Movie
Description
Professor Dharman, also known in the Afro Samurai story as a mad professor, is a scientist and engineer who appears as a supporting figure in Afro Samurai: Resurrection. He is a specialist in cybernetics and biotechnology, described as a perverse and vile master of science whose creations serve the plans of more powerful characters.
His background before the events of Resurrection connects him to the Empty Seven Clan, for whom he built a machine-ninja army and the Afro Droid, a robotic replica of Afro Samurai. He is also responsible for significant body modification work, having reconstructed the swordsman Jinno, also known as Kuma, into a powerful cyborg after Jinno was left near death, and later having rebuilt Sio's foster brother Bin as a cybernetic fighter. These projects establish Dharman as the setting's foremost builder of enhanced warriors.
In Afro Samurai: Resurrection, Dharman is brought into the revenge scheme of Lady Sio, who seeks to destroy Afro Samurai. Sio obtains the jawbone of Afro's father, Rokutaro, and Dharman uses advanced biotechnology to grow a clone of Rokutaro from that remains, resurrecting the dead warrior as a soulless combatant. His role in the story is technical and enabling, as he provides the means by which Sio hopes to turn Afro's own father into a weapon against him.
In terms of personality, Dharman is portrayed as unhinged and morally unconstrained, approaching his experiments with enthusiasm rather than horror. He shows a particular fascination with cruelty, being visibly aroused by Sio's beauty and her sadistic nature, and he carries himself with an unstable, lecherous demeanor. His motivations are not ideological; he is driven mainly by perverse interest in his own work and by his attraction to Sio, whom he serves in exchange for the opportunity to pursue extreme science.
His key relationships revolve around his patrons. With the Empty Seven, he acted as a supplier of deadly technology. With Sio, he serves as an ally who is ultimately expendable. After the loss of her henchmen, Sio kills Dharman, and because his work was left incomplete, the clone of Rokutaro possesses a flawed mental recreation that shapes its behavior during the final confrontation. His earlier cybernetic work on Jinno also links him indirectly to that character's history.
Dharman undergoes little personal development in the film. He appears, carries out his function in the resurrection plot, and dies at Sio's hands once he has outlived his usefulness. His lasting contribution to the story is largely technical, namely the incomplete clone of Rokutaro that serves as the climactic opponent and the cybernetic enhancements he gave to other characters.
His notable abilities lie in engineering and bioscience. He can construct advanced combat robots, rebuild and augment human beings into cyborg fighters, and clone a person from recovered biological material. He is not presented as a combatant; his power is expressed through the weapons and warriors he creates.
His background before the events of Resurrection connects him to the Empty Seven Clan, for whom he built a machine-ninja army and the Afro Droid, a robotic replica of Afro Samurai. He is also responsible for significant body modification work, having reconstructed the swordsman Jinno, also known as Kuma, into a powerful cyborg after Jinno was left near death, and later having rebuilt Sio's foster brother Bin as a cybernetic fighter. These projects establish Dharman as the setting's foremost builder of enhanced warriors.
In Afro Samurai: Resurrection, Dharman is brought into the revenge scheme of Lady Sio, who seeks to destroy Afro Samurai. Sio obtains the jawbone of Afro's father, Rokutaro, and Dharman uses advanced biotechnology to grow a clone of Rokutaro from that remains, resurrecting the dead warrior as a soulless combatant. His role in the story is technical and enabling, as he provides the means by which Sio hopes to turn Afro's own father into a weapon against him.
In terms of personality, Dharman is portrayed as unhinged and morally unconstrained, approaching his experiments with enthusiasm rather than horror. He shows a particular fascination with cruelty, being visibly aroused by Sio's beauty and her sadistic nature, and he carries himself with an unstable, lecherous demeanor. His motivations are not ideological; he is driven mainly by perverse interest in his own work and by his attraction to Sio, whom he serves in exchange for the opportunity to pursue extreme science.
His key relationships revolve around his patrons. With the Empty Seven, he acted as a supplier of deadly technology. With Sio, he serves as an ally who is ultimately expendable. After the loss of her henchmen, Sio kills Dharman, and because his work was left incomplete, the clone of Rokutaro possesses a flawed mental recreation that shapes its behavior during the final confrontation. His earlier cybernetic work on Jinno also links him indirectly to that character's history.
Dharman undergoes little personal development in the film. He appears, carries out his function in the resurrection plot, and dies at Sio's hands once he has outlived his usefulness. His lasting contribution to the story is largely technical, namely the incomplete clone of Rokutaro that serves as the climactic opponent and the cybernetic enhancements he gave to other characters.
His notable abilities lie in engineering and bioscience. He can construct advanced combat robots, rebuild and augment human beings into cyborg fighters, and clone a person from recovered biological material. He is not presented as a combatant; his power is expressed through the weapons and warriors he creates.