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I fell in love with Blue Eye Samurai so fast. This video covers every episode, looking at all of the best parts in season 1, while we wait for season 2. I also have overall thoughts on the show and will explain some themes, primarily: revenge.
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The fact that they were able to improve on the Rock Lee moment by making the weights double up as a weapon change was just amazing.
Man! Both me and my brother screamed out loud when we saw the weights dropped.
how old are you bro@@arisel0v360
Yup. That was BRILLIANT and GLORIOUS.
omg, that whole sequence gave me goosebumps love love love loved it ❤
rock lee moment..?? u know how many shows do weighted training
I just loved that they avoided that thing where a katana blade cutting bullets in half. Instead, Mizu's sword shatters when she tried to block Abija's gunshot.
Also great storytelling/symbolism with the shot shattering the blade. She finally gets to Fowler but she’s severely injured and carrying the almost dead weight of Taigen. Her strength and resolution in that moment shattered much like the blade.
@@faithdahlquist-tookey4619it's also a callback to the earlier story where the evil guy who commissioned a blade from her master and thr sword broke because his "soul" was not pure, and "the sword is the soul of the samurai". Mizu thought of how she failed ringo in that moment, and how her soul was not pure either, so the sword broke.
“I’m like a dog chasing cars. I never know what I’m gonna do if I get one!”
Also just more grounded in realism, IRL as soon as the Japanese got guns the way of the sword was basically ditched. Melee weapons don't hold a candle to guns.
@ychristy8928I love that this is how *all* the spirituality is dealt with in BES. The whole commissioned-sword incident is presented in-universe as spirituality, but it could equally be that Swordfather (who already mentioned that there was some deception) actually sabotaged the blade, or it could be pure chance. Likewise with the bullet vs sword and the shattering. Is it related and spiritual? Is it unrelated and science? Are they related as you say? Are they completely unrelated, but through Mizu's experience and subjective memory they *feel* related to her, and so to us? It could be one, both or neither, and the story is made all the better by the ambiguity. Aaaah I love it so much and love that other people are comparing these kinds of moments too.
"he will kill you with a sword" is by far one of my favorite moments in this show...the fact that Taigen's holding Shindo up by his severed wrist as he kills him too is just 👌
Shindo definitely got away too easy with that death.
I LITERALLY Laughed out loud!!! It was SO damn poetic!!!
As an Irish man watching this series, I was impressed by the accurate historical background of Abijah Fowler. Specifically in episode 7 when he talks about the famine linked to the colonial war between Britain and Ireland. Its honesty so refreshing to watch a show with so much research and passion put in to it!
Agree, Tudor delegates slash and burn approach create a lot of famines in the late 1500s and early 1600s. One thing I struggle with is the name Abhijah Fowler, neither of which were present in Ukster at the time....unless he changed it. Let's see if we get an Irish Skeffington 😮
An Irish man with a Scottish accent. Yup. Who suffered from colonialism yet calls himself British. Alright.
@INFIDEL96 you know the voice actor is from Belfast right?
@@Maidaseu Kenneth Branagh is from Belfast sir
@INFIDEL96 you realize a lot of Irish people began inspiring themselves after the British right? It's something that happens with minorities that try to copy the majority class to avoid oppression. Look up black slave owners.
This series deserves so much more popularity. Everything from the characters to the soundtrack was amazing
Go Woke, Go Broke.
@@Chris-rg6nm Go bigot, Go maggot
@@Chris-rg6nm Season 2, go cope
@@Chris-rg6nmtell me you haven't watched the show without telling me you haven't watched it. Either that or you're behind sarcastic and I've missed it. Or maybe you should cry more. Shrug.
@@trim3408 Most likely they're trolling. It is the internet after all
This was already a 100% excellent show and then... episode 5... and Mikio... and the show completely levelled up in such satisfying and devastating and cathartic ways. So hard to express how brilliant and subversive and fully realised this show is. It could have been straight up revenge porn and instead we get this utterly beautiful and tragic and at time uplifting story about people railing against their restrictive social roles and their own flawed emotions. Incredible series.
