Netflix’s new series on Yasuke, the African samurai, is a new dawn for Black characters in animation

A screenshot of a poster promoting the Netflix series – Yasuke, an animated TV Series inspired by the real life story of the African Samurai. Source: Netflix In April, Netflix released Yasuke, an animated television series that tells the story of an African who becomes the military retainer — or samurai — of one of medieval Japan's most famous warlords. The series demonstrates how Africans and Black people have been connected to Japan for nearly 500 years. The Netflix series is actually inspired by the story of Yasuke, a real-life person who first arrived in Japan in 1579. Employed as a bodyguard by a Jesuit emissary to Japan, the man who would become known as Yasuke is rumoured to have hailed either from Mozambique or Sudan. After impressing Oda Nobunaga, the de facto ruler of Japan at the time, Yasuke was invited to serve the warlord as a military retainer, or samurai. At the warlord's side, for three years Yasuke experienced firsthand the conflict and violence of Japan's “warring states” period, until Nobunaga's sudden defeat and death in 1582. After that, the man known as Yasuke essentially disappeared from history. Africans, however, continued to have a presence in Japan for hundreds of years. The six-part Netflix series is not a biography of the African samurai. Instead, it takes the void of knowledge about Yasuke's fate post-1582 and the death of Nobunaga as a starting point to a re-imagined alternate reality and fantastical story. The trailer, released on April 26, and the premier has re-ignited a strong interest in the history of the real Yasuke, who, for centuries has remained a legendary popular culture icon on the pages of manga, Japanese comic books. A screen at Nagasaki prefectural museum depicting a “Nanban” trading mission to Nagasaki at around the time Yasuke arrived in Japan. The men with the lances are likely indentured servants. A number of Africans travelled to Japan during the Indian Ocean “East Indies” trade and Vatican missions period. Photo taken by Nevin Thompson. Image license: CC BY 3.0 Historical records show that Yasuke arrived in the western port city of Nagasaki in 1579 as part of a Jesuit mission to Japan. He was one of many Africans to come to Japan as indentured servants or enslaved people, as part of European “Nanban” trading missions. Africans crewed merchant ships, worked as bodyguards or performed other essential tasks as part of European colonization and trade with Asia, including with Japan. Three weeks into the premier, the series continues to draw strongly mixed reactions online from animation fans globally. Netflixの「ヤスケ」で、織田信長に仕えた黒人の武士が実在してた人物と知った。 こんな面白い話、中学の歴史で聞いてなくない…？ こんな小咄交えたら、学校の授業ももうちょい楽しかったのかな。別に今知るのでも良いけど。 学習の足場かけがいかに大事かわかる。https://t.co/E5MY3bPZ1l — 町田祐一郎@愛媛／Webディレクター (@netacho) May 15, 2021 I learned from Netflix's “Yasuke” that a Black samurai who served Nobunaga Oda was a real person. It's an interesting story that we were never taught in junior high school..? I wonder if the school lessons would have been a more interesting with if stories such as Yasuke's were included. At least we can learn about him now. It just goes to show how what gets taught in school is important. visual representation of how episode 5 of yasuke made me feel pic.twitter.com/ro7AUqaBBZ — stupid man thing (@fagachilles) May 8, 2021 Just finished Yasuke. What an amazing fast paced anime man I enjoyed it a lot! Highly recommend it! ???? pic.twitter.com/rBkch1U8Jp — i cry to NTR (@insanitydrowl) May 11, 2021 Would give a Yasuke 7.8/10. Could have honestly been longer which would have given the plot for time for proper development but for 6 episodes they did a preety good job — Prophet Natty (@prophet868) May 12, 2021 In her review article written appearing on Kotaku.com, Ash Parrish said Watching the first episode of Yasuke, Netflix’s new fantastical animated show about the life of a Black samurai, I started to cry. I remembered how it felt to be a 16-year-old girl watching anime in the nighttime darkness of my living room. Watching Yasuke, with its titular Black character kicking ass to a soundtrack by musical producer Flying Lotus transported me back to that time, and it feels f