Afro Samurai

2007

published in Empire No.76, Sydney

2008

If Australia commissioned Gonzo to make an anime, it would be based on an idea from Yahoo Serious, indigenous people would be break-dancing, drag queens would be side characters, and the action would be based on camera work from VFL matches. It would look like a Mambo ad and sound like Powderfinger on Rove. That’s my way of qualifying Afro Samurai: produced in Japan, but corralled and intoned by Americans for Americans. The animation is exemplary, but the whole tone, momentum, story arcs and stylistic denouement of the series is a pale copy of Tarantino’s canny eye for spaghetti western vengeance and violence.