Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
yarow12
Bruh. This was refreshing as hell. Feel like I finally got an Afro-centered anime and, better yet, there aren't any of the usual tropes to complain about: damn near no sexualization at all, no scenes that make me wonder about the creators (as members of society), no racist bs (minus the Russian kids bit maybe), and no unnecessary or unbelievable romance. More please. Can we please have some more anime like this?
Though some were bothered by it, I enjoyed the fantasy elements added to this historical drama even though atleast one of them was never explained. It never felt unbelieable to me or out of place.
The only thing that actually bothered me was certain deaths. Not that it was poorly written. I just didn't want it to happen. So I guess the writers and voice actors did a good job getti…
Read at the sourceMopWorks
What I wanted was a story about the first black samurai. What did I get? A story about the first black samurai, and robots. The second I saw a robot my interest was lost almost instantaneously. I was very excited about this show at first, seeing that LaKeith Stanfield was voicing Yasuke in the english dub. Unfortunately, not even he could save the the unoriginal story that is drowned even worse by the addition of robots that 100 percent should not have been there. The premise was protecting a girl with mysterious powers from evil people who want to harness her power for evil. This is a drawn out subject matter and it shows as we had a happy ending with hardly any development for who Yasuke is or how he fits into this world where apparently robots are roaming feudal Japan. Would not recomme…
Read at the sourcelethargilistic
MAL users: "'Yasuke' is historically inaccurate. 5/10."
Also MAL users: "The historical figures in 'Drifters' are so interesting. 8/10."
And I wish I could say that in defense of a better show. I don't mind the mechs and robots and magic in concept, per se, but it doesn't feel like they serve any purpose other than identifying this as an anime. It comes off as self-conscious and insecure, like it's worried people won't recognize it as anime without these things. And so they kind of take up space as the story unfolds. It's very ho-hum. The art style didn't work for me. I watched in English and I liked Yasuke's actor in "Bojack Horseman" a lot more. Here, he's way too flat for this. The music left no impression on me whatsoever. They kill off half the cast in one episode towards the end be…
Read at the sourceLonystal
This show is bad. I'll be honest, it's just BAD. Such a wasted potential. The mechs, the magic,ghosts, bear russian lady, and all that is just bad.
It's like they decided on these first then they decided to include Yasuke in it.
I'm mad dissapointed.
The animation is amazing, not surprised because Mappa knows how to deliver.
The soundtrack would've been good if it was for another show, it just doesn't fit.
The story is just straight up bad.
Character development is inexistent.
The time to time flashbacks were the only part that I kinda liked, but still dissapointed.
Yasuke isn't even the main character in this, he's just a bodyguard of a little girl with magical powers who doesn't even need his protection because it's her who saves him everytime.
Read at the sourceBobSamurai
This review contains no spoilers. There is honestly nothing to spoil anyways because the anime is just a magical escort mission.
Yasuke is by definition a pretentious anime. It's like if I were to make a movie about Abe Lincoln riding dinosaurs and title it "Abe Lincoln". If you're interested in Yasuke as a historical figure, then you will certainly be disappointed because this is not an anime about a historical figure, this is an anime about magic, swordfights, and machines featuring a historical protagonist. The details of Yasuke's real life are quickly brushed over via flashbacks or info-dumping. I'm given the impression that its writer certainly was familiar with his history, which makes the anime just that much more of an insulting experience. The entire story revolves around Yasuke…
Read at the sourcetomankage
Let me start off by saying that a lot of the negative reviews here are simply uninformed. Yasuke in real life has next to no real documentation or history. We know he existed, and we know he went from point A to point B, but then everything else is pure rumor and speculation. Some reviews are saying things like "not being faithful to history". There is no history of him to be faithful to. Stop blaming these creators for something you have no knowledge of and are just inventing falsehoods about.
Onto the show itself though, yeah it's not the best. It's good at most, and it has its fair share of low points. But it's only a few hours long, and, in 6 episodes, it tells a decent enough story while clearly focusing on beautiful art and fascinating fights, which serve to elevate and progress its…
Read at the sourceMaqroll
MAPPA end his streak of fantastic animes with this one, but is not the studio fault, they did their part in the animation, pretty good in general as always, is the poorly writen and direction of the show and that part was made by americans.
Lets talk about the good things of the show:
- The protagonist is the only decent character.
- The animation is pretty good.
- The soundtrack even if doesn't feal right in some scenes is pretty good.
