Afro Samurai Resurrection anime continues a few years after Afro claimed the number
one headband, following the defeat of his father's killer, Justice, by his own
hands.
Losing the will to fight after accomplishing the task of avenging his father,
Afro resigned himself from his responsibility as the number one and took up
carving Buddha dolls in a towering sanctuary away from all the fighting.
This shirking of duty, however, apparently resulted in the downfall of society
as those who would have aspired to fight the number one turn their murderous
intentions onto the population of the world at large.
While Afro may wish to escape from his past of relentless and merciless
killing, there are many who still hold a grudge for lost loved ones and even
more who blame him for the world's current downward spiral.
None more than Lady Sio and her brother Kuma (aka Teddy Bear Darth Vader),
childhood friends of Afro who had their lives ruined by his insatiable lust
for revenge.
They, along with a mad scientist and other childhood cohorts turned evil
robotic monstrosities, have decided to get Afro back in the game by reviving
his long dead father.
Their plan is to bring him back to life and then torture the living daylights
out of him as a way to torment Afro and bring back his bloodlust. And so begins a twisted journey of humdrum action scenes, a contrived
storyline and an ending that doesn't make a whole lot of sense any way you
slice it.
Afro Samurai Resurrection Anime Review
There's not much to talk about by way of the characters, since they are
typically one-dimensional and, to be quite frank, uninteresting.
Afro, with no real back-story left to flesh out his character, could not be
more boring to watch as he slowly chases after those who took his father while
saying as little as humanly possible.
Ninja Ninja, his ever trusty imaginary sidekick, continues to be the true
voice of Samuel L. Jackson in this series.
I don't find him nearly as annoying as most people tend to, but maybe that's
because I'm just glad someone is talking. Of course, that'll depend on if you can actually understand him.
With no Japanese language track, since it was made for US release, you're
stuck with the English dub. No need to fear, with names like Samuel L. Jackson, Lucy Liu and Mark Hamill
playing the major roles, there's a generally high level of quality here.
You really shouldn't have a problem with the quality of the voices, the
writing sure, but not the acting.
Then there's the story Now I can forgive Afro Samurai Resurrection review for having
a weak storyline, it's pretty much a given that being deep or philosophical is
not the name of the game here.
Afro's father being resurrected after being dead for decades? Sure. Crazy robotic monsters which insane weapons that are completely impractical?
All the better.
What doesn't work is a title with such a simplistic, standard-fare story about
revenge (again) wanders into the realm of inanity.
This is especially apparent during the finale, which culminates in one of the
most ridiculous, idiotic endings I have yet had the pleasure of watching.
It didn't make any sense, characters completely changed their personalities in
an instant without any previous foreshadowing or much reason, and it was
utterly anti-climactic.
Not only because of how absurd it ended up, but with how poorly it was handled
in terms of animation and execution.
Related Articles: Afro Samurai Anime Review
Now I can't knock Afro Samurai Resurrection review for having poor animation, most of
the time anyway, since quite frankly 95% of the time it's pretty damn amazing.
From the rich colors and fluent motion to the exquisitely detailed backgrounds
there's little to complain about here. This is what makes it so strange.
Why, for the final battle of the movie, would you make it last about half a
minute and use black and white sketches of the characters rather than actual
animation? It's probably not as abysmal as that just sounded, but it's pretty close.
That's not even the most unfortunate part. Being the self-proclaimed action junkie that I am, and with such great detail
and animation quality to be had here, the action scenes just really
disappointed me.
In an overall sense, the style and flow that made the fights in the first OVA
so noteworthy are nearly thrown out the window. In their place are lazily done, poorly executed action sequences with very
little to keep the viewer entranced.
Slow motion is often used, but in such an ineffectual manner that it just
makes the scene awkward and sluggish rather than highlighting a move or
action.
That's not to say they're all poorly executed, there are some rather engaging
scenes with Afro fighting against his foes, but they pale in comparison to
what was done in the previous OVA and with what they could have achieved here.
It's really a lost opportunity. Not even the wonton sex scenes and pole dancers could save it.
Afro Samurai Resurrection should have been a bloody good time with lots of
action, sex and amazing technical's mixed in for good measure.
Alas, there's plenty of action but nothing striking, a couple spoonfuls of sex
but nothing appealing, and they story gets so nonsensical that you can't even
ignore its stupidity. At least they got the technical's right; otherwise this really would have been
a disaster.
Miscellanies: Afro Samurai Resurrection
There are three different versions of Afro Samurai Resurrection anime.
There's an edited DVD edition that is the same as the one shown on Spike TV,
and a director's cut in DVD and Blu-ray formats.
The increase in quality from DVD to Blu-ray is usually a tad suspect with
regards to anime titles, but Afro Samurai Resurrection is definitely one
you'll want to get in Blu-ray.
Afro Samurai Resurrection | |
| Genre | Action, Adventure |
|---|---|
| Episodes | 1 |
| Status | Finished Airing |
| Aired | Jan 25, 2009 |
| Producers | - |
| Studio | Gonzo |
| Rating | R+ - Mild Nudity |
| Themes | Gore, Samurai |
0 comments
Post a Comment