Yasuke

on hearing that yasuke’s story was getting an anime adaptation, i was truly excited. i’d heard good things about lesean thomas, and hearing that flying lotus was producing the soundtrack…well, you got me. i knew a little about yasuke, he’s a compelling historical figure as the first black samurai, so with all of this, what could go wrong?

well.

plot – 4

this was by far yasuke’s weakest area. the series only had six episodes, yet tried to do way too much and take on these ambitious ideas. the priest episodes felt as if they should’ve been an arc that lasted for six episodes or more; the lady samurai was there and then gone, and the daimyo felt like an antagonist that came out of nowhere. if yasuke had been twenty-four episodes, perhaps all of this would’ve worked out, but as it stands, it was way too rushed and half-baked.

not to mention the world-building—once again, interesting concepts that were left under-utilised or glossed over (though whether they should’ve been in yasuke at all is incredibly debatable). saki’s powers, the daimyo as a whole…and then there’s the backstory: what about ichika? what was abraham’s deal? why the fuck are there mecha in feudal japan?

see, i’ve seen mecha in feudal japan, kuromukuro comes to mind. but kuromukuro is explicitly a mecha show, it revolves around the mecha and its origins and what it means for the main characters. but for yasuke, there was no need, similar as to there being no need for the magic, but i feel that the mecha was more egregious. they were distracting and off-putting, and here we get to the core of my issue with yasuke—all of this added mecha and magic took away from what everyone wanted to see from yasuke, and what was most interesting: his story.

yasuke’s story as it stands is compelling on its own. there is so much potential in his experiences, in his battles and his relationship with nobunaga, and i couldn’t help but feel as if the creators thought it wasn’t exciting enough, or that it didn’t give them any room to go nuts on the creativity aspect, and that…depresses me. the snippets we get of his backstory are endlessly more interesting than the actual plot in the show, and just reminds me of what could’ve been. i didn’t come here for psychic battles and the equivalent of a susanoo fighting a giant mecha. i wanted to see yasuke’s story (and its not lost on me how similar yasuke, the anime, and mulan, the live-action, are in how both inject magic where it did not need to be, to the detriment of its story).

and if anything, with the way the plot revolves around saki, it feels that the show is about yasuke in name only.

characters – 5

yasuke was by far the most interesting character in the show, though that doesn’t account for much. often, the show touches on compelling aspects of his character—his guilt with killing nobunaga and natsumaru, living and stewing with that—yet it’s never really explored. his link with ichika had promise, yet it was gone as soon as it appeared. his kinship with natsumaru and how that relationship ended had immense potential, but was under-developed. same for nobunaga. all of this potential and yet it never lived up to what it could’ve been.

saki is alright, she didn’t leave any particular impression on me other than ‘i don’t remember watching this show for you’. the mercenary gang, while incredibly out of place in…a lot of instances, was fun at least. the russian bear lady had a certain charisma, and while the mecha was…well, it was There, he too was somewhat fun. but their emotional moments later on did not feel earned, their screen-time was limited and so was their development. the declaration of being friends and the subsequent disaster meant nothing to me, because what was there to feel? i hardly knew these characters, and it felt wasteful.

nobunaga, natsumaru and mitsuhide made a distinct impression on me. it was interesting to see the conflict in nobunaga’s progressive views and how they related to natsumaru and yasuke, with how mitsuhide was set in old traditional ways and resistant to change. this dynamic had a lot of promise, but as much of yasuke’s backstory, was cast aside and left undercooked.

animation – 7

the animation doesn’t have much to write home about. it’s pretty consistent most of the time, though some textures on clothing (leather, metal) sometimes give it an unappealing look. the cg animation is less than ideal—there were some scenes where the sea of cg armies looked like they were almost glitching out on my screen, and the water texture was just straight bad.

though, that’s not to say there weren’t moments that were a show of mappa’s talent—a couple of fight scenes come to mind.

art – 6.5

under art, i consider a lot of things. style and backgrounds, yes, but also direction and colouring. the only reason why this isn’t lower is because of a handful of character designs and really striking moments where the cinematography really dials it up, especially the scene where yasuke is cutting off his own head, and flowers and a cherry blossom bloom from his body.

yasuke’s art direction is pretty standard aside from those moments, and some shot and colour choices are questionable, but that might be my own taste in visuals.

soundtrack – 8

it’s a great soundtrack, with a really great opening. if anyone did what had to be done, it was flying lotus and his work on the ost.

enjoyment – 6.5

despite my qualms with the writing and how yasuke as a character was handled, i still relatively enjoyed myself. the fights were entertaining and i thought the relationship with yasuke and saki was sweet, in a sort of joel and ellie fashion. the voice-acting in english ping-ponged around from being stilted to pretty good performances. it was fun, but disappointing. if season 2 rolls around, i’ll probably give it a watch.

conclusion

i've been stewing on this show in the days since i've finished it, and something about how it left me feeling made me want to write a proper review, so here we are. i think that maybe lesean thomas should've gone about making an original show, because the disappointment in finding out the plot took place years after yasuke's true story was really just. a lot. its unfortunate it turned out this way, but yasuke really missed the mark.