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Afro Samurai
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Animation - 8.4 |
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Sound - 7.1 |
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Story - 4.9 |
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Character - 4.9 |
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Value - 5.1 |
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Enjoyment - 6.4 |
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Average - 6.1 |
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| Average |
3.4 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
0 |
| Story |
3 |
| Character |
3 |
| Value |
2 |
| Enjoyment |
3 |
| The search for a man. An evil alliance. A lonely warrior. I could take all this, it's okay. But it's played out in such a bad manner. The council looks like straight out of a parody (indeed I know of one like it), but it wasn't funny, just stupid. Never cared for the hair or the name, but I can let that slide. I never cared for the characters, ridicolous villains, and a main character that made me feel nothing. The action was ok, and it had a memorable line: "I heard your imaginary friend got killed" (that's the most pathetic I've ever heard), but the rest is unoriginal and uninteresting. It all comes out pointless an unengaging. Looking back, I have no idea why I saw it.
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| Average |
8.3 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| This is one of the best action-samurai animes I've ever watched.
Its short with only five episodes, but I think its the right length because if they were to drag it out any longer, it may get boring.
The storyline is very basic and is nothing new. However what makes this anime great is the awesome and stylistic fight scenes - the best I've seen in a long while. Fast-paced action, lots of hacking and slashing and plenty of blood and gore.
The main character doesn't say much and is generally expressionless most of the time. However there are plenty of flashbacks to his childhood which explains in full how he came to be who he is and why he is the way he is, and why he is on this 'seemingly' pointless journey. His journey and flashbacks are paced out evenly and all comes full-circle in the final episode, which makes a good climax!
Its abit weird at first with English voices. But you get used to it as long as you don't dwell on it too much and compare it to normal anime. Because as far as I'm concerned, this isn't like your typical anime. Not the ones I've watched anyway.
This is great for those nights when you just want some great action without too complicated storylines - but is not mindless.
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| Average |
5.8 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| Superb animation with a distinctive style, let down by a poor story. This is a visually stunning anime although the story is so poor it becomes a struggle to watch. The main focus is on the action sequences which don't really offer much either. You would think the voices would be good with someone of Samuel L Jackson in the cast but honestly like the whole thing its a let down. Even with its beauty it becomes a bore to watch.
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| Average |
6.0 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
3 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| Mit „Afro Samurai“ liefert GONZO ohne Zweifel eine der visuelle beindruckendsten OVA-Serien aller Zeiten ab. Die Animationsqualität befindet sich auf einem Niveau das für eine OVA-Produktion ihresgleichen sucht und sorgt mit atemberaubenden Action-Szenen für weit aufgerissene Münder. Das millionenschwere Budget wurde in keiner einzigen Sekunde der 5 Episoden verschwendet und die unzähligen Schwertkämpfe des Afro Samurai überwältigen mit spektakulärer Kameraführung, geschickt platzierten Cuts und butterweichen Bewegungsabläufen die für ein absolut atemberaubendes Schauspiel sorgen, sobald sich die Klingen der Figuren kreuzen. Abgerundet wird das Ganze noch mit einer Fülle an richtig krassen Effekten, die das Tüpfelchen auf dem i darstellen. Auch die Backgrounds sind eine Augenweide und passen sich von der Farbwahl der sehr düsteren Atmosphäre der Geschichte an. Optisch ist „Afro Samurai“ also ein waschechter Blockbuster aber wie sieht es mit dem Inhalt aus? Tja, wer GONZO kennt der weiß das dieses Studio verstärkt dazu neigt sich alle Mühe mit der visuellen Präsentation ihrer Animes zu geben, dabei aber vergisst etwas Schönes mit der tollen Verpackung zu umwickeln. Kurz gesagt: „Afro Samurai“ teilt in dieser Hinsicht das Schicksal vieler anderer GONZO-Produktionen und der Grundsatz „Style über Substanz“ wird in den 5 Episoden sogar noch exzessiver zelebriert, als in manch anderen Produktionen aus der GONZO-Schmiede. Es ist schon fast mitleiderregend wie penetrant man hier versucht diesen Anime so „cool“ wie möglich zu machen. Angefangen beim Hauptcharakter der natürlich die gesamte Zeit lang grimmig dreingucken muss, pro Episode kaum mehr über die Lippen bringt als 2 Wörter und die kleinen