Afro Samurai: Resurrection

2007 was an important year for Japanese animation. Not only did the first American director cross over to direct a big anime (Tekon Kinkreet), the Japanese were allowed to make an original, high profile series for American television. The result was Afro Samurai, a creepy mix of black culture, samurai and technology. Afro Samurai hit it big and a year later Afro Samurai - Resurrection was born, the feature length TV sequel.

The original OAV series was a pretty particular beast. The story is extremely simple but the setting is a strange mix of influences. At the base lies an A to B tale about a samurai trying to find the number 1 headband, which will put him in the top spot. There is some background info about his motives but none of that is too interesting.

More fun is the fact that our main hero is a black samurai with a huge afro, voiced by Hollywood's favorite black guy, Samuel L Jackson. Even cooler is the setting, where old-style samurai antics are mixed with science, technology, Japanese myth and plain and over-the-top weirdness and action.

Resurrection leaves the concept of the OAV pretty much intact. Afro loses his headband and is forced to get it back and that's about all there is to it. Again some background story is added to keep things rolling and to give everyone enough motivation to start killing each other, but apart from some die hard fans I don't think many people will be to interested in all of this.

Main attraction of the film is still the artwork. From the start it was Koike's input that gave Afro Samurai its distinct style and appeal. Koike, one of the best animators today, was launched by partner in crime Katsuhito Ishii (Trava Fist Planet and the intro of Party 7), but most will probably remember him from his Animatrix short.

His distorted, larger than life, shadow-infused style is instantly recognizable. And even though I couldn't confirm his involvement in this film, the result just breaths Koike. It seemed they spared no money either, keeping in mind this is a TV film the animation is actually splendid, especially during the action scenes.

Character designs are still pretty cool with some outrageous figures popping up. There seems to be a bit more focus and technology in Resurrection which only adds to the fun. And there is of course the ending which is marvelously animated and is actually a little bit similar in effect to the ending of Tekon Kinkreet. It's all pretty vague and surreal.

Sadly, Resurrection still suffers from the same shortcomings the OAV had. The voice acting is terrible. Afro himself is OK and Liu's acting skills are on par too, but Afro's sidekick (also voiced by Jackson) is a pain in the ear from start to finish. He adds little to nothing to the whole film but is ever present. A real shame they didn't cut him out. And while it was doable in short bursts of 30 minutes, it really starts to irritate in a full length feature.

The soundtrack (by RZA) is not all that good either. Somehow the music and images rarely seem to flow together well. A little too poppy and a missed opportunity because with a little more effort Resurrection could've really outdone the OAV. Enough solid hip-hop that would've fit this film a lot better.

Luckily, the rest is still as cool as ever. It is not a film that caters for a wide audience though. It's core appeal is very simple. It has samurai, gore, technology, machine guns and a weirdness surplus. It's all about cool and action and apart from that there is very little, nor does the film seem to care about that. In that sense, it seems to owe a lot to films like Dead Leaves.

So if you're up for some good solid fun and don't have too much trouble neglecting the grating dub and soundtrack, there is plenty of amusement to be had from this film.4.0*/5.0*

Reading the reviews of others it seems that the Afro Samurai film is one that people tend to either love or hate and personally I can see both sides because I think that the film is somewhere in the middle as it is effective for what it is but not without problems. The first thing to note is that, as with the series proper, Afro Samurai delivers what the target audience are looking for with hip-hop, violence, cool animation and excessive fight sequences. It doesn't do it as well as the series does though and I think this is why some viewers will have been disappointed in it. I did like it but cannot ignore the problems that come with it.

It seems unreasonable to complain about the plot with a product such as this but it is hard not to in this instance. The film mould means that the plot is more obvious than in the series (where the overall quest was stretched out) and it is a bit daft, with zombies, cyborgs and the like all coming into play. The relationships and motivations are a lot more complex (confused?) as well and the downside of this is that the film feels cluttered and too busy to get involved in. It still works in regards creating action sequences though and this is where the film delivers. OK so the final fights are slightly spoilt by the robotic aspects but up till then there are plenty of attractive and stylish moments including one in a busy carnival that I found really well done.

It is not quite as cool as the series though because the use of music is not as good. The hip-hop comes and goes but is rarely used well. Also missing is, and I hate to use this phrase, the sense of "urban cool". The series felt "black", it felt tough it felt cool. Here that is not so much the case. Partly this is down to the plot line that tries to do something with the main character that the delivery cannot produce but the main thing is the way that Ninja Ninja is annoying. I know the point of him is that he talks so much but it is meant to annoy those within the film, not those of us watching. It didn't annoy in the series but his dialogue grates here. Credit to Jackson for doing it though because his cool presence is a good fit, but he pushes Ninja Ninja too far one way while taking Afro too far in the other by being too gruff. Liu, Hamill, Lowenthal and a few others all do good work but don't have the material to make a difference.

The Afro Samurai movie will mostly please those that have come for the style, since this is what it is all about. The plot negatively affects the film, almost getting in the way of the style and the flow rather than allowing it to happen. It still does enough to satisfy fans of the genre but it is not as enjoyable or as effective as the series was.

i thought that this title was more entertaining than the series because it went all out and just dumped awesome moment after awesome moment on the viewer in a constant barrage of flying limbs and blood. if you want more of the same from the first one, this movie will satisfy.

As for the plot, like the first one it's somewhat lacking, but that can easily be forgiven due to the wicked-stylish animation, great voice-work, and action that impressed me more than anything sense Equilibrium. i give it a solid 8, if the plot was more cohesive it could easily receive a 9 or 10. I bought the special edition DVD for 20$, if you liked the first show it's definitely worth the money to buy the second. i really want to find the soundtrack to this because the RZA did a really good job with the music.

I really liked the Afro Samurai anime series. It was lots of fun. But I didn't realize there had been a movie sequel until 15 years later. Excitedly, I sat down to watch it, and, uh ... what?

It starts with a fight, and stuff happens, and the unstoppable protagonist somehow gets the prize he worked the whole series to get snatched away by some rando, and then he's, I guess, going to kinda do what he did in the series all over again, except this time to protect his father's ghost?

What?

Anyway, it was just an incomprehensible mess, and after about a half hour I couldn't take it anymore. I'm hugely disappointed.

Brooding, laconic badass Afro Samurai and his wisecracking alter ego Ninja Ninja (both voiced by Samuel Jackson) once again return to walk the path of demons as a sultry villainess (voiced by Lucy Liu) steals Afro's Number One headband and plots her revenge that involves resurrecting Afro's dead father. The refreshing and intriguing combination of blaxploitation, samurai culture, anime and hip hop (soundtrack by usual suspect RZA) that made the first one such an infectiously cool hack-and-slash yarn is pretty much of the same standards but this time it's let down by a silly story and disappointing ending that was clearly not very well thought out. How easy Afro loses his headband at the beginning of the film left me scratching my head in disbelief but Teddy Bear's change of heart at the end was downright lame. Whereas the first worked so well exactly because of the very simple revenge story - Afro, wearing the Number Two headband, looking for the man who killed his father, all the while having to defend his headband from an assortment of colourful villains, not very different to a video game logic and very enjoyable for that matter - Afro Samurai: Resurrection throws everything and the kitchen sink in the plot and hopes it all makes sense somehow. I also had the impression the gore and blood geysers were less this go around. Fans of the first will probably have a good time as the funky and bloody style are good enough for 90 minutes of brainless fun but take it any more serious and you might be in for a let down.