[LWC 53] Afro Samurai Revisited
↩[LWC 52]
Introduction
Perhaps Japan is rather ethnically homogenous, or I am under the impression of such a fact. So then maybe the lack of blacks in slice of life anime is justified not because animators envisage an utopian, ethnically homogenous Japan, but rather, they are correctly portraying the racially monolithic high school demographics. However, this does not refute the convenience of representation, nor does it explain why I’ve never seen a black transfer student - a pretty good example of this, I’d say, is Patricia Martin, portrayed as a typical blonde from America, and although she may just be there to contribute to the Lucky Star otakudom, we still cannot disregard the curtain of Japanocentrism.
I’m just going to take a look at episode two, particularly relationship between Tonsure and Afro Samurai, the sex scene, the imaginary friend, his childhood, and the uncanny resemblance of the “monks” to the KKK, complete with southern accent, in no particular order, and all as pivotal points in Afro’s representation.
Section 1: Sex Scene
Now the beginning of the sex scene, when this extremely well-endowed women suddenly starts to kiss Afro’s arm, I find utterly hilarious. I mean, just, wow. But anyway, the surprising thing is how Afro does not reject her, as you would find any kind of conservative anime character do in a fit of embarrassed stupor. Just in this one bit we can discern several things:
(1) Afro is promiscuous, and undeniably sexual while simultaneously upholding his stoic samurai visage - in essence, he can be Japanese, but he cannot enter the domain of Japanocentrism in that he cannot be white. You can clearly contrast this to Ken shin (at least in the TV series, Trust & Betrayal is a much different story). You can also see glimpses of colonialism here, African or otherwise - aborigines can rise and attain power in a colonial government system, yet they can never be considered “one of them”. Afro has been paradoxically territorialized as Japanese and black while conveniently retaining the “best” of both.
(2) Because of the necessity of the holistic binary, in that the one must define the Other, Tonsure completes and amplifies Afro’s blackness. She is absolutely and utterly white in her childhood - the teddy bear (symbolic in the story’s context but nevertheless an artifact of Western culture, Minami-ke please?), the innocence and unadulteration - while becoming the analog on of the Cult of Domesticity in her cooking and caring for Afro which is the Western dream that Japan inserts into all its anime, what with MILFs galore who also enjoy housework. Thus Tonsure is the conduit for which Japanocentrism inscribes its whiteness (both maternal and sexual) and thus mirrors the harsh blackness of Afro.
(3) While it may be argued that the sex scene humanizes Afro in a similar way to that of the sexual relationships present in Samurai Champloo, this, on the contrary, is clearly dehumanizing because of the lack of emotion. There are other cases in anime where the act of sex (or the female orgasm) is glorified as a sapient, tender, dissident or insurrectionary performance (i.e. Dead Leaves, Kaiba, Kemonozume, KGNE), but Afro is nothing but transformed into anything but human.
Afro never sounds so much as a grunt during this R&B laden hentai/Chingy music video. All the attention is centered around Tonsure and her humongous boobs - another defining feature of her whiteness, this time in a clearly erotic manner. By silencing Afro we see how he’s turned into an apathetic body, void of any human emotions, yet capable of a basic human instinct. However, sex has situational implications, and therefore, here, sex does not become an act of love but rather an act of corruption in that Afro’s lack of humanity - his blackness - renders him the antithesis of Japanocentrism, and Tonsure the embodiment of Japanocentrism, as he figuratively (and, partially, literally) rapes the white women. He becomes not a person, but a thing that mindlessly screws the unsullied in perhaps not even a sexual or human relation, but a parasitic one, sucking the life out of whiteness and converting it into what we assume is a monstrous form of pleasure within the alienated mind of Afro. The paradox at hand here is at a pinnacle of colonial ideology because Afro is both pinned antithetically against Japanocentrism as the Other while simultaneously upholding and being territorialized as the product of Japanocentrism.
