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Black Anime Characters Worth Knowing, From Afro Samurai to Yoruichi

Eight Black anime characters worth knowing, from Afro Samurai and Yoruichi to Canary, plus two popular names that don't belong on these lists.

By Written Facts StaffUpdated October 13, 20266 min read

You open a list of Black anime characters, and halfway down you hit a green alien and a hacker filed under the wrong show. Lists like that are everywhere, and they bury the good answers. Here are eight characters who belong on the list: an Egyptian fortune-teller, a South African street fighter, a samurai on a revenge path, an Afro-Latina cop, and four favorites from Bleach, Naruto, Hunter × Hunter and Cowboy Bebop. At the end are two names that keep turning up on these lists and why they don't fit.

Muhammad Avdol (*JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders*)

Avdol is an Egyptian fortune-teller from Cairo. In Part 3 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, he is a core ally and guide to Joseph Joestar and Jotaro Kujo. Older lists often say he can see the future. He can't. He reads tarot, and his power is his Stand, Magician's Red. The Stand is named after The Magician tarot card, controls fire, and looks like a muscular human figure with a bird's head.

Bob Makihara (*Tenjho Tenge*)

Like Avdol, Bob has a heritage the story names outright. He is of South African descent, wears dreadlocks, and has blue eyes. He belongs to the Juken Club at Toudou Academy, not the "Junken club," as it is sometimes misspelled. He fights with Capoeira. His father served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. Bob and his childhood best friend, Souichiro Nagi, fight together as the duo "Knuckle Bombs."

Afro (*Afro Samurai*)

Avdol and Bob are supporting players. Afro Samurai puts a Black lead at the center of the whole story. Takashi Okazaki created it, and the anime miniseries premiered in 2007, produced by studio Gonzo. Samuel L. Jackson was executive producer and voiced both Afro and his talkative companion, Ninja Ninja.

The story runs on two headbands. Justice, a gunslinger who carries two revolvers, beheaded Afro's father to take the Number One Headband. He left the Number Two Headband behind on purpose, so that young Afro would come after him. Afro's enemy is that one gunman, not a band of samurai. The story is a bleak tale of violence that keeps repeating, not a rise from rags to riches.

Atsuko Jackson (*Michiko to Hatchin*)

Afro chases a killer. Atsuko is the one doing the chasing in her story. She is an Afro-Latina police officer, and she grew up in the same orphanage as Michiko Malandro, a convicted fugitive who is also a woman. Atsuko tracks Michiko across the country. Michiko teases her about her big blond afro by calling her "Jumbo." Their shared past is why the chase works as drama and not just a manhunt.

Yoruichi Shihōin (*Bleach*)

Yoruichi did not climb up from nothing, though older write-ups often say she did. She was born into privilege. She is the 22nd head of the noble Shihōin Clan, a former captain of the Gotei 13's 2nd Division, and the former commander-in-chief of the Onmitsukidō. She is called the "Goddess of Flash" for her mastery of Shunpo, the flash-step technique. More than 100 years before the main story, she rescued Kisuke Urahara and Tessai Tsukabishi and fled Soul Society with them. She has lived in the Human World ever since, with the rare ability to turn into a black cat.

Killer B (*Naruto Shippuden*)

Yoruichi trains the heroes of Bleach. Killer B plays a similar mentor role in Naruto. He is a Kumogakure shinobi and the adoptive brother of the Fourth Raikage, A. As the jinchūriki of the Eight-Tails, Gyūki, he has a perfect partnership with the beast sealed inside him. That bond makes him the right teacher when Naruto has to learn to work with Kurama. In battle, he fights with seven swords at once and uses wrestling-based hand-to-hand moves. He also raps almost every line he speaks.

Canary (*Hunter × Hunter*)

Canary is far younger than either mentor, and she is just as dangerous. She is an apprentice butler from Meteor City who works for the Zoldyck family of assassins in Yoshihiro Togashi's Hunter × Hunter. She is fiercely loyal to Killua Zoldyck. Her weapon is a rod or cane with a ball on the tip. At ten years old, she beat a Blacklist Hunter and 100 henchmen by herself at the gates of the Zoldyck estate.

Radical Edward (*Cowboy Bebop*)

The last pick fixes a common mix-up. Edward is not from Fullmetal Alchemist. That show's Edward Elric is an alchemist, not a hacker. This Ed is Radical Edward, full name Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV, the eccentric teenage hacker and "net-diver" from Earth in the 1998 series Cowboy Bebop. Ed joins Spike Spiegel and Jet Black on the spaceship Bebop in Session 9, "Jamming with Edward."

Two names to drop from the list

Ed's crewmate is the first. Jet Black ends up on these lists mostly because of his name. He is a human cyborg and former ISSP (Inter-Solar System Police) investigator from Jupiter's moon Ganymede, and he captains the Bebop, a converted fishing ship. "Black Dog" was his police nickname, earned because he never let go of a case. He lost his left arm when his ISSP partner, Fad, betrayed him during an operation against the syndicate assassin Udai Taxim, which Session 16, "Black Dog Serenade," covers. He is a great character, but the show does not present him as a Black man.

The second is Piccolo from Dragon Ball. He is a green-skinned Namekian alien created by Akira Toriyama. He hatched from an egg that King Piccolo spat out just before dying, which makes him both the king's son and his reincarnation. He goes from villain to Earth's protector and later merges with Kami to become a "Super Namekian." Fans love him, but he is from another planet, not a Black character.

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