Streaming: Hulu (With Subscription)
Warnings:
Extreme Graphic Violence
Sex
Nudity
Explicit Language
Rating: TV-MA
Afro Samurai: Resurrection is a one-of-a-kind futuristic anime about God-like warriors. This film is a sequel to the TV miniseries Afro Samurai, when Afro’s father’s grave is defaced, and his father’s body is stolen, Afro takes up his sword again to battle an army of deadly opponents lead by a merciless enemy. From the animation, music and storyline, Afro Samurai: Resurrection doesn’t disappoint. This film was directed by Fuminori Kizaki who is known for X-Men, Marvel Anime, Human Lost and Bayonetta: Bloody Fate. The musical composition was created by RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan which creates a wonderful mesh of Japanese and New York hip hop culture for the film. Along with the impressive creative team, the actors in the film are no strangers to American audiences, the film stars Samuel L. Jackson as Afro and Ninja Ninja, Lucy Liu as Sio, and Mark Hamill as Bin and the Oden Shop Master. This impressive team created quite possibly one of the best anime’s ever to be seen by American audiences.
The first most important thing to note is the animation. Afro Samurai: Resurrection (and the TV miniseries) go above and beyond with their breathtaking animation. Takashi Okazaki wrote and illustrated the original Afro Samurai and after the release of the anime series, Okazaki remade the original Afro Samurai into a two-volume manga. When viewing the film, it is as if the audience is watching a live action manga, from the swift movements, the extreme close ups, and the exaggerated style of drawing the characters, one cannot help but to be engulfed into the story. Even the color choices combined with the drawing is interesting, there are times when there are muted tones with hints of color and other times where the color palette is bright and luminous. This film is also not for the squeamish, the amount of blood shown is over the top, but it is there to exaggerate his talents as a warrior; Afro is an undefeated samurai champion, and his violent ways portray that. Even though this film has a lot of classic anime aspects to it, it’s still very original and keeps the audience on the edge of their seats for the entirety of the film.
The second part of the film that stands out is the music, the music was composed by RZA from the Wu-tang Clan and it certainly shows. Not only does the music make the anime even more amazing, but it also adds to Afro’s godliness when he is in battle. The powerful music makes Afro seem even stronger than it would without it, this truly makes the anime unique. There is an interesting part of the film where a DJ is playing RZA’s composed music and Japanese and Black individuals are enjoying it, this is a fascinating mesh of two cultures that is not often portrayed in anime, or in any other cinema for that matter.
Last but not least, the storyline is very different than any other storyline I have encountered in Anime. It certainly has the vengeful trope driving the story, but the small details are what makes it different from the rest. Along with the animation making the film seem like a live action manga, the storyline does the same thing. The twists and turns are unpredictable and makes the story incredibly interesting in result of that. Afro Samurai: Resurrection also includes flashbacks which is a common choice in a lot of stories, but the difference with these flashbacks is the way the colors change and that makes the storyline much more extraordinary.
In conclusion Afro Samurai: Resurrection is not for the faint of heart but will not disappoint if you venture to watch it. This unique anime is not only a rare gem, but it is also historical, there are no other anime films starring a Black Samurai like this. The music, animation and storyline make the film great and hopefully this isn’t the last Black samurai film American audiences are exposed to.