Product Description

Ice Cold Soul and a Jones For Revenge….now available on Blu-Ray!

Afro Samurai (voiced by Academy Award® nominated Samuel L. Jackson) is an epic tale of a black samurai's hunt for Justice (voiced by Ron Perlman: Hellboy Alien Resurrection ) who murdered his father. With music score by The RZA ( Kill Bill Wu Tang Clan) Afro Samurai blends traditional Japanese culture, funky technology and hip hop to create a brutally fresh entertainment experience.

Director's Cut features:

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3989 in DVD
• Brand: Funimation
• Released on: 2008-08-26
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Animated, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 5.00 pounds
• Running time: 125 minutes

Amazon.com
The violent five-part adventure Afro Samurai marks both the increasing confluence of American and Japanese pop culture and the shift in Japanese depictions of African-Americans. The popularity of hip-hop in Japan has led to more positive images of blacks, including Takashi Okazaki's original manga. The "Director's Cut" contains an additional 15 minutes of footage, and is even gorier than the broadcast version on Spike TV. As a boy, Afro Samurai saw his father beheaded by the maniacal Justice. The murderer sought an ancient headband that marks the wearer as the #1 warrior in the world. As an adult, Afro seeks only revenge, cutting down anyone who blocks his path to Justice. Afro Samurai depicts a oddly anachronistic world that infuses cell phones, cigarette lighters, and cyber technology into traditional Japanese culture. The elongated character designs recall Peter Chung's Aeon Flux, and much of the series is rendered in moody grays, accented by gobbets of scarlet blood. Afro is such a taciturn figure, most of the dialogue goes to his motor-mouth comrade Ninja Ninja. This big budget production features an eclectic score by Wu-Tang Clan co-founder RZA and an A-list vocal cast that includes Samuel L. Jackson and Ron Perlman. But for all its elaborate production values and over-the-top fights, Afro Samurai suffers from a weakness at its core: Afro is so monosyllabic and cold-blooded, he's not very interesting. His inevitable duel-to-the-death with Justice lacks the emotional punch of Spike's face-off against Vicious in Cowboy Bebop or Kenshin's one-on-one with Shishio in Rurouni Kenshin. This extremely violent series is not for the faint of stomach. (Rated TV MA, suitable for ages 17 and older: graphic violence, profanity, sexual activity, grotesque imagery, nudity, risqué humor, alcohol and tobacco use) --Charles Solomon

More from Studio Gonzo

Origin: Spirits of the Past

Trinity Blood

Solty Rei

Stills from Afro Samurai (click for larger image)

More Samuel L. Jackson

Snakes on a Plane

Shaft

Pulp Fiction

More Stills (click for larger image)

Customer Reviews

Afro's Animation Was Cool But What About The Story?
There's no doubt that Afro Samurai has a cool and simple concept and a very bloody style. In this future world of feudal Japan nothing seems to matter but two headbands that represent the two best fighters. To get to the number one fighter you must go through the number two and to get to the number two you must go trough everyone else. This way of life that nobody should have to live especially a child who has nothing but the headbands and revenge on his mind. As a child Afro saw his father who was the number one fighter at the time get massacred by a man named Justice. After the fight is over Justice takes the number one headband off of the head of Afro's father, which was not too far away from his body. Justice tells Afro something similar to what Uma Thurman said to Vivica A. Fox's daughter in Kill Bill, that if he wanted revenge he would fight him when he came for him.

Afro took those words very seriously and took a few things of his fathers including his very cool Katana. Afro immediately went from an innocent child to an almost emotionless man with a ton of weight on him as he begins his vengeful journey. Afro Samurai is a unique anime or story for that matter. You don't see too many people willing to put out a story with basically nothing but very bloody fight scenes for about two episodes before a really good story starts up. Especially in a 5 part series where the episodes are only between 20 and 30 minutes long. I can't lie because I love stuff like that and it made Afro Samurai all the more tempting to finish watching. The second is that this was a pricy anime to make costing $1 million per episode so I'm sure a few viewers from the Hip hop community were expected to watch this. Even if you're an action film fan you have to admit when there's too much action and not enough story Even in a revenge tail like Kill Bill with a certain scene that this anime could relate to 88 times over it had a mystery and story.

