Afro Samurai ( アフロサムライ , Afuro Samurai , stylized as ΛFΓO SΛMUΓΛI ) is a Japanese seinen dōjinshi manga series written and illustrated by manga artist Takashi Okazaki . It was originally serialized irregularly in the avant-garde dōjinshi manga magazine Nou Nou Hau from November 1998 to September 2002. Inspired by Okazaki's love of hip hop and soul music , it follows the life of Afro Samurai who witnessed his father, Rokutaro (owner of the No. 1 headband) killed by a gunslinger man named Justice (owner of the No. 2 headband) while he was a child. As an adult, Afro sets off to kill Justice and avenge his father.
32-538: Okazaki may refer to: Okazaki (surname) Okazaki, Aichi , a city in Japan Okazaki Castle , a castle in Japan Okazaki fragments , DNA fragments formed during DNA replication (biology) See also [ edit ] Okasaki Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
64-454: A feudal yet futuristic Japan , it is said that the one wearing the Number 1 headband is the greatest warrior in the world and shall possess god -like powers. Some believe it grants immortality, while others believe they received headbands from the gods themselves. The only way to obtain the Number 1 headband is to challenge and defeat the current wearer in combat. However, only the wearer of
96-534: A cat food advertisement in the last pages of his manga book. In addition to the anime production, Okazaki re-made the dōjinshi , with an increased display of artistic skill. At the Japan Society from March 13 to June 14, 2009, original Afro Samurai dōjinshi artwork (as used on issue 0 of Nou Nou Hau ) was showcased at the KRAZY!: The Delirious World of Anime + Manga + Video Games exhibition. The series
128-551: A group of assassins , criminals and mercenaries , sent by the Empty Seven Clan, for whom they seek the headband. Recalling his tragic past, Afro goes to Mount Shumi to face Jinno, his childhood friend and fellow samurai, who blames him for killing their master (who had the Number 2 headband). He defeats Jinno and tracks down Justice, who explains that there are other headbands in existence, ranging to an unspecified higher number. Claiming that he intends to use his power as
160-538: A music composer. Each episode of the anime cost $ 1 million. In 2006, it was announced that Funimation acquired the rights to the anime series which would premiere on Spike , later that year, and that Jackson would voice Afro. Afro Samurai debuted on January 4, 2007. The series premiered worldwide on Spike's website, where they streamed the first episode online. On May 3, 2007, the series premiered on Japanese television, in English with Japanese subtitles, and for
192-441: A producer from the anime studio, Gonzo , happened to find them and thought about creating an animated miniseries based on the manga. It took three years to develop, and during that time the studio created a trailer, which happened to catch the attention of Samuel L. Jackson . It was announced that the series would be a five-episode "creative collaboration", between Jackson, Okazaki and Gonzo, and Wu-Tang Clan member RZA served as
224-588: A special supplement, thumb-nail sized clips of the original dōjinshi were shown at the end of the first volume. The English release of the manga was Tor Books and Seven Seas' first joint publication under the newly formed Tor/Seven Seas imprint. The manga was also released in Italy through Panini Comics ' manga publishing division Planet Manga, starting on April 9, 2009. The manga was released in one volume in Japan on December 18, 2009. The limited edition came with all
256-582: A television film based on Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends . The art director of Afro Samurai: Resurrection , Shigemi Ikeda, won an Emmy for his work on Resurrection , which is the first ever awarded for work on a Japanese-animated production. Afro Samurai: Resurrection was the first Japanese anime to be nominated for and win an Emmy. Late 2009 also saw the release of Afro Samurai : Complete Murder Sessions on Blu-ray and DVD. A 4-disc collection of both Afro Samurai Director's Cut and Afro Samurai: Resurrection, together in one complete boxset. Announced at
288-425: A work of design" and that it "utilizes the medium to which it is applied as a platform rather than as an ends unto itself." Scott notes that Okazaki does not have a "head for manga as a storytelling form" and that the "manga labors to show off Okazaki's design." Anime News Network reviewer, Carlo Santos stated about the anime that "like most typical action-adventures, the story starts out slow and only picks up toward
320-657: The Afro Samurai anime series onto Xbox Live in high definition format and also debuted on Blu-ray Disc in that year. The series was shown at the German Film Festival in Germany. In an Associated Press interview in 2007, Okazaki confirmed there would be a sequel to the anime series, and that it would air on Spike . In 2008, the sequel was announced to be a television film , Afro Samurai: Resurrection , with Lucy Liu and Mark Hamill joining
