static. Spouting out whimsically observant lines, which are often outcries focused on the hopelessness of whatever given situation the two find themselves in, Ninja Ninja is Afro’s foil, a necessary component to keep the exponentially more boring Afro from having too much time in the spotlight. And, yes, given the big revelation in the second half of the series, I’m aware of the irony of what I just said.

The overall plot is simply a means to an end, a method to ensure that Afro gets his fights, and that the audience gets to witness those fights. A few curveballs are thrown and a few attempts at thought-provoking dialog are stammered out, but that’s about as dynamic as this story gets. And, ultimately, that’s okay: we’re not watching Afro Samurai to challenge our perceptions of reality or human nature.

PCSTV caught up with Afro Samurai creator Takashi “Bob” Okazaki and Director of Animation, Fuminori Kizaki. Check out our interview with the minds behind the hit mini-series that mixed high octane anime action with Samuel L. Jackson bad assery during Okazaki-san’s first trip to America.

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Animation/Visuals
Visually, Afro Samurai is simply stunning. The stylish past-meets-future world is quite vivid, a cool idea given visual form very meticulously and strikingly. Bright digital lights on small weather-worn gadgets, the rustic tavern in the first town Afro comes across, the ludicrously huge crossbow/grenade launcher used by one of Afro’s challengers, the menacing metal frame of Afro Droid (you heard me); every visual facet of Afro Samurai’s time-confused setting is downright gorgeous.

The animation is equally detailed and just as pretty, and not just in the over-the-top fight scenes. The way Afro’s and Ninja Ninja’s hair moves to the wind is mesmerizing, as is just about any menial little action performed by any of the characters. And yes, of course, the fight scenes get two very big thumbs up, throwing brain-melting slashes, clashes, laser beams, and explosions all over the place, but never getting so muddled to the point that you can’t keep up.

Voices/Music
Samuel Jackson’s voice talents are pretty much wasted on the one-line-of-dialog-every-episode protagonist Afro. The low, menacing grumble he gives Afro is suitable, no doubt, but you can almost feel Jackson holding back. Fortunately for him, Ninja Ninja (whom Samuel L. Jackson also voices) has far more flair, and Jackson steals the show every time he gets the opportunity to cut loose with any of Ninja Ninja’s deliciously hilarious comments. The rest of the voice work is good and well done overall, but not very spectacular or memorable with the possible exception of Yuri Lowenthal, an experienced dub voice actor who voices Jinno. Yuri performs the role of the tortured man perfectly, though I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was listening to any of Yuri’s other voiced characters.

The RZA’s specially scored music is the perfect accompaniment to Afro Samurai’s blistering fighting sequences. I don’t regularly listen to or follow the RZA, but the man knows how to fit music to action and write a catchy intro theme.

Overall
Afro Samurai has all the makings of a de-facto quintessential action mini-series. Though it dabbles very slightly and very briefly in the realm of interpretation, it doesn’t pretend to be more than what it is; a tale of violence set upon a backdrop of sensual visuals and cool-ass music. If you’re a fan of animated fight scenes, drop the cash and pick this bad boy up.

If you’ve seen it on TV, the Director’s Cut adds very little. But if you must see the extra few minutes of cut footage and desire a very high quality box that houses very low quality plastic disc holders, go for it.

I feel I can’t end this review until I compare Afro Samurai to another show that hinges on spectacular fight scenes, namely Final Fantasy VII Advent Children. And here goes: Afro Samurai does it all better. And its dialog is waaaaaaaaaaay more tolerable than Advent Children’s any day of the week, in ANY language.