Spike premiered Afro Samurai last night, three years after pulling APC
(and Gary the Rat; Stripperella lasted a little longer). It's also a
calendar year later than they said it was going to be, but if it was
meant to premiere late in 2006 it's not that far off (and the only one
out of something like 18 animated shows they said they had in
development a couple of years ago).
The show isn't bad, but it could have been a lot better. There are a few
obvious comparisons; Samurai Champloo and the Boondocks being the first
that came to mind. Production IG's work on Kill Bill and Blood the Last
Vampire also came to mind. All those things are brighter in color tho
(Blood only marginally so), which shows off what's going on more, and
all of them have much more story than Afro Samurai. It's weird that the
martial arts sequences in Boondocks are more effective than those in
Afro Samurai; they work as punctuation in Boondocks, but it's just a
constant (and therefore boring) deluge in Afro Samurai.
I think it was still a better premiere than Onwards and Upwards... but
somehow I doubt the second episode will be Ren Seeks Help quality...
