This might be an oldie but its a good one....Made by Takashi Okazaki the series follows a Black Samurai in a futuristic feudal Japan who wants to kill a gunslinger by the name of Justice and take the number one headband that offers godlike powers. It is a *seinen **dojinshi anime birth out of Takashi's love for soul, hip-hop, and American media.
It's the basic revenge story following as fights through various opponents. It's a cliche story with some cliche characters. He wears the number two headband makes him a constant target because anyone can challenge him but he is the only person who can challenge the number one. There's not information give on Afro himself since he's not the talkative type but you learn about his past through flashbacks. These flashbacks give you the flashcard version of his past but it's enough insight into his character and how he wound up with the number two headband. They also don't serve as filler because they actually have a purpose in the overall story( even if there is much to begin with). His sidekick Ninja-Ninja however is the opposite, you won't learn about his past but he is the most talkative of the two they even have moment later on in the series.
The main focus in this series is the action scenes and there are plenty of them. The set pieces are nice, the fighting is never boring and that's mostly because of the amount of blood that is spilled (trust me on this, blood is spilled) but it never get's too much where it just get's numbing. The animation is really good and fluid and there's not many cheap shots (that's what I call them) where someone gets sliced and all that is shown is a black screen and a bright line. Even when there is no action going on in the scene you can still tell the care that went behind the animation.
If you were wondering if there were any underlying themes in this show, well, there aren't any really. Possibly one or two but none that stick out. Revenge begot's more revenge is probably the theme and it makes since if you ever get the chance to watch it.Overall: If your looking for a series that's short and sweet with some nice action scenes look no further.
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| End it with the Teddy Bear with swords |
*Seinen- Is anime/manga usually for young adult males
**Dojinshi- Is the term for self-published or underground. This is usually done by amateurs, but many industry professionals take this route fore of their manga's.
All photos are from the Afro Samurai DVD's/Streaming and are the property of Gonzo and SpikeTV