As regards Mizu and gender, as a trans person I never took her as trans. You hit the nail on the head when you said "characters can represent you without explicitly being you." I resonated with Akemi's struggle, with Taigen, with Ringo, I wept when Mizu came SO close to a type of happy ending in embracing her "given" role as a wife only to have it robbed when she took too much joy in something outside expectations. When she was decared a "monster". For someone like Mizu her sex and gender are probably always secondary to the internalised revulsion she feels at her mixed race - she is rejected from all aspects of normal society because of her blue eyes... her life is pain and anguish and total ostracism. Whether she feels any way about her sex or gender seems like small cookies to that, like a type of trite social reality others have she will never be able to access anyway. I dunno. I never feel the need to trans code every character who dresses or acts outside "typical" sex/gender presentations or make suppositions about their identity, I think we can just enjoy how complicated humans can be and resonate with aspects of their internal struggles
The revenge thing is weak. How could she have so much rage for someone you dont even know personally. And the fact that she met her mother again later in the story whose the whole reason why she go on to hunt them in the first place make it weaker. And yes shes just a maid but as far as she knows shes her mother until they reveal that she is not.
@@Beresunablle I don't think it's weak at all. Way I read it she hates herself, the killing spree is escapism from her own inner torment and a way to atone for being a "monster". It doesn't have to be strict realism - revenge quest is just the hook - hyperbole even, to highlight and express a point about racism, society, rejection and belonging. She isn't supposed to have sane rationality and strong relationship bonds - all that was taken from her. But her being an Onryo was also explained pretty thoroughly in the show
@@lauroralei what convoluted bullshit is that whatever she felt i doesnt change the fact that she has zero connection towards the foreigner shes hunting especially when she found out that her maid/mother is alive. If anything else she should be taking revenge towards the people who burn her house not some far off target she doesnt even get to meet. Btw its a good thing her targets are potrayed as bad guys just imagine there just normal working merchant doing honest day of work and out of nowhere some idiot burst out your house killing them.
episode 5 is far and away the best episode of any media i’ve watched ever
One detail to Mizu's character that I love and often goes overlooked is that the scarf itself (and to a lesser extent the binder she wears) can signify healing, as bandages. On the neck specifically that implies Mizu's head or mind is disconnected from the rest of her body. In accord with your points about her motivations for revenge, she already considers herself dead and that's baked into her character design. Only in the instances when her scarf is gone does she acknowledge her own life as something of value, like when she reforges her sword naked or the very end of the last episode.
Awesome analysis! I read somewhere that someone thought the scarf also might be to hide the lack of a pronounced Adam’s apple. But I like your interpretation better.
@@CinemaWins it's probably both.
I always figured she was covering up a lack of an Adam's apple. But I love your theory too.
Orrrr. Just hiding her non existing Adam apple
@@andybarber8898 This
Mizu’s quick recovery time is absolutely inaccurate BUT…I personally liked to think that her body becomes more than human because of her rage. That sheer force of screaming, seething anger that spikes into a shriek of adrenaline shooting super human strength beyond her already incredible talents. THAT is the demon inside of her, doing inhuman feats that most people only do in a flash of once in a lifetime death threats. The “mom trapped in a burning car” type super strength. But she has nurtured and lived on top of that rage, it has been her subsistence. The initial stabbing that left her crawling towards her mother on the bridge-that was before she tapped into this well of rage. It was after becoming the onryo that she would be able to tap into this simmering hate in her stomach.
as long as you have proper force of motivation you can do amazing things, she has anger and hatred to fuel her and so keeps going when most normal people would have stopped i could believe it
YES! I remember being so weirded out seeing her be completely defeated by a wound of the kind she pushes through in other scenarios, but you're completely right, it's because she hasn't found that onryo fire yet.
I'm so glad this is getting a Season 2.
Go Woke, Go Broke.
Me too, 2nd season I can't wait. One of the best newest western anime series.
@@Chris-rg6nmwhat are you talking about?
@@Chris-rg6nm Is the woke in the room with us
@@Chris-rg6nm hmm, you say that even though you're on a video about an amazing show that is woke. Blue Eye Samurai is woke, but is still a spectacular show.
