Afro samurai was one of the better anime films I've watched. Although I found the plot simplistic (which can in some cases is good), the art work and script were "off the chain"...not to mention the soundtrack (had to make it my dojo's theme music). The first 5 episodes were entertaining but I must admit that the ending was somewhat....campy. This was (imho)due to a lack of character development of afro. Although the flashbacks give good insight into his evolution to reclaim the #2 headband...how he became such a formidable samurai without his father's instruction is not really addressed. More importantly the ending had a sort of "rabbit out of the hat trick" flavor to it. From my account the #1 beat him...impaling him through the head with...whatever that was. I've had to console myself by filling in the blanks with some very creative thinking on this matter...such as "he wasn't impaled..it just went through his 'fro' similar to the spears (episode 1)" this time the glancing blow drew blood from. Some more development of the #1 with insight as to who/what he was would have also enhanced the viewing. At any rate still one of my favorites...after the Ninja Scroll...would love to see Afro and Jubei have a go at it.

This is a revenge series set to a hip-hop soundtrack.Afro, as a young boy, sees his father slain by his fathers best friend. This "friend" named "Justice" tells Afro to come seek revenge when he's worthy.1> The head-bands > the two head-bands. the number one head-band means the guy that wears it is "god" - the only one that can challenge him is the one that wears the number two head-band >>> the only thing about that is whoever wears the number two head-band can be challenged by anybody.2> This isn't a cut'n'dry series, i.e. it doesn't go from A to B to C Afro sees his father killed when he's only a boy and so has to work up to the same level as his fathers killer. It jumps from Afro the boy (A) to Afro the man (C) and fills in the rest (B) on the way.3> This is only really viewable as a series > don't try and soldier through the whole thing at once. You won't appreciate it.I've been told by some (not all) of my friends that this anime tries to be too cool to actually be cool... I think the first season delivers a killer first punch that unfortunately is not followed through in the second season.In summation... Watch the first season for definite, the second season is buyer beware.

First things first: If you are a fan of Anime movies, than this one is exactly up your alley. Hopefully, the fact that it is in English, won't disappoint you. It shouldn't, especially with Samuell L. Jackson speaking the main part(s)! But when I say Anime, than I mean more in the vain of "Ninja Scroll" than let's say something from the Ghibli Studio. This one right here, is pretty intense and aimed at an adult audience. Even if the Blood is animated, it might be too much for some viewers.I was lucky enough to watch this at local theater, where they showed the whole season back-to-back (5 episodes) ... only thing that was kind of a bummer, was the fact, that you did notice when an episode ended. They still edited it good together, but this might be something, that could put you off a bit. Other than that, I don't see any reason not to watch this (and it's also recently available "Sequel") ... unless you're not adult of course! ;o)

Afro Samurai is the story of a swordsman seeking vengeance for his murdered father. Haven't seen that before. In order to achieve this goal, he must defeat the number one swordsman in the world that stole the title from his dead dad. The funny thing is that this Number 1 uses two guns to fight, and yet he is the number one "swordsman." Go figure. The Number 1 and Number 2 swordsmen are labeled by these special bands saying that they're number one and number two, and as you might have guessed, the Afro is number two, and EVERYONE with a weapon wants a piece, whether or not that weapon is a sword. I can't tell what source this show ripped off more: Ninja Scroll with its "everyone wants you dead" premise and ninja sidekick or Samurai Champloo with its attempt to immerse hip-hop culture with Japanese swordsmen using the "black samurai" gimmick that mildly offended me. Great animation and action, but overall, not a good show.