Genre: Action
Range: Older Teen 16+
Price: 10.99 USD

American audiences were exposed to Takashi Okazaki's original alternate reality of a neo-medieval Japan in the animated version of on Spike TV. The inspiration for the Samuel L. Jackson voiced version is now available in print in Volume 1 of Afro Samurai.

It's not hard to see why this manga was chosen to be an anime. The pages read like an animated storyboard and often continues for pages at a time with almost no dialog. The setting is a Japan that still lives by the violent code of the samurai.

In a testosterone-fueled feudal society, the one who wears the No. 1 headband rules all, but only he who wears the No. 2 headband may challenge him. Many years earlier that No. 1 warrior was slain in front of his son who has since grown up to earn the No. 2 band and a singular mission. As the back cover says "Nothing personal...it's just revenge." As No. 2, or the Afro Samurai, quietly searches for No. 1 but spends most of this volume dealing with the armies of assassins looking to get that No. 2 headband. The body count is massive...uncountable, really.

The story isn't overly complicated, but it is a lot of samurai sword swinging fun. I originally read a promotional copy, but then saw an official release, and this version paints the blood onto the black-and-white giving even more impact. The difference is a little like Bride at the House of Blue Leaves scene in "Kill Bill" where the Bride fights the Crazy 88. In the US this scene is shown in black and white, but in Japan is was in color. Just adding the blood reminds the viewer of how violent the book gets.

Samurai revenge stories are nothing new, but the modern dialog, machine guns, record-scratching DJs and other modernisms add a unique perspective to the Afro Samurai's world. Okazaki's dynamic art is also hits hard. Sometimes a little too hard, as in a few frames the distorted view is hard figure out, but for the most part the style of Afro Samurai hits the mark.

8.5