Section 2: Childhood & Imaginary Friend
Firstly, Afro is obsessed with the #2 during his prepubescent youth. Secondly, we can again see how the Japanese children are there to magnify Afro’s blackness against their “normalcy”. However, Afro’s childhood does not function primarily as a microcosm in itself, but rather, as an attempted justification of adult Afro’s apparent lack of humanity. And ironically, if I were in any wrong in analyzing Afro as less than human, I’m sure that the added history - that long sought after continuity of the self - attests to his hollow mannequin portrayal. Child Afro becomes - and it is becomes here because in our minds, as the pieces of history are slowly glued together, adult Afro becomes more complete, contradicting the praxis of identity in favor of a safer, more definite identity-as-product - victimized in the wake of the gang when his friends have to assist him. And we must make the distinction between this gang of thugs and samurai; they clearly are not, not in any kind of objective definition, nor in a subjective manner in that they are not elegant, in speech, behavior, and sword technique, nor do they carry actual katanas, perhaps the definitive artifact of the samurai.
The imaginary friend I think is the most blatantly terrible thing about this anime. It’s a cheap way of saying “this is part of my subconscious - this is the way I really am or the way I really should be” as well as a cheap way of saying things about blacks in general. The presentation of the imaginary friend gives two things to work with: (1) another antithesis to the samurai positioning of Afro - while I had said that Afro is the antithesis to Japanocentrism, that is through his position as a black, not as a samurai, which is the convenience of both representation and positioning. The imaginary friend is loud, crude, severely annoying, and stereotypically “main stream” black, or perhaps even “gangster” would suffice here, lending nothing whatsoever to the credibility of Afro’s shoddily constructed identity. What’s more is that the imaginary friend is conveniently “resolved” in the end, when Afro apparently comes to terms with himself. Nevertheless, all of his positioning remains, as if chunks of his identity were to come loose and fly away if his imaginary “real self” - and here schizophrenic (although Thomas Szasz would disagree) will be a legitimate term, in a sarcastic way - were to simply disappear. Here is the inherent contradiction of Afro in that his imaginary friend is acting as his own antithesis within himself.
(2) While the imaginary friend can be interpreted as an antithesis, his existence is not entirely relational, that is, we can examine his own connotations. And here is when we must look closely at that attempted insertion of a “mainstream” black culture. The Commutation Test proves invaluable here: basically switch something around and see if the overall meaning changes. If we remove the imaginary friend from the picture altogether, Afro’s encapsulating image surely changes - we then lose that antithesis and thus Afro can take a slight step forward to the hub of Japanocentrism. He is there to control Afro, not in any kind of non-meta sense, but to put a check on cultures - this is a game of checks and balances, since Japanocentrism has positioned Afro within that of the samurai, yet in that colonial sense, he cannot ever actually reach the ideology that has created him. The imaginary friend is there to say “don’t forget that you’re actually black.”
Section 3: KKK & Historical Usurpation
Lastly we come across the monk. Now, how much of this is coincidence? Pointy head - reminiscent of the pointy mask, the nose - obviously stylistic of that old white man, the southern accent - I don’t need to say anything about that, the fact that they’re out to literally lynch him - again silence will suffice, the cult-like nature of the entire “bad guy group” and the monks own “grand wizard”-like image - all these traits can only lead me to believe that they are definitely representative of the KKK. This is Japanocentrism’s greatest achievement. It is the usurpation of the grand historically American narrative of white vs. black. While this dichotomy is not inclusive to just America, the KKK is, if my history serves me right. Thus Japanocentrism can reach the core of the West by positioning Afro as simultaneously black and Japanese, while denying him any real agency within their own culture, and pitting this historical foe against him to amplify the white/black dichotomy and distract us from Japanocentrism itself. In essence, the KKK acts as another curtain of Japanocentrism, putting not Japan under the radar, but its ethnocentric ideology and thus justifying and concealing, through the lens of Japanocentrism, nearly everything about this anime: (1) Afro’s blackness, (2) the samurai elements of Japan present, paradoxically, through Afro (he is the only archetypal stoic/elegant/refined samurai in the show), (3) Japanocentrism itself, (4) and the pinnacle of whiteness shown through Otsuru.
Conclusion
I think that this analysis will serve to show how Afro is conveniently represented as a number of things. He is the embodiment of Japanocentrism, yet he is always within their spectacle. He is a walking contradiction, but the average viewer won’t care if there’s tons of blood and gore. He is dehumanized and alienated yet always glorified within his own microcosm. He is that snowman within the snow globe, always being shaken for the amusement of the puppet master.
