Product Details

• Actors: Samuel L. Jackson, Ron Perlman, Kelly Hu, Yuri Lowenthal
• Format: Animated, Color, Widescreen, Subtitled, Dolby
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby TrueHD 5.1)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Funimation Prod
• DVD Release Date: August 26, 2008
• Run Time: 125 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001AII4WM
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #22,418 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #5 in	Movies & TV > Anime & Manga > Characters & Series > Afro Samurai
  #53 in	Movies & TV > Action & Adventure > Action Stars > Samuel L. Jackson

• For more information about "Afro Samurai: Season One - Director's Cut [Blu-ray]" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

• This is item 1 in The Afro Samurai Series.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The violent five-part adventure Afro Samurai marks both the increasing confluence of American and Japanese pop culture and the shift in Japanese depictions of African-Americans. The popularity of hip-hop in Japan has led to more positive images of blacks, including Takashi Okazaki's original manga. The "Director's Cut" contains an additional 15 minutes of footage, and is even gorier than the broadcast version on Spike TV. As a boy, Afro Samurai saw his father beheaded by the maniacal Justice. The murderer sought an ancient headband that marks the wearer as the #1 warrior in the world. As an adult, Afro seeks only revenge, cutting down anyone who blocks his path to Justice. Afro Samurai depicts a oddly anachronistic world that infuses cell phones, cigarette lighters, and cyber technology into traditional Japanese culture. The elongated character designs recall Peter Chung's Aeon Flux, and much of the series is rendered in moody grays, accented by gobbets of scarlet blood. Afro is such a taciturn figure, most of the dialogue goes to his motor-mouth comrade Ninja Ninja. This big budget production features an eclectic score by Wu-Tang Clan co-founder RZA and an A-list vocal cast that includes Samuel L. Jackson and Ron Perlman. But for all its elaborate production values and over-the-top fights, Afro Samurai suffers from a weakness at its core: Afro is so monosyllabic and cold-blooded, he's not very interesting. His inevitable duel-to-the-death with Justice lacks the emotional punch of Spike's face-off against Vicious in Cowboy Bebop or Kenshin's one-on-one with Shishio in Rurouni Kenshin. This extremely violent series is not for the faint of stomach. (Rated TV MA, suitable for ages 17 and older: graphic violence, profanity, sexual activity, grotesque imagery, nudity, risqué humor, alcohol and tobacco use) --Charles Solomon

More from Studio Gonzo

Origin: Spirits of the Past

Trinity Blood

Solty Rei

Stills from Afro Samurai (click for larger image)

More Samuel L. Jackson

Snakes on a Plane

Shaft

Pulp Fiction

More Stills (click for larger image)

Product Description

Ice Cold Soul and a Jones For Revenge….now available on Blu-Ray!

Afro Samurai (voiced by Academy Award® nominated Samuel L. Jackson) is an epic tale of a black samurai's hunt for Justice (voiced by Ron Perlman: Hellboy Alien Resurrection ) who murdered his father. With music score by The RZA ( Kill Bill Wu Tang Clan) Afro Samurai blends traditional Japanese culture, funky technology and hip hop to create a brutally fresh entertainment experience.

Director's Cut features:

15 MINUTES OF NEVER BEFORE SEEN FOOTAGE

Exclusive Manga art from Afro Samurai Creator: Takashi Okazaki

Interview with the Creator: Takashi Okazaki

RZA Music Production Tour In the Booth

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Afro's Animation Was Cool But What About The Story?, February 9, 2007

By	Keith A. Jones "Sonic Jones... I'm Kind Of A ... (Philadelphia PA) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)

This review is from: Afro Samurai (Director's Cut) (DVD)

There's no doubt that Afro Samurai has a cool and simple concept and a very bloody style. In this future world of feudal Japan nothing seems to matter but two headbands that represent the two best fighters. To get to the number one fighter you must go through the number two and to get to the number two you must go trough everyone else. This way of life that nobody should have to live especially a child who has nothing but the headbands and revenge on his mind. As a child Afro saw his father who was the number one fighter at the time get massacred by a man named Justice. After the fight is over Justice takes the number one headband off of the head of Afro's father, which was not too far away from his body. Justice tells Afro something similar to what Uma Thurman said to Vivica A. Fox's daughter in Kill Bill, that if he wanted revenge he would fight him when he came for him.

Afro took those words very seriously and took a few things of his fathers including his very cool Katana. Afro immediately went from an innocent child to an almost emotionless man with a ton of weight on him as he begins his vengeful journey. Afro Samurai is a unique anime or story for that matter. You don't see too many people willing to put out a story with basically nothing but very bloody fight scenes for about two episodes before a really good story starts up. Especially in a 5 part series where the episodes are only between 20 and 30 minutes long. I can't lie because I love stuff like that and it made Afro Samurai all the more tempting to finish watching. The second is that this was a pricy anime to make costing $1 million per episode so I'm sure a few viewers from the Hip hop community were expected to watch this. Even if you're an action film fan you have to admit when there's too much action and not enough story Even in a revenge tail like Kill Bill with a certain scene that this anime could relate to 88 times over it had a mystery and story.

