Yasuke

Hoooo boy. First review, so go easy on me.

Plot
When I first heard that the historical story of Yasuke was getting adapted into an anime, I was extremely hyped. I mean come on, a story about the first Black Samurai?? WIth MAPPA, LeSean Thomas, and LaKeith Stanfield?? It sounds like a banger in the making. But... I was really disappointed. This isn’t the story of Yasuke. Let’s be real- it’s the story of Saki. With it’s six episode runtime, this story was maybe 40% Yasuke and 60% Saki, mechs, and magic. The flashbacks of Yasuke’s time with Nobunaga were really interesting and I would have loved to see more of it! But what I got was… not much. First of all, why in the world was this a historical fantasy with high-tech robots and magic? It’s completely unnecessary. I don’t know why Netflix decided that a story about the first Black Samurai wasn’t interesting enough on its own, but I promise it totally is. We don’t need huge mech fights and giant bear people to be interested in a Sengoku-period show.
This show could have just been episodic about Yasuke’s time under Nobunaga and it would have been great. Those were the most interesting parts of the show after all. I just don’t understand why the fantasy elements were introduced. Yes they can be interesting at times, but mostly it’s just distracting. I almost dropped this show after episode 2 because of how jarring it was. The six episode runtime was definitely not enough for this show- it should have been at least 13 episodes at least. That would have given the show more time to grow and fill out, especially because they went the route of Yasuke’s time under Nobunaga being all flashbacks.

Characters
All that being said, Yasuke and Saki are very well written characters. I watched the English and Japanese dub interchangeably, switching every episode, and both LaKeith Stanfield and Jun Seojima did amazing jobs.Yasuke stole every scene he was in (and he should have been in more) and I felt for him a lot. But by the time I got to really know him, the show was over. Saki is interesting on her own- even if her powers don’t make a lot of sense- and her relationship with Yasuke was great. Unfortunately, because of the short runtime, they don’t get a whole lot of development over the course of the series. Also because of that, the side characters are very underdeveloped. I would have loved to see more of Nobunaga, Ichiro, and Morisuke, but what can ya do.

Animation and Sound
MAPPA continues to impress. The fights are clean, the effects are smooth, and the background art is stellar. The CGI isn’t wonky or distracting and I think they did a decent job integrating it into the world- even if I usually prefer no CG at all. (Though I don’t know how they could have done a massive robot fight without CG.) Yasuke is animated beautifully. The weight in his steps and how he carries himself is so poignant, it’s really impressive. And I know it’s a smaller detail, but I loved his light palms. Junichi Higashi and LeSean Thomas’ vision was super clear and it was great.
The soundtrack was absolutely incredible. Flying Lotus did a banger job. Thundercat with the opening too! I really enjoyed the blend of different musical styles throughout the soundtrack.

Final Thoughts
I don’t want to dislike Yasuke. I really don’t. It’s rare to see an anime centered around a black character and honestly, I can’t even really say that Yasuke is centered around a black character. I was excited to see a historical story, but got a lot of robots instead. The short runtime really bogged this series down, and it simply did not have the time to get its full story in. The fantasy elements felt forced and unnecessary, and the side characters were stiff and unrealistic. I would not rewatch this if I had the choice, unfortunately.
There is a lot of wasted potential here. A story focused on just Yasuke’s time under Nobunaga- solely on him- would have been great. All the pieces for an amazing anime are there- animators, directors, voice actors, soundtrack- and it's really a shame it ended up like this. I may give a spin-off/second season a chance if the writers can fix their mistakes. I really really wanted to love Yasuke, but instead I just kinda… tolerate it. 5/10.