Afterword
After re-reading and slightly editing this post (it was my seventh on 5.7.08) I’ve come to realize how “insightful” race relations in anime can be. Afro Samurai is in the pits, a prime case of ethnocentrism, but there are excellent examples as well, for instance Black Lagoon, which has the most complex race relations that aren’t subject to any kind of ethnocentrism besides the fact that everyone speaks Japanese, yet the language of any anime series is perhaps a political factor on which marketability is contingent. Beck is my favorite anime for language barriers and bridges, since it actually has American-sounding English speakers do voices for characters, instead of the typical Engrish heavily laced with a Japanese accent. [If Patricia Martin is from America, why does her English suck?]
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jeeze and here I was thinking that Afro was just another typical Sam Jackson character that happened to be in an anime because that’s what Sam Jackson wanted.
Personally I think this is a case of overthinking. Afro Samurai in its original iteration was a doujinshi in a doujinshi magazine. Not to insult writers of doujinshi, but they’re not the classiest of folks. More likely than not, the author simply liked the allure of a hip-hop black guy kicking ass in a humorously out-of-place manner in a vaguely recognizable landscape and period; to the Japanese viewer that is.
If there is Japanocentrism, it comes either as contamination from American agencies or simple reflexiveness on the part of the creator. It was an American company that signed RZA on to rap for the introduction. It was an American company that made Ron Perlman, Kelly Hu, and Samuel L. Jackson voice actors, they who decided that the monks would speak a Southern dialect. This does not explain the cone-heads, obviously, but in all honesty, I just thought they were freaky-mutant-cyborgs and the reference to the KKK never clicked. Or was never there.
Otsuru’s purity and breasts are no more than fanservice as she fulfills and easy trope to the Japanese audience, Afro’s paradoxical samurai demeanor and ‘gansta’ traits are a simple fusion of two things the Okazaki adores, and the two of them screw because it’s /fanservice/.
If you want clear Japanocentrism, look at Code Geass. That show is RANK with it. From the ‘United States of Japan’ to the nuclear weapon, to the fact that the Holy Britannian Empire occupies North America in an alternate history, Geass offers a far clearer look at the Japanese desire to rewrite history, ignore their sins, and vicariously experience the glory and pride that they doubtlessly lost in the second World War than the simple enjoyment of a hip samurai gruesomely engaging in vaguely justifiable vices in the million dollar episodes of Afro Samurai.
skoll: Overthinking, eh? If I were to assign a numerical value in terms of overthinking to my writings, this would score a 0.5/10 (past readers can surely attest to this value). In any case, thank you very much for expressing your thoughts on this article as I’ve been direly awaiting a fruitful response for several months.
Let me state, first and foremost, a central tenet of my theoretical foundation for anime criticism: all anime is inherently Japanocentric until proven otherwise. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad thing. In fact, it’s an inherent thing, an unavoidable thing, a thing contingent upon the historical, subconscious, influentially discursive, “orientalismalistic”, continuously semiotic cycle of global, cultural products and their movements. The nature of any ethnocentric discourse literally prevents any thoughts – any values of truth – that exist outside such a discourse to not exist. It is, as Chomsky put it, the bounds of thinkable thought. An example: what is a women if not a women? What is a black man if not black? We have absolutely no other way of expressing the concept, to refer to our case of linguistic determinism, because in this case the concept is tied inextricably with the symbolic word to which it was referred. Can you say what a black man is without using the culturally constructed, discursive word “black”? Can you describe Afro’s imaginary friend without using the words and concepts of “gangster” and “black”? There is no other way to express the thought because the thought itself is concretized within and contingent upon its fluid discourse. Thus, this anime, a conglomeration of things said about other cultures, cannot be anything but what I have explicated – taking this at face value may be one’s own cup of tea, but alas, ‘tis not my cup of tea.
Thus I am going to disagree with you on several points of your comment:
(1) “Afro Samurai in its original iteration…” The keyword here is iteration. Iterative because the second one was produced by American companies. That is incredibly significant because we can now see how influence carried over by the Japanese doujinshi was mutated, obfuscated and transformed by American influence. This produces a semiotic paradox – inherently Japanocentric (insofar as you’re following my central tenet of anime as a global, cultural product) but shaped through the lens of Orientalism. It is both reverse-orientalism (not occidental) and orientalism combined into a single product – and what contradictions were wholly and blatantly visible within this production!
