Why LeSean Thomas Animes Fall Short In My Opinion

[@rustecohle591]

If he took the anthology samurai champloo route with Yasuke it would’ve been better… he could’ve been more subtle with the implication of magic and done a one off episode where there’s hallucinations or a dream to add the futuristic random sci-fi stuff smh…

[@2-tone989]

One issue I had with Yasuke was nobody questioned the existence of the robot. They were casual about him and the bear chic. Like nobunaga never seen a black dude but did he know about robots too??? Shit don't add up. Who were the mf who built him? Where tf they get the parts, let alone the know how to make him sentient??? Sooooo many questions......

[@KingBlackknuckle]

word son, the math damn sure aint mathin here. Im all for suspension of disbelief but dammit the story gotta be consistent and follow SOME type of logic. Not necessarily be super realistic, but it should make sense according to the world the story is set in

[@yungvoorheez5874]

Lesean is definitely a trail blazer for black animators in the animation and anime space but his work could definitely use more polish writing wise instead of just looking good.

[@AresofWar0]

Funny I called Yasuke Take the magical white girl up the Mountain

[@KingBlackknuckle]

essentially lol

[@donovan5656]

Cannon Busters had the highest potential and was the most frustrating to watch. But at least the opening was fire 🔥

[@KingBlackknuckle]

facts bruh

[@jirehjirehjirehjireh]

My biggest criticism of these shows would definitely be the “western animation trying to convince you it’s anime” problem you brought up. Every one of them feel like they’re trying to cram in every anime cliche and trope so hard that the unique appeal gets lost. The reason shows like Avatar work as western anime is because it focuses on being a good story and fleshed out world first, THEN let’s the anime influence speak through the quality animation and deep characters.

[@Animonty]

The reason his series don't have us as invested as it should is because he says "he doesnt create series for hardcore anime fans" (the literal 1st 3 seconds he says it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aXiVaX9jpdOXqaM). which baffles the heck out of me because he goes and concepts a hardcore anime idea just to make the complete opposite. The best way i could put it is he designs his worlds with the depths of an ocean, just touch on a puddle of info. In canon busters it felt aimless, you said it with canon busters, we didn't know where it was going. everything was a waste of time and children of the ether thrusted us into the middle of a world explaining none of it. yasuke was the worst offense in this because yasuke has a cool world. he isn't even the main character its the little girl he's with. why create magic and mechs and not explore that. if they are that advanced in technology they couldn't have had any of that in any of the village not even scrap robot parts? no village defense? no electric lights? We dont even know what the mechs are powered by. they could be magic and considering they have autonomous robots do they have computer programmers or something else. All his shows have one thing in common, they all have big build ups where no pay offs come through or not through good enough and since were clueless to a lot of situations in the stories it feels like nothing. we see what is happening but we don't know why its happening. Feels like he's imitating anime instead of making anime.

[@KingBlackknuckle]

"feels like he's imitating anime instead of making anime" That line right there, perfectly said bruh. It always seemed like he was trying too hard to squeeze every single trope into one story JUST in case nobody caught onto the fact that they were watching an anime. But it ultimately comes off as something almost unrelated because ol boy is tryin a bit too hard to emulate the medium as opposed to just making a story that happens to be made in the anime style.

[@mizuko6132]

I don’t know if this makes sense but his projects try to hard to be anime. Like Yasuke should’ve been more grounded like samurai shamploo. Cannon busters just feels like some generic anime fan project. But hey hopefully it inspires future black anime creators. I just reached the part of the video where you said it try’s hard.

[@KingBlackknuckle]

lol yea, i know exactly what you mean

[@kimberlyplatt2382]

This video was great and had me dying in some parts.

[@KingBlackknuckle]

ahh yea thats whats up, thats whats up

[@hoodanimeblock7493]

Once again you come along spittin the facts, my guy. To keep it 100, the soundtracks for CB and Yasuke were dope. But maaaaaaan, this guy Lesean Thomas is not a good story writer. I mean, dude is a talented artist, no doubtin on that part. But the writing side of the game...nah

[@KingBlackknuckle]

I agree. Dude can draw and animate, but either dude should up his storyteller game or he should let somebody better equipped to handle that area. Cuz right now, his stories come off as somethin he just made just because it could be made

[@hoodanimeblock7493]

@@KingBlackknuckle exactly, the way dude is goin with this, its not a good look right now. Im honestly gonna have low expectations for whatever he puts out next just to be safe

[@KingBlackknuckle]

@@hoodanimeblock7493 yea same here, id say its the best bet to avoid another disappointment after expectin better

[@thismfdoomspittin]

@@hoodanimeblock7493 i hear you on ALL that shxt right there bruh

[@marche800]

This guy has a real problem with the story side of these shows. Its a classic example of someone who is a visual artist first struggling when it comes to actually writing something coherent. His aesthetic sense (i.e his love for mechs and such) tends to take priority over character writing and storytelling. Hence why he made the baffling decision of making the Yasuke Anime thst should have been about the story of Yasuke about Mechas, demons and mutants instead. His head is just elsewhere. I think if he teamed up with someone who was a more dedicated writer he could make better stuff because he'd have somebody to ground his wild ideas in some solid storytelling.

