Afro Samurai Soundtrack
The ultraviolent, 6-episode samurai steampunk blaxploitation anime Afro Samurai is, basically, okay.
The story is comic-book cliche, not unlike Kill Bill. In fact, there's probably a one to one mapping from the two sets of fans (it's surjective!) But they supposedly spent $1 million per episode on the artwork, and I would say it shows. The animation is cinema-quality Gonzo studio artwork all the way through. Samuel L. Jackson, Kelly Hu, and Ron Perlman star as voice talents. I suspect this is a vanity project for Samuel.
Set the story aside, though, and the best part of the whole endeavor is the Rza's soundtrack. It's probably his best work since Ghost Dog, featuring Gza, Big Daddy Kane, and Q-Tip, among others. Three tracks are on the website to sample, so take a listen.
The story is comic-book cliche, not unlike Kill Bill. In fact, there's probably a one to one mapping from the two sets of fans (it's surjective!) But they supposedly spent $1 million per episode on the artwork, and I would say it shows. The animation is cinema-quality Gonzo studio artwork all the way through. Samuel L. Jackson, Kelly Hu, and Ron Perlman star as voice talents. I suspect this is a vanity project for Samuel.
Set the story aside, though, and the best part of the whole endeavor is the Rza's soundtrack. It's probably his best work since Ghost Dog, featuring Gza, Big Daddy Kane, and Q-Tip, among others. Three tracks are on the website to sample, so take a listen.
Labels: big in Japan, music, robots, Sci-Fi
posted by Mike Beversluis at
Sunday, February 04, 2007
3 Comments:
That seems like an awful lot of money to spend on a cartoon.
Do anime have a large enough audience to make it worth it ?
I know that Southpark and The Simpsons have huge budgets, but they reach tens of millions of viewers, plus DVDs.
By
Oroborous, at 05 February, 2007 05:37
I dunno: A quick google said that the 2004 US retail market for anime was $500 million.
By
Mike Beversluis, at 05 February, 2007 17:00
Never underestimate the selling power of Sam-El-Jack. Ophidians on an Aircrafte anyone?
By
Anonymous, at 06 February, 2007 12:57
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