«Afro Samurai» Fuminori Kizaki - my review

Good afternoon.

Today we'll talk about the 2001 anime mini-series "Afro Samurai." The plot is simple: a guy's father gets killed, and he sets out on a path of revenge. That's it. There are no deeper layers to the story, really. There are complications along the way — how he grew up, how he fought samurai, how he pursued his goal — but they barely affect the main storyline. The main thing is revenge.

An interesting point: on his path to that revenge, he kills his own teacher. And the teacher had other students, and one of them decides to take revenge in turn — for the teacher. The circle closes. First, Afro Samurai takes revenge for his father — then the student takes revenge for the teacher. Almost poetry.

Now, about the main character. He was a disappointment. No moral anguish, no questioning "is this even worth it." The teacher has nothing to do with my revenge? Doesn't matter. A girl tells him to drop everything and stay with her? Doesn't matter. He's like the Terminator — he's fixed a goal in his head and pushes forward until he either dies or achieves it. The hero is flat, predictable, uninteresting.

The visual style, on the other hand, is beyond praise. The music is rap, the fight scenes are done brilliantly, and the blood flows beautifully. Samuel L. Jackson's voice acting deserves special mention — it's phenomenal. Though I don't speak English well, and so unfortunately I couldn't understand what they were saying, and especially I can't understand how African Americans speak English, so I missed about half of it — but that's my problem, not the series'. The Russian translation couldn't convey most of the meaning.

On the subject matter: the main character is Afro Samurai, and his enemy is called Justice — a cowboy with a revolver and a sheriff's badge. Essentially — a Black samurai versus a white cop. There's meaning there, but I didn't catch it on first viewing, only after reading reviews. Moreover, I don't think that meaning is particularly fitting, since the series isn't about that — there's no need to cram a racial agenda into it; this is more of a samurai story. In my opinion, they shoehorned in the theme of a Black samurai versus a white police officer.

Another important theme is revenge — but revenge in and of itself is not the answer; the anime is more about the meaninglessness of revenge for its own sake. Given the revenge theme, it has to be acknowledged that there's a lot of attention-grabbing content here. I mean nudity, bloody scenes, violence, and fights. But overall there's really no substance — there's literally nothing here besides the revenge. The plot seems simple on the surface: a boy who witnesses his father's murder grows up and takes revenge. However, the show turns this archetype into a collection of clichéd, poorly connected episodes. The hero moves forward, kills everyone in his path, and… that's it! There's no real drama, not even any logic to his actions.

In conclusion. I watched this anime in a vacuum, since I've seen very little anime and almost no westerns. So I'll put it simply: it's beautifully made. The character and plot are flat, but the style is good. Afro Samurai is worth watching for its excellent fights with great animation. But to be serious about it — the plot here is like in pornography: it exists purely as a formality, just so that something is happening. Score — 7 out of 12. Good. Worth watching. Thank you for your attention.