Taigen pulled a Zuko, he just needs to go around screaming HONOORRRR and he'll finish the transformation (he even got a "scar" out of losing his honor, aka his hair). Oh and he also pulled a blue spirit move, by saving Mizu to then challenge her (bc he's the only one that gets to kill her lmao)
zuko and taigen have opposite haircuts but the same motivation lol
Except the main difference is that Taigen's 'honor'-idea is mostly in his own head. Zuko has his whole family, his whole culture telling him he should be a certain kind of person. Taigen's surrounding doesn't really care either way. Sure, his loss is used as an excuse to marry Akemi off to someone else, but it was mostly just that; an excuse. That's why his story arc could be a lot shorter, he mainly just had to get over his own ego. Zuko had to re-learn his entire identity. Both are amazing characters though.
HAHAHA@@astrovoid9393
To me he sounds like Zuko too 😭😭
A little theory I have: she is no daughter of white man, she is a daughter of a white woman: they paid some woman to take care of her, and the ginger man laughed at her and said 'You have come to kill me because I may be your father? there is so much you don't know' So it may be that Mizu finds out her mom has the blue eyes. Let me know if I'm missing something
That's the only reason that would make sense as to why they decided to tell the story that the woman we thought was her mother was just being paid. If they ignore that, It would be just like saying 'random fact: she is not your mother' and letting it like that, with no weight, and something like that needs weight. In the show they normally do things that take us by surprise but make sense because there was a hint before.
I don't know how long it will take but I I can't wait to see if you're right.
A lot of people have independently come up with this theory. One, it fits with the themes of gender: everyone talks about the 4 white men in Japan, but one of them could have had a wife, daughter or maid accompanying them and it wouldn't have merited mentioning, because English women didn't count as people any more than Japanese women did. Two, her father being someone important in Japan (like the Shogun or one of his sons) would explain why Fowler knows about her, why assassins were after her, and why there was apparently money and a "Mom" in place to protect her. And three, IF her dad was someone important, that would be a reason for her story to circle back and cross Akemi's path again.
I like to think that what her "Mama" told her when shaving her head could hint at that as well. She said something like "they are looking for a girl so you must always be a boy". I think it hints how while mizu is searching for a man, it's really a woman who is her white parent. Her idea of her parentage could be deceived like she's had to deceive others about her gender in order to survive
I agree with @karenammon5792 that it would play into the themes with gender. The fact that she automatically assumed the white half of her came from a man says a lot about how she sees men and it would show, again, the complexity of women that's continued through the show
Honestly, this series is like a second Arcane to me, just without the hype of it coming from a formerly established and beloved franchise. The unique sound design of the space metal was as intriguing and beautiful as the sound of the Hex core. Visually, Blue Eye Samurai is beyond stunning, the fight scenes are a pure joy to watch, again, very much like Arcane. I‘ve never been so excited for another season of a series as I am with both Arcane and now Blue Eye Samurai.
For all the magic and faux-science that Arcane has, it is the more grounded of the two shows. I honestly prefer Arcane, but by God is BES a hairs breath away from being just as great!
@@TheKueiJin Exactly! It’s not a second Arcane entirely, more like second to it.
@@TheKueiJinnah i like bes better, simply because of the setting and Mizu as a main protag. For me its first, its a matter of taste
@@shepardcommander5174 *puts hands on your shoulders, and slowly whispers*: EdgeRunners
It clearly didn't have the same amount of time to cook as Arcane did, because Arcane really has every single frame molded into a painting and every tiny line expertly written. It definitely hits the same spots as Arcane did though.
i cannot express how genuinely happy it makes me to see more people talking about blue eye samurai. I was honestly really shocked with how much I ended up absolutely loving this show and how little people were talking about it. One of the best things to come out of 2023 in my opinion. I'm so excited for season 2
I have never heard of this show, i knew of it's existence when i was scrolling the KZhead free episode 1 thing Shame though, it's like what i imagine a western written, anime style show would look like Also technically this is a french show...
