Afro Samurai (2 Discs) (Anime)

This anime is a little different from that of your everyday saucer-eyed, spikey haired anime. it has a very distinct style of animation that reminded me of the animation in Kill Bill. The action is cool and bloody, and the voice acting and music score is great. ( Bit of RZA of Wu-Tang). The only down side is that the plot is a little predictable. But if you like your revenge flicks served icy cold then grab this one up.

* Note to the previous reviewer* I'd just like to point out that ADV Films and Manga Entertainment only distribute anime. They don't actually 'make' it. So I dont quite see how you are basing your comparisons upon the distributor.

One of the best animated movies I have ever seen. This will leave ADV animated movies for dust. Action starts from the beginning a little story on the 3rd chapter then back to action, fluent animation that is even better than Manga! Once you have seen this movie you would have a better understanding of the Phrase 'Action' you would be gagging for more...

I bought this from all the hype as well, but I actually thought it was awesome. The show is really entertaining and the only argument is that it lacks a deep story, which I don't think is necessarily true... especially as for the first series; it leaves so many questions and points unanswered. Take a look at any 1st season and you'll be quick to find they're all introductory, nothing really starts from the get go and I honestly think Afro did well to fit as much story into 5 episodes.
Also, the last guy who reviewed this claimed the animation quality was inconsistent animation quality, which I completely don't agree with... the animation looks crisp, sharp and very graphical for cell animated work.
Samurai Champloo and Samurai 7 are way old, and the animation on Afro looks 10 times better. This is a cool show, which explains why Sam Jackson was so into it from the start, and Ron Perlman comes off as the best villain you'll see in decades.

For £14, you're getting an ultra packed DVD... I'm glad I got mine, can't wait until the next series!

I bought this series on the back of all the hype, and learned once again that hype never equals good.

The show is fairly entertaining I guess, but the mish mash of ultra violence, unnecessarily excessive and shoehorned in swearing(That'll remind you of the old days of Manga Entertainment dubs, and not in a good way), inconsistent animation quality, and heavily compressed storytelling with pacing that is all over the place make it very hard for me to pretend this is some sort of classic, or indeed, even recommend it at all. It needed to be at least 12 episodes long to properly flesh out the story and give proper depth to all the characters in it. A perfect example of how rushed the show is is just how quickly the long awaited final showdown at the end occurs and ends. It seems to just happen out of nowhere immediately after a far longer and far more fleshed out fight, highlighting just how uneven the storytelling actually is in this. Hell, even one more episode could have salvaged things if done right.

The show has attempted to sell itself primarily on the back of Samuel L Jackson's involvement, which is understandable I suppose considering how heavily the actual plot rips off other(far better) sources for it's ideas and characters. Getting a figure of popularity to attach themselves to this series was the only way it was going to sell, because you can be damn sure if this show had been a completely Japanese centred endeavor and was released as such with a subtitled version on the disc being the originally produced version of the series, no one would be going out of their way to sing it's praises.

As has been said by many, you'd be better off leaving this and going for one of the far better samurai styled anime series out there like Samurai 7 or Samurai Champloo, as both of those do everything this series does, but far better in every respect. So long as you can get past the fact that neither of those has celebrity endorsements at least.

A huge disappointment.

Great show,perfect in everyway except its only 6 episodes.i want more.MORE I TELL YOU.great show tho