History Anime / AfroSamurai

* AdaptationDistillation: The anime, manga and game are all slightly different, intentionally so. The manga is a mix between the first anime season with a few specific parts of ''Resurrection'' thrown in.

* WorldsBestWarrior: The only people comparable to Afro are Kuma, Justice and his father. [[spoiler: By the end of ''Resurrection'' all three of them are dead allowing Afro to retain this status.]]

* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler: After Afro "kills" Justice he goes into an almost depressive catatonic state and only snaps back to his sense after killing a, now grown up Kotaro. It turns out years have gone by in the meanwhile and the world has fallen to chaos due to the Afro's failure to maintain balance the way Justice did before him. The series ends with Afro finally finding a new purpose to set order to the world once more.]]

* EndingGainax: [[spoiler After Afro "kills" Justice he goes into an almost depressive catatonic state and only snaps back to his sense after killing a, now grown up Kotaro. It turns out years have gone by in the meanwhile and the world has fallen to chaos due to the Afro's failure to maintain balance the way Justice did before him. The series ends with Afro finally finding a new purpose to set order to the world once more.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Afro learns that Justice died long before he made it to him, making his entire journey, along with the deaths, including his best friend, mentor and lover, completely meaningless and preventing him from avenging his father, but he also finally overcomes his singleminded obsession with revenge and throws away the number one headband, potentially ending the eternal struggle for ultimate power for good.]]

* FunnyAfro - Take a wild guess.
* AGodAmI: Anyone who gets the Number 1 Headband can make this claim.

* MacGuffin: The Number One headband, and the accompanying Number 2 headband.
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: The headbands that everyone's fighting over. It's never made clear if possessing the Number One actually makes the wearer divine, or it's just a strip of cloth with a bloody history behind it.

-->[[spoiler:'''Justice''']]: The world is lost. [[CrapsackWorld All this chaos, and pain...]] It's time for someone to take control. It's time for a man to use [[AGodAmI absolute power]] for the [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans cause of ultimate peace]]. It's time to rid the world of conflict, and all men and women, young and old, to live in tranquility. [[AGodAmI It is time for Man to become God,]] [[GodIsInept where God has failed.]]

* CleanCut

* FanserviceExtra: Brother 1's arm-candy, who later appears in Resurrection as a very very, enthusiast and talented stripper.

* CreatorCameo: Takashi "Bob" Okazaki briefly appears in the gambling house fondling two strippers.

* ForMeItWasATuesday: Ninja Ninja implies Afro may carry this attitude about the people he kills and does not remotely keep track of the people he kills.

* ForMeItWasButATuesday: Ninja Ninja implies Afro may carry this attitude about the people he kills and does not remotely keep track of the people he kills.

* ButForMeItWasATuesday: Ninja Ninja implies Afro may carry this attitude about the people he kills and does not remotely keep track of the people he kills.
-->'''Keisuke:''' They call me Keisuke. You killed my son!
-->'''Ninja Ninja:''' That don't help none. He has killed a '''lot''' of motherfuckers. Can you be more specific?

* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: Afro frequently smokes cigarettes while Justice loves his cigars. [[spoiler:In between the ending of Resurrection and the Distant Finale of the anime's first season, Jinno is revealed to have taken up smoking, even ripping out a piece of his Kuma mask's snout to have a place to chomp down on his cigarettes.]]

* {{Hachimaki}}: The series' plot revolves around attempting to get one of these.

* KickTheDog: Afro himself, multiple times, so much so that he's nearly a VillainProtagonist.

* LosingYourHead: Justice kills Afro's father this way, then tosses the head at the young boy's feet.

* NoNameGiven: Afro Samurai is just known as "Afro".

* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: It's actually the rule of the headbands: The only one allowed to fight the Number One is the Number Two. ''Anybody'' can fight the Number Two, though.

* ThePerilsOfBeingTheBest: Inverted, actually. Whoever holds the #1 headband only needs to worry about #2 challenging them. Whoever carries the #2, however, has to worry about ''everyone'' challenging for ownership of it, and those attacks come constantly. Carrying the #2 headband for any amount of time is virtually a death sentence, and requires one to be a paranoid uber-badass to simply stay alive.

* RivalTurnedEvil: Oddly enough, Afro himself. While all Jinno ever wants is to protect those at the Swordmaster's dojo, Afro chooses to continue along his path of revenge.