Afro was on the verge of being in the too much and not enough category and then a cool story hits you somewhere around the end of episode two. Flashbacks of Afro's life are showed, you see him as a kid again and the people who took him in and gave him his gritty skills. All throughout the 5 part series you see that the money was well spent because the animation is amazing and beautiful. The things that Afro does with his skills are crazy and this animation was a giant step up for anime samurai fight scene, it was flawless. The voice actors are great including Sam Jackson who is great for co-producing this and putting his foot in it.

I think it would have been cool to actually give Afro a real name, it's cool for people that take him on to call him Afro but I think he should have had a name for his other life before he became the Afro Samurai. In other words I kind of wish the story went just a bit deeper with a little bit more complexity. I think that Afro Samurai is a great series that everyone should see especially to view its beautiful quality.

Style over substance applies here
Recently I got into the show Samurai Champloo, done by the man responsible for the much-praised Cowboy Bebop. That show oozes style and panache while still maintaining a compelling atmosphere and likable characters. Afro Samurai on the other hand just tries way too hard to be cool and its emphasis on that "coolness" completely robs it of anything else it wants to have when presenting this old-yet-anachronistic world. Meaning this is a show where there was more time spent on its visuals than anything else and you can very much see that is the case although the more testosterone-driven people might disagree with me.

Comprised of 5 episodes, Samuel L. Jackson plays Afro who has a boy saw his father killed right in front of him by the evil Justice. Justice wants the #1 headband which says that he is the best fighter ever. Afro, growing up and full of dreams of revenge, has the #2 headband which means only he can take on the number one. Only thing is whoever is number 2 has to fight everyone and really anyone who thinks they can take him on. And so the bulk of the series is basically Afro taking on any moron who thinks they can go after him as well as revealing backstory on old friends and how he got the #2 headband back.

First I should talk about the positives because the negatives might be a little bit extensive. Gonzo Animation, known for such titles as Samurai 7, Trinity Blood, and Chrono Crusade, Gonzo has really outdid themselves with the animation here with is just as fluid and beautiful as it should be with character designs on the mark a large part of the time which was a problem I always saw with Samurai 7. One battle, taking place in a snowfield is just as serene in its atmosphere as is some of the lighting in other places. However, the fights, while cool, have a certain overeager quality or a lack of confidence and they're almost haphazardly directed and hard to tell what's going half the time. It's here where it's easy to see it's basically a case of "if it looks cool, who cares if the action's confusing?"

Here's where I'm basically going to bomb the series. Characters aren't terribly interesting. Afro is so quiet and withdrawn that he's not the most likable anti-hero around. At least Hellsing was a likable bad***, as skillful in battle as he was cool to root for. Jackson also plays Ninja Ninja which is the antithesis of Afro's quiet demeanor. This is the Jackson you'd probably hear the most in films as he has that kind of "I'm the man" tone of voice and he quickly gets irritating. You almost wish Afro would pull a Fight Club on him (if you've seen the movie, I've probably spoiled this for you). As for the 2 other stars, Kelly Hu and Ron Perlman, playing Okiku and Justice respectively, they're barely in this. Not that they do good jobs anyway.

There's way better anime out there such as Bebop, Champloo, Kenshin, hell even Fruits Basket is better than this. Should you at least rent it and try it out? Sure. Some of you will love it and find "this **** is the bomb!" while others will find a rather hollow anime entry.

AFRO COOOOOOL
I just caught the first ep showing on Spike Tv and WOW. Insane little anime. Really worth a watch and buy. The action is fast, violent and plenty of it. Samuel Jackson does the voice for two characters(maybe more). He of course does Afro the main character, but since Afro doesn't really talk all that much, most of it goes to this other guy that follows him around, who I think might just be in Afro's head. Pretty cool plot, there's two headbands, each with a number one and a number two. Afro's dad wore number one. Until number two killed him infront of his eyes. Here's how it works. The one that wears the number one headband means no one can challenge you. You're untouchable. Only the wearer of the number two has the right to challenge. But if you wear the number two headband it means that EVERYONE and ANYONE can challenge you. And that's pretty much the plot. Afro is making his way to see and challenge number one while fighting off the others that want his number two(headband). Anyway, watch and then later buy.