Navarre Corp.’s FUNimation Ent. has acquired home video, master toy and merchandising rights to Afro Samurai, an animated mini-series set to premiere on Spike TV in 2006. Academy Award-nominee Samuel L. Jackson (Freedomland, Pulp Fiction) will voice the title role and serve as co-producer on the show being animated at GONZO.
Based on a graphic novel by Takashi Okazaki, Afro Samurai takes place in a futuristic world that contains aspects of ancient Japan. Afro, a solitary samurai on a quest to avenge the wrongful death of his father, is chased by powerful enemies in a lawless dystopia as he hunts down a man who will not die.
Pulling a reversal on the usual order of anime distribution, Afro Samurai will first air in North America before rolling out in Japan. The five-part series is also being developed as a video game by NAMCO. DVD distribution of the show is expected to begin in early 2007.
FUNimation’s other sword-wielding action/fantasy series, Akira Kurosawa’s Samurai 7, also produced by GONZO, is set to air on VOOM HD Networks’ ANIMANIA HD on March 1, followed by an April 1 start date on cable network IFC. All the latest news and information on Afro Samurai can be found at www.afrosamurai.com.
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