On paper, the making of "Afro Samurai" reads like a recipe for an identity crisis. An animation about an African-American swordsman in a futuristic feudal Japan, it sprang from the mind of a Tokyo illustrator and was brought to fruition in English by a Japanese-U.S. production team, A-list Hollywood voice actors and a hip-hop star.
But what its makers admit was a potential cross-cultural train wreck is on track and barreling ahead at full speed. Based on characters created by Takashi Okazaki, "Afro Samurai" was made in Japan for a North American audience for a whopping $1 million per 25-minute episode. The five-episode action-adventure series debuted Jan. 7 on the U.S.-based Spike TV cable network and then made its way as a reverse import to Japan in May, when subtitled, high-definition versions of the programs aired on the satellite channel Wowow. Now the series has been re-edited with additional scenes into a 110-minute film for theatrical release in Japan this weekend.
"It could have been a disaster — and there were so many times when it almost was," coproducer Eric Calderon says of the project he bet his career on. "What's great about 'Afro' is that it ignited the passions of a lot of people — and the scariest thing about 'Afro' is that it ignited the passions of a lot of people. There were producers, directors, writers who all wanted to jump on board once they saw what we were making. We had a scary time navigating which partners we chose and who not to go with."