352-469: The Danzan Ryu school of Jūjutsu Shinji Okazaki (born 1986), Japanese footballer Steven Okazaki (born 1952), Japanese-American filmmaker Tadao Okazaki (born 1943), Japanese artist Takashi Okazaki , Japanese manga artist known for Afro Samurai Takayuki Okazaki ( 岡崎 高之 , born 1940) , Japanese long jumper Teruyuki Okazaki (born 1931), founder, chairman and chief instructor of
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#1732766108677384-691: The International Shotokan Karate Federation Tomiko Okazaki (1944–2017), Japanese politician of the Democratic Party of Japan Tomomi Okazaki (born 1971), Japanese speed skater Tsuneko Okazaki ( 岡崎 恒子 , born 1933) , Japanese scientist Fictional characters [ edit ] Jen Okazaki, character in the Australian mockumentary series Angry Boys Tim Okazaki, Jen's son, also from Angry Boys Okazaki , from
416-735: The Japanese Foreign Minister between 1952 and 1954 Kenjiro Okazaki (born 1955), Japanese visual artist Kyoko Okazaki (born 1963), a Japanese manga artist, winner of the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2004 Makoto Okazaki (岡崎 慎, born 1998), Japanese football player Miles Okazaki (born 1974), American guitarist, arranger, and composer Reiji Okazaki (1930–1975), Japanese scientist Ritsuko Okazaki (1959–2004), Japanese singer-songwriter Satoko Okazaki ( 岡崎 聡子 , born 1961) , Japanese gymnast Seishiro Okazaki (1890–1951), founder of
448-717: The 2006 San Diego Comic-Con , a live action version of the series is said to be in the making. On July 21, 2011, Gonzo K.K. announced that Indomina Group had obtained the rights to produce the film, with Samuel L. Jackson, Jasbinder Singh Mann (Indomina Group Vice Chairman and CEO), Shin Ishikawa (Gonzo Studios) as producers; Eli Selden of Anonymous Content as executive producer. Production, however, stalled when Indomina Group suspended North American operations and shut its US office. In 2005, Gonzo had awarded Namco Bandai Games exclusive rights to publish two Afro Samurai video games , as announced that year. The debut trailer of
480-453: The Number 1 to bring peace to all mankind, Justice reveals that he killed all headband bearers and decorated his safe house with corpses. Afro kills Justice and takes the Number 1 headband. Afro settles in as the new Number 1 while Jinno, now claiming all headbands from Justice, returns to take revenge. In Afro Samurai: Resurrection , Jinno and his sister Sio, steal Rokutaro's body and the Number 1 headband. After killing Shichigoro and taking
512-417: The Number 2 headband can challenge the Number 1 whereas anyone can challenge the Number 2. The Number 2 headband's current owner, the outlaw Justice, fights and kills Rokutaro, Afro's father and owner of the Number 1 headband. A young Afro witnesses the fight and vows revenge against Justice, who tells him to seek him out when he is "ready to duel a god." Years later, Afro wears the Number 2 headband. He kills
544-593: The Number 2 headband, Afro confronts the resurrected Rokutaro, who kills the siblings. Afro defeats Rokutaro, gives the Number 2 headband to Shichigoro's son Kotaro, and peacefully continues wearing the Number 1. Elsewhere, a unknown man meets the revived Justice. Okazaki started drawing African-American characters on items like Kleenex boxes when he was a teenager, inspired by his fondness for hip hop and soul music . He also drew ideas from American media and their depiction of Japanese culture. He started combining elements of samurai into his work, eventually developing
576-592: The cast. Hip hop artist The RZA returned to provide the soundtrack of the film. Afro Samurai: Resurrection debuted on Spike on January 25, 2009. On July 16, 2009, Afro Samurai: Resurrection was nominated for an Emmy in the "Outstanding Animated Program (for programming one hour or more)" category in the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards and the Creative Arts Emmy Awards . At the Emmy awards, Afro Samurai: Resurrection lost to Destination Imagination ,
608-514: The design for Afro. Okazaki began writing the original dōjinshi , then called Afro Samurai! , when he and his friends started independently publishing the art magazine Nou Nou Hau . The preparatory "issue 0" of Nou Nou Hau was released in November 1998 with Afro Samurai artwork featured on the cover. Takashi Okazaki wrote the entire manga in the English direction, with elements from English and Japanese comics. He also used Afro Samurai for
640-511: The first game was released at the company's Editor's Day presentation. Afro Samurai was released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on January 27, 2009. A sequel, titled Afro Samurai 2: Revenge of Kuma , was released for the PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows on September 22, 2015. The game was developed by Redacted Studios and published by Versus Evil . An Xbox One version
