Diana Farah

DUBAI: Netflix’s highly anticipated anime adaptation of Yasuke will debut on April 19, and the streaming company has just shared its first look.

The series is in its third year of development with Japanese animation studio MAPPA. Yasuke will be a six-part series inspired by Japan’s first African Samura in 1579.

American TV producer LeSean Thomas created Yasuke and its story matches something he had experienced.

LeSean said: “There is a serendipitous nature about this project, how an African-American man goes to Japan to live and work amongst the very best in Japanese anime to create an anime about an African who goes to Japan to live amongst the Japanese elite and become a warrior. Part of me deep down feels I was meant to create this adventure series with MAPPA, Flying Lotus, LaKeith & the rest of this talented team.”

With the series soon to premier, Netflix describes Yasuke: “In a war-torn feudal Japan filled with mechs and magic, the greatest ronin never known, Yasuke, struggles to maintain a peaceful existence after a past life of violence. But when a local village becomes the center of social upheaval between warring daimyo, Yasuke must take up his sword and transport a mysterious child who is the target of dark forces and bloodthirsty warlords.”