Yasuke Director Defends Mech Suits in Historical Anime: “Why Not?”

Three years after it released on Netflix, Yasuke director, LeSean Thomas, still has to defend the series from disgruntled fans. Yasuke is based on the real historical figure of the same name, who was the first black samurai in history. However, Thomas’ anime adaptation of his story took some creative liberties with historical accuracy, and by historical liberties, we mean magic and giant mech suits. The series received intense backlash from audiences when it was released on Netflix in 2021. But LeSean Thomas still stands behind his creative decisions.

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Appearing at the Japan Society in New York City (via Anime News Network) Thomas reflected on the controversy surrounding Yasuke‘s fantastical elements. “Nobody’s seen anything like this before, and they’re already telling me how to make it,” the director said of the early backlash he faced. When Yasuke was first announced, fans were excited about the relatively unknown historical figure getting the anime treatment. But, when the first trailer revealed a 10-foot-tall mech suit, audiences were left scratching their heads.

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LeSean Thomas Never Sought Full Historical Accuracy in Yasuke for One Simple Reason

The director doesn’t hate audiences criticizing the show, as “those fans are passionate,” Thomas said. The director said he often gets fans saying they wished Yasuke was more like historical-based anime like Shinichiro Watanabe’s Samurai Champloo, or Makoto Yukimura’s Vinland Saga. Both shows told mostly fictional stories, but grounded them in realistic depictions of their time periods (excluding Samurai Champloo‘s baseball episode). “Why do you want the same sh-t?” Thomas said, as a simple answer.

During the panel, Thomas also addressed the criticism from Black anime fans who saw Yasuke as a wasted opportunity to shed light on an important cultural figure. But Thomas said he didn’t hold himself to that social pressure. “Everyone has their own ideas of what the first Black anime should look like,” he remarked. Thomas never set out to create a historically accurate “Black anime.” Instead, he worked to create better representation in the speculative genres of anime he loved. He described his goal as eliminating the “scarcity mindset.”

Ultimately, Thomas’s justification for his fantastical spin on Yasuke boiled down to two words: “Why not?” As frustrated as some audiences were by the show’s speculative aspects, if you look past the glaring inaccuracies, Yasuke is a really good show.

Co-written by Thomas and Nick Jones (Casual), Yasuke featured an all-star English voice cast, which included LaKeith Stanfield, Maya Tanida, Takehiro Hira, William Christopher Stephens, Alexander W. Hunter, and more. The show moved away from Yasuke’s (Stanfield) journey from Africa to Japan and focused on his life after serving under Oda Nobunaga (Hira). When a young girl awakens a mysterious, dark power, Yasuke must pick up his swords and wear his armor once more to protect her while facing his past demons and dishonor.

For those that can’t forgive Netflix’s Yasuke, fear not, because a new interpretation of the historical figure is on the way. Warner  Bros. Discovery is currently developing a new movie based on Yasuke with The Color Purple director Blitz Bazawule. The film is currently titled Black Samurai (although this is subject to change). It has not officially been confirmed, but Black Samurai is expected to be a live-action movie, given Blitz Bazawule’s previous works.