FLYLO GOES ANIME

Branching out from music to the world of television, producer, DJ, and now executive producer of a Netflix series, Flying Lotus has just entered the realm of anime. Alongside FlyLo, the long-awaited Netflix anime, Yasuke, is also produced by fellow renowned names in the industry such as actor and musician, LaKeith Stanfield as the lead voice role, and Tokyo-based animator and character designer, LeSean Thomas, popularly known for his work on The Boondocks.

Featuring an original soundtrack composed, scored, and produced by Flying Lotus himself, the story of Yasuke is centered around the first Black samurai who takes to Japan to fulfill his destiny of being a Japanese warrior. Although the details of the anime have not been officially released, what fans do know is that the plot of the series is that Yasuke-a retired ronin-is forced to come out of warrior retirement when he must deliver a gifted child who the villains of the anime want to capture.

Boondocks animator and co-producer of the show, LeSean Thomas, has special ties to the project as he moved to Japan in 2017 to work on the popular anime, Cannon Busters, and as a Black man immersed in the Japanese culture, Yasuke hits home for him and writes, "there is a serendipitous nature about this project," he said. "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." Set to launch on Netflix on April 29th of this year, Flying Lotus fans and anime enthusiasts alike have anxiously awaited this project for three years, and from the looks of it, it’s not going to disappoint!