Big Picture Big Sound

The Film

In Afro Samurai Resurrection, the black samurai out for vengeance in Afro Samurai: Season 1 returns, once again voiced by Samuel L. Jackson. This time out, the melding of traditional Eastern and modern Western cultures is kicked into overdrive, as Afro's world resembles feudal Japan even less than the first film.  Samurai's world is more Western and decidely more modern, as evidenced by cell phones, neon lights, and much more hip-hop music from RZA.

Afro, now having obtained the status of "Number 1" and taken the Number 1 banner from Justice, the man who killed his father, is now plagued with guilt over the trail of blood he has left in his wake. No longer having vengeance to drive him, he has refused to fight any challengers vying for his headband.

Along comes Sio (Lucy Liu), the sexy, dominatrix-like sister of  best friend Kuma he thought he killed in Season 1. Together Kuma and Sio defeat Afro and take the Number 1 headband, but there is more -- Sio has exhumed the skull of Afro's father in order to resurrect him. Afro must once again set out on the dark path of vengeance, to seek out and kill the Number 2 samurai so that he can reclaim the Number 1 and stop Sio from raising his dead father.

Resurrection's story in many ways is even darker than Season 1's, for now there are two characters driven by vengeance -- Sio and Afro. Sio seeking revenge on Afro for having caused her brother to resort to becoming mostly a machine to stay alive and Afro, lost in a wilderness of meaningless death, now with a resurrected purpose of saving the memory of his dead father -- again.

Samuel L. Jackson's voice acting is once again superb, taking on the voices of both Afro and his imaginary sidekick/conscience Ninja Ninja, who also adds some much needed comic relief to the heavy, blood-soaked drama. Lucy Liu, however, almost compensates for the absence of Ron Perlman this time out as her sultry reading of Sio is what any true geek would say is "teh sex."

Still, Resurrection moves with a pacing that is much quicker than its predecessor. There's no need to build up to the swordplay and the mythology as it has already been established, but never fear, even if one has not seen the previous season it is easy to follow along on this journey. The stylized look of the world of Afro Samurai has also been slightly tweaked this time -- things have been turned up to 11. As mentioned earlier, the world is much more modern and the references of Eastern culture and Western hip-hop blend more effortlessly in a world where the timeline becomes all the more meaningless. The monochromatic character designs are highlighted by stark contrasts, deep indigo and purple shadows, blazing reds and bright neon that are a wonder to behold.

The Picture

Afro Samurai Resurrection's heavily stylized animated palette of nearly monochromatic hues and stark contrasts with boldly glowing primaries like the ubiquitous vermillion reds and shimmering neon blues is reproduced effortlessly by Funimation's AVC/MPEG-4 transfer on Blu-ray Disc. The 1.78:1 1080p/24 encoding is sharp, detailed and free of any artifacts, like macroblocking color banding, and aliasing. I'd say that Resurrection looks even better than its predecessor Season 1 did on BD.

The Sound

Resurrection was intended to have a lossless English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix from Funimation as indicated on the packaging, but to to an issue that the studio is currently working to resolve,  some copies have gone out with only a Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Unfortunately, my review copy was one of the ones affected by this issue. Hampered by the lossy encoding, Resurrection's aggressively engaging mix never reaches the fullest of its potential. Sound effects are somewhat grating; fatiguing to the ears, in the high frequencies while low frequency extension is full, but not clean. Dialogue is crisp and clear, but ambient effects sound somewhat tight and directionality isn’t quite as distinct as it could have been.

Make no mistake, however, that the mix itself is marvelously done and had it been made available in a lossless TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio encoding it would have been reference material, just as Afro Samurai: Season 1 before it. This, however, is Blu-ray, not DVD and Blu-ray demands something more than a lossy Dolby Digital track. Hopefully, Funimation will resolve the issue quickly. They have already insituted an exchange program for customers effected by the issue, and Big Picture Big Sound has been promised a corrected copy of Afro Samurai Resurrection so that we can update our review accordingly.

The Extras

Funimation have done well providing Afro Samurai Resurrection with an assortment of supplements that provide just enough background information on the creation and production of Resurrection without feeling boring or just tacked on. Fans of the Afro saga should enjoy the further explorations of the world of the Afro Samurai offered within.

The extras available on this release are:

• Afro Samurai: The Game (1.78:1/high definition) -- A look at the development of the Afro Samurai game
• Enter the RZA (1.78:1/high definition) -- Behind-the-scenes with hip-hop artist RZA as he scores the music for Afro Samurai Resurrection.
• Afro In-Depth (1.78:1/high definition) -- Takashi Okazaki
• Afro Samurai: East Meets West, Part 1 (1.78:1/high definition) -- Producers discuss blending the cultural influences of Afro Samurai even further for use in this sequel to Afro Samurai, with less limits placed on the production team this second time around. The entire production process of Afro Samurai Resurrection is explored, from character design and storyboarding to full animation. It's an interesting and informative featurette that fans are encouraged to watch.
• Afro Samurai: East Meets West, Part 2 (1.78:1/high definition) -- Samuel L. Jackson, voice of Afro and Executive Producer, Lucy Liu (Sio) along with more of Afro Samurai's producers discuss the show's themes and the blending of the Eastern and Western cultural influences.
• Afro Samurai at San Diego Comic-Con 2008 (1.78:1/high definition) -- A Q&A panel with Samuel L. Jackson, Takashi Okazaki, and RZA at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con.
• Part A Video Commentary -- A video commentary for the first act of Resurrection with the filmmakers.
• Trailers:
  • Claymore
  • Darker than Black
  • Genghis Khan
  • D. Gray-Man
  • Hell Girl
  • Baccano!
  • Dragon Ball Z
  • Strain: Strategic Armored Infantry

Final Thoughts

Afro Samurai Resurrection is the rare sequel that equals or perhaps even betters the original film. The producers of the Afro Samurai series have really hit on something unique with this saga and it easy to recommend this release to any fan of animé, if they are in the appropriate age group. This Blu-ray release has an excellent video transfer and an engaging soundmix. Overall, is definitely worth the price of admission and once the issues with the audio track are resolved, it will surely be reference material all around.

Where to Buy

• Afro Samurai Resurrection: Special Edition Director's Cut on Blu-ray Disc (Amazon.com)

Product Details

• Actors: Samuel L. Jackson, Lucy Liu, Mark Hamill
• Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Not Rated
• Studio: Funimation Prod
• Blu-ray Disc Release Date: February 3, 2009
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• List Price: $39.98
• Extras: 
  • Path of the Samurai -- 24-page booklet featuring forewords by Takashi "Bob" Okazaki, Fuminori Kizaki, and the RZA, concept art, production art, promotional images and more.
  • Afro Samurai: The Game -- Behind-the-scenes of the Afro Samurai video game.
  • Enter the RZA -- Behind-the-scenes interviews and production.
  • Afro In-Depth -- Exclusive insight into the world of Afro Samurai withcreator Takashi "Bob" Okazaki
  • Afro Samurai: East Meets West, Part 1 -- GONZO Studios interviews and behind-the-scenes
  • Afro Samurai: East Meets West, Part 2 -- West coast production, interviews, and behind-the-scenes
  • Afro Samurai at the San Diego Comic-Con 2008
  • Part A Video Commentary