‘Yasuke’ is a giant step forward for animé
THE new Netflix original animé movie Yasuke makes not only for one of the best new shows of the year, but also takes a huge step forward in the medium’s black representation.
Yasuke is set in alternate fantastical Japan during the feudal era. Created by Lesean Thomas, the story is about black samurai warrior Yasuke (Academy Award nominee, Lakeith Stanfield) who must return to his life of the sword and violence to protect a mysterious girl from the dark forces.
I’ve recently dived back into animé after I got back into it during the depths of lockdown, with Seven Deadly Sins, on Netflix and fell into a rabbit hole and have finished Attack On Titan (AOT), Tiger & Bunny, Black Clover and Demon Slayer recently.
And while it is one of the most under-appreciated mediums for storytelling in the global West, it is one of the biggest viewership pullers in the East and for lovers of the medium elsewhere.
However, with more media becoming increasingly inclusive, animé has still been lagging – especially since the amount of black, POC (persons of colour), women and queer fans of animé have increased.
Last year, Cannon Busters, also created by Thomas, was extremely well received with an all Poc/black lead cast.
Yasuke takes you on an exciting ride and it’s clear that the show-runner and writers are black people, with the way race is handled in the show.
Yasuke is a well-written character, with Stanfield bringing life to our tortured hero along with the rest of the English voice cast.
The animation is spectacular, which comes as no surprise since the studio behind it is Mappa, which is also responsible for AOT. Similarly, Yasuke finds a perfect balance of blending 2D with 3D elements without feeling forced or out of place.
A small detail many fans have been begging for when it comes to black, and specifically dark-skinned characters in animation as a whole is the depiction of type 4 hair and not having the black character’s palms and soles of their feet be the same shade as the rest of their bodies.
Yasuke doesn’t have this problem. And it’s these small things that make it so enjoyable to watch as a person of colour.
The storyline is paced well and we get a good understanding of Yasuke being an outsider in the fictional world set in Japan, since he is the only black samurai.
And while it might seem short at six episodes, the show has an average 30-minute runtime – excluding the opening and credits – which is well above the average for most animé shows.
The music score also blends traditional Japanese music with hip hop, house and R&B elements which underscore how blackness is integrated with everything on this show.
This is a fantastic show from beginning to end and if you are a POC/ black animé fan, it will be even more enjoyable to watch.
¡ Yasuke is streaming on Netflix