Fische ohne mit der Wimper zu zucken zu Hack verarbeitet, bis hin zu Figuren die in stereotypischem, afroamerikanischem Slang reden und mit Dialogen um sich schmeißen die aus etlichen Kraftausdrücken und vermeintlich coolen Sprüchen bestehen. Leider ist das Ganze nicht cool sondern nervt auf die Dauer. Kommen wir zur Story. Nur 2 Wörter: Schrecklich simpel! Eine typische Rache-Story wie sie standardmäßiger gar nicht sein könnte. Voller Klischees und recycelten Mustern, die man schon so verdammt oft gesehen hat dass man nicht mal mehr gähnen mag. Der Werdegang des Hauptcharakters Afro ist nicht mehr als langweilig zu verfolgen und der Versuch ihm durch einen ganzen Haufen von Flashbacks Tiefe und Hintergrund zu verleihen, gelingt nur mäßig. Die Figur ist zwar nicht völlig leer aber seine Entwicklung ist viel zu leicht vorherzusehen und vor allem ist es sein simples Motiv das ihn von substantieller Seite völlig uninteressant macht. Unter den restlichen Figuren findet man, neben irrsinnig vielen Pappkameraden die nur integriert worden sind um von Afro geschlachtet zu werden, gerade mal 2 andere Charaktere die so etwas wie einen Background und Entwicklung vorweisen können und auch hier gibt es nur Einfallslosigkeit zu betrauern. Unnötige und extrem nervige Hampelmänner wie Ninja Ninja, machen die Misere nur noch schlimmer. Man merkt es einfach überdeutlich: GONZO versucht mit im Akkord aneinander gereihten Fight-Szenen, die totale Plattheit die der Anime story- sowie charaktertechnisch bietet zu kaschieren und hofft das die geniale Action dafür sorgt das sich der Zuschauer gar nicht erst um den Rest kümmert. Natürlich ist die Action ein Fest für das Auge und sorgt dafür das man kaum Langeweile verspürt, dafür ist sie einfach zu großartig in Szene gesetzt, aber das alleine reicht mir leider nicht. So bleibt mit „Afro Samurai“ am Ende nur ein weiterer typischer GONZO-Anime der außer Top-Animationen so gut wie nichts bietet. Fazit: Ohne die überwältigende Optik wäre „Afro Samurai“ schrecklich langweiliger Müll, nicht mehr und nicht weniger. Nur zu empfehlen für Fans von blutigem Schnetzel-Entertainment die keinen wert auf Substanz legen!
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
8.3 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| While the animation can be annoyingly fast and hard to keep up w/ during the action sequences, the quality is actually very good throughout the series. The art is not typical anime-style, but that certainly doesn't mean it's bad.
The story is actually a little deeper than you might first expect, but it's certainly better than that of anime that unnecessarily complicates things at the expense of logic.
Samuel L. Jackson is still a bada$$, though his voicing of the sidekick gets annoying. The music by Rza is tight too.
Overall, this anime is certainly worth ~$20 considering you get the entire (short) series.
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andy |
(2007-05-25 22:00:07) 2007-04-02 14:36:46 |
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| Average |
4.8 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
1 |
| Value |
1 |
| Enjoyment |
4 |
| Afro is after revenge for his father's death. His father's killer is the holder of the #1 headband. The only person with the right to challenge #1 is the holder of the #2 headband. Afro has it, but anyone can challenge the holder of the #2. As he journeys to find #1, he encounters challenge after challenge, but also some reunions with old friends. We learn more about Afro's past through his meetings with old friends.
Normally, I don't like using the term "Style over substance." There's often more substance in a piece of media than just plot, or even characters. There's comedy, and anything else that contributes to how engrossing an anime or movie might be. Afro samurai does have some substance, and that lies within its slick visuals, and equally slick BGM arrangement. Everything else is really disgusting, from the anything-but-engaging discussion on the morality of revenge and murder (999,999 movies on the subject was enough for me, thank you), to the unbelievable drudge that Afro Samurai has for characters, it's as insubstantial as it gets.
The action is slick, no doubt about that. It has a semi-unique visual style that makes a lot of textiles (pants, robes, etc) look like they're always flapping in the wind. In an action scene, your eyes will be engulfed in changing camera angles, rapid movements of the characters, and random details like the flying textiles. The speed at which the animation goes is a notch above even high budget anime movies, and its action scenes won't break very often either. Even if the animation isn't the smoothest, its fast pace and spastic nature is adrenaline inducing. The music is very background(adj), fitting for BGMs, and it compliments the action nicely. Quiet and light, so it never overpowers the SFX, but cool and beat-y, and it gives the action a layer of excitement and rhythm. The opening theme is rap, not unlike the opening of Samurai Champloo...except it doesn't sound like something a 10th grader scribbled in some free-write in English class. Thankfully, it actually sounds like rap.
