Blue Eye Samurai is Mulan meets 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:John Wick. A tragic examination of womanhood in 17th century Japan amidst a nation that has shut itself o༺ff from the rest of the world. From the creative pairing of Michael Green (Blade Runner 2049, Logan) and newcomer Amber Noizumi comes an animated tale of revenge, femininity, and coming to terms with one’s own existence in a world that has forever branded you as an outsider. While it can lean into cliché oꦍn occasion, Blue Spirit and Netflix have produced a stellar original series that is equal parts beauty and bloodshed. Those without warm hearts and strong stomachs need not apply.
Mizu (Maya Erskine) is a female samurai shunned from birth as a “half-breed”, her Japanese mother having her with a white man who, at the time, were forbidden from crossing Japan’s borders. Her youth was spent in isolation, disguising herself as a boy to avoid being swiftly sold into prostitution as a child. Hidden away, our heroine is raised under the♈ tutelage of a blacksmith with no eyesight, seeing nothing but a stranded child in need of a guiding hand. So he raises Mizu as his apprentice, never acknowledging her true gender as she learns to study♎ the blade as well as build them. This is all in preparation of murdering the four remaining men in Japan who could have brought her into this world. With her mother seemingly long dead, Mizu’s only reason to live is to banish those who doomed her to this mortal realm in the first place.
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Blue Eye Samurai could have quickly become a rote tale of revenge held back by decades of tired samurai tropes, but avoids thisﷺ with many of its musical stylings and shot composition taking clear inspiration from the likes of Akira Kurosawa and Quentin Taran💖tino. It also blends in oodles of modern action conventions from the likes of John Wick and Mad Max: Fury Road, every fight depicted with a bloody, unpredictable ferocity where limbs are torn apart in the pursuit of survival. It is brutal and beautiful, with some of the best combat I’ve ever seen animation accomplish.
It’s all in service of an empowering narrative, one whe𓄧re the patriarchy is constantly thrust under the microscope as female characters ꦯtry and fail to exist in a society that has forced them to provide either obedience or pleasure. Alternatives do not exist, forcing Mizu to bind her chest and hide her sapphire blue eyes from the world for even a chance at enacting revenge. They’re a fantastic lead character, hiding so much depth beneath their animalistic urge for revenge and penchant for violence. All Mizu sees is red, casting aside honour and duty for a singular cause that could potentially be her undoing. After years of everyone you’ve ever loved turning against you and labelling you a demon, it’s difficult to view the world in any other way.
Fighting against the status quo is also present in Princess Akemi (Brenda Song), a young woman who wishes to marry a local samurai she has the hots for instead of the shogunate’s prestigious son. She wants to make her own decisions, not to be shepherded around as a political bargaining chip by a father too afraid to make his own decisions. To him, Akemi is not a human being, but a means to an end, expected to serve her husband and sit quietly until her time comes to die. It’s a miserable life, and one so many characters in Blue Eye Samurai are content to reinforce, unwilling to usurp nor🎃mality in the fear of being punished.
Across its eight episodes, Blue Eye Samurai follows these wayward souls stumbling upon a similar path. Excellent supporting characters like Ringo (Masi Oka), Seki (George Taki), and Ise (Stephanie Tsu) each represent different roles in society, all of which are shackled to a duty or prejudice they have no means of escaping, and must live with for better or worse. Ise is the proprietor of a famous brothel housing women with nowhere else to go, while Ringo is a chef born with no hands in search of a means to achieve greatness. Seki has watched out for Akemi her entire life, standing by her side but going against her wishes if it ensures a net of safety from outside threats, even if these decisions serve to reinforce the misogyny she is trying so desperately to escape. It’s very 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Game of Thrones, giving every character and arc sufficient development while knowing they will all eventually collide in a t💟ragic explosion.
Abijah Fowler (Kenneth Branagh) makes for a daunting villain. A towering Irish powerhouse who resides on the ninth floor of a booby-trap ridden castle. Having imported thousands upon thousands of guns from the Western world, he commands an army and plans to conquer the🐭 country through his own means, using Japan’s rejection of modern ideas against them. He may also be Mizu’s father, driving her mission of revenge forward even if slaughtering entire armies is required in order to reach him. Strong writing plus obvious love and understanding of the time period help paint Blue Eye Samurai as an accomplished period adventure that explores its more fantastical side. Vibrant cherry blossoms and snowfall mixed with blood help convey a vision of Japan that is deliberately picturesque and dreamlike, but also true to historical portrayals and aspects of the culture that dig beneath the surface.
It’s also layered with elements of subtle queerness throughout, ranging from an ๊explicit yet mature exploration of sex and relationships to a protagonist who deliberately skirts her own gender binary, only ever revealing their true identity to those she trusts completely. There is a tangible transgender experience here many will see themselves in, forcibly othered within society even if you do everything in your power to fight back against it. History is honored as much as it is questioned, critiquing these archaic beliefs of honour and masculinity, framing Mizu’s journey as not just a fierce desire for revenge, but a right to exist.
As Netflix continues to gut original animated projects, to see a 𝔍triumph like this slip through the cracks is something of a relief. A fully-formed, mature adventure filled with an ensemble cast who are equally flawed and fascinating, capable of tugging at your heartstrings as much as they are at tearing the organ from your 🐼chest in seconds. Blue Eye Samurai should not be slept on.
