‘Yasuke’ Review: A Fantasy Retelling of Japan’s First Black Samurai

I wouldn’t blame you if you were unfamiliar with the legend of Yasuke, though you should really familiarize yourself right away. It wasn’t until recently that his name really started to spread with the announcement of the late Chadwick Boseman wanting to bring his story to the silver screen. It’s sad that we’ll never get this version of the story, but there’s still plenty to get out of Japan’s Black samurai. Creator and Director LeSean Thomas (Cannon Busters), with Japanese animation studio MAPPA (Jujutsu Kaisen, God of Highschool), offers his own take on the historical figure that’s jam packed with magic, robots, and anime goodness. It’s a stylized take on the epic tale that, while fun and entertaining, suffers a bit from pacing issues with too many ideas and not enough time to tell them. Netflix’s Yasuke, voiced by LaKeith Stanfield, takes place in and around 1582 in a war-torn Japan. Right off the bat we get a showcase of magic users and huge mechas clashing, setting the tone in case anyone thought it would be a more factual telling. With the Castle lost and enemies closing in, Yasuke must witness the seppuku of his lord and friend Oda Nobunaga. Two years pass and we find Yasuke has become a recluse in a small village and is known as the Black Boatsman. Spending his days drinking and taxing people up and down the river, his world is thrown into disarray when a sick little girl named Saki (Maya Tanida) and her mother (Gwendoline Yeo) need help….