[@Dave102693]

facts

[@JAClarkePhotography]

Great words, great review of all three projects, and an excellent summary of black creators at the end. I'm definitely a fan. Already subbed.

[@KingBlackknuckle]

ppreciate it bro ham. Definitely more comin up in the future

[@BlackMangakaInEffect]

I think ol boy just likes to kill off characters that didnt even NEED to be killed off bro. Like Hilda, that shit was HELLA stupid. Shes a whole ass trained soldier. You tryin to tell me she couldnt have just used her own weapon to swat that armless android chicks claw hand away? Cmon son...cmon

[@KingBlackknuckle]

EGGSBLACKLY! That shit was hella unnecessary and hella FORCED. I was startin to warm up to Hilda after a while and then she just gets blasted through the chest like that shxt couldnt have possibly been avoided.

[@BlackMangakaInEffect]

@@KingBlackknuckle thank you, there was no good reason for her to get merked aside from sheer shock value. Which is the stupidest reason to put somethin in a story

[@torrianfenner915]

Just rewatched Cannon Busters and i totally agree with everything you said, its a very strange love hate relationship with it. And the business talk of black folks, all facts. It usually ends up a one person army dragging people that are too busy, lazy, or faithless and it fails. Sometimes you have to go outside your circle to succeed no matter how good you think the ones you around are.

[@2-tone989]

Cannon Busters Kickstarter made it look like it was going to be epic, but ended up an epic fail. Imo

[@KingBlackknuckle]

the animation from the kickstarter deadass looks way superior to the final result. Oughta sue this muhfugga for false advertising lmaoo

[@Gman224]

I BEEN SAYING THIS! and this came out on my birthday too??

[@laxuslucy4eva]

Im not finished with the video yet but I really wanted to like Yasuke, its the first work of his I heard of. I felt like nothing introduced got a satisfiying payoff. The mecha was weird but I just chalked it up to anime lol but the girl he was taking care of could all of a sudden use the powers they made a big deal she had to train for? It felt like it was a show made to look like an anime but no elements of story telling that makes anime popular

[@KingBlackknuckle]

Well said, alotta ppl said the same about how it feels like a story that was made just because it could be made. The story coulda been pretty interesting but it's just too sloppy

[@laxuslucy4eva]

@@KingBlackknuckle I finally finished and amazing video! Instant subscription and I cant wait to see what stories you write. I also want to be a writer and artist for webtoon and I agree with your thoughts on us as a community working together. Thats the only way we're going to see the stories we all complain about not having. I think pride is getting in his way and he wants to do everything, but he seems like he has the access to hire writers that could bring his concepts to an even greater level. I hope to see some improvement in his future works

[@KingBlackknuckle]

​@@laxuslucy4eva ppreciate yo. And yea I definitely got some stuff in the works for my comics that I think would make a dope story. I hope you get your own stuff out there too

[@whoopyoahhindefjamffny2195]

Yea, Cannon Busters was definitely wacker than it shoulda been. Gave that joint a chance like three different times at seperate points in time bruh. Smh dissapointing is all i can say about that

[@KingBlackknuckle]

Damn bruh, THREE times? Shieeeet, you better than me

[@whoopyoahhindefjamffny2195]

@@KingBlackknuckle lol i mean ay, I was bored and I couldnt think of anything else to watch. But at least now i know for a fact that i didnt enjoy those anime shows all that much

[@Amdecreations.]

Great breakdown. I've been a fan of Lesean for a good while now. He used to drop so much gems on FB, his FB group and on twitter. I was gutted I didn't get to see him at London MCM comic con back in 2015. Back then Lesean paid attention to the fans, as on twitter when Cannon Busters trailer first dropped, there was criticism of Sam hair, so on the final trailer you see Sam with a more afro type texture. I think Lesean problem is a writing issue, and needs to get better writers. I agree with your take on Philly The Kid. It was so frustrating seeing him get his butt kicked almost every episode, was ridiculous. Like with Jackie Chan, he would get his ass beat, but he would also dish out whoppings too, made him more human than say Bruce Lee. If Philly had that Jackie Chan balance then he would of been more likeable. Yasuke I thought was ok but points brought down because the protagonist being push to the background, the magical aspect I did not mind, it just the Mechas that didn't sit right with me. My take is when you give away your IP to Netflix or other channels, you lose your creative freedom and stuff you did not want to be put in, you have no choice but to put in or you don't get green lit for your project. Which could be a lesson in creating content that takes out the middle man so we have 100% creative control. Great video, subscribed

[@chrisdiokno5600]

One thing that pisses me off about Yasuke the anime was that main villain wasn't Mitsuhide. Come on, he's the perfect antag!