(2) the author simply liked the allure of a hip-hop black guy kicking ass in a humorously out-of-place manner in a vaguely recognizable landscape and period; to the Japanese viewer that is. Again, to reiterate, a “hip-hop black guy” cannot be anything but contingent upon ethnocentric ideologies. That is the foundation of representations.
(3) If there is Japanocentrism, it comes either as contamination from American agencies or simple reflexiveness on the part of the creator. Then it is not Japanocentrism. A Westerner cannot be Japanocentric. He can be a Japanophile (and we’re common in dealing with those around here…), but he can never truly enter the hub of the ideology that he so very worships. He cannot escape the cultural and social position in which he watches anime. He cannot ever truly understand the very thing he watches. I can’t.
(4) …just thought they were freaky-mutant-cyborgs and the reference to the KKK never clicked. Or was never there. Face value eh? We cannot take global products as monolithic things. Saying that there is no influence disregards the movement of the thing, the fact that anime is perhaps Japanese, but to what extent can we say that Japan is an isolated, culturally autonomous thing? It is not by any chance. It has been influenced by the West, and will continue to be so. Thus anime is Japanese but not without a grain of salt – the grain of salt of global influence, thus contributing to the concept of Japan, where “most of the world’s weird shit is made” (or whatever that motivational poster read).
(5) Otsuru’s purity and breasts are no more than fanservice as she fulfills and easy trope to the Japanese audience, Afro’s paradoxical samurai demeanor and ‘gansta’ traits are a simple fusion of two things the Okazaki adores, and the two of them screw because it’s /fanservice/. It does not easily screw together because this product was not conceived of in tandem with anything – there is a clear chronology present in the adaptation of the doujinshi to the anime. It is not a semiotic singularity.
(6) Geass is ethnocentric, yes, easily observable indeed. And thus it’s just boring to look at centric ideologies in a show where it’s so horribly blatant is like trying to talk about religion in NGE - why? Or rather, what fascinates me about Geass (specifically episode 8 or R2) is the function and creation of nationalism. Nationalism is different from ethnicity and race, yet entwined in such a way as to make it an incredibly broad and theoretically difficult concept to approach. Essentially, I don’t think Geass takes itself seriously (don’t quote me on that, I don’t know). Geass is all for the lulz (at least we think it is). Geass is a trainwreck. Afro Samurai does because it’s innocent, or tries to be – it tries to be nothing but afro samurai and fails because it cannot simply be afro samurai – it is more.
Uhhh, it’s not so much Japanocentrism as clever marketing.
Most anime series/ovas/movies are adapted from Japanese literary sources (manga, light novels, visual novels, etc.), produced by Japanese Studios and directed by Japanese directors largely for Japanese audiences.
The reason it’s “Japanese-centric” is because the source-material, be it print, digital or gamu, is written specifically for Japanese consumers (not international consumers).
Most US entertainment venues don’t have much “diversity” in their casting either (hence the origin of the term “token” in the entertainment industry). It’s simple business logic to cater to whatever demographic will increase your profits. If you don’t, your product will fail and your company will take a loss. At the end of the day these studios have to make money, just like you or I.
When critiquing Afro Samurai you might want to look at the original doujinshi that the series is based.
Additionally, in the Fujiyama Gangster Arc of Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage, it’s shown that the principal language the characters communicate in is English, not Japanese. The reason the language (the audio dub) is shown in Japanese (instead of English with Japanese subtitles) is specifically for the Japanese audience.
FYI: For Afro Samurai a quick search reveals the following
Production Studio is GONZO (a Japanese company)
Director is Fuminori Kizaki
Halcyon: You’re definitely right on correcting me for the uneducated hypocrite I am, not reading the original doujin but saying we should be aware of global origins, I can admit that much. However, the content of the origin is, to an extent, irrelevant. The Medium Is The Message. Yet that goes without saying that favoring form alone doesn’t do justice to ignoring content.
This article comes off as uneducated because you’re critiquing the uncontextualized article, not the body of work the author represents. If you’ve read the precursor to this article you may have had a deeper understanding of where I was going originally with this write-up on Afro Samurai, so sorry for assuming you haven’t. In any case I’m still not saying you’d agree with me, you having read the first part. Essentially, insofar as anime is inherently Japanocentric, it functions as a mirror. Thus looking at anime tells us more about the representations we have made about it, and so native Japanese cultural productions are, in effect, influentially and inherently in response to those Western, oriental representations because, discursively, there’s no other way to get around the regime of truth.