672-483: The first time completely uncut. On May 11, 2007, Funimation released the first Afro Samurai DVDs at Anime Central, at their own booth, the regular Afro Samurai: TV Version and the uncut Afro Samurai: Director's Cut . Both DVDs were released to the public on May 22, 2007. On September 4, 2007, all five episodes of Afro Samurai were released on iTunes . To promote this, Funimation released eight custom designed iPods by Takashi Okazaki. In 2008, Funimation released
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#1732766108677704-745: The 💕 Okazaki (written: 岡崎 ) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: Chieko N. Okazaki (1926–2011), former counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Dai Okazaki (AKA "Smelly", born 1971), Japanese comedic performer and former manga artist Emiko Okazaki ( 岡崎 恵美子 , born 1949) , Japanese alpine skier Hiroshi Okazaki ( 岡崎 洋 , born 1967) , Japanese shogi player Isao Okazaki (1920–2006), Japanese right-wing activist Katsuo Okazaki (1897–1965), served as
736-411: The issues of the original dōjinshi included in a separate volume. A "director's cut" of the manga was set to be released on July 26, 2022 with Titan Comics taking over the publishing under their new "Titan Manga" imprint before being delayed to December 13, 2022. One of Okazaki's friends decided to make action figures based on characters, which were released in small amounts. After they were created,
768-423: The link. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Okazaki_(surname)&oldid=1231880999 " Categories : Surnames Japanese-language surnames Hidden categories: Articles containing Japanese-language text Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata All set index articles Afro Samurai The Afro Samurai dōjinshi
800-503: The middle and end when the blades really start flying" and that " Afro Samurai is hardly a complex story" and that it only has "a handful of characters and a straightforward beat-the-next-guy plotline". Carlo Santos also noted that "the original Afro Samurai manga is pretty lousy" and that Takashi Okazaki often gets lost in "incomprehensible scribbles" and "style over substance." Volume 2 of Afro Samurai also charted 147 on ComiPress' "Top 250 Manga Volumes" of February 2009. The Blu-ray of
832-491: The novel series Ring Tomoya Okazaki , the main character from the visual novel and anime Clannad Yumemi Okazaki , a character from the Touhou Project series [REDACTED] Surname list This page lists people with the surname Okazaki . If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name (s) to
864-439: The original Afro Samurai dōjinshi into a two-volume manga. Tor Books and Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the title and published it under their new Tor/Seven Seas imprint for a North America exclusive release. In addition to the miniseries, Afro Samurai has been adapted into two video games . For the television series and film, two soundtracks by RZA of Wu-Tang Clan and a profile book were released in Japan. In
896-464: The title Okazaki . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Okazaki&oldid=871024555 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Okazaki (surname) From Misplaced Pages,
928-459: Was adapted into an anime miniseries by Gonzo in 2007, along with the television film sequel Afro Samurai: Resurrection in 2009, both of which starred Samuel L. Jackson as the title character. The anime received two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation and Outstanding Animated Program, which it won. After the release of the anime series, Okazaki remade
960-530: Was originally published in the self-funded Nou Nou Hau dōjinshi magazine. First appearing in issue 0, the dōjinshi version was first published from September 1999 to October 2000. After the release of the anime version, Okazaki recreated the original dōjinshi . Although the recreation of the original manga was created in Japan, it was first published in the United States by Seven Seas Entertainment and Tor Books in two tankōbon volumes. As
992-558: Was planned to be released on October 9, 2015; however, after the negative reception of the game, it was never released. The game was eventually delisted in November 2015, due to the negative reception. Wu-Tang Clan member RZA produced the soundtrack for both the Afro Samurai TV series and the TV movie sequel Afro Samurai: Resurrection . The first soundtrack for the anime series, The RZA Presents: Afro Samurai: The Soundtrack
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1024-466: Was released on January 30, 2007, by Koch Records (now known as E1 Music). The second soundtrack for the TV movie, The RZA Presents: Afro Samurai: Resurrection: The Soundtrack , was also released by Koch Records on January 27, 2009. The manga series has received generally positive reviews from critics. Scott Green, writer of the Anime AICN segment of Ain't It Cool News said that the manga "is
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