* VillainProtagonist: Afro falls somewhere between this and AntiHero-- He's not ''evil'', but he's a pretty dark character.

* WorldsBestWarrior: The only people comparable to Afro are Kuma, Justice and his father. [[spoiler: By the end of ''Resurrection'' all three of them are dead.]]
* WorldOfBadass: Most certainly. Anyone living in this world has to know how to kill basic bandits, and the most powerful warriors are all focused on challenging each other for the headbands.

* HonorBeforeReason: Zig-zagged. Everyone in the whole world totally adheres to the rules; whomever wears the Number 1 headband cannot be challenged by anyone, except by the one who possesses the Number 2 headband, and that anyone can challenge the wearer of the Number 2 headband. All honor is thrown out the window in regards to attacking the Number 2, and anyone who's carrying the Number 2 will be constantly outnumbered and outgunned as a result.

* GottaCatchEmAll: Justice reveals that the reason the Headband Wars are never-ending is that to attain true divine power, the Number One [[spoiler:must have ALL of the headbands in their possession and there are more than just the two that everyone thinks exist. Since the new Number One understandably chooses to dump their former rank immediately after attaining their new one, they're unfailingly without the missing piece they need to ascend to godhood when they make their way to the top of Mt. Shumi and uncover the secrets (and the other headbands) within.]]

The first movie was shown as a five-episode-long series that ended February 1, 2007, and the second movie, titled "''Afro Samurai: Resurrection''", premiered on January 25, 2009. Tired of all the killing, Afro has retreated away from the world. Unfortunately, Kuma and his sister, Sio, find him and take the Number One Headband. Sio plans to resurrect Afro's father, and force Afro to fight him to atone for all the lives he's ended. Afro must once again find the Number Two Headband, to earn the right to challenge her before she's able to do so.

A video game adaptation of the first season was released in February of 2009. An {{Interquel}} starring Kuma tiled ''Afro Samurai 2: Revenge of Kuma'' was released late in 2015, but was later cancelled by its publisher after a string of poor reviews.

Set in a SchizoTech version of something that may or may not be feudal Japan, the story revolves around the titular character (played by Creator/SamuelLJackson) and his quest to avenge his father's death by defeating the strongest warrior in the world. The idea goes that whoever wears the "Number One Headband" is the unquestioned biggest {{Badass}} on Earth, but he or she can [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou only be challenged by]] the person with the Number ''Two'' band -- which is, at the moment, Afro. Making Afro's life a lot more complicated is the fact that ''any'' regular schlub can challenge for the Number Two and with it, the right to try for the big prize.

* {{Badass}}: Afro Samurai, played by Samuel L. Jackson to boot.

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: We never find out if "Afro" is his real name or simply what everyone calls him because of his hair. Ninja Ninja lampshades it by saying "[[WhoNamesTheirKidDude Who names their kid Afro Samurai anyway?]]", but a boss video games state's the name is "what they are calling him now", saying it's "uninspired, but accurate."

* HerculesDub: Generally, the timing of the MouthFlaps matches the voices, but the mouths themselves move like puppet jaws; O sounds aren't accompanied by O-shaped mouths, and so on.

* MacGuffin: The Number One headband.

* WorldOfBadass

* EnemyWithin: Ninja Ninja discusses with Afro what he represents, and forces Afro to fight him to take on the burden again.

* TheStinger: At the end of the first season, [[spoiler: Justice is seen coming back to life.]] At the end of ''Resurrection,'' he's seen talking with Takimoto, a character from the manga.

Set in a SchizoTech version of something that may or may not be feudal Japan, the story revolves around the titular character (played by Creator/SamuelLJackson) and his quest to defeat the strongest warrior in the world. The idea goes that whoever wears the "Number One Headband" is the unquestioned biggest {{Badass}} on Earth, but he or she can [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou only be challenged by]] the person with the Number ''Two'' band -- which is, at the moment, Afro. Making Afro's life a lot more complicated is the fact that ''any'' regular schlub can challenge for the Number Two and with it, the right to try for the big prize.

* [[strike:[[CarFu Car]]]] [[CarFu Motorcycle Fu]]
* {{Cameo}}: Creator Takashi "Bob" Okazaki briefly appears in the gambling house fondling two strippers.

A video game adaptation of the first season was released in February of 2009. An {{Interquel}} starring Kuma was released late in 2015, but was later cancelled by its publisher after a string of poor reviews.