I haven’t watched 2nd Barriage.
Language barriers are for marketability, so that’s why Beck is so damn good in that respect (that respect alone, perhaps…).
I was going to say how business and thus capitalism are inextricably entwined with global movements of culture and knowledge, but at this point it would seem redundan. Too late I guess.
Again, in the precursor post to this one I quoted the Afro Samurai production blog which is down now, unfortunately. On second thought, I don’t know how much validity that blog held anyway.
http://www.afrosamurai.com/blog.cfm
@lelangir
However, the content of the origin is, to an extent, irrelevant. The Medium Is The Message. Yet that goes without saying that favoring form alone doesn’t do justice to ignoring content.
I think the point I’m trying to make is that by looking at the source of the adaptation, you might have a clearer understanding as to why the final finished product came out the way it was.
It could be the limitations of the source material or it could original content inserted by the production studio, but without knowing the original source you’ll never have an understanding of the entire breadth of the adaptation.
This article comes off as uneducated because you’re critiquing the uncontextualized article, not the body of work the author represents. If you’ve read the precursor to this article you may have had a deeper understanding of where I was going originally with this write-up on Afro Samurai, so sorry for assuming you haven’t. In any case I’m still not saying you’d agree with me, you having read the first part. Essentially, insofar as anime is inherently Japanocentric, it functions as a mirror. Thus looking at anime tells us more about the representations we have made about it, and so native Japanese cultural productions are, in effect, influentially and inherently in response to those Western, oriental representations because, discursively, there’s no other way to get around the regime of truth.
I’m saying, the reason why anime is Japanocentric is simple business sense. Most of the anime that’s produced comes from a Japanese source.
The old adage of “write what you know” is why having a Japanese-centric focus is inescapable and you can find examples of it in every national entertainment product.
You have to remember, firstly, these animes are being viewed by Japanese viewers first and then are licensed by international distributors.
It’s the nature of anime business, the nature of any business really to cater to your demographic.
Part of the reason why Afro Samurai (as a doujinshi) never made it into serialization is because most Japanese readers couldn’t identify with a black samurai. Japanese society, on the whole, is very homogenous with very little variation and many of the minority groups that do exist (like the Ainu for example) are vastly under-represented in Japanese productions.
Even Okinawan Japanese are not valued equally in the entertainment industry (nationally) as “Mainland” Japanese. It’s not limited to the anime industry either as mainstream television and internet content is marketed towards what the “average” Japanese consumer would buy.
I don’t think this is as much a cultural issue, as it is a financial one, imo.
I haven’t watched 2nd Barriage.
Shame. The Fujiyama Gangster Arc really brings Rokuro’s character full circle and strengthens his relationship with Revy. It’s highly recommended viewing material.
Language barriers are for marketability, so that’s why Beck is so damn good in that respect (that respect alone, perhaps…).
I’ve never seen Beck. The prospect of an anime slice-of-life series about a rock band doesn’t sound too interesting or entertaining but I have seen great reviews for it across the board. It just doesn’t really inspire me to run out and watch it. I may reconsider once I get through my current watchlist.
I was going to say how business and thus capitalism are inextricably entwined with global movements of culture and knowledge, but at this point it would seem redundan. Too late I guess.
Again, in the precursor post to this one I quoted the Afro Samurai production blog which is down now, unfortunately. On second thought, I don’t know how much validity that blog held anyway.
http://www.afrosamurai.com/blog.cfm
Yeah, it was down when I tried to check it which is why I didn’t address it in my post!
Well I’m glad I tickled your fancy lelangir. And I’m a bit disturbed that this rates so low on your scale of overthinking, but I suppose we all do our own things with our time ;).
My problem with your article is not so much any specific point, as I will be entirely honest with you, I think you’re running circles around me and I don’t quite follow your logic (-cleric! Try to guess the reference), but with the concept that Afro Samurai in particular deserves exceptional attention to the concept of Japanocentrism in something that you clearly think sells itself as a hybrid work. You yourself have claimed that all anime is Japanocentric until proven otherwise, and by extension, that most anime is Japanocentric, so what sets Afro Samurai apart? The fact that the protagonist is a black ’samurai’? Irrelevent.