My one complaint about the animation is that while the movements are always well animated, they are not always conceptually well thought out. To draw a comparison, Samurai Champloo's animation is not really on the level of Afro Samurai's, but more often than in this anime, Champ's animations are conceptually sound. They never look exceedingly awkward, like some of the sword swings may at times look in Afro. If this was a Hong Kong movie, Afro would be like a movie with Donnie Yen, Jet Li, or some other spectacular talent, paired with a lackluster choreographer, and Champloo would be a stiff like Keanu Reaves with Yuen Woo Ping.
My biggest criticism of Afro Samurai has to be in the story and characters. Mostly the characters. The story has a good amount of complexity to it, considering that it's a mere 5 episodes. In this sense, it's not below average, but what brings it down is the pointlessness of it. This has to do with our main character not being an attractive character in anyway as well. It's very hard to get into the plot of Afro Samurai because the characters don't seem to have any motivations at all. You may be told that Afro is driven by revenge, but never do you get to see that need for revenge.
This brings me to the biggest flaw of the series: The characters.
To explain where Afro Samurai went wrong as a whole, I'll start with the character concepts and the basics. Afro is marketed towards an American audience which has little exposure to Samurai movies/anime. Afro is treading the same path as Kill Bill in that they want to engulf us in this sea of exoticism. That exoticism is its main appeal. With that framework in mind, almost all the the characters are already molded for you. The female character has to be sexual, exotic (bathing under a waterfall? how played out is that?), and in every other way, empty. Afro himself is rather exotic, even if he appears and speaks like an African American. He's stoic, usually silent, but even when he does manage to utter some incomplete sentence, it's monotone and emotionless. "Stoic" type characters can't be leads. That should be written in stone. The moral discussions on revenge are corny enough as philosophy lessons, and they're stifled even more by a main character that can't even embody any of the emotions that come with such a theme.
This is what I mean by style over substance. In order to fulfill an exotic image, Afro creators decided NOT to design semi-decent characters. If Afro, or perhaps that one female character had anymore personality, any traits that would make a regular character magnetic, it would detract from the exotic atmosphere. To add to this problem, the plot is nothing interesting, nor is there any real comedy. The only thing i found enjoyable was the visual and audio aspect of Afro Samurai.
Now I won't say Afro Samurai is terrible. If indeed you are part of its target audience that finds Samurai interesting, but have seen little to no Samurai movies/anime, then this might be for you.
Much like how any HK movie buff would find Kill Bill disappointing in more ways than one, if you have seen a lot of anime or Samurai movies where the characters actually have a semblance of attractiveness, you will probably kick this thing to the curb.
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
5.6 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
0 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| Samuel L. Jackson? Seriously? Man he'll take any line of work these days. I don't usually watch anime in english but it didn't really matter too much in this case - I probably wouldn't have normally sought this series out. However, it just happened to be on the main tv at the bar I go to every Thursday and it was still cool to see anime there. I managed to see every episode closed captioned, so it was "like subbed" at any rate.
Fast action, quick death, pretty animation (although somewhat standard here, imo) and bland story and characters. Only Gonzo can guarentee all of this. Although the central antagonist wasn't defeated till the last episode, I don't think the viewer got enough screen time of him to vice him into a good vs evil theme. In addition, nearly every enemy laid before afro samurai was run through before they could really develop much of a character. Throw in the quiet lead and all-too-usual wise-crackin' annoyin' sidekick and you got yourself a run-of-the-mill anime.
Don't get me wrong, the action was enjoyable to watch. But in the end, I look for more thematic, symbolic, and artistic support in my anime to give it decent ratings, and its just something that Gonzo usually fails to deliver on, Afro Samurai being just another example.
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| Average |
6.8 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
5 |
| Story |
3 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| The story is as follows : The series start off as we watch a fight between Afro´s (The main character) father who is the holder of the number one headband and the villain of the series, a man that calls himself "Justice" that holds the number two headband.
The fight and the objective of the series is to gain a headband called "The number one headband" that makes the owner of this the symbolic god of the world and the only person that may challenge that person is the one that holds the "Number two" headband but the problem with that is that anyone can challenge the one known as number two.
