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History is Overshadowed in Netflix's Yasuke


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maximilianjenus



Joined: 29 Apr 2013
Posts: 2903
PostPosted: Wed May 26, 2021 9:22 am Reply with quote
when i heard about the production i expected the show to turn out like this, so i just decided to skip it, the review pretty much confirms it.
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Abraham Omosun



Joined: 05 Mar 2020
Posts: 158
PostPosted: Wed May 26, 2021 9:44 am Reply with quote
I personally came to Yasuke wanting to see how the very cool sounding combination of samurai, mechs and monsters would turn out only to my surprise (and disappointment) that my favorite part of the the show were the more grounded elements in Yasuke's flashbacks. I honestly wish they just kept to one samurai .. genre (semi-realistic, samurai with mechs, supernatural samurai) and focused their attention on it. The 3 felt at odds with each other.

Last edited by Abraham Omosun on Wed May 26, 2021 11:03 am; edited 1 time in total
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isahackjob



Joined: 01 Jul 2010
Posts: 55
PostPosted: Wed May 26, 2021 10:09 am Reply with quote
I just finished a book on him, and the story is cool enough to stand on its own. I wish they had gone more the dramatic biopic route.
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Tripple-A



Joined: 21 Feb 2017
Posts: 383
Location: Hamburg, Germany
PostPosted: Wed May 26, 2021 10:43 am Reply with quote
Yasuke is a highly interesting figure of history in my eyes and while reliable records are scarce, there are at least enough to tell a good sengoku jidai war story of an interesting samurai... and then this happened. The first trailer already told us that this is not going to be what we expected nor what we wanted.
Maybe one day he'll get another chance.
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Raven.In.Pink





PostPosted: Wed May 26, 2021 12:12 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, this sums up my feelings towards the Netflix show. Instead of introducing people to Yasuke’s story in an animated adventure, it was just a sci-if samurai fantasy that could’ve featured any other samurai.

There’s nothing wrong with using historical figures in fantastical settings (Lord knows there’s plenty of manga/anime that have done that.) But I still think it was a missed opportunity and not the greatest way people could learn about Yasuke.
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pixelatedlenses
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 15 Apr 2021
Posts: 35
PostPosted: Wed May 26, 2021 12:43 pm Reply with quote
Really, really excellent article about the series. I think it reflects a lot of really aware thoughts, and definitely speaks to why a fair portion of viewers were left feeling a bit high and dry. I really apperciate your insight and opinion!
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AnkiRendan



Joined: 24 Jan 2010
Posts: 6
PostPosted: Wed May 26, 2021 3:06 pm Reply with quote
I’m actually shocked by how much I agree with this article. Like, I literally agree with it word for word. The earlier review for Yasuke left me baffled. It was nowhere near worthy of this praise. What the anime did right was when it stuck to the history, and due to the present day story it was robbed of interesting content.

I’m not interested in any more of LeSean Thomas’s work after this.
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AsuraTheDestructor



Joined: 24 Dec 2013
Posts: 487
PostPosted: Wed May 26, 2021 5:28 pm Reply with quote
To put this in perspective, NIOH 1 and 2 were more respectful to Yasuke despite similar supernatural Elements, and he was only a minor character.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15558
PostPosted: Wed May 26, 2021 5:57 pm Reply with quote
Interesting Ask John article on Black representation in anime. Yasuke gets a mention. https://www.animenation.net/blog/ask-john-is-black-representation-in-anime-increasing/
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KENZICHI



Joined: 16 Oct 2010
Posts: 1118
PostPosted: Wed May 26, 2021 7:32 pm Reply with quote
Pretty much the perfect review about Yasuke. I really wish it was more historically accurate and they had shown his life when he was still a samurai. It would have been far more interesting. But I still kinda enjoyed the show.
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Setis



Joined: 05 Jun 2007
Posts: 25
PostPosted: Wed May 26, 2021 8:05 pm Reply with quote
AsuraTheDestructor wrote:
To put this in perspective, NIOH 1 and 2 were more respectful to Yasuke despite similar supernatural Elements, and he was only a minor character.


Having played these two games, I really wanted a more historical look at his character. After 3 episodes I couldn't stomach it anymore.
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Covnam



Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 3820
PostPosted: Thu May 27, 2021 12:15 am Reply with quote
It seems like the real life Yasuke was just a hook to get an unrelated project made.
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andramus



Joined: 19 Apr 2020
Posts: 192
PostPosted: Thu May 27, 2021 6:42 am Reply with quote
From some of the articles and comments about this series I've read there is a significant lack of historical detail about the real Yasuke.

As far as I can tell this would mean even a more "historically accurate" series about Yasuke would probably be more than 90% fiction.

My biggest problem with this series was that it just didn't hook me. I had no investment in the characters or the story being told. A lot of people didn't like Cannon Busters but I found it fairly entertaining. Maybe Cannon Busters was more style than substance but for whatever reason that series worked for me. Whereas Yasuke did nothing for me.
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Whitestrider





PostPosted: Thu May 27, 2021 1:11 pm Reply with quote
Robots...what were they thinking??
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Yaiba K.



Joined: 18 Nov 2018
Posts: 5
PostPosted: Thu May 27, 2021 3:31 pm Reply with quote
I haven't watched it yet, but from what I have read i find it puzzling. There might be nothing wrong with taking a popular historical figure and have it fight robots, vampires, zombies or whatever, but if it's instead little-known and you aim to divulge his story - why would you that instead of telling it?

Maybe the idea was having people think "Wow, that robot-slaying Black samurai was so cool! I totally have to read the Wikipedia to learn how the real one was like"?
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