Netflix has always been characterized as the streaming platform with the most and best anime content, both in series and in movies, not to mention owning the entire Ghibli catalog. One of their big bets for this year is ‘Yasuke‘, a mixture of a historical series of samurai that includes magical elements and, of course, a lot of action.
Set to premiere on April 29, the series stars in the original dubbing by Lakeith Stanfield in a role that was originally going to be for the late Chadwick Boseman. Created by Studio MAPPA with LeSean Thomas as the showrunner and director, Yasuke tells the story of an African slave who arrives in Japan in the 16th century and ends with a mission to transport a mysterious boy. Thomas was first interested in the story because “a Japanese artist was doing stories focused on samurai who were not only foreigners, but Black foreigners.”
So, Yasuke is the first African samurai in history—believed to be from Mozambique—who served the Oda clan during the second half of the 16th century. This is the first trailer:
Honor has a new name. pic.twitter.com/kT6JxjDsc5
— NX (@NXOnNetflix) April 2, 2021
Yasuke is a popular character in pop culture. He has appeared in the manga series ‘Gyouge Mono’ and ‘The Man Who Killed Nobunaga’. He also has brief video game appearances like the first two installments of ‘Nioh’.
Chadwick Boseman was going to play the samurai in a live action project by MGM, but his death stopped the project—which has now ended up becoming an anime voiced by Stanfield. Lakeith Stanfield is currently nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the biological drama ‘Judas and the Black Messiah.’ Stanfield had previously appeared in the controversial live action film based on the homonymous anime ‘Death Note’ as L. Hopefully, this anime goes better.
