ANIME REVIEW . Afro Samurai Director’s Cut
The other day Funimation dropped us a preview copy of their upcoming Director’s Cut of Afro Samurai. Now, being a preview disc, the copy I viewed was pretty rough around the edges — by no means a production grade — but it did give me a nice idea as to the special features that will be presented with the final release, as well as allowing me to view the differences between the Director’s Cut and the “Television Cut”. Being that I’ve already discussed Afro in a couple of articles on Dreamlogic.net, I hope to make this review pretty brief and informal.
UPDATE: We now have a full review of Funimation’s 2-Disc Unrated DVD release of Afro Samurai. You can check that out here.
First, a bit of background. If you did not catch Afro Samurai during its Spike TV run, read on. If you did, skip down two paragraphs. Afro Samurai is a samurai western sci-fi hip-hop mashup in anime form telling the tale of an African samurai seeking vengeance against the man who killed his father. There’s even a twist on the whole vengeance aspect. You see, Afro’s father was the number one fighter in the land. When he was defeated, his father’s killer became the new number one fighter. In order to reach his father’s killer he must work his way up the ladder, all the while fighting off those who come to challenge him.
If you want further details regarding the overall look and feel of Afro, check out my previous article regarding my first impressions of the first episode. In short, basically the art is sort of a mix of classic anime sensbilities (the show uses nothing but old school cell animation) and contemporary underground/urban art (think David Choe and others in the indie art scene). The animation is extremely fluid — the battles are easily some of the most rawly kinetic I’ve seen in recent years. And, oh yah, there are the little bonuses in the forms of music by The RZA and voice acting by Kelly Hu, Ron Perlman, and Samuel L. Jackson. Yes, the Samuel L. Jackson.
Okay, so now we’re all caught up. You’re probably wondering what makes the director’s cut different from the original television cut. Well, straight off I would estimate each episode is roughly three to five minutes longer (each about 25 minutes long), featuring a handful of extra scenes of exposition and dialog (including trademark Sam Jackson shouts of “Mother f–er”). Surprisingly, there’s not too much extra in the realm of battles or other “adult content.” I’ll admit, in its TV run the show was on a little too late for me, and I fell asleep during a couple of the episodes, so I might have missed a few things. However, I do remember being awake for the majority of the ultra-violence, and being surprised at the broadcast of the Afro/Okiku sex scene on basic cable. Basically, you’ve already seen all the action there is to see. Now, you get a bit of extra story. Some of you are probably disappointed to hear this, but personally I’d rather have a bit more story than more bloodletting. I mean, would you really notice the increase from 30 gallons per scene to 31.3 anyway?
The two extras featured on the disc we received were a making of feature covering the origin of Afro Samurai, the development of the anime project, and interviews with the voice talent. It’s an excited little EPK bit, but it’s pretty informative and I dug what the various interviewees had to say.
The second extra focused on The RZA and the creation of the music for Afro Samurai. The RZA actually worked on Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (which, incidentally introduced me to The Hagakure) previously, so it’s not the first time he’s scored a hip-hop samurai. I enjoyed hearing his insights into the show, but I thought this extra was a little short.
In closing, after seeing Afro for the second time, I still dig it. Afro Samurai isn’t the deepest anime, but it is one of the most memorable efforts of recent years. The Director’s cut is definitely the preferable cut, though I would be hard pressed to identify the actual differences. Of course, there’s the added bonus of watching the show without all those damn commercials. If you’re an existing fan of Afro Samurai, or just a fan of old school violent anime, samurai films, or killer music, The Afro Samurai Director’s Cut is definitely worth a look.
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Greetings!
I don’t have a lot of time to spare at the moment, so I’ll be quick. I purchased this on DVD the other day, and I must say I’m not at all dissapointed (other than the fact the episodes weren’t strung together in movie format like they’d been for Spike.) However, I am confused. One of the extras was supposed to be an extended ending.
When Spike aired the series as “Afro Samurai the Movie” back in March, the precursor to Afro and Jinno’s second duel was shown as it was on this DVD, but other than Ninja Ninja and Afro stating in unison that the battles would continue, I noticed nothing new.
Perhaps you, having watched the DVD before I, could tell me what it is I’m missing.
You know, to be honest, I’m not quite sure either. Each episode is about three minutes longer than it was in its initial TV run, but like I said in my review, most of the additions are slight dialog enhancements, and hard to spot. Watching the ending it seemed longer, but I didn’t notice anything in the sense of a full extra scene. Maybe one of you readers know?
Can you explain how the swordmaster came to obtain the #2 band when Justice left it at the scene of the fight and Afro was the only other person present>
And if Justice’s plan was to obtain all bands, why did he discard it after killing Afro’s father?
Maybe Afro was too concerned about his father having lost his head to think about the number two headband? And maybe Justice was hoping Afro would climb the ranks to fight him? I believe it’s all makes sense given the context of later episodes, but I’ll break out the disc and check sometime this week. Then I can hopefully give you a better answer :)
I bought the normal version of this and it is simply amazing. It’s not perfect, story-wise, but its the highest-quality animation I think we’re gonna get for a while. Also, I heard SpikeTV has signed up for another season in 2008. I’m game. Very much so.