- Some good action scenes.
The negatives: - Terrible side characters.
- The worldbuilding sucks; magic, mechas and samurais in one show, i'm
pretty sure that with a good writing it can work, but the show never make
it work it's feels awful.
- The writing and direction of the show is really really bad, the only decent
writing parts of the show are the…
Read at the sourceHero49
Story: I'd prefer if it was more historically accurate to the story of the Black Samurai, but I'm fine with the Mystisium and the Magic elements, but on the same note I can live without the giant robots no one explains. it's a really good Ronin/Samurai fantasy story.
Early on there are several flashbacks that explain Yasuke's backstory. I felt cut up the action and went on for a little longer than I'd prefer. 6/10
Art: the art, character designs, and action scenes look great. there are a few scenes with ugly CGI foot soldiers in the background firing arrows and spears at each other and it looks ugly, but they never turn the main characters into CGI Monsters during any of their fights. 8/10
Sound: I watched the dub and outside of one or two bad choices with side characters, I feel it's w…
Read at the sourceLilWetFloorSign
To be blunt, Yasuke fails at the most basic elements of storytelling, while Mappa did everything they could to salvage Yasuke, you can't build with marble on a foundation of newspaper and condoms.
First thing you see when you watch Yasuke is Kyoto, 1582. The second thing you see is samurai fighting on a bridge. Third thing you see is a mech impaling both samurai and 40 seconds into the show is when it starts falling apart. While having advanced technology in an anime that takes place in the past isn't new, Yasuke fails to do it properly. In Full Metal Alchemist and Attack on Titan, they both take place before present day but they justify the existence of automail and 3D maneuver gear through emergence and necessity respectively then they build their worlds in accordance to that. Automail…
Read at the sourceCodeBlazeFate
Yasuke is an odd mixed bag. On the one hand, there are several likable aspects about the characters and the audiovisuals, making the show at least somewhat entertaining, On the other, it’s kind of a dumb, heavy-handed, rushed mess. LeSean Thomas’ 2nd anime showed some promise on the outset, taking on the story of the first black samurai, all while being led by a black director and having music by several black musicians such as Thundercat and Flying Lotus. However, it feels like there were compromises made to fit this into 6 episodes while introducing very weird elements that weren’t once featured in the marketing of this show.
Let’s start with the positives and work our way down. The music by Flying Lotus is a fun blend of traditional Japanese, Nu jazz and neo-soul, and hip hop productio…
Read at the sourceAnimeLover347
Nah..
Was expecting an anime about a black samurai, not Dr. Strange
Story was not the best, art was decent, but sound was just out of place. You would think it would have more traditional Japanese music, being an anime that takes place in feudal Japan, however it had more electronic music. Although it wasn't bad, it was just strange to hear and didn't fit the vibe of the show.
So many things felt out of place. The flying robots, the characters, the magic.. it seemed like it was all over the place. Some of the fights were pretty cool, but you would have some fights where it would be just swords and then others where it would be people throwing tailed beast bombs at each other.
Some characters had no background or origin story so there's no real emotional attachment to any of them and the…
Read at the sourcedta_1022
It was great! MAPPA never disappoints! I admit I was kind of confused when i saw futuristic battle robots in a 1500s time period but I just went and ignored that. The fight scenes are definitely the highlight of the series and makes sense since MAPPA is one of the best when it comes to animation. My only complaint was that I wish there were more episodes. The people who gave this a bad review probably wanted it to be as realistically as possible and if that were the case it would've probably been boring. It not only shows scenes after when he was with Nobunaga but it also shows flashbacks of when he was first here. Yasuke is definitely a legend seeing that he is not only has his own anime, but he is also featured as a boss in Nioh and Nioh 2. Overall I enjoyed it greatly
Read at the sourceCConnau
Yasuke is the epidemy of a clown fiesta. The show had no real originality to it and seemed to just do anything and everything it felt like. Giant Robots, yep. Magic, yep. Swordsmen, yep. Historical piece, barely. The show lacked anything and everything it would need to feel good and comprehensible.
The main character, Yasuke, in thought is a pretty good character. The idea of a black swordsman trying to prove himself in feudal Japan is a very cool idea, especially since it's based off a real person, but the show does a complete disservice to the character. Yasuke feels very unoriginal, the talented man haunted by his past type of character. The past of Yasuke ends up being significantly more interesting than the present, making it hard to care about the story.
