Yasuke is now streaming on the streaming service of Netflix, with Studio MAPPA producing the series that gives us a new take on the “Black Samurai” and his bloody adventures, and we here at Comicbook.com had the opportunity to chat with series creator LeSean Thomas who compared his series to Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. With the latest Netflix anime series adding some rather fantastical elements to the story that took place in Feudal Japan, it’s clear that the samurai voiced by Lakeith Stanfield is pitting his sword against far more than your standard human enemies in this new show.
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LeSean went into detail about how both himself and the other creative minds behind the animated series decided to add more fantastical elements to the story of Yasuke, throwing in robots, werewolves, and supernatural threats and pulling a 180 from how Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter came about:
“We knew that there were some elements that could be jarring. If we’re learning something about someone, Hollywood has conditioned us to learn about the biographical before we can dive into the fantastical. We got Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln before we got Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter and we started with the opposite of that.”
Thomas also detailed how little is known about Yasuke in the public consciousness, making the decision to sell him as a more fantastical character seeming like the right move in introducing the “Black Samurai” to the world via this new animated series:
“There’s so little information about Yasuke, we were able to make him into an action character. This show services as an introduction to an action hero that will then lead people to learn more about the actual figure.”
Yasuke was produced by the animators at Studio MAPPA, most known for their work on Attack On Titan’s fourth season, and the preliminary seasons for both Jujutsu Kaisen and The God of High School. The next big project for MAPPA will be the anime adaptation of the popular manga series, Chainsaw Man, which will definitely be one of the most bizarre projects that the team has worked on. Thomas himself noted during this same interview that the animators at MAPPA are “hungry” and will have a “bright future ahead of them”.
What do you think of this comparison between Yasuke and the vampire-slaying president? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of Netflix series.
