Just watched the pilot episode. It's ok so far. The voice acting for people is well done, my particular favorite so far being the bartender. His various quips like when asked for vodka were genuinely amusing and well written. I think they missed a better bit of dialogue between the boy and Yasuke at the start when Yasuke reprimands him about there being no honor in throwing your life away. I think it would've hit home more if the boy had said "and letting a little girl die when you could help IS?!" Considering the flashback scene they cut to immediately after that, would've hammered home a bit more with that bookending of statements.
I also call a bit of BS on the idea that he just sort of became a nobody in a fishing village, given how rare black people were in that world. I was going to give it a pass when they went forward 20 years and say "ok well trade and travel has expanded, now there are more" but then they point out the fact of how rare black people are in Japan in the same episode. And he's even got a name almost identical to the legendary samurai? That's like Brad Pitt no longer being an actor, but still, you know, walking around in the public all the time, and saying his name is Chad Brit, and denying he's Brad. Like, NOBODY is going to buy that.
I'll probably watch another episode tonight, not terribly invested, I feel no urge to binge it so far, as I'm more interested in playing a particular video game as of time of writing.
Oh and yes, the giant mech thing is a bit off putting. I could've sworn in one shot in the opening battle, a samurai cuts off the head of one of the slightly larger than normal human sized ones, and blood came out...so maybe their some weird demon/cyborg thingy? *shrugs* Yeah it is a weird thing to just, have in the show, without any explanation.