The actual plot is nothing sp…
Read at the sourceFableXTragic
Yasuke is an anime based on real person who is a black samurai the story is cool but what caught me by surprised were they added magic in the world which is not real.At first I thought that is stupid but then I thought maybe be very dramatic about the strength of yasuke was to make in entertaining and it did. Even tho the powers in the world wont sit well with others it does get yasuke character right in more ways than, and for that I give this show a 9.
The story is good but somethings are just out of place.
Read at the sourceMem95
I love me a good series focused in feudal Japan, so when I saw Yasuke pop up on Netflix I had to give it a go. That and having the knowledge that Yasuke was an actual person from the Sengoku period drew me in even more.
STORY
While the description of the show does mention magic & mechs, I can’t say I still wasn’t caught off guard when seeing those elements used almost immediately in the opening scene. As I stated earlier, Yasuke is based off an actual individual in history, so seeing these obviously fictitious modes of fighting felt very off-putting. Granted, sometimes historical anime have magic, but seeing giant mechs in a world that didn’t have any other advanced technology just didn’t feel right to me - especially since part of this show is trying to be at least loosely based off hist…
Read at the sourceren0080
Yasuke? lol more like Saki: The Last Airbender
Lemme get this straight, this anime is a wack. If you're expecting a historical anime that is faithful to history, then you'll be disappointed just like me.
I'm not gonna spoil everything, but let's just say that this is still historical accurate, well until the first episode happened where they threw me off with giant robots and magic bullsh*ts.
Well, moving on, the story itself isn't very well done. The pacing is pretty wacky, jumping off to flashbacks to flashbacks everytime, making the characters in the flashback and the present too underdeveloped.
There are many useless characters that you can replace with basically a cardboard and nothing would change. It's understandable with only 6 episodes, but even anime movies can do more than wha…
Read at the sourceSingleH
I’ve said this about LeSean Thomas before, but if you’re so obsessed with identity politics that you insist on building your entire career around blaxploitation, then just make Afro Samurai again. That show is kick-ass, and I’m sure Sam Jackson would not mind the plagiarism one bit.
Yasuke is a mess, and while it's definitely not as exhausting as Cannon Busters, I doubt many will be able to call it a good show. I could sit here and expound upon the exact ways in which it’s historically inaccurate—how the real Yasuke wasn’t even a samurai, but rather a mere retainer who Nobunaga kept around as a circus freak who’s dark skin fascinated the culturally isolated (and kinda racist) Japanese who had never seen an African before—but I think we all expected this going in. If the insane, unrestrain…
Read at the sourceJWolf2000
When the trailer for Yasuke dropped on Netflix, I thought to myself: nice. An anime about the black samurai himself. I was truly interested in this anime. Unfortunately, Yasuke did not live up to my expectations.
Story: 1
If you're going to make an anime about historical figures, you would expect it to be true to history. These people walked around in real world Japan and you would expect to respect that. Yasuke's backstory was pretty true to life, but in the story itself, somebody had the bright idea to add magic and giant robots in the anime. What was their deal? What were they doing in the story? What are giant robots doing in feudal Japan? The only thing we get is an explaination that doesn't sole anything, but instead causes plot holes that could have easily been prevented with a si…
Read at the sourceanime-prime
This show feels like a case where nobody told the writers "No!". That isn't always a bad thing, but like everything in life, there needs to be a balance.
Yasuke has an interesting premise, but the show doesn't really know what it wants to be, and the back and forth between historical set piece and action fantasy aren't meshed well here.
The show introduced itself as a historical set piece in a fictional universe tied to the story of Nobunaga and Yasuke, but that really didn't come into play much the more the story went on. It was more of an excuse to use recognized names for their fantasy action series.
Another possible detractor is the short run time. With more run time, they could have delved more into the past timeline to flesh out the world and characters, but with as little as we g…
Read at the sourceHail_Lelouch
I was never hyped for Yasuke, since it would be airing directly in Netflix and their originals haven't been great, but since MAPPA did the animation,I tried to give it a try.
Yasuke has good concept, with good storyline but has veey less episodes un the first season. Also, the animation was not much compelling compared to other MAPPA works (maybe because they are working on multiple projects). The actions were good and the main character seemed quite well made and written.
But still, I felt it short of being a decent anime with less intriguing side characters and a limited time given to the first season for development. I am not much interested, but would still see if a second season happens for Yasuke..
Read at the source