The fight between Afro´s father and Justice ends with a victory for Justice and with that he takes the number one headband and becomes god of the world and as hea leaves he throws down the number two headband and says to Afro "-Challenge me when your ready to duel a god" And this is where the story starts.
The "Afro Samurai" series plays out in a unreal timeline that mixes swords, guns, robots and mechanical bodyparts to make the fighting very appealing to a lot of people.
The main character known as Afro is the typical cold blooded samurai that uses few words and cuts down all that stands in his path.
Take that and combine it with the brutal and bloody animation and you have an anime worthy of seeing more than once.
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| Average |
5.3 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
2 |
| Value |
4 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| Samuel L Jackson is... the Afro Samurai. (There are only 5 episodes though.)
Visuals:
Afro Samurai is presented with buckets of style. There`s slick animation that gives a very dangerous feel to the lead character, making it believable that he is capable of such swift swordsmanship that his opponents should indeed be dismembered at such a fast pace. The action sequences of the anime are what make up it`s heart, and they`re crafted with care and passion. Most of the screentime is taken up with blood and gore galore. Which isn`t exactly a bad thing for a samurai anime now is it?
Where the visuals of Afro Samurai can be criticised however, are where they`re most integral to it - the action sequences. Often you can become lost in the blurs and clashes of swords to the point where you will actually not quite be able to determine what just happened onscreen. Even rewatching the same few seconds over again will not help - it is simply just too difficult to distinguish between the various lines and shapes that are flashing past your eyes - and the worst thing is you KNOW something really cool was trying to be conveyed amidst the garble.
This flaw definately is enough to stop Afro Samurai getting top praise for its visuals, but doesn`t tarnish it`s OVERALL high visual quality.
Sound:
The music in the anime is mostly rap and hiphop, curtesy of the RZA from the WuTang Clan. But it`s atmosphere is suprisingly well suited to the cool slick visuals. The foreground sound effects have good sharpness to them (swords clang and twang right), and the background ambiance is decent. Sam Jackson voicing the quiet, calm Afro Samurai, and Ron Perlman as the villian, are spot on too.
So where are the faults? Every OTHER voice in the series, that`s where. It`s a shame that this is an american-voiced anime only (at present). Every character is laughable sounding like a stereotypical american-anime voice actor. Even Sam Jackson`s `hyper` voiced character was irritating.
Story:
So it`s like this: There are 2 sacred headbands. The first one says "Number 1" on it, and the second says "Number 2" on it. (I`m serious - it`s not a bathroom code or anything.) The person wearing the Number 1 band is regarded the best warrior in the world, and has a god-like status. He/she may ONLY be challenged by the person wearing the Number 2 headband. The Number 2 person however, can be challenged by anyone.
Our hero Afro Samurai, has the Number 2 headband, and due to revenge, wants to kill the dude wearing the Number 1. All that stands in his way is the journey to Number 1`s place, as well as a whole shed-load of challengers. Action, chop-chop.
The plot of Afro Samurai is about average. It`s by no means good - it`s cliched, short, and predictable - but it tries at least to ground the lead character with some backstory and minor character bonds.
The anime`s world is best described as `murky`. You`re never quite sure what it`s capable of or exactly what it consists of. There are androids and superhumans thrown onscreen when all you were expecting was a few ninja`s playing with swords. And then come the inpromptu rocket launchers and RPGs. But I personally just accepted the whole thing as is - the visuals gave off a sense of "I look so cool and slick that I can do what I want".
But when I wasn`t seeing any fighting, I was constantly waiting for it. Such was my lack of interest in the overall story. I almost considered the background plot to be like a filler-part of a long-running series.
Character:
I`ve got to be honest, there was little or no character development in the series (it`s simply a case of revenge), and all the characters were one-tracked, cliched and of a stereotypical nature. I would have liked the Sam Jackson alter-ego character if it wasn`t for his blatantly obvious observations. He ended up being contrived, patronising and useless.
The Afro flashbacks, no doubt meant to try and give the lead some more depth and feeling, would have probably been better left to the imagination. They seemed unnecessary for the most part. In this case though, I`d say the length of the series caused this. More time to put some development time into that aspect might have worked out better.
Value & Enjoyment:
I`d watch this again for the impressive visuals at the action scenes, but skip through all the others parts because they ended up just being dull. Such is the way I see the anime. I really loved watching the action, and I think that that together with the overall visual quality, pushed my enjoyment of the series to `above average`, but sadly no further.
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