Correct me if I’m incorrect, but what you’re trying to claim is that Afro Samurai’s Japanocentrism, which I will agree is present (but harmless), is /especially/ biting given that it intends (and that is a key word) to be, in your own words, ‘innocent’.
My counter to that claim came in the form of underminding that presupposed ‘intent’ with the following facts:
-Afro Samurai was written and drawn in its first form by a simple man who did not know of the allegeded accusations of American historical references and furthermore would not write in such a bizzarely complex metaphor. Rather, he was writing a simple revenge piece that included what he enjoyed.
-Many of the alleged Japanocentric transgressions were added when Okazaki’s original work was alloyed with American vocal talent. By your own admission, that would make this Nippophilia, not Japanocentrism.
For the record, in #3, I was referring to Okazaki as the creator.
In other words, Afro Samurai is no more Japanocentric than Full Metal Panic (which arms the Mithril M9s, supposedly American developed, with Howa Type 89 lookalikes), Code Geass (need I say more?), and Samurai Champloo; the key intent to be ‘pure’ is missing.
I think that part of the problem with series that tries to take advantage of the Japanese animation tends to polarize and magnify the stereotypes of the two countries involved in the adaptation. If anything, Japanocentric and Hollywood flavor will be clearly insinuated, as there is a need to appeal to both groups of viewers who might be turned off by a different culture infusion.
I think that Afro Samurai is in fact more Hollywood than anything else. Despite the many Japanese influences, there is a clear articulation of the characters and the plot (revenge, conflict) that attunes to the hollywood feature films. Sex and violence, rather than stating that it is japanocentric, is more of an universe theme that attracts audiences. Much is done in fact to make it less japanocentric, yet not losing all of it in order not to lose a potential set of viewers who might buy the DVD.
I believe that many of the comments you made in the article, rather than being over-analyzing, is a way to reflect the differences of culture in anime. I am going to contradict myself by saying that the intrinsic details of the anime is inherently Japanocentric, but the overall theme is made with hollywood tendencies. Not sure if that will make any sense.
I will say that my gut reaction to Afro Samurai was that it was a fun, goofy, visceral time. Call me dull and blunt, but I don’t feel anything other than that; unlike Code Geass, which strikes me as blatant, insulting revisionism. By the way, I like that anime.
skoll & Halcyon: Both of us (all 3?) are going in circles; we’re not trying to address to things each other point out but simply reiterating and reinforcing our own stances. It’s pretty futile since our positions are irreconcilable. Sooner or later I’ll have to re-post a foundational writing on which this is somewhat based.
Halcyon: Perhaps this may sound contradictory, but I’m more concerned with the means of cultural production than the ends. The “finalized product” is secondary to the places its been and mediums and hands it has transversed. But in any case, you’re right; I should go and read the doujinshi.
Hence the irreconcilable difference: imo, this is a more cultural issue than business one.
Beck was a really fun show. If you’ve got time, watch it. I ended up marathoning it since I was so drawn in.
skoll: I like the distinction between Japanocentric and Nippophilia. That’s pretty incisive in itself.
Maybe we’re running into a semantic issue. Perhaps, to an extent, catering to demographics can be considered ethnocentric (…probably not), but, again, I’m thinking of Japanocentrism as an inherently ingrained world view, both on part of author, audience and the buoyant “ether” of culture.
I should probably have posted the first part to this article, since, while things are Japanocentric, I don’t necessarily think AS deserves unmerited attention simply because he’s a black samurai. It’s more about Japanocentrism (in contrast to the Nippocentrism you demarcated) within the Western discourse on Orientalism - it’s more about learning the Western representations on which AS is based, hence the reason why I think a Japanese doujinshi “processed” via an American company (or what have you) presents a very interesting cross-cultural case.
No, AS doesn’t intend to be innocent - it doesn’t even consider authorial innocence a part of anything. As you said, it’s simply a guy drawing to his heart’s content. But that’s exactly why its unintended innocence portrays such a blatant case of pure, innocent feelings influenced by X, Y & Z. At heart, AS has no complex, bizarre metaphorical connotations. It is just a revenge story. However, the superficiality of the story is superfluous to the behind-the-scenes cultural influence - even though it’s just a revenge story doesn’t mean there’s a greater macroscopic element to it.
