'Yasuke' Full Cast List: Meet LaKeith Stanfield, Ming Na Wen and rest of the stars from Netflix's animated series
For all you anime fans that have been on the prowl for something new to watch, 'Yasuke' might just prove to be the perfect summer binge. Set in an alternate reality version of feudal Japan, the story follows Japan's very first foreign samurai, a Black man who went by the name Yasuke.
Although Netflix's version involves several fantasy elements, with characters displaying supernatural powers, the story of Yasuke is a very real one, seeing that he did serve under Oda Nobunaga, a powerful lord in the Sengoku period.
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The highly anticipated project was developed, written and directed by LeSean Thomas. Thomas is an American animation producer, director, animator, comic book artist, writer, character designer, and storyboard artist. Over his career, he's worked on multiple hit animated shows, such as 'Black Dynamite', 'The Legend of Korra', 'The Boondocks' and 'Children of Ether'.
The project has quite a few interesting names attached to it, seeing that actor LaKeith Stanfield, who voices Yasuke and Steven Ellison, the musical artist known as Flying Lotus, are both executive producers of the project. In addition to this, they also contributed ideas to the project, such as Yasuke's trauma and mental health, along with supernatural story elements.
LaKeith Stanfield as Yasuke
Yasuke is voiced by LaKeith Lee Stanfield, often known as Keith Stanfield. An actor and a musician, Stanfield has a long-standing career and has starred in multiple biopics such as 'Selma', 'Straight Outta Compton', 'Snowden' and 'Judas and the Black Messiah'. His role in 'Judas and the Black Messiah' was also animated.
He was starred in multiple critically acclaimed movies as well, such as 'Dope', 'Knives Out' and 'Get Out'. With regard to his music career, he goes by the stage name 'Htieka' and is a part of the band Moors. Stanfield has been an active part of the project, in terms of working on Yasuke's backstory and fleshing out the character.
Takehiro Hiro as Oda Nobunaga
A Japanese theater, film and television actor, Takehiro Hiro plays the role of Oda Nobunaga, the feudal lord who grants Yasuke the title of samurai and has him serve under him. Hiro's body of work includes Japanese movies such as 'Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai', 'Ace Attorney', based on the popular gaming series of the same name and 'Aku no Kyoten'. He voices the character of Oda Nobunaga in both, the English and the Japanese versions.
Gwendoline See-Hian Yeo as Ichika
Gwendoline See-Hian Yeo is an American actress and a musician. Yeo has starred in multiple television shows and movies, such as the Emmy Award-winning 'Broken Tail'. She was also a part of the Amazon original, 'American Girl: Ivy & Julie'. Her most notable TV role was on 'Desperate Housewives', where she played Xiao-Mei, Gabrielle's Chinese housekeeper. She has also done extensive voiceover work for several acclaimed animated projects and famous series, such as 'Young Justice', 'Love, Death & Robots', 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles', 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars', 'Wolverine and the X-Men', 'The Invincible Iron Man', and 'Batman: The Dark Knight Returns'. Her voiceover work extends to video games as well, having voiced characters in 'Final Fantasy X-2', 'Kingdom Hearts II', 'X-Men: Next Dimension', 'Far Cry 4', and 'Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City'.
Ming Na Wen as Natsumaru
A Chinese-American actress, Ming Na Wen is most famously known to have voiced Mulan in the 1998 Disney classic -- 'Mulan'. Over the years, she's played a number of roles on multiple television shows, such as Dr Jing-Mei 'Deb' Chen in the medical drama series 'ER', as Rachel Lu in the medical drama series 'Inconceivable' and most recently, as Melinda May in 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D'. Her other work includes roles in series such as 'The Batman', 'The Mandalorian', and 'The Book of Boba Fett', an upcoming series.
The Studio behind the animation is MAPPA, which is known to put out detailed and stunning work, having animated series such as 'Yuri!!! On Ice', the more recent 'Jujutsu Kaisen' and 'Dororo', whose world-building could possibly be mirrored in 'Yasuke', in terms of style and elements.
'Yasuke' premieres on April 29, 2021, on Netflix.