afro samurai 1
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Tagged: afro samurai
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From the network that brought you a crime fighting stripper comes the Ben Wallace of samurai. Oh boy.
Afro Samurai follows the exploits of the Afro Samurai as he hunts down the person who killed his father while fending off people looking to score big by knocking him off. Planned for 5 episodes at a cost of over $5 million, it’s an ambitious project that mixes BET sensibilities with anime. Predictably, they don’t mix very well… kinda like having Kelly Ripa doing play-by-play for Monday Night Football or seeing Michael Vick leave Best Buy with a Hanaukyo Maid La Verite boxset.
I’ve also seen a lot of comparisons to Bebop and Samurai Champloo due to the styling clues, but I don’t think that’s right. Afro Samurai is more or less a poor homage to Lady Snowblood: very similar hyperviolent styles; very similar main thread about vengeance by the child. Only Lady Snowblood is more than just violence and sex– the stories have some intelligence and morality behind them whereas Afro Samurai is just a killing spree designed to look cool and hip. Beyond Afro’s hunt for Justice (in both meanings of the word), there’s not much to the show. Kill -> smarky remark -> repeat. Like watching a bad James Bond movie, we’re treated to stylized violence, forgettable one-liners, and asses of hawt woman seriously miscast (i.e. Denise Richards as a Nobel-prize caliber nuclear physicist).
ANN reports that over a million people tuned in for the premiere of Afro Samurai (though TMQ reported last week that a cable rerun of That 70’s Show draws about 2.4 million visitors) and that That 70’s Show probably doesn’t come close to the $1 million an episode that Afro Samurai costs. NPR and Newsday both gloss over the show extolling the style but not saying much else about the content. They also gloss over the fact that it’s very bloody. If Cartoon Network ever aired Higurashi, you know Jack Thompson would be all over them… yet Afro Samurai delivers more pints of blood than those killer lolis ever did. Anime is rarely this violent– sure shows like Elfen Lied comes around occasionally, but Afro’s killing sprees were even more graphic than Lucy’s. Is this the image that anime is going to have in America? Then there’s all the smoking that’s suddenly allowed… made me want to punch something thinking about Sanji and his lolipops on One Piece.
The animation itself is impressive on fluditiy, but the greyish tones are dull and not very attractive. The focus of Afro Samurai seems to make the animation the star rather than the Afro Samurai, which is a shame. Solid State Society and Haruhi Suzumiya are not just praised before of their top notch animation but for solid content backing it up. Afro Samurai turns out to be a hollow paper samurai as there’s nothing inside propping up the visuals. Um. It looks good. So what? Even though Ergo Proxy had a mind numbing plot to go along with it’s visuals, it at least had a plot. At this point, I’d settle for any plot.
The visual cues are also confusing that it is a pseudo-modern world (kinda like Samurai 7) but features more absurdity that I think even Gonzo wouldn’t touch… though I wouldn’t bet on it. I thought it was pretty ridiculous for Jumbo to slice Revy’s bullet in Black Lagoon, but Afro Samurai slicing a bullet and then causing the shrapnel to kill ten other people? Egads. The scarves and ribbons that always stay horizontal, even indoors, are also ridiculous.
The problem with America-influenced anime is that for whatever reason, studios try to concentrate too much on developing the animation rather than the story, and the Japanese produces are too happy at seeing all this foreign money to complain. IGPX has a similar problem– okay, the CG mecha looks decent and they even have Mark Hamill take some time out of his busy schedule for a minor role, but it doesn’t solve the fundamental problem that it’s about robots racing around in ovals. The core of the best anime out there isn’t animation quality: some of the shows best accepted by Americans like Dragonball Z and Pokemon have hideous animation quality, and the best shows period don’t necessary have animation quality as its driving point. Evangelion? Rozen Maiden? GTO? Kenshin? What they do have in common is an unique story blended together like nothing else out there. They use animation to tell a story. Not use animation as a substitute for a story.
The saving grace of this Spike TV production is the cast. Samuel L. Jackson is fantastic as both the Afro Samurai and his swarmy sidekick “Ninja Ninja” (though he uses the same voice for both), and it was worth the price of admission just to hear him go, “Ooishi.” That’s right. Samuel L: The most motherfuckin’ bad ass private dick sex machine/Jedi weeaboo in the world. Ron Perlman does an acceptable job for both lines that Justice had, and the third big name, Kelly Hu, had zero lines this episode. Though I think this cast is wasted on Afro Samurai and should instead be working on Black Lagoon: Samuel L. as Dutch, Kelly Hu as Revy, Ron Perlman as Rock, and introducing Jeff Goldblum as Benny. Sorry, that can’t miss. Even if they round out the cast with Rosie O’Donnell as Lolilaika and Donald Trump as “Jumbo.”
