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Year: 2021
Genre: Historical fantasy, Samurai, Science fantasy
Episodes: 6
Rating: 3 out of 5
Here is the story of the first black samurai. Yasuke was a man of African origin who became a retainer to one of the most famous Japanese daimyos ever, Oda Nobunaga, aka the Great Unifier. In 1579, Yasuke arrived in Japan in the service of the Italian Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano. When Yasuke was presented to the great lord Oda Nobunaga, the leader thought that his skin must have been colored with black ink. How dark were you, Yasuke? For dude to think you were as dark as black ink is saying something. When Nobunaga had him strip from the waist up and made him scrub his skin, he saw that his skin was permanent. Yep, definitely hadn’t seen any black people walking around Japan. Yasuke fought with and for Nobunaga until Nobunaga was betrayed by his general Akechi Mitsuhide during his campaign to bring all of Japan under his control. Yasuke was present and watched the forced suicide of his leader.
Overview:
Yaskue is set in an alternate reality where magic and advanced technology are part of the civilization. In the 16th century feudal Japan, an African man named Yasuke is bought into the service as a retainer for the famous Lord Oda Nobunaga. Yasuke came to Japan in the service of a Jesuit missionary during the Nanban trade. During a fight with another merchant, Yasuke quickly overmatches the man to Oda’s great surprise leading him to buy Yasuke and make him a warrior in his army. The story shows that in 1582, Yasuke witnesses the fall of Nobunaga’s forces in battle at Honnō-ji Temple against the army of the Dark General, who serves the demonic warlord Yami no Daimyō. With the death of his lord and the warlord Yami no Daimyō taking control of the land, Yasuke dips out and disappears from existence. Twenty freakin years later, Yasuke lives as a recluse in a village far away and primarily works as a boatman. One day, he encounters a singer at his local bar named Ichika. He agrees to take her and her daughter Saki, a sick girl with mysterious magical powers, up north to see a particular doctor to help with Saki’s delicate condition. While traveling, they are soon attacked, with Ichika dying in the process. Yasuke must come to terms with his past and once again become the legendary swordsman in order to protect Saki from the forces of Yami no Daimyō.
Review:
I have read many other reviews on this anime, and maybe I am missing the boat here. I saw that on Rotten Tomatoes that this anime has a 92%. Really? 92% of people really like this anime. I found this anime a rip-off of Afro Samurai. The significant difference is that this anime is lightly based on a real character, while Afro Samurai is based all based on fantasy. I loved many aspects of this show, and even the story is okay, but it wasn’t this mind-blowing, 92% rating anime I saw.
Let’s dive into the story. Yaskue was an actual figure who served as a Kashin (retainer) under the Japanese daimyō Oda Nobunaga. I get all of that, but once Oda died and some of Japan’s evil forces take over, dude disappears for 20 years. Then the anime has him living in this quiet village, looking like a straight-up bum and drinking all day. From there, if you’ve seen a few anime, there is a little girl who has magical powers that rivals the evil person’s powers or even is greater than theirs, and the hunt is on to capture the girl. The ONLY person who can protect her is the hero who gave up fighting. That is the whole story. Demon warlord takes over, and one man and girl have to take them down along with finding retribution. I just felt like it almost resembled Afro Samurai with the fantasy aspect and just the overall feel. Hell, the anime was nearly the same amount of episodes as Afro Samurai, and it just moved oddly with villains becoming allies. I love that Netflix had a show with a prominent black character because, as a black man, I thought it was great, but it just missed the mark for me. The positive of the story is that I think it did a masterful blend of doing fantasy with a historical atmosphere with one of the most awesome samurai in history. I will say he is the original Afro Samurai, and maybe he was the inspiration for that anime.
I will say that the animation was crisp and one of the best parts of the whole anime. It looks clean, and the scale of showing the demon lord’s army is grand. Also, when Saki uses her powers, she has that Berry Gordy, The Last Dragon, the glow. Homegirl’s powers glowed brightly, and I liked the blueish color they gave her. Now that I think about it, other characters who had similar powers to her were colored differently, which was nice to identify. Now, with the animation, I will say the battle scenes flowed well and wasn’t clunky. The sword fight mixed with magical powers all flowed and worked really well off each other.
I want to give a BIG shoutout to the voice actors. First, my homeboy, Lakeith Stanfield as the title character. Lakeith just has that cool but calm aspect with his voice. When he talks, it just seems like everything will be okay. Homeboy is a phenomenal actor. Maya Tanida as Saki was good also. She played Saki as that smart mouth strong girl who thinks she can do anything only to feel alone. She was annoying, but with 6 episodes, you can get used to her.
Overall, Yasuke is a decent anime. The voice acting is excellent, and the aspect of using fantasy with an actual historical figure is fantastic. One of the downsides is that I felt like it was another version of Afro Samauri and maybe a little bit of the Fate/Zero series or even Drifters, now that I think about it. What I’m saying is that other anime can do the job. Give this anime a look because it will take you no more than 3 hours to get through.
