Blue Eye Samurai Series Review
Blue Eye Samurai is an animated action series created and written by husband and wife team Michael Green and Amber Noizumi and animated by the French studio Blue Spirit. Season 1 of Blue Eye Samurai with 8 episodes was released on Netflix on 3 November 2023.
The story is centred around Mizu a biracial warrior and outcast in 17th century Edo-period Japan carving out a bloody path of revenge, retribution and redemption…
The Good
The animation aesthetic is breath-taking and tranquil, that is until it breaks into a riotous choreography of violent action…
Blue Eye Samurai has an immersive storytelling technique which allows it to flesh out back-stories and track the storylines of not just Mizu but Taigen a samurai and Akemi a princess without being overwhelming.
Mizu is tough as nails, breaking stereotypes and bones, slicing warriors like a hot knife gliding through butter… Mizu’s character arc is complicated forged by inner turmoil and trauma that you understand how the warrior is the way they are, yet you never sure how exactly to feel about it…
Blue Eye Samurai is juxtaposition of contrasting themes where on one side you have a brutal and bloody revenge story and on the flipside there’s a beautiful and tragic love story both united by toxic masculinity and the need to do what one has to do…
Its not all dark, broody and serious, the series has its lighter moments embodied by Ringo, an optimistic, handless male cook who tackles the challenges handed to him without his limitations defining him.
The Bad
The pacing can get rather erratic where violence gets brushed away into idyllic and picturesque visuals belying the turmoil, urgency and bloodshed that just occurred.
There is plot hole and plot twist which isn’t that much of twist as it is revealed at the end of the first episode, though I am trying not to give it away incase you haven’t watched it yet… but the ensuing dramatic irony is a bit much and will leave you wondering how it will play it….
The violence is rather over the top….. just because it is animated does not mean that it is not rated for a mature audience.. It can be downright disturbing with dips into the red light zone that would make Memoirs Of A Geisha blush…
The Ugly
The series masquerades as a heroic action-adventure revenge story that’s really a bloody and emotional drama series… Don’t let the action fool you… thematically, its dark and emotive tackling strong opinions on xenophobia, race, gender, identity, honour and patriarchy..
The Edo-period in Japan had some exploitative cultural practices with regards to gender, marriage, foreigners and even the honour which they so cherished… Blue Eye Samurai rips the band aid to expose the hypocrisy and toxicity… and its not pretty.
Final Thoughts
Watching Blue Eye Samurai is a wild ride and its easy to see why it has people voting it as the best animated series of 2023.. While technically its not an anime series, as it was not made in Japan, given its anime aesthetic and Japanese setting, some fans recognise it as one.
Fun Fact The inspiration for Mizu is drawn from the series creators’ biracial daughter -with blue eyes. “…Back in the Edo period starting in 17th-century Japan, it would’ve been illegal to be white. Nobody would’ve wanted to look white like that,..”
The show was renewed for a second season on 11 December 2023.
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