Call me a dirty liar but the first time I saw it I watched it for fun. Later on when I thought about Japanocentrism I thought “wow, Afro Samurai is a good case in point.” Hence.
Impz: OK OK OK. Wow, ok, now I see where I went wrong. I completely forgot to consider the position that the anime itself as a product speaks in. And so, as you put it, it speaks in the West. Maybe that’s what everyone was getting at before, whereas I was saying in my head “the clientele is irrelevant to the discourse” but not the position in which the product acts. Ok. So turns out AS is more so a Hollywood flick influenced by and based on a Japanese work than a Japanese work transmutated by an American cultural process. I couldn’t tell which force was “stronger”.
In any case there’s 3300 something words in these comments total. =p
Huh. I don’t disagree with anything there. It is what you make of it, I guess.
Just as a parting question, what is your opinion of of Japanocentrism in meat of manga and anime that do not offer environments so analogous to various Japanese periods, feudal or modern? For example, Berserk, which takes place in a painstakingly (I’m giving up my love for it here, aren’t I?) constructed world that closly resembles 13th century Europe?
@impz yeah, Afro Samurai Is very much like a Hollywood summer blockbuster action movie, in fact I’d say it’s very much akin to 300. Both of them are essentially Hollywood action movies, both are stiallised but if you didn’t know anything about their respective roots, they’d just be a Hollywood movie. and just like 300 is steeped in the graphic novels style, Afro Samurai is steeped in anime. and this is coming from a relative noob who only knew that is cost a lot to make and Sam Jackson was voicing Afro.
I watched the first episode of this dubbed, and it was so cool how the kid’s father’s head got chopped off. THEN, the sex scene came when my parents were just around the corner …
skoll: perhaps that would be akin to the “historical usurpation” section. I guess it would in part depend on be amplified by the subtle traditions displayed in the anime. I haven’t seen Beserker, but if he sits in the seiza osition or uses chopsticks (that would be sort of..uh…funny) then yeah, usurped. In fact I think I’ve noticed the seiza position (whether to be a Japanese thing only or simply a sitting coincidence) to be relatively spread thought anime in general (or I’m under the impression of my memory).
Depicting our world as we know it or knew it is more easily recognizable as Japanocentric (or Nippocentric, if you will) than completely fictive universes like Kaiba, Diary of Tortov Roddle (although the rabbit on the moon suggests otherwise), GunxSword, Last Exile, etc. High fantasy akin to Seirei no Moribito I haven’t watched much of though. Kaiba, depending on how we see the themes, may or may not be japanocentric, nor would Diary of Tortov Roddle. Actually, I don’t know what the hell to think of that show.
adoggz: AS as Hollywood flick steeped in anime as opposed to AS as anime steeped in Hollywood. There’s a fine line to the distinction, but I still don’t know which one is “correct”. Which influence is greater? - the origin or the conditioning?
blissmo: Hahaahah, that would be really awkward. I thought the sex scene was terrible, at least the moaning was fake as hell. The most hilarious part of this episode was like, around 20min or something when one the monks impales Otsuru through the roof with some pike and is like “you fuckin’ whore. THIS IS THE PRICE YOU PAY FOR YOUR BETRAYAL!” It was just really funny.
And I don’t think there were any original Japanese VA’s to go with this (not that that’s what you were implying or anything).
This anime practically was created to pander to fans of mindless violence, I think. Why the hell should they care about race relations? FUCK THAT, THEY WANT SOME BLOODSHED! And that is exactly what they got.
Mike: HAHAHA THAT’S NOT WHAT YOU COMMENTED ON THE FIRST TIME I POSTED THIS ARTICLE!
All jokes aside, after this long comment section I discovered I was wrong!
But yeah, they shouldn’t care about race relations, but race relations are going to be inextricably entwined with people no matter what, or so I’m inclined to say.
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haha, your so hypocritical.
comparing the seven to the kkk?
lmao, your reading deeper than you need to.
theres no deeper meaning.
like that guy said, they just thought itd be cool
to have a black guy instead of the average asian.
its something different, and it works.