As anime fans we hold Afro Samurai to our hearts to see a cool bad ass black samurai, but in reality there was an actual black samurai, which was the legendary Yasuke of Obu Nobunaga’s army. Avaloy studios is set to bring him to life with a new animated movie and comic book series titled Yasuke: Birth of A Samurai.
In the campaign trailer for Yasuke: Birth of A Samurai it starts off of what to look like Oda Nobunaga and Yasuke training to be a samurai. Yasuke in history shares a inspiring story from once being slave and then to the first black samurai in history that was right beside the Japan’s feudal rulers Oda Nobunaga.
Yasuke: Birth of A Samurai was created out of the desire to fill a gap that has been long ignored in the “superhero genre”. The need for a hero of color that is not a sidekick, a joke or a character that is mandated by those that can’t relate to the African American culture. The biggest thing we want to accomplish is to provide a character that the children can look up to, read the stories, watch the cartoons and be able to relate to the main characters and know that they are able to see reflections of themselves and feel a sense of pride. – Durante’ Avaloy, creator of Yasuke: Birth of A Samurai.
Yasuke : Birth of a Samurai tells the story of Yasuke, born in mystery, came from the ashes of obscurity to become one of the greatest warriors Japan had ever seen.This story of self discovery is the ultimate tale of good vs evil. Impressed by the size and strength of the young warrior Oda the overlord of Japan decides to take him under his wing and gives him the name of Yasuke. Akechi, Oda’s most skilled warrior filled with jealousy and paranoia, watches as Yasuke grows in the ranks despite not being as skilled. Ultimately the quest for more power and the paranoia of being replaced drives Akechi to set out to destroy Oda and everything he has built.There’s only one thing standing in his way, Yasuke. This is the ultimate tale of good vs evil. This is is the birth of a warrior.
The historical warrior Yasuke was in the headlines last year 2017, as he was added to the well received samurai rpg by Koei Tecmo, Nioh, and also the reveal of the upcoming Yasuke movie Black Samurai by Mike De Luca and Stephen L’Heureux which will be co-production between Solipsist Films and De Luca Productions.
The creator, Durante’ Avaloy, stated within his campaign trailer, that Yasuke: Birth of A Samurai is currently in production. Last year Durante’ created a funding campaign to support the quality and execution of the series. During a brief chat with the creator he mentioned that he plans on creating another fund to better support the project, we plan on reaching out to Durante’ for a full on interview to know new updates and progress of the project.