[@awsomeboy360]

Apparently the mechs and Giant Robots for Yasuke wasn't his Idea but adding it in made it worse.

[@_Rhatsody]

Really great video. I felt so seen listening to all these points. Ive had similar criticisms of his animes and i wasnt sure if i was just a hater or if they really were as mediocre as i felt they were lol. This man needs the Dua Lipa treatment with his writing and direction. He is not consistent or coherent. Id rather rewatch Soul Eater than ever watch Cannon Busters of Yasuke ever again. Yasuke still fine though

[@cmccleese6190]

You created a very cohesive analysis on LeSean Thomas' shortcomings in all three his animes. Yasuke was especially disappointing for me...

[@KingBlackknuckle]

Same here. Its wild cuz i was expecting Yasuke to be a step up from Cannon Busters but instead it felt like a slight scooch forward rather than a full step.

[@radiak55]

I think the're decent and he has a solid start in the creator side of things. Hopefully this leads to actual betterment in the next series he brings as I think he has the opportunity to blow minds. I just can't help but shake the feeling that he's also dealing with behind the scenes stuff. Not that he's blacklisted but I imagine that the anime industry is already so fucked up on their staff that coming into it to do your own thing on top of not being Japanese period has a lot of moving parts to make it less than difficult.

[@latviandragon2718]

Yasuke was so disappointing, it should have been more historical than fantasy

[@MasterIceyy]

Bro i legit thought it would be a historical telling of his story, imagine how absolutely baffled I was when I started seeing Gundam's and super-powers. I wanted basically an Isekai. A black dude finds himself in another world (Medieval Japan) and we see him navigate this new world, form friendships, grow as a person and explore his relationship with Nobunaga. It would have been awesome to see how medieval japanese people would have realistically reacted to seeing a black african for the first time but I guess not

[@JacksonCerise-zk6ry]

Honestly the intro song to Cannonbusters is enough to forgive everything else in my opinion >.

[@KingBlackknuckle]

There needs to be a bass boosted version

[@xianxiaemperor1438]

Thank you for this great video

[@ANormalGamingChannel93]

Yo, new subscriber here. Love your work. I had the same issues with Cannon Busters, you nailed it right on the head about how they're "trying to hard to be anime." That was the feeling i tried to put into words for YEARS, after watching it. I definitely share in your disappointment for Yasuke, i was thinking it was gking to be like Samurai Champloo or Vinland Saga with a Black Main Character. But sadly it was another case of Black anime trying too hard to BE anime. Seriously...what was the point of adding MECHS?

[@TimMaxShift]

Watched all 3 of these anime this week. I agree with the criticism. The script suffers. The mistakes are sometimes extremely childish. Dialogues are sketchy. The jokes almost never work. In my opinion the worst of these three anime is Yasuke. A Russian strong female bear who drinks vodka and kills people through snu-snu. And children in her homeland kill each other all the time. It's so new, so fresh ... A lonely and silent ex-military man who is done and no longer resorts to violence, and who decides to give one last fight to the bad guys and take care of a little girl.... There's never been a story like this before, but here it is again... A cliched robot who is happy to be called a friend by a leather bag seconds before that leather bag dies. The attempt to pump up the saspense with the senseless and indiscriminate killing of minor characters is annoying. Just like the deaths in old horror movies where everyone scatters to be sure to be killed. Almost every line of dialog, every scene is such a cliché that the whole anime feels like a relic from the past. 25:40 It seems to me that when one person criticizes another person and mentions their skin color while doing so, that is already enough to say that person is a racist, even if they are too dumb to realize it. The person is criticizing a person. A person is ideas, not skin. Just as a person is not a gender. If one person can't understand another person's feelings, that condition has a medical name: sociopathy. Or at best, Asperger's syndrome. It all looks strange when you look at this part of the culture from outside the US. It has never once occurred to me or anyone around me to check the skin color or gender of the authors of an anime or movie before watching it. Usually if you like an author's work, you start googling his other works. And in the process you accidentally find out the gender, skin color and country of residence, but not always. To be interested in such things in the first place is something unhealthy. Black authors... white authors. that's something from the 19th century. Where I live there was no such division in the 20th.

[@rustecohle591]

It feels like he tries too hard with his anime. Yasuke basically writes itself… why add all the robots and sci-fi? Even if he did add that it’s about execution… he could add the tellitubbies for all I care… as long as it’s written well then it’s fine… this had so much potential smh… take Shogun, samurai champloo, samurai x etc for example or even one piece lol

[@courtiusmaximus5150]

Lesean does need to improve on his stories for sure. And get the mechs outta here unless he wants to just make a mech anime. And yes, we as black people need to uphold each other. Then we can really thrive.

