Afro Samurai: Resurrection (2009)

Is this serious? No, not at all. Anyone who takes this seriously at all is completely missing the point. Afro Samurai is a hilarious spoof of 2 popular genres from the 70s, Kung-Fu action flicks and blaxploitation, and Afro spoofs them beautifully (the "beautifully" part is meant to be taken literally, the animation is awesome). The storyline is thin, but since it revolves around a classic staple of the 2 aforementioned genres, avenge father's death storyline, you can forgive it rather easily. The action sequences will make your head spin and the humor is as dark as it is hilarious. Highly recommended and absolutely worth at least one viewing.

Afro Samurai / Afro Samurai Resurrection This is definitely one of the best manga flicks I've seen in awhile, the animation is so fluid and beautiful in places its truly a work of art. The plot is unoriginal and pretty predictable hehe think a Clint Eastwood 'man with no name' type black Samurai and lots of disposable enemies along the way ;) Sure you know how its gonna end and whats gonna happen in every scene but it looks lovely and has some brilliant voice casting through both offerings (English versions). Of course you have Sam Jackson perfectly cast for Afro, but throughout both films there is Mark Hamill (animation stalwart), Lucy Liu, John Di Maggio (Bender fame), Dwight Schultz (A-Team) and the always great Ron Pearlman. I prefer Resurrection over the first I think, the inclusion of Lucy Liu as a sexy bitch hell bent on revenge tickles my fancy :) both films are kinda the same to be honest but Res is alittle more action packed with less flashbacks making the plot easier to follow. The first does jump around alot and only has action at the start and end really, some great sword fighting moments but limited compared to Res. The other thing I don't really like about Afro is the amount of robots or 'Terminator' like opponents Afro comes up against, it just seems to cheapen the whole idea for me, its a concept that's been done too much. Plenty of blood spurting about in both accompanied by some nice sound effects and a decent soundtrack but I tend to lean towards Res as it is alittle more 'Blade' like if you get me haha both are brilliant though.