Netflix has just added another entry to its list of ambitious, ever-expanding anime projects, releasing a trailer for Yasuke, the (semi) historical story of an African man who became a prominent warrior in feudal Japan. This part is real, to be clear; only this Yasuke’s story it is tightly woven with that of the former warlord Oda Nobunaga and there is nothing producer of video games and anime artists I love more than pushing a bunch of demons and magical shit into the life of the famous and dreaded Nobunaga.
Hence, probably, some of the wildest things in the trailer above, which sees the ever-capable Voice of LaKeith Stanfield Yasuke, who came to Japan in the late 1500s in the company of Jesuit missionaries, before drawing Nobunaga’s attention. He was eventually named Nobunaga’s bearer of arms, a role that had a special privilege during the era and is generally described by Yasuke as the first black samurai. When Nobunaga was killed, Yasuke fought his killer for a while, then disappeared from the eye of history – possibly because he became a demon-fighting boatman subjected to some kind of vile prophecy., if the new anime is believable.
Animation tasks on Yasuke are managed by MAPAA, which recently dealt with the last season of Attack On Titan. The series is scheduled for release on April 29.