Afro Samurai, Volume One Manga Review

Takashi Okazaki’s creation, Afro Samurai, struck it big when it made the leap from small time doujinshi to full blown anime in 2007. GONZO headed the animation and created a beautiful five episode series rife with butt-whooping and blood-letting. It aired on Spike TV to rave reviews and had such big names as Samuel Jackson and Ron Perlman as members of the voice cast.

Now, the manga-ka is back, and he’s writing and drawing the latest installment in the growing Afro Samurai franchise.

Afro Samurai Manga Volume One

Plot Summary

For those who wish to gain the power of a god, they must possess the Number One headband. But to become Number One, they must first own the Number Two headband. Only Number Two can ever challenge and duel Number One.

When the son of the current Number One watches as his father is cut down by Number Two, a shady gunman named Justice, the boy, Afro, swears revenge, no matter the cost. And the cost is high indeed. Where ever the now grown Afro goes, death follows.

Afro now journeys to confront Justice and reap his vengeance. On the road to Number One, Afro encounters assassins, warriors and samurai who try take his place as Number Two. As he leaves a trail of bodies in his wake, Afro comes that much closer to confronting Number One. Nothing personal…it’s just REVENGE.

Review

Charge!!!

Afro Samurai may take a bit of getting used to for some manga readers, mainly due to its unconventional styling and format. For veteran manga enthusiasts, this may be more bothersome than for one new to manga. Indeed, my first reaction was that Afro Samurai felt more like an American comic book than a manga penned and inked by a native Japanese manga-ka.

For starter’s, the book reads left to right instead of the original manga format of right to left. The manga also has splashes of color throughout, not just in a few pages before chapters. And the style itself is a departure from the generic doe-eyed, tiny-mouthed lithe character designs of many manga. Okazaki, the manga-ka, created Afro Samurai with highly stylized, deeply detailed, and very dark designs.

Story

Afro Samurai has a stylishness both in art and story that sets it apart from the world of traditional manga. The storytelling borders on American graphic novel, as does the art, but the dialog pulls it back towards manga. Afro Samurai bridges two worlds, graphic novel and manga, and belongs to neither, although it’s technically manga.

The story is one people can easily follow, and doesn’t have any deep moments or psycho-analyzing of motives. It’s not one we’re drawn into or relate to. The story is like driving through a scenic place, albeit in this instance, a very graphic, very bloody place. There’s not much connection, only base entertainment in the form of action, bloody action and more bloody action.

Character Development

Unapologetic lead characters in stories are usually a good change of pace from weepy-eyed, angsty, divided ones, especially if said unapologetic characters are right bastards. Afro is an unapologetic bastard, and is vastly more interesting because of it.

Given Afro had a wretched childhood, it’s understandable he’d have issues. But his condition goes beyond “issues”. He’s dead inside and only his need for vengeance keeps him upright. He’ll kill anyone, anyone at all, if they seem the least bit in his way, and he doesn’t care about the rivers of blood he creates because of it.

The only development for Afro we’re given is the snippet of background in the first few pages of the manga. All other characters besides Afro are transitory at best, and serve as scenery or sword-fodder. But development need not apply to butt-kicking stories of cold-hearted “heroes” bent on personal vengeance, thus none is evident in the manga so far.

Character Design

After the battle...

Character designs are very stylized and expressive. The characters at first glance are hard to make out, but further study proves them to be emotive and detailed.

The backdrop of the story is a mix of two worlds- ancient Japanese and Doomsday futuristic. Men wear kimono and eat oden from vendors alongside warriors equipped with high tech projectile weaponry and guidance systems. It’s Mad Max meets Yojimbo.

Art

Takashi Okazaki created highly graphic designs for his manga. The characters are simultaneously detailed and blurry, defined and smudged. Copious amounts of black shading fill in most panels, and fine hatchet work details the rest. The lines in the manga are finely inked, and nary a heavy stroke can be found in the book.

While everything is inked in shades of dark gray and black, red is also used to highlight blood. The contrast is a nice departure from the colorless warm shades of gray typical manga boasts.

Production

The manga is a great culture bridge for Western comic book fans curious about manga. It has enough style to lure in the manga-intrigued, and even reads the same direction as graphic novels, but it also tosses in some cultural references, such as oden and kunai.

In the back of the manga are translation notes breaking down by chapter and page number what the terms and words mean and their cultural context. Also in the back are a few pages from Okazaki’s original Afro Samurai doujinshi.

The actual manga itself is well executed. The paper is a good weight, and doesn’t feel cheap or flimsy. And the cover has a decent heft as well, giving potential buyers at least the appearance they’ll be reading something worth the effort.

Conclusion

Afro Samurai, Volume One doesn’t read like a typical manga, translation notes and reading direction aside. The story itself has a Japanese theme, but doesn’t mesh with the over-exaggerated moments and “feelings” of its manga-brethren. It feels much like an American graphic novel, but has something that keeps it from being a graphic novel just as it has something that keeps it from being traditional manga.

The melding of two worlds makes this manga something unique and worthwhile. If you like to while away your time with highly stylized and graphically violent themes, that is.