Before Yasuke is shaped into a Japanese legend, his African narrative is a tale that must be told. He was a fierce BARWE TONGA WARRIOR KNIGHT, the equal to any Samurai.

Experience a riveting tale as Yasuke embarks on a captivating detour to India, serving in battle under the great African warlord and political strategist, Malik Ambar. Malik Ambar’s story is just as remarkable and significant as Yasuke’s own. And here’s a fascinating twist—contrary to popular belief, Yasuke was never a slave. It was actually Malik Ambar, born in the Adal Sultanate, who defied the traditional role of a slave, leading the resistance against the Mughal Empire’s armies and gaining control of a sizeable Deccani sultanate. This is some serious history, and it’s poised to captivate and entertain in a meaningful way, moving beyond the confines of Western-centric narratives to explore ancient, untold ancestral stories predating the unification of Europe, the making of America, and even the European conception of African borders pre-1888.

Dive into the heart of the Kingdom of Mutapa—sometimes known as the Mutapa Empire, where Yasuke grows into an elite warrior, delving into spiritual practices and defending his people against the Portuguese invasion. However, treachery leads to the fall of the Mutapa, forcing Yasuke into exile before he eventually arrives in Japan in 1579 as the bodyguard of the Jesuit official, Alessandro Valigniano. Even before this, he’s already a seasoned warrior, standing tall as the equal of any samurai.

Director and Producer Mandla Dube is also working on a live-action Yasuke series for Netflix, slated to grace our screens around the Spring of 2026. The comic serves as a tool to drum up anticipation for this exciting project and set the stage for its arrival. And that’s not the end of it—Mandla’s new Netflix venture, “Heart of the Hunter,” is the flagship of his three-picture deal after the action-packed “Silverton Siege” release in 2022. It promises to be a mind-bending spy thriller based on Deon Meyer’s novel, featuring a character that gives Denzel Washington’s Equalizer a run for its money.

The powerful script and words of Yasuke: Way of the Butterfly come to life through the pen of Fidel Namisi, a brilliant screenwriter and film producer, hailing from Nairobi, Kenya. Bringing these words to vivid imagination is none other than the phenomenal artist Loyiso Mkhize, one of South Africa’s most celebrated graphic novel and comic book illustrators, whose ancestry can be traced back to the ancient Monomutapa region.

Historical Research on the Yasuke Project (documentary, feature drama and comic) is by Floyd Webb, a well known Chicago-based producer/filmmaker and media arts curator, who has worked with filmmakers around the world. In his extensive career he has worked as producer on Space MOMS (India, 2019) with director Radha Bharadwaj,  Amansa Tiafi (Ghana, 2021) with Kofi Ofosu-Yeboah, and is presently co-producing the documentary Kiku’s Legacy (Japan, 2025) with Tokyo based director Deborah DeSnoo and Yuki Sakmoto Solomon. He has also been associate producer of the award winning and classic film Daughters of the Dust, directed by Julie Dash and considered on of the best films of the last century by the British Film Institute. He has also worked with filmmakers Jean Pierre Bekolo, the late St Clair Bourne, John Akomfrah, and Djibril Diop Mambety. He has contributed significantly to the field of film and media. His research and work focus on Global Black cinema, experimental film, and the intersection of culture and technology. While living in Tanzania, he was immersed in East African history and folklore, inspired by having learned of the legend of Yasuke as a child while studying martial arts in Chicago.