Plot Summary
Afro Samurai Resurrection features the debut of Sio, a young woman bent on taking revenge on Afro Samurai for all the people he has killed and maimed in his journeys, especially her brother Jennosuke who is forced to wear teddybear-shaped life support equipment (really, it is vital that it looks like a bear; trust me on this). To this end, she steals the Number One headband from Afro, taunting him to go find the Number Two headband in order to have the status to challenge her. She also distrubs the grave of Afro’s father and places his remains in a cloning vat, where a mad scientist is able to restore his body and mind.
Eager to fight Sio in order to prevent his father from walking the earth again, Afro begins a wild goose chase to the Number Two headband. He manages to extort the location of the headband from the surviving members of the Empty Seven Clan. It turns out that the current owner of the headband, a ronin named Shichigoro, has hidden it away but is unwilling to simply hand it to Afro because of a promise he has made to protect his step-son. Their duel being rendered unavoidable, Afro is forced to kill Shichigoro and take the headband from him.
Finally having earned the right to challenge Sio to a duel for the Number One headband, Afro makes his way back. In the meantime he is confronted with Sio’s three cyborg bodyguards, who try to protect their mistress by pre-emptively attacking him. He manages to dispatch all three at the same time, but not without sustaining great injuries.
Afro’s delay gives Sio the chance to release the clone of Afro’s father, which has been completely reconstructed other than his conscience. Facing the image of his father, Afro is unwilling to raise his sword against him, and so he sustains blow after blow by the clone, until his heart stops and the clone discards him.
Seeing Afro take a beating awakes Jinnosuke’s memories of their friendship, and he rushes to defend him, Sio running after him to stop him. The clone ends up taking the Number One headband and killing both of them, but in doing so, Jinnosuke’s life support machine short-circuits and jump-starts Afro’s heart. Deciding that the clone has no part of his father’s soul in it, Afro gathers the courage to attack and kill it, finally managing to take back the Number One headband, and apparently having made more enemies in the process.
So how many instances of “resurrection” have we reached yet? Four? Five?
Review
Let’s face it, a movie starring a Black African samurai in Japan cannot possibly be judged with a straight face. If the setting made any attempt to reproduce historic fact, it would clash horribly with the characters and appear extremely out of place. As long as its elements are detached from reality, the viewer has a chance to observe the movie from a distance and actually enjoy it.
The skeleton of the setting is a barebones version of feudal Japan; the similarities go as far as the landscapes, clothing, buildings and some minor cultural elements. From there, the camp factor increases exponentially. The main plot of the movie revolves around using a dead man’s remains to make a clone of himself and reprogram their brain, effectively “raising them from the dead”. There are veterans of war who have fitted sword blades, grenades, jet packs and flame throwers in their amputated bodies. And let’s not forget the mazochistic arachnoid mad scientist cyborg. It all actually seems very fun, as long as it doesn’t take itself seriously.
The main villains are very one-dimensional, and some flashbacks introduced to flesh them out do them more harm than good. Afro, Jinnosuke and Sio are all played straight throughout the flashbacks; it feels like the movie is taking itself seriously there, which would be a terrible mistake. Admittedly the flashbacks are necessary in order to explain the characters’ actions towards the end, but even so they should have come up with something equally riduculous with the rest of the movie.
The rest of the cast are not much better off, of course. Afro continues to be a stoic character completely predictable in his motivations and feelings (or lack thereof). He also seems to adhere to a moronic kind of warrior code which probably wouldn’t hold water in any more serious setting; even in this movie, it stretches credibility to go forth issuing formal challenges in order to reclaim something that he rightfully owned and was stolen from him.
To be honest, it is difficult to understand why first-rate Hollywood actors were chosen to voice the characters in Afro Samurai Resurrection, other than accepting it as a marketing trick. Most of the action goes by in silence, and the dialogues that take place are too short and restricted to make use of the actors’ talents.
Other than my gripe with the voice actors, I think that the attention on high-quality production values was well spent and well deserved. The character designs are suitably over the top to match their ridiculous origins, and their movements and actions are extremely detailed, both when engaged in duels and when resting and talking. I particularly like the various camera angles used, during combat and elsewhere, as it allows the viewer to watch the same characters and environment in different ways and appreciate the details spread all around. This attention to detail is also apparent in the backdrops; from the cyberpunk labs to the traditional japanese parade, there is something to catch one’s eye.
The awesome graphics are nicely completented with appropriate sound effects and ambient sounds. The soundtrack is also noteworthy; although mostly unusual for anime, having a rapper create the score sounds strangely fitting in this case.
Don’t mistake Afro Samurai Resurrection for an anime set into any kind of historic japanese era. Instead, it is choke full of gory battles, over-the-top environs and ridiculous characters. And as far as those are concerned, it handles itself very well.
Stats
Type: Movie
Length: 1 X 90 min
Rating
Production: 9/10
Plot: 5/10
Setting: 8/10
Characters: 6/10
Overall: 7/10
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