Afro Samurai - Review of the movie, the series and the game website (video of the game in the end)
Samurai...Afro??? Yeap. In Japan, in a time that nobody knows, a kid sees his father be beheaded right in front of his eyes. His father's head rolls to his toes, amidst his tears and the image of the assassin. And the headband #1.
It begins.
Afro Samurai, AKA simply "Afro", follows a path of hate, pain and death in search for the headband #2, which will allow him to kill the assassin of this father, under the samurai code he bounds by.
The Art style is definitely something very different from the regular "anime" style; it is more like watching a comic book in action. It's like Tarantino meets Frank Miller. With Samuel L. Jackson's voice (he does "Afro" and "Ninja Ninja").
At first I was amazed by the Art; the editing and the cuts got me hooked right away. But the story left me with a feeling that there was "something missing". This "something missing" was fullfiled today, when I watched the continuation, "Afro Samurai - Resurrection".
But first things first. Afro Samurai is NOT cute. He is not the nicest guy in town either. He "has blood in his eyes": whoever messes with him ends up in half. But, despite all the killings he's done in the name of revenge, he still can keep the value of friendship, although in a twisted way.
The soundtrack, by RZA, keeps your heart pumping. The fast editing makes your mind feel like in a rush, while your eyes are charmed with violent, crude, raw art.
I keep coming back to the Art: I'm impressed. It looks simple most of the time; sometimes even almost like a sketch. Yet powerful, strong. The message gets through.
The characters seem motivated simply by revenge and hate, but I guess this is part of that universe. What bothered me is that many people would die not to give away the headband#2, although some of these people were giving Afro a "lecture" of how unimportant the headband was and how stupid it was to kill and die for it. And still, they weren't willing to give it out and walk away!!! So, terrible contraction between the dialogue and the action. It would be ok if they weren't "lecturing" about how worth it was to die for the headband.
PS: Oh, and THERE ARE sex scenes both in the series and in the movie!!! Not exactly a "kids cartoon"....
It begins.
Afro Samurai, AKA simply "Afro", follows a path of hate, pain and death in search for the headband #2, which will allow him to kill the assassin of this father, under the samurai code he bounds by.
The Art style is definitely something very different from the regular "anime" style; it is more like watching a comic book in action. It's like Tarantino meets Frank Miller. With Samuel L. Jackson's voice (he does "Afro" and "Ninja Ninja").
At first I was amazed by the Art; the editing and the cuts got me hooked right away. But the story left me with a feeling that there was "something missing". This "something missing" was fullfiled today, when I watched the continuation, "Afro Samurai - Resurrection".
But first things first. Afro Samurai is NOT cute. He is not the nicest guy in town either. He "has blood in his eyes": whoever messes with him ends up in half. But, despite all the killings he's done in the name of revenge, he still can keep the value of friendship, although in a twisted way.
The soundtrack, by RZA, keeps your heart pumping. The fast editing makes your mind feel like in a rush, while your eyes are charmed with violent, crude, raw art.
I keep coming back to the Art: I'm impressed. It looks simple most of the time; sometimes even almost like a sketch. Yet powerful, strong. The message gets through.
The characters seem motivated simply by revenge and hate, but I guess this is part of that universe. What bothered me is that many people would die not to give away the headband#2, although some of these people were giving Afro a "lecture" of how unimportant the headband was and how stupid it was to kill and die for it. And still, they weren't willing to give it out and walk away!!! So, terrible contraction between the dialogue and the action. It would be ok if they weren't "lecturing" about how worth it was to die for the headband.
PS: Oh, and THERE ARE sex scenes both in the series and in the movie!!! Not exactly a "kids cartoon"....
GAME WEBSITE
IT BEGINS... AGAIN
IT BEGINS... AGAIN
Stylish. Just as the movie.
The website is visually very attractive and it keeps faithful to the feeling of the movie. It's very functional and the navigation menus are really creative. Although it's an awesome website from the visual point of view, it seems like they are still working on the content, that doesn't have all the characters in the movie/series, and the description of "Ninja Ninja" is not very accurate.
There is a feature I hadn't seen in a website yet: as you move your mouse around the screen, the cursor takes a different form and a "floating" navigation bar follows on top of your cursor, indicating another section of the website, that you can visit if you dare to click the left-button of your mouse. I liked that. Different.
What's cool about it? I allows you to create your own remix, a music video of the game/movie: you can choose scenes, add your own music or use the soundtrack, make the cuts, extend or shorten shots.... super cool. You can be the Michel Gondry of the Afro Samurai world! Cheesy, I know. But still, this feature is awesome. (Keep posted: I'm working on my remix version of Afro Samurai!!!)
Game Art... well, the preview of the game seems ok. They don't show much, so you can't actually tell how the game will "feel like" when you play it. But the Art is not as cool as it is in the movie/series. But that would be expected, since the game is based on the series. The game is offered for the XBox 360, XBox Live (I have this one!) and PS3.
Gamespot.com seemed to like it, although they say the pace could be better, falling into monotony sometimes. The combat seems really cool and, among other things, you can slow down time. Here's what Gamespot says:" (...) the resulting mix of old-fashioned button mashing and focus-powered slaughter is satisfying and fun. "
For a video of the game,
For the website, go to http://www.bloodisbeautiful.com/index2.html
The website is visually very attractive and it keeps faithful to the feeling of the movie. It's very functional and the navigation menus are really creative. Although it's an awesome website from the visual point of view, it seems like they are still working on the content, that doesn't have all the characters in the movie/series, and the description of "Ninja Ninja" is not very accurate.
There is a feature I hadn't seen in a website yet: as you move your mouse around the screen, the cursor takes a different form and a "floating" navigation bar follows on top of your cursor, indicating another section of the website, that you can visit if you dare to click the left-button of your mouse. I liked that. Different.
What's cool about it? I allows you to create your own remix, a music video of the game/movie: you can choose scenes, add your own music or use the soundtrack, make the cuts, extend or shorten shots.... super cool. You can be the Michel Gondry of the Afro Samurai world! Cheesy, I know. But still, this feature is awesome. (Keep posted: I'm working on my remix version of Afro Samurai!!!)
Game Art... well, the preview of the game seems ok. They don't show much, so you can't actually tell how the game will "feel like" when you play it. But the Art is not as cool as it is in the movie/series. But that would be expected, since the game is based on the series. The game is offered for the XBox 360, XBox Live (I have this one!) and PS3.
Gamespot.com seemed to like it, although they say the pace could be better, falling into monotony sometimes. The combat seems really cool and, among other things, you can slow down time. Here's what Gamespot says:" (...) the resulting mix of old-fashioned button mashing and focus-powered slaughter is satisfying and fun. "
For a video of the game,
For the website, go to http://www.bloodisbeautiful.com/index2.html
posted by The Lady of the Lake at 12:20 AM
2 comments