[@marche800]

I'm sick of seeing my people proving Rufus Crabmiser's crab bucket analogy right.

[@TheBrothaGrimm]

Another banger! Keep it up!

[@KingBlackknuckle]

you already know, bro ham

[@Brevincampbell12]

I know your ratings weren’t the point but maaann does Lessean make a lot of mid. Cannon Busters I actually think is better than Yasuke cause Cannon Busters at least had character. Yasuke felt very plain and no one was super likable. Cannon Busters I most want a season 2 of. Yasuke I just want the live action at this point

[@KingBlackknuckle]

i hear you. I think what made alotta people hype about YASUKE was Studio Mappa being behind that joint and Fly Lo doin the OST. But yea as all over the place as Cannon Busters was, i was hoping theyd get a season 2 to clean up how messy season one was.

[@youngsir.tc_GW_VS]

Well Spoken, Made Vid. Lesean Thomas too matriarchymal gynocracy. Like every anime he created. The females become to Lead/Main While Philly The Kid & Yasuke = SideKick/Less Than

[@KingBlackknuckle]

Yea I see how it's a pattern with ol boy. It can get pretty misleading when you advertise is it as it being about one character, but then it becomes clear it's really about someone else.

[@youngsir.tc_GW_VS]

@@KingBlackknuckle Exactly that's it. A pattern with ol boy. Ikr! Misleading & False advertising to the max. To have CannonBusters seem to have focus on the entire crew or just philly the kid. Then just make it about S.A.M. & the prince dude. Then yasuke got the Naruto treatment its title of main character. Yet the secondary character get more shine. Facts 💯 May I share this 🎬 via community post sometime

[@KingBlackknuckle]

@@youngsir.tc_GW_VS yea sure bruh.

[@youngsir.tc_GW_VS]

​@@KingBlackknuckle Iight on it 💯%

[@Theohybrid]

If this would’ve been made in 2004, is have no problem. Heck, on 4 Kids, I’d have no problem. It good enough, I’ll say. 4:05 Definitely not this. 😂😂😂 I’m blown away with how it could’ve been. But after purchasing Black Sands content for $80 in the name of “supporting Black businesses” and got a 1.30 min animation and a motion comic, I can say that I’m not surprised how his backers got scammed. We let ourselves down every time 😂😂😂 That’s I don’t listen to dreamers, give us metrics, projections, and updates. I don’t need to hear about your passion; especially if you’re asking for money, I’m expecting dates, proof and actual results of your production. No more talking for money lest you get these results.

[@619Shippo]

Solid video bro.

[@KingBlackknuckle]

Ppreciate it bro ham

[@wardenlight5625]

the thing with the sword in canon busters is called halfswording

[@jamesthomas2410]

unfortunately yasuke couldnt reach afro level

[@KingBlackknuckle]

which is a shame because im sure anyone who saw Afro Samurai was expecting at least a bit of that kinda energy

[@jamesthomas2410]

@@KingBlackknuckle exactly brother when i saw yasuke announced im like oh yeah another one but sadly to no avail smh

[@cephgawd]

NGL I was kid when I first heard of Cannon Busters (I’m 32 now) I even have Cannon Busters #1 bagged and boarded. So I was HYPE when the anime was announced… and man, I was hella let down. Smh Yusuke seemed cool, but even by fictional world standards none of that world made sense. Robots… perfectly normal… black dude… WTF is that!? Cmon son 😂😂😂

[@greygremlin1248]

Yaske the black samurai was awesome But Cannon Buster ill agree with. Hell the android woman was a better character than Philly

[@Dave102693]

frs she was funny as hell as well

[@Rieky22]

I wanted to like Canon busters and Yusuke but them ahits were a two pack of ass 💩 felt like I was on an acid trip.

[@february1257]

Bro really started talking about Michael Madlock at the 31:00 mark lol

[@1toolaj]

I love his work i do, but he needs to learn more on his writing and story telling

[@MoKuZai]

mhm

[@kingjaymoney5616]

Damn I think I’m the only 1 who thinks canon busters is a 10/10

[@byobroly2525]

i think its a 10/10 to

[@kingjaymoney5616]

@@byobroly2525 shii was a banger I need a season 2

[@jerrygraves6531]

Stop using the word scam in vain

[@whoislikegod3391]

PROBLEM IS, FANBOYS LIKE YOU WANTTO SEE THE SAME SH!T OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

[@KingBlackknuckle]

...the hell are you even talkin about?

[@Rieky22]

Did u not take ur meds while typing this nonsense?