Forum - View topicHistory is Overshadowed in Netflix's Yasuke
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Whitestrider
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Good thing Yasuke will also appear in the next Samurai Warriors (5) as a playable character...without robots!!
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H. Guderian
Posts: 1255 |
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I'm feeling the same. I'm not sure I've seen any, but I've read the reviews and there seems to be a lot of style over otherwise middling projects. I partially agree
I like the concept that that happens and it happens to me all the time, but considering the creator he just seems to insert what he thinks is cool regardless of it helping he story. |
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gpanthony
Posts: 242 |
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This is what I was actually hoping for, the mechs and aliens/ monsters really made me decide to skip this show since I really wanted to see a historical drama about the man. |
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CrowLia
 Posts: 5507 Location: Mexico |
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I fashion myself a Sengoku anime enthusiast and i can say i couldn't possibly care less about historical accuracy. I think demanding or even expecting such from this series is quite misguided. Some of the best Sengoku era anime throw accuracy out the window, such as Sengoku Basara which not only includes the same combination -supernatural and mecha elements- but also completely fabricates whole historical events such as spoiler[having Date Masamune kill Hideyoshi in S2 and then retcon that to make Ieyasu kill Hideyoshi at the start of s3, none of which match Hideyoshi's real death, a much less exciting death by illness.] And with a figure about whom we know so little as Yasuke? No point to it, embrace the fun! Making Yasuke into Nobunaga's most trusted retainer was a fantastic decision and i disagree that it didn't feel earned or that they could have replaced Yasuke with any fictional black samurai, his loyalty to Nobunaga is essential to the character as he appears in the show. And speaking of historical accuracy, this is one of extremely few Sengoku anime series that portrays Nobunaga's relationship with Ranmaru, and even has the attention to have Nobunaga ask Yasuke if Ranmaru has been able to escape at Honnoji, making explicit contrast to the historical version in which Ranmaru died with Nobunaga.
I also disagree that the magic elements should be more reflected in the daily life of the show. It's established that this kind of magic is extremely rare and seen as cursed or evil, having magically powered lanterns would've contradicted the whole premise that forced the plot into motion. What i do agree with is that the robots didn't really match with the setting. The one robot with the crew of mercs was visually very boring and also didn't match the other robots we got to see in the larger battles. The lowkey magical elements work in the grounded, realistic setting, but the robots clash against it horribly and didn't really bring anything to the table, so i think they could've been scrapped. I also agree the villain was a misfire, lame in every possible way and cartoonishly evil, and making Mitsuhide the main villain would've been way more cathartic and thematically coherent. My main issue with the show though, is how short it is. It doesn't really give itself or its characters any room to breathe or grow. Yasuke and Sachi? Saki? needed more time to know each other and trust each other. We also kind of needed some sort of explanation of the setting, i think. This is an alternate history in which apparently there was no Hideyoshi or Ieyasu to finish Nobunaga's unification, and instead we have this Dark Daimyo who is not mentioned even once in the first four? episodes and then becomes an all-encompassing evil that's supposedly been terrorizing all of Japan for who knows how long even though we saw no signs of it at Yasuke's village. What happened between Nobunaga's death and the rise of the Dark Daimyo? This problem too would've been solved by making Mitsuhide the main villain, then we don't really need any explanations or exposition to connect the dots -> Mitsuhide betrays Nobunaga -> takes over Japan after his death under the Dark Daimyo monicker. Then show us the dark daimyo troops terrorizing the village in the first episode. Overall i liked the show but it wasn't as great as it could've been because it had those very glaring issues at the core of its premise. I do however think Yasuke himself was the strongest part of the series and i wouldn't mind seeing more seasons of him helping all sorts of magical people and fighting off old foes from the Sengoku era. |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3653 |
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But the question here becomes "Why Yasuke?" How does this show build on centuries of storytelling to inspire it? Would the show be any different if it was "generic fictional foreign samurai"? Without doing the work to build Yasuke up as a character in the consciousness of pop culture (which would need more grounded stories first), jumping right to the whimsical fantasy basically borrows the name and nothing else. |
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SHD
Posts: 1752 |
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I was just about to comment the same. Sengoku Basara does spit on historical accuracy, but the history itself is there - there is absolutely a method to its madness. The characters are designed, visually and personality-wise, with the actual historical person's character, personal details, folklore representation, etc. in mind (I wrote about this in the previous Yasuke thread). Also, as I keep on saying, Sengoku Basara, but also most other jidaigeki themed manga/anime with fantasy or steampunk elements, have a concept that they follow through, artistically, story-wise, worldbuilding-wise, etc. which makes the fantasy/steampunk elements work. Personally this is what I'm missing from Yasuke. It just doesn't seem to have any creative concept behind it other than 1. badass black samurai dude, 2. all the tropes that a certain generation of American anime fans associate with "badass anime", without giving any thought as to why those badass anime shows they enjoyed at the time worked in the first place. That's pretty much all there is to it, there's no concept that acts as a glue that holds all the elements together. For me it basically played out as little more than a checklist of tropes. |
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Panino Manino
 Posts: 747 |
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Placing the story AFTER Yasuke's last record was the only good decision, a smart decision. We know he existed, the big question is what happened with him after Nobunaga's death? There's a lot of good opportunity there but... why discuss this anime again? Best thing we could do was to let if be forgotten as fast as possible.
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 6043 |
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Considering all the projects on Nobunaga not all of which is historically accurate or based in the real world this is a weird take. |
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dirtycitypigeon
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I watched this Anime with no expectations or basis and it was very entertaining, I look forward to more great projects from Lamar Thomas in the future.
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Alcest
Posts: 39 |
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We know basically nothing about what Yasuke actually did, in other words, he didn't do much.
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H. Guderian
Posts: 1255 |
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He's been in everything, sure. He's done everything, but usually the character is informed in some way by the historical character. You can even make a parody show where the portrayed character is 180 different from the real figure. But its been a trend in the creator's work to find a neat concept, not do much with that concept, but then layer on tons of flashy action and/or mecha. Why not retell events that we know of with Yasuke with the mecha elements? Okay, so we want to tell a story of an old hero coming out of retirement. I can get behind a story like that on paper. But then what's up with all the Sci-Fi elements? Do the Sci-Fi elements aid or enhance the core story and characters? Mecha teeeeend to have a reason why they are resorted to at all. Even G Gundam will tell you why there's a giant boxing ring around the earth and why that's actually a huge plot element. This anime seems to just want to do Cool stuff. And if thats that, then fine. Its just another mediocre project from this creator. |
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Covnam
 Posts: 3712 |
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It doesn't have to be, but you've got far more content for Nobunaga so it's not unexpected and the character (at least from the examples I've seen) seems to be informed by how he is historically portrayed. So even if it isn't in a very accurate or real world series, you couldn't just swap Nobunaga with some other contemporary figure without changing his character. Could the same be said for Yasuke here? I'm sure there are series that just use Nobunaga's name as a hook as well, but that doesn't make it ok there either *shrug* The fact that it takes place so far removed from historical accounts of Yasuke just makes it seem like that was the least important part of the show. |
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