Afro was on the verge of being in the too much and not enough category and then a cool story hits you somewhere around the end of episode two. Flashbacks of Afro's life are showed, you see him as a kid again and the people who took him in and gave him his gritty skills. All throughout the 5 part series you see that the money was well spent because the animation is amazing and beautiful. The things that Afro does with his skills are crazy and this animation was a giant step up for anime samurai fight scene, it was flawless. The voice actors are great including Sam Jackson who is great for co-producing this and putting his foot in it.

I think it would have been cool to actually give Afro a real name, it's cool for people that take him on to call him Afro but I think he should have had a name for his other life before he became the Afro Samurai. In other words I kind of wish the story went just a bit deeper with a little bit more complexity. I think that Afro Samurai is a great series that everyone should see especially to view its beautiful quality.

20 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AFRO COOOOOOL, January 5, 2007

By	Brent C. Lonkey - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Afro Samurai (Director's Cut) (DVD)

I just caught the first ep showing on Spike Tv and WOW. Insane little anime. Really worth a watch and buy. The action is fast, violent and plenty of it. Samuel Jackson does the voice for two characters(maybe more). He of course does Afro the main character, but since Afro doesn't really talk all that much, most of it goes to this other guy that follows him around, who I think might just be in Afro's head. Pretty cool plot, there's two headbands, each with a number one and a number two. Afro's dad wore number one. Until number two killed him infront of his eyes. Here's how it works. The one that wears the number one headband means no one can challenge you. You're untouchable. Only the wearer of the number two has the right to challenge. But if you wear the number two headband it means that EVERYONE and ANYONE can challenge you. And that's pretty much the plot. Afro is making his way to see and challenge number one while fighting off the others that want his number two(headband). Anyway, watch and then later buy.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Style vs. Substance, May 24, 2008

By	Matt Bloom (Livonia, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Afro Samurai (Director's Cut) (DVD)

Alright, so Afro Samurai set out to answer the age old question: "If you take an insanely high animation budget, a breathtaking soundtrack, spectacularly choreography fight scenes, and a well-known actor and combine it with a plot that's ludicrously stupid, will the result still be cool?" The answer is yeah... but barely. As the pinnacle of simplistic action samurai movies, this will not disappoint. In ever other way it does. Sadly, just some minimal dialogue edits could have down wonders for the overall story.
So I will assume you both saw the show on Spike TV or Youtube, and still wish to purchase the series. You are now wondering "Is the extra 15 minutes worth double the price of the edited DVDs?" No, not really; however, it does improve the story in the last 2 episodes. Here is a basic breakdown of what you missed on TV.
All the episodes contain small cuts of slightly more excessive gore, a few f-bombs, and long shots of scenery. Small snippets of dialogue were also cut here and there, especially the ninja's.
Episode one- A fallen warrior that just collapses in the edited version gives a really long speech before dropping in the uncut. The bar patrons bicker and threaten each other and a mini fight break out. The Empty Seven talk a bit more about their plans. Overall, I prefer the edited version of this episode. The dead guy talked way too long about Afro's legend and the dialogue seemed really corny and fake. The bar scene makes the whole town appear violent and psychotic. The scene where the Empty Seven talks expands their background, but their story is severely lacking and the more you show the emptier they feel.
Episode two has some additional scenes of Afro in the orphanage that was useful to the story. In a fairly boring scene, we see Afro's first taste of lemonade. There was also a sort of cute but short scene of Afro hanging out with his girl while Kuma learns about sword fighting. Nothing spectacular was cut. There is still no more explanation for how she can read dreams. Ninja Ninja is also slightly more vulgar. You see a few quick shots of the chick's [...] in an expanded sex, shower, and death scene.
Episode 3-Well we learns why the Empty Seven decided to have Afro Droid fight their other assassins. Mostly, just talking was cut. The Empty Seven battle is the same expect we see Number 3 offer Afro tea, and he just walks by.
Episode four-Okay, so important story parts were edited out here. There are some additional scenes in the orphanage where Kuma's own theories help shape Afro's decision. There's a scene were all the kids say what they would like to do before dying, and the girl says see some fireworks. Kuma also tries to persuade Afro to leave the bandanas alone, but fails.
Episode 5-We also see some more of what happened to Kuma after falling off the cliff and getting rebuilt. These scenes were probably wise to cut because they only continue to make Kuma a more sympathetic character than Afro. There is a bunch of additional dialogue regarding Justice, his goals and dreams, and the power of the bandanas. These are really important scenes that should have not been edited out. There were also a few shots of how Afro reached him, and how Justice revived his body to fight Afro. There is a SLIGHTLY expanded ending, but it really adds nothing to the story.
The extras on the second disc total 40 minutes and could easily fit onto the first DVD. The extras are mildly interesting, but if you miss them it doesn't really matter. I think this was included just to try to convince you to shell out the extra bucks.
Are these extra scenes worth the additional $15? No. The entire series, uncut, is only worth about $[...], which is the typical Ebay price.
O, and in case you're wondering, there is no Japanese audio track because this series was made in America. No Japanese language version exists.