The story line is very weak and pretty predicatable. I think it was a bit rushed and they crammed to much into a few episodes. Its basically a bunch of OTT sword fighting and alot of blood. Which is pretty cool i have to admit but watching seven episodes of it is hardly ground breaking new anime. Altho visually its great the dubbing lets it down as far as im concerned timing was horrific with a really plain script. Altho samuel l jackson brings his usual style of humor but short of a couple of giggles it doesnt add anything to the story. I will agree the sound track is very nicely put together and adds alot of atmousphere.

So all in all looks great good soundtrack with a weak story and a poor script.
Its fine to kill a few hours but dont expect it to blow you away in 5 episodes.

As for the special edition if your into the art cards and such they are amazing well worth the extra money if you like that sort of thing.

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

heard about this new cool anime starring Samuel L. Jackson ages ago, but recently watched the full series on Bravo in movie length recently, and couldn't help being captivated by the awesomeness of the animation. It's crisp, clear and brings you closer to feeling the quick-swift strikes of the blade slicing through heads and throats.

I really liked it, and after watching the making of documentary which comes with the Director's Cut DVD, I can totally get why Sam Jackson wanted to be a part of this project. The story is nice and simple, full of cliff hangers and questions for the mind to wonder.
What made it even cooler was how the animation complemented the soundtrack. I'm not totally into hip-hop, but RZA pulled out some great stuff which seemed to be unique for each scene and character.

Definitely on my Christmas list for me, myself and I!

When I first watched Afro Samurai, I couldn't help but be mesmerized by the amount of action, blood and violence from the get-go. Within the first few minutes, you'll witness heads and arms flying off along with people being cut into pieces with a shiny blade. Witnessing this has left me unsurprised that it's rated as one of the most action-packed and bloodiest Anime's yet, which makes me wonder whether or not the previous person and I are reviewing the same DVD.

The animation to me looks crisp and cool, keeping true to the real art of cell animation... which is a breath of fresh air from today's computer generated animations. $1,000,000 per episode is very evident and the way it was done, makes you feel the action as you watch it, very much like Kill Bill and The Matrix. If you appreciate real hand drawn animation, again... this is beautiful to watch.

Samurai Champloo is ok, but goes nowhere near into as much detail as Afro does and in my opinion doesn't come into the same caliber. The story is awesome, leaving it wide open for a second series... the cast is unbelievable, the music could not have been better mixed and off of this comes together in a nice, sleek, elegant looking box. If I didn't already have it... it would be my own perfect Christmas present.

Here we go again...nothing new in the base of the story. Revenge theme,....!!! BUT the Anmiation and as the story unfolds, the jive talkin Smaual L Jackson and others let rip the swearing and jibes to each other.....this is certainly hip and new....the fight sequences are amazing. This DVD is cool, the movie is spread across 4 key episodes and some flashbacks to the youthful days. Ron Pearlman is perfectly cast.

In some cases i go for a new piece of anime just for an insane amount of action and violence, i feel that age of o.t.t anime has kinda died out since the 90s which is a shame, but the idea of a 5 part ultra violent samurai epic got me kidna excited just a shame that it does not live up to my animated violence needs.
If your gonna do a show about revenge and killing skipping on the crap story and just going for the kills you should at least put some more effort in to the animation, half the time this looks like a cheap anime show that times forgot.
Granted some of the action is insane and fun but its just so jerky and abit wooden, for a show which rubbs your face in how much is cost from the back cover i was expecting alot more fluid and vislble action and animation.
End of the day it has got alot of beheadings and action so any action anime junkie like me will get their fill plus it comes in a nice box.
But in all cases you would do better to save your pennies and buy the samurai champloo box set.

I recently purchased The Director's Cut having seen all the posters and magazine reviews about the programme and it turned out to be AWESOME! It's just so fresh in terms of style and action. With Samuel L. Jackson voicing the black samurai with an afro and a really cool blend of music Brilliant! Excellent animation, bloody slicing, explosions, cool original characters, comedy and an engaging energetic storyline.

Loads of cool extras that you can watch for hours! I love the box as well, the designs are soooo cool!

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.