Overall, I have mixed feelings about Afro Samurai. On one hand, if it fails, it would set the anime-in-America movement back a notch whereas if it succeeds, it’ll only encourage more shallow anime on American TV. A few months ago, I wrote a post about anime on American TV, and I think it still stands… I’d love to see a show like Mushishi make it to a US network just to show that anime isn’t just about decapitations and pr0n. I think TV networks need to start trusting their viewers to gravitate towards shows that are intelligent and fun to watch and not just pretty to watch. The problem is that most of America can probably care less about intelligent TV and just want to watch pretty wreckage. Now excuse me as I go catch an episode of Deal or No Deal followed by NASCAR Tonight.
21 Responses to “afro samurai 1”
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Quite a few people in my school actually watched it and liked it. Simple things like violence violence violence give it appeal to a certain group of people who aren’t necessarily wanting to watch a thought-provoking series.
“’d love to see a show like Mushishi make it to a US network just to show that anime isn’t just about decapitations and pr0n.”
Wait, it isn’t? Why have I been watching it all this time then?!
I watched the part where that old guy was giving some great gigantic speech while his slut kept begging for more old p0n0r. Then this big Buddha hand mountain thingy appeared. I lost total interest in 30 seconds.
>>Simple things like violence violence violence give it appeal to a certain group of people who aren’t necessarily wanting to watch a thought-provoking series.
But shows like Black Lagoon show that “violent” and “not thought-provoking” does not have to equate to “inane” or “plotless.”
Ahhh, I love this post. I do wish American TV networks would take riskier chances with the anime they decide to show, but maybe the wave of American anime fans (I’m referring to the fans that started with Inu Yasha on Adult Swim and haven’t strayed very far from it) really aren’t looking for something thought-provoking and plot-filled. I’m a little uneasy about Haruhi being licensed, but I pulled for it to be shown at my college’s anime club and everyone loved it- they didn’t mind that the episodes weren’t chronological, and what have you. There was a hefty dose of clever comedy and a perfect cast of characters (though I cannot say how many damn times I heard “Haruhi is like Asuka and Yuki is like Rei!!” u_u ()) to keep them entertained. And of course, KyoAni… haha.
So, just maybe, American audiences would begin gravitating towards *real* anime if they were given the chance. Sigh.
And I’m just curious, who’re you pulling for the Superbowl? ^_^ ()
“I’d love to see a show like Mushishi make it to a US network just to show that anime isn’t just about decapitations and pr0n.”
To be fair, Samurai Jack and Avatar, The Last Airbender are really good American anime, especially when you take into consideration the massive restrictions their under from the networks. They get away with some amount of violence, but nearly no blood or real death. Hence the stories are usually quite interesting.
I was a slight bit disappointed that it was more air and style than substance, but once I found out it was 5 episodes… well I didn’t expect too much in the way o thought invoking stuff. Just like Snakes on a Plane, it’s purely a throw-back here to 80’s action movies and insanely stylistic moves.
A video game like this would work much better. Then the need for a more in-depth character story wouldn’t be necessary.
K-chan Says:
January 9th, 2007 at 11:20:20 PM
Ahhh, I love this post. I do wish American TV networks would take riskier chances with the anime they decide to show, but maybe the wave of American anime fans (I’m referring to the fans that started with Inu Yasha on Adult Swim and haven’t strayed very far from it) really aren’t looking for something thought-provoking and plot-filled. I’m a little uneasy about Haruhi being licensed, but I pulled for it to be shown at my college’s anime club and everyone loved it- they didn’t mind that the episodes weren’t chronological, and what have you. There was a hefty dose of clever comedy and a perfect cast of characters (though I cannot say how many damn times I heard “Haruhi is like Asuka and Yuki is like Rei!!†u_u ()) to keep them entertained. And of course, KyoAni… haha.
well, i kind of share your feelings. The small anime group which i found here in my university are either narutards or bleachies. I took me some time to actually let them watch better tittles^o^. The again, this posting is kind of interesting so maybe i will check it out.
