Afro Samurai Pilot

[I would not recommend watching this pilot until you have finished the main Afro Samurai media (as it does spoil what villains will be in the show and a few key plot points). That being said, on with the review:]

The original 2003 Afro Samurai pilot from Studio Madhouse is only around three minutes....but oh, what a three minutes it is! Before anime studio Gonzo took the production of the anime to final product four years later, Takeshi Koikei directed and animated this promotional under the Madhouse banner. If you have seen the Spike TV miniseries and thought it was extremely stylized, this ... pilot promo cranks it up even more so.

Plot-wise, this pilot really has none (as to be expected for short promotional created for funding purposes). It is basically a three-minute fight scene of Afro dueling his way through all the major antagonists of the main series and sequel film.

The art of this promo is gorgeous and flowing. The finished project was ultimately very well-done, but this pilot leads me to believe if Madhouse had followed through with the production, it would and could have been even better (in the art department anyways). Unfortunately, Takeshi Koikei became busy with the production of the delayed anime film Redline and Afro Samurai fell by the wayside before changing studio hands and becoming a Gonzo production as it is known as today. Ultimately, the most this pilot does is show what potentially "could have been" if Madhouse had made the show.

In short, enjoy this artifact if you want a few more drops of Afro Samurai before you've exhausted the related media. If you're going through withdrawals at the fact you have ran out of hip-hop samurai goodness, wander on over to Shinichirō Watanabe's Samurai Champloo and get a solid (less gory) extension to soothe your craving a little longer.

Don't listen to this girl above me. There are zero spoilers. This is a great pilot. A pilot for an anime should showcase the basic idea of the theme in which the show would like to maintain, and showcase all of the character designs the creator would like to use.

The theme being an urban take on what seems like a 15th century "Sengoku jidai" taking place in a more modern world. Where de facto Samurai made names for themselves through their skill. We got to see most of the characters, but none were given any back story... there wasn't even any dialogue ("there are spoilers" ... LMAO). All we got to see was the art design, interesting development you'd only know if you've already seen the full show (that didn't make it into the show), well done animation, the music, and the brutality that carried over to the finished product.

This is an awesome clip for someone who enjoyed the film to see. I wonder what we could have gotten from Madhouse if they took head of the actual shows production.

Rate of 4
english dubbed

Pro(s)
-art: different then what i have seen.
-art: animations were smooth.

Con(s)
-sound: the song did not match the action you were seeing
-sound: the animated effects tuned out bits of the song
...
-art: what purpose did black and white have?
-art: why start to lead into color only to kill it off? Was that the breaking point being addressed?
-art: the black and white concept is not only hard on the eyes in some of the scenes but ruins definitive details.

plot-very confusing. Unclear to if the trailer showed the appropriate timeline of events. Unclear to what era this being done in for you have a cellphone, robot and what appears to be an ancient backdrop for a background.

character development: is lacking. What made the person be who he was? Is he even the good guy?