Polite Fiction

I use to be big into Japanese Anime but my interest had cooled as a flood of mediocre shows and movies flooded the media outlets. I had all but given up on the anime genre when along came this little spider…Afro Samurai. I won’t lie and say this anime veers from the typical anime equation because it doesn’t. It follows a lot of the same formulae that has made some of my favorite anime so enjoyable. The difference is how it delivers on action and art and it delivers big.

There is a generous helping of violence but it was skillfully rendered with amazing fight scenes and nifty visuals. The world that was created is very organic and the director used very interesting camera angles to impart the strangeness of it all. The title character was well developed and the anime does a great job explaining his motivations for doing what does best…kicking ass and taking names.

This anime is not for the weak of heart…or children under 25. The directors cut features adult situations and brief nudity but never in excess like some ecchi animes. This anime leaves you wanting for more because of the great action sequences and the complex characters. Samuel L. Jackson does an awesome job as the voice of the title character and a few of the secondary characters as well. I’ve also read that a second round of episodes is in the works so we can expect more Afro goodness. If you like anime, samurai, violence, good art, etc…then this anime is for you. Can you dig it?