The holiday break is the perfect time to catch up on a series that you may have missed during the year. As much as we loved the live-action One Piece, if forced to recommend only one show from 2023, it’s definitely animated historical actioner Blue Eye Samurai.
Coming out of evidently nowhere to release on Netflix on 3 November, Blue Eye Samurai has the thrill of stumbling over a precious stone that few people are aware even exists. Its reputation seems to have grown over time, by word of mouth, and this feature is hopefully contributing towards that. While it doesn’t feature quite the same standard of animation, Blue Eye Samurai is this year’s Arcane in the sense that it’s another series that uses the medium of animation in a mature-minded way to create on-screen art for older audiences.
As a brief introduction, Blue Eye Samurai is a wholly original property. It’s not an adaptation of pre-existing material, and it’s not a sequel or spin-off. Set in mid 17th Century Japan, the Edo Period is in full swing, and with it the country has adopted a self-isolationist policy, closing its borders to foreigners. In this setting, to be mixed race is to be considered a monster, and that’s why Mizi – the blue-eyed swordsman of the title, voiced by Maya Erskine – has been an outcast their entire life. In retaliation, Mizu sets out to kill the four white men who were in Japan at the time of Mizu’s birth, and who made their life a misery.
1. It’s cinematic
If you were limited to using just one word to describe Blue Eye Samurai, it has to be “cinematic.” Created and primarily written by husband and wife duo Michael Green (Logan, Blade Runner 2049) and Amber Noizumi, and guided by director-producer Jane Wu, Blue Eye Samurai has been approached with live-action filmmaking sensibilities… and it shows.
The fight scenes are elevated by use of a stunt coordinator Sunny Sun and his team, who acted out the battles, while storyboards and environments were continually refined to create an onscreen spacial credibility that viewers feel even if they can’t vocalise.
You can argue that with such effort being made, Blue Eye Samurai could have been live-action, but that’s where French animation studio Blue Spirit comes in. Their unusual stylistic marriage of 3D CGI and 2D gives Blue Eye Samurai a painterly feel that is consistently striking, and fitting for the setting. Adopting this approach avoids the sense of artifice that likely would have been the result if the aesthetic was attempted in flesh and blood, meaning that viewers can more easily immerse themselves in the intimate character-driven story without being distracted.
The below behind-the-scenes clip explores the making of Blue Eye Samurai, but beware that it contains major Season 1 spoilers.
2. It’s got Game of Thrones level intrigue, intensity and, well, other things too
If you’re someone who clings to the belief that animation equals kids’ entertainment, Blue Eye Samurai is here to set you straight. It’s every bit as intrigue-filled and graphic (in terms of violence and sex) as something like Game of Thrones. Expect nudity across the gender spectrum.
Seventeenth Century Japan may be closed off from the rest of the world but that doesn’t mean it’s safe from threats. In Blue Eye Samurai, numerous parties have eyes on the title of Shogun, which means scheming, backstabbing and shocking plot twists. And that’s just the male characters.
The women in Blue Eye Samurai are playing a different game to secure autonomy in a patriarchal society. Faced with limited options, sexual attraction and a quiet compliance masking slyness are the tools deployed here.
3. It’s an ensemble
Building on that last point, while Mizu’s quest for revenge drives the plot, Blue Eye Samurai isn’t just about them. The cast is expansive, diverse and voiced by the all-star likes of George Takei, Randall Park, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Stephanie Hsu and Kenneth Branagh.
Given the dark nature of Mizu’s saga, there are crime lords, henchmen, assassins, corrupt noblemen and smugglers aplenty. However, essentially on a protagonist par with Mizu are Brenda Song’s Akemi, a pampered but highly educated and wilful young woman shopped around by her lord father. Then there’s Darren Barnet’s Taigen, a samurai rival of Mizu, who has a chip on his shoulder over the fact he’s a poor fisherman’s son. Like I said, varied, and interesting.
Particularly likeable in the cast are Heroes alumnus Masi Oka as Ringo, the disabled cook who latches himself onto Mizu, and Ming-Na Wen as shrewd brothel head Madame Kaji who uses tough love and razor-sharp truths to instil survival skills in the girls she takes under her wing. Plus, you really can’t go wrong with Takei and Tagawa as old man mentor figures who vacillate between softness and steel.
4. It features arguably the best episode of television in 2023
The greatest tragedies are the ones that graze a happy ending. For the briefest moment it seems like the protagonist will escape the dark path that they’re on, and live out the rest of their days content. Except, ultimately, that doesn’t happen. Which brings us to Episode 5 of Blue Eye Samurai S1, entitled The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride.
Following on from the cliffhanger ending of the previous episode, The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride is narratively triple-stacked, paralleling Mizu’s impossible one-person battle against an army of thugs with a heart-breaking chapter of their backstory, and a traditional bunraku puppet show about another samurai on a lifelong revenge quest. The episode is relentlessly tense, technically brilliant and, of course, tragic.
5. Every episode is different
One thing to be aware of is that Blue Eye Samurai is happy to mix things up as it explores different tropes. Every episode of the eight-episode haul leans in a slightly different direction thematically, while the show maintains its own identity. Though you can identify obvious influences, it never really feels like it’s copying someone else’s homework.
For example, the emotionally charged and all-round sophisticated The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride is followed by an episode that plays out like a contemporary AAA video game, complete with multiple levels and a boss fight. It’s unapologetically far-fetched. Backtrack, and you’re in Seven Samurai territory. Various influences shine through at different times, from Lady Snowblood to the Kurosawa “lone ronin” tales that led to Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name anti-hero trilogy.
6. It’s already been renewed for Season 2
When I initially started musing over this article, I planned on encouraging people to watch Blue Eye Samurai as a way of nudging Netflix to greenlight a second season. It turns out I didn’t need to. On 11 December, barely one month after Blue Eye Samurai debuted, Season 2 was confirmed. Granted, Season 2 confirmations mean little these days, as streaming services backtrack on their promises to creators and fans alike, but Mizu’s bloody odyssey will apparently continue… And we can’t wait.