Afro spends his days making wooden sculptures of historical people and follows the rule of not killing anyone. When Jinno and Sio take both the headband and Rokutaro's mandible, they tell Afro that they will resurrect Rokutaro and use him for vengeance. Brother 3 is caught cheating at a dice game and tells Afro that Shichigoro has the Number 2 headband. After Afro saves Kotaro and Shichigoro thanks him for it, both men fight until Afro takes the headband and Kotaro sadly vows revenge. Afro destroys three cyborg warriors, who turned out to be Sio's relatives. Sio resurrects Rokutaro as a mindless killing robot. After strangling and seemingly killing Afro, Rokutaro kills Sio by impaling her through Jinno's body with a broken sword. Jinno's robotic body gives off an electrical surge through Sio's blood to revive Afro. After defeating Rokutaro, Afro retrieves the Number 1 headband. He gives the Number 2 headband to Kotaro and tells him that they will be ready to fight.
Difference between versions
The ending differs between the DVD and television broadcast editions of the film. In the television version, Afro reclaims the headband and runs into a masked man seeing Justice. In the Director's Cut DVD edition, Afro reclaims the Number 1 headband. After the credits, Justice reappears.
The film aired for Paramount Network on January 25, 2009. It was released on DVD on February 3, 2009, and for the PlayStation Store in May 2009. The film premiered at the San Diego Asian Film Festival in October 16, 2009. It aired for Funimation's YouTube stream, from July 31 to August 5, 2011. For the United Kingdom release on Netflix, Resurrection was among one the initial titles for the January 2012 launch.
Reception
Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network stated about Afro Samurai: Resurrection that "it's a gorgeous film," with "incredible animation, spectacular action setpieces and a thumping score by Ghostface". Zac noted that the plot is just "window dressing" and that if it's about anything it's about "cool". Zac criticized that the film as just an excuse to string fight scenes together and that the farther it goes on it becomes clearer how "weak the writing is". Hyper commends the anime for its art, saying, "stylised poses and sharp, dynamic visuals have long been a trademark element of this series, and they hold true ." For the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program, the film was lost to Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Though film's art director, Shigemi Ikeda, won a Primetime Emmy award for "Outstanding Individual Achievement In Animation".
