Why You Should Watch Yasuke (VIDEO SCRIPT)

Guys, how do you think THIS peep is doing?

Do you think they might’ve learned their lesson? Do you think they still need to stay in time out?

I mean I don’t, but this isn’t about me; this is about how YOU feel. But whatever decision you decide to make -- unless it’s the obvious one -- you have my full support
____________

Readers, I get it

Some of you probably aren’t willing to watch the Netflix original anime Yasuke because you thought it was JUST going to be historical fiction instead of the “Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter” style narrative it ended up becoming.

And normally, I’d plug the upcoming live-action movie that’s being made in order to soothe that such a piece of historical fiction is happening. But unfortunately with the lack of announcements regarding it with the passing of the film’s star Chadwick Boseman, I can’t say for sure if said film is moving forward.

But as someone who watched Netflix’s Yasuke, and knew that it was a fantastical take on a real-life historical figure in Japanese history, not only did I end up learning some new things about the period Yasuke was part of and the people he associated with, but the overall meaning and lesson that can be taken away from the anime is an important one. One that if this were a straight-up historical fiction piece, it wouldn’t have had the same impact. If not one at all.

So to give some of you who are still on the fence about dedicating 2 and a half hours of your life to this, let me give you the overall rundown.

Yasuke is a 6-episode Netflix-produced anime from LaSean Thomas, telling a science-fiction/ fantasy tale of the life of the African samurai Yasuke in 16th century Sengoku Japan 20 years after his documented time serving legendary daimyo Oda Nobunaga.

/He’s a hermit ronin, living life as a boatsman in a village that knows nothing about him until he’s guilted into assisting a singer at a bar he frequents by transporting herself and Saki her sick daughter upstream to see a special doctor. When things get haywire, it's just Yasuke and Saki, who he discovers has within her very powerful innate magical abilities that are wanted by multiple people, including the Hojo Daimyo; a demonic entity that overrun Nobunaga’s forces 20 years ago and caused him to commit seppuku. So now with a newly invigorated sense of duty and learning the true identity of the doctor her mother was talking about, Yasuke has to protect Saki in order to make the trek to her destination now that the fate of Japan is up for grabs/

Like I said, Readers; the story takes place AFTER the historical timeline that we have of Yasuke. Most of the historical and biographical bits about his real life are told in the form of flashbacks.

But because limited to no knowledge of Yasuke are present about him after serving one of Nobunaga's sons after he committed seppuku, this gave room for LaSean Thomas to tell a more personal "Samurai Champloo" meets "Lone Wolf & Cub" for those fictional depiction of the character.

/Y'know, outside of the fact that this version of Sengoku Japan has robots, mecha and magic residing in it./

Yet despite the creative liberties it took that can only be made possible because it's an anime created by a black weeb, it did a good job at both depicting the real life events and people that surrounded Yasuke's life for those of us with little to no knowledge of them.

For example, I knew about Nobunaga beforehand. He's one of those real life figures that a lot of us initially learned about through multiple depictions of him through fictional adaptations via pop culture. Not only did I learn through this anime that Yasuke was one of his samurai, but I also learned through this anime that he was queer; specifically bisexual.

/I mean, of course he was clapping the cheeks of the most bishounen looking motherfucker in his court in the anime because God forbid they show him with anyone that breaks modern day yaoi stereotypes. But it wasn't until I watched this that I did research and found out Nobunaga actually preferred men, and had children with concubines to continue his bloodline. And y’know, use them as political bargaining chips, but you take the good with the bad!/

/And in the anime, that was one of the things I noticed that, outside of Yasuke being a gaijin and Natsumaru having the rank of samurai despite being a woman, Mitsuhide was BIG mad about./

This is another thing I appreciate about the anime in regards to how they molded the historical events surrounding Nobunaga and Yasuke in order to tell the narrative that the anime chose to tell.

According to historical records, it’s unclear why Mitsuhide betrayed Nobunaga.

/But with a sci-fi/fantasy retelling of Yasuke’s life where Hattori Hanzo has an army of mechs, a Russian mercenary can transform into a bear, and those that can command and control the mystic arts exists, the anime takes a predictable yet tried and true motive and applies it to him in a way that not only makes sense for the world of the anime, but also the overall message of it./ (Mitsuhide was driven by his own prejudice)

Now while I will admit that some segments and flashbacks could’ve been better organized in order for the narrative of the Hojo Daimyo to better flow in connection to Yasuke’s past and his present -- especially since the show tried to make a big deal of Mitsuhide being one of her generals by the time episode 5 came along -- it doesn’t really take away from the threat she proves to be in episode 4 onward.

/Especially when we learn why she needs Saki -- the Cub to Yasuke’s Lone Wolf, who has within her the power necessary to re-establish the balance Hojo Daimyo’s rise to power threw off/ (What’s meant to be my downfall might instead be my salvation)

Combine this with seeing the conflict between Yasuke and Mitsuhide play out in regards to Nobunaga’s decisions in challenging traditionalism factoring into the reasons for his betrayal and even Yasuke’s own conflicts and motivations shown over the course of the series regarding his own motivations...

/And you begin to see that despite the alternate universe setting and the liberties given with the story thanks to the gap in his real-life history after Nobunaga’s downfall, there is a very prominent message behind this 6-episode anime miniseries/ (So this is how it feels. Change...)

Yes, Readers. Yasuke is, at the end of the day, a story about the inevitability of change.

Some like Nobunaga welcome it.

/Not just because it would better benefit their OWN way of life, but because they genuinely understand that it is the only constant in life in general and proper adaptability and unification under it is the only true way to grow./

Others, like Mitsuhide, don’t take kindly to it because it leaves them and their mindset that they refuse to alter for one reason or another in the past.

/And in response, they seek validation and power from individuals that do nothing but feed their own deeply seeded insecurities thinking it’ll grant them the preservation and relevancy they seek, when they’re actually just being used to be a means of an end./

Individuals like the Hojo Daimyo...

/Who have made a living and livelihood of manipulating the minds of those who have opposed change for so long, that they themselves fear its inevitability when it challenges their stranglehold and seeks to find ways of controlling it./

Even Yasuke’s own philosophy reflects that of the proper adaptation of change.

/Not only is he himself a living avatar of it by being one of its multiple representatives in Nobunaga’s courts, but his saying “the past informs our future” is the very foundation of the journey of discovery and forgiveness he has to go on when it comes to doing what he decides to do regarding Saki; learning from his past -- both the highs and the lows -- so that his future can change for the better/

The message that the Yasuke anime has within it -- along with how its initially executed -- is, in my opinion, incredibly worth it to sit aside 2 hours and 45 minutes of your time to watch. Even if you’re not necessarily a fan of real-life events and prominent figures being played out in science fiction/fantasy settings or being placed in brand new scenarios involving it.

I may have my own opinions about what the show could’ve done differently in order for the story to flow better, but at the end of the day I can’t say that I was disappointed in what Yasuke brought to the table

Plus, Flying Lotus’ soundtrack y’all. I...I just... YES.

So with that being said Readers, your homework assignment for the day:

Write in the comment section below what YOU thought of the Netflix original anime Yasuke if you’ve seen it.

Or, if you feel like sharing with the rest of the class, write in the comment section below if YOU’VE seen an anime that you think does a good job at showing the importance of change.

Whichever you decide to answer, I’d love to know your thoughts.