With a name like that, did ur really expect it to be great?
It was… hilarious. I couldn’t stop laughing. But man, it was THAT expensive? Whoa! O.o
I didn’t even like the visuals that much: the animation was fluid, but wasted on scenes that were more often confusing or silly than satisfying. And the laws of physics were definitelky taking a break what with all the floating things. Oh, and the fight with the racket launcher guy? Almost as good as the “decapitation by guns” thing at the very beginning.
The fact that some people dig this is… Well, no need to finish that, really.
Imagine what we could have gotten if that money were given to the RIGHT people(i.e. Kyoto)… They could use it to try to hire more people to work on GASP, 2 series per season! That way we can get twice the Kyoto goodness!
For some reason, I thought you were going to talk about Keroro. :(
Excellent points though, such as, “They use animation to tell a story. Not use animation as a substitute for a story.”
Hrmm…. this is really the last show I’d expect to get blogged on this site.
I thought it was “ok” overall. The fighting’s nice, but, as mentioned, the color scheme is pretty dull and the characters really not that original.
If the show was that expenseive, damn… they really f****ed it up!
It was on Spike TV for chrissakes, a chanel not known for it’s thought provoking content. If you’re thinking while watching Spike, you’re not doing it right.
>>> who’re you pulling for the Superbowl?
pat
only team i can support without been beat into a bloody pulp
“Some of the shows best accepted by Americans like Dragonball Z and Pokemon have hideous animation quality, and the best shows period don’t necessary have animation quality as its driving point.”
Pokemon and Dragonball Z? Pokemon lasted as long as it did because of all the merchandise, especially the TCG. Partner that by aiming the show at tweens (during a time of development where it’s normal to “collect” things [the things you learn in psych class]) and you just about have a circular trust.
As for Dragonball Z, I have no explanation. Maybe for the ridiculous powering up scenes/episodes (“ooh, shiny”)?
Style can win over plot. How about the Kill Bill films (especially the animated sequences)? I would even argue that the success of Akira has far more to do with its style. How many people actually understand the plot? Actually, I’d say that most of postmodern literature goes in this direction.
>> It was on Spike TV for chrissakes, a chanel not known for it’s thought provoking content.
I think you didn’t read my first line of this post… “from the network that brought you a crime fighting stripper.” I am also not reviewing Afro Samurai with respect to other Spike TV shows, I’m reviewing with respect to anime… since this is, after all, an anime blog.
>> To be fair, Samurai Jack and Avatar, The Last Airbender are really good American anime
American anime? The common definition of anime is “animation originating from Japan.” So you’re saying “American animation originating from Japan”? That’s as bad as Taco Bell’s “carne asada steak tacos.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime
>> I would even argue that the success of Akira has far more to do with its style. How many people actually understand the plot?
You’re missing the point. Akira at least tries with a plot. Afro Samurai kinda just gave up.
>> With a name like that, did ur really expect it to be great?
I’ve made this suggestion before, but I think we need a game show: CW Band or Anime? For example, The Bravery? Pumpkin Scissors? Bloc Party? If we picked 50 random people, how many would be able to differentiate the band from the anime series?
>> The problem is that most of America can probably care less about intelligent TV and just want to watch pretty wreckage.
That is, of course, a fact. (See: Firefly, Death of Firefly)
Anime in general doesn’t have deep stories. Eva? OMG A CROSS IM SO DEEP!!! GITS? Better, but still takes itself too seriously. Boogiepop? Teen angst.
This is a good show. End of story. To everyone out there who wants to claim that the general fan-base doesn’t desire thought provoking shows can climb down from their pedestals. Even the greatest minds have their guilty pleasures. The animation is excellent, the battles are astounding, and I absolutely love the world they created. I will concede that certain scenes are just ridiculous. Like brother 1’s “biatch” hanging off his arm while he makes a speech in front of a giant black buddha, but I am more than willing to laugh and accept that as a part of this ghetto feudal futuristic world. It may not qualify as one of the great works of our time, but in my opinion it is still an excellent show, and it has not yet given me reason to lump it into the “funny terrible” category along with “Kazaam” and “Krull.”
It is a shame about the money though.
It’s a sub-par but pretty series at best, though I’m a bit opposite of what was said here. While I agree the story is bad, there is a story. And I actually enjoyed the art, despite the bleakness. The cast however, was horrible.