Tentacle-Free Anime: "Afro Samurai: Resurrection" ('09) Review
They say that sequels are generally not as good as the original deal. But often times the sequels can be just as good or better, and some times they can nearly stand up on their own. Just as long as they remember not to juggle too many subplots in one story.
Afro Samurai: Resurrection is the movie sequel to the hip-hop bumpin’, blood-splattered anime simply titled Afro Samurai. Whereas the original series covered the story of our protagonist Afro and his journey for revenge against the one who killed his father, this story flips the tale and shows us the journey of Afro to destroy the one who would bring his father back to life. The story though is still all about revenge, and delves deeper into the psychosis of a world filled with those who are killed merely because of the existence of cloth headbands and exactly how this affects those who lose someone close to them.
This adventure takes place a few years after Afro Samurai proper, with no defined time given in between stories, but it’s easy to assume it’s been quite a while, long enough at least for the world to get used to the headbands once again being scattered across the plains and for death to follow. Afro’s past sins are played heavily into this story, much more so than the original series, making this a more personal tale than the last, as we get to see into the mind of our hero at least a bit more than in the original. 
Ninja Ninja and Afro return.
The sins of his past are sown from a time that take place sometime before the original series and some of it even comes from events of the original series thankfully. Although what transpires in the timeline before the original series took place is never given a definitive “here’s exactly when it happened” explanation, so it’s pretty easy to view this as a retcon to give Afro something close to his heart to fight. If I’m speaking vaguely it’s because much of what I am dancing around would be considered major spoilers if discussed in better detail. This movie isn’t as great as the original series, since a movie's events must flow faster and some of the events thrown into the plot are merely there to push the story along towards it's natural and pretty guessable ending. Although we do get to see what happened to some characters from the original series. To bring their dangling plot threads full circle was nice. One could make this argument towards the original series as well though, but at least it was given more space to tell its story. The animation is top notch as usual, even surpassing the original show. If you’re looking for a story with tons of eye candy, this is it. Everything is bright, crisp and incredibly fluid and extremely detailed. You can tell a lot of effort and heart was put into this to make it look beautiful and it shows. The fights are exquisite and gorgeous to behold, Afro’s fight with a character named Shichigoro is the highlight of the movie and easily one of the coolest fight scenes I have ever seen. It’s also heartbreaking to watch as Afro, in one fleeting but tender moment, becomes the monster he had fought so desperately to vanquish from the Earth in the original series. 
Afro vs. Shichigoro
This movie is also more adult than the series, with a lot more nudity and background sex thrown into the mix, there’s no reason for it to be there than to show off how edgy this world they’re living in is. Which, I mean, it’s whatever. The music is hot as ever, though I personally prefer the soundtrack of the original. The soundtrack is once again done by the RZA who brings his personal flair to the movie and captures the tones almost perfectly. The beat mixes well with the scenes and kicks in when it is needed, although on a few scenes it seems to fade out just when it was getting good. The voice acting is once again fantastic, the choices for the roles were spot on and everyone delivers their lines seamlessly, although Samuel L. Jackson does fumble a tiny bit with Ninja Ninja and Afro in a few scenes, there were lines I felt he could deliver much better, but by the time this movie had come out it had been two years since he’d voiced these fellas. He’s still having a blast with Ninja Ninja, who acts as the “true” Afro in my opinion, saying what the reserved samurai could never allow himself to say out loud. Lucy Liu, yes of Charlie’s Angels fame throws herself into the mix as the seductive Sio and really plays off the character as broken and looking for attention to bring down the man who hurt her in so many ways. Liam O'Brien does a wonderful job as Shichigoro, giving us a man who has seen his world torn apart over the cloth of the headbands and merely wanting to see peace brought to the world instead of more death and violence. I actually felt remorse for Shichigoro, which is great considering how little he actually was in the movie. 
Sio & Jinno
Afro Samurai: Resurrection will probably be the last foray into the world of Afro, his story is done and any other stories in this world would only revolve around revenge and the headbands that give you status in the world and make you a target for others, a story that if used too much will only get old. It is best that they ended this tale here, and allow us a wonderful visual and narrative experience to kick back too when all we want to do is relax and see some blood. Final Score: 2.5 Headbands out of 5 Have you seen "Afro Samurai: Resurrection"? Enjoyed the review? Let us know in the comments! 
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