Having white skin was taboo in 17th century Japan. Perhaps only women who tried to wield the sword as skillfully as samurai were in a worse situation. Mišenka Mizu, the heroine of the Blue-Eyed Samurai series, is unlucky for herself, or rather for the misfortune of both of her opponents. Just a few movements of her arms are enough and the Netflix video library proves once again that Americans also know how to capture the poetics of the Far East.
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The Blue-Eyed Samurai series is on Netflix with Czech subtitles. | Video: Netflix
Last year, the One Piece series, an adaptation of the popular manga and anime of the same name, was one of the first successful live-action attempts at an overseas adaptation of a Japanese cartoon. Blue-Eyed Samurai, which can also be seen on Netflix, is not based on any similar saga. However, it’s a better animated samurai action drama than the many attempts made there to contribute to the mainstream genre.
The main creators Amber Noizumi and Michael Green have come up with not only a tribute to Asian models, but in general one of the most successful genre series of the past year. A remarkably animated drama from the Edo period, that is, from 1603 to 1867, it skillfully mixes lyrical moments with high-stakes action. It plays with many elements of Japanese tradition, but at the same time looks critically at the society associated with it and British imperialism.
At its core, it’s a simple revenge story. Mizu makes her way across the world, driven by one goal: to kill all four white men who secretly live in Japan and pull the strings of local politics. And who could be her father at the same time.
Like any hero, Mizu needs a sidekick, so Ringo, a portly chef’s assistant, soon tries to join her. He is enchanted by his abilities and also wishes to learn swordsmanship. Despite a small handicap: he has no hands or fingers and his arms end in stumps.
The blue-eyed samurai is already playing with the stereotype slightly here. The passionate fat man tries to ingratiate himself with Mizu, who doesn’t want to let anyone stop her in her tracks. But you can’t just shake off a huge, naive nice guy. He not only perfectly fulfills the saying “You throw it out the door, it comes back through the window”. Above all, two things quickly become apparent. For one thing, the cook is unexpectedly skilled for his size. And above all he can be really useful.
The eight-part series constantly works with perspective, even as it can get fatally serious. And this dynamism, together with a distinctive style, makes it a compelling show. Between the lines, he constantly discusses gender, childhood trauma and political issues.
Mizu is not only active and action-oriented, but also a taciturn, unreadable, sometimes very harsh and unpleasant heroine. She follows all the dark silent protagonists of the samurai sagas, the spaghetti western genre or the famous manga series, such as the action classic Berserk. With her, the blue-eyed Samurai also shares the brutality of duels, in which swords and other weapons do not hesitate to cut bodies in two in rivers of blood.
At the same time, the choreography of the action scenes is highly stylized. The creators refer, among other things, to Quentin Tarantino’s two-part work Kill Bill, pushing the aesthetic even further. Despite the roughness of some of the fencing exchanges, they balance on the line between action and art, with blood gushing in places – without exaggeration – almost like the paint on Jackson Pollock’s abstract expressionist paintings.
The work is full of allusions and homages. Sometimes the music references The Matrix, other times Mizu attacks the legs of his opponents like Bruce Lee in the classic action film Fist of Fury.
With a similar mix of audacity and strong aestheticization, the creators also work in the field of erotica. One episode takes place in a brothel and surprises with a mixture of sex and lyricism, using elements of traditional Japanese noh theater or puppet bunraku, to quickly draw the audience into a murmur of action that is difficult to imagine on stage.
The samurai Mizu, voiced by Maya Erskine, makes his way in 17th century Japan. | Photo: Netflix
The cleverly constructed narrative works skillfully with flashbacks, at the most emotional moment it does not hesitate to divert the plot for the entire episode. At the same time, you never get the feeling that this is cotton wool and filler, as sometimes happens in many times longer anime sagas.
On the contrary, here all the characters acquire plasticity, the initially slightly bloated boy becomes a worthy adversary and soon much more. All of this gives the seemingly simple mission in the name of revenge a more nuanced and ambivalent nature.
The blue-eyed samurai wonderfully mixes catchiness and sophistication, lyricism and brutality, fatalism and intuition. It’s already an act that is becoming an action classic. The clashes of samurai katanas on the screen depict sometimes unprecedented scenes, and the characters speak with the voices of established actors such as Kenneth Branagh or George Takei. No wonder Netflix has already announced work on a second series.
The Blue-Eyed Samurai can halve his audience. He doesn’t need to be too poetic, but his sword calligraphy gets under your skin.
Serial
Blue-eyed samurai
Creators: Amber Noizumi and Michael Green
The series can be seen on Netflix.
2024-01-16 11:00:48
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