Netflix is seeking to excel in the market of streaming anime with the likes of Beastars and Baki: Song of Ogre in 2021, and has just released a brand new trailer for one of its most unique series in Yasuke, the story of the real-life samurai with magical elements and hard-hitting action thrown in for good measure. With the series set to land on April 29th this month, the series will be led by Lakeith Stanfield and brought to life by both Studio MAPPA and LeSean Thomas of Cannon Busters fame.
This is far from the first time that we’ve seen Yasuke appear in pop culture stories, with the black samurai appearing in the manga series dubbed Gyouge Mono and The Man Who Killed Nobunaga. He also made brief appearances in the video game series of Nioh, and its subsequent sequel, which many refer to as a “Dark Souls Clone” thanks in part to its higher than average difficulty and need for strategy when it comes to delivering the killing blow to both humans and demons alike.
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Netflix released the trailer on their Official Twitter Account, giving fans the first look at how the animation for Yasuke will look, as well as Lakeith Stanfield’s performance as the titular character that had a role in the real world alongside the legendary figure known as Nobunaga:
Honor has a new name. pic.twitter.com/kT6JxjDsc5
— NX (@NXOnNetflix) April 2, 2021
Originally, Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman was set to portray the titular samurai in a live-action film with MGM, but due to his death from colon cancer, the project was shelved with no news about it returning any time soon. With Stanfield taking the reins of this new series, this marks a return to the world of anime following his depiction of L in the live-action Death Note movie that was released on Netflix.
The official description for Netflix’s Yasuke, for those who might not be familiar, reads as such:
“In a war-torn feudal Japan filled with mechs and magic, the greatest ronin never known, Yasuke, struggles to maintain a peaceful existence after a past life of violence. But when a local village becomes the center of social upheaval between warring daimyo, Yasuke must take up his sword and transport a mysterious child who is the target of dark forces and bloodthirsty warlords.”
What do you think of the new trailer for Netflix’s upcoming anime series featuring Yasuke? 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’s original anime series.