Something I thought about a lot during the first season was that I think that part of her mission is hurting herself, you yourself said she hates herself and I absolutely agree, I think she thinks she deserves the pain she experiences, which is part of the reason she has no qualms with dying for her mission, but also part of the reason she keeps going, she feels a sort of savage pleasure at the pain she experiences because she thinks she deserves it, and this would parallel her interestingly with Fowler, he feels pleasure at others pain, and Mizu from her own
Oof
I fully agree, it's a deliberately self destructive and self-harm quest. I think that's a big part of why she can push through disabling wounds so many times like we see her do, at least for one brief burst of energy before collapse.
as far as gender coding goes, so far we dont know explicitly, but Mizu never actually rejects her womanhood. She hides it to protect herself. I wouldn’t be surprised if this wasn’t a more common thing for more extreme patriarcies. For example, in ‘The Breadwinner’ an animation about a family trying to survive the reign of the taliban, the female protagonist disguises herself as a boy so she can work. Even before she does this, she has to help her amputee father at the market, and they show how her being a girl puts her and her father in danger when he tries to defend her from a young, angry taliban boy who hyperfocuses on her for not “covering herself properly” in public. Mizu is in the same situation. There are people looking for a little girl to kill. There are people who would kidnap, sell, SA, etc a lone female without a second thought bc they have no rights against men. Mizu is comfortable with people calling her “he” bc it means her defense mechanism is working and her identity is still hidden. She can travel, she can be left alone. Without that external motivation of self defense, for example, when Mizu is bathing alone, or in the marriage flashback, Mizu never expresses any conflict with BEING a woman. She was ready to live a happy life as a wife bc her husband was kind and actually allowed her to be herself and respected her. Up until the point that she scared him withher swordsmanship and (i assume) both he and her ‘mother’ betrayed her by ratting her out to her hunters not only to be rid of a “demon” but to fuel an opioid addiction. So, i personally believe that Mizu isn’t at conflict with her womanhood at all. Her story isnt one of “Being a man despite everyone wanting me to be a girl” its a story of someone adapting to a hostile environment that makes her gender a motive and a target for hostile people. She’s afraid of being identified as a female, but she herself doesn’t feel like she’s not supposed to be one.
1000000% agree!! I honestly think it’s clear that she is female and good with being female. As a matter of fact, I think there’s some grief and trauma from not being able to embrace her femininity because of her situation and the world she was living in. She isn’t trying to be a man, she does what she needs to do to survive. She’s a female warrior without wanting to be a man or an overly-sexualized female stereotype. She has depth, and makes the best female protagonist I’ve seen since Kill Bill. 10/10.
Excellent analysis.
EXACTLY. Really hope people don't see this as "trans representation" and instead see it for what it is: women being oppressed so harshly that they need to hide their gender to survive, while never feeling ashamed about being female. It's about time we stop letting the trans movement erase women, especially gender nonconforming women.
Trans woman here. I actually read a lot of Mizu's story as trans-fem-adjacent. She's not dressing like a man because she *wants* to. She's dressing like a man because she's been forced to by her 'mother', then later by the expectations of the society around her. I figure if there were no problems associated with being a female warrior she'd be perfectly fine with presenting herself that way. But there are, so she doesn't.
@@cass7448 Honestly, she's not just ADJACENT. Yes, she may have what is typically considered female anatomy, but gender isn't about biology. If we lived in a world that was fully and unhesitatingly accepting of trans people, the option to medically transition would be easily accessible and our bodies would barely be an obstacle. The thing that makes me trans is that I was assigned manhood. That's why we use the terms AMAB and AFAB. Mizu's manhood may not have been assigned AT BIRTH, but she is a trans woman.
What I *especially* loved about 06 is that it starts out with Mizu ninja-invading the fortress with stealth, and it almost *immediately* goes wrong and becomes a disaster. Also drug monkeys. The prisoner "zombies" and the "demon" boss are because Mizu is hallucinating hard after getting a facefull of Fowler's experimental pixie dust. I felt so bad for that kitchen staff.
I LOVED how the steal just broke down very quickly in very subversive ways. Like Ringo and Taigun realize and emulate later, she is much much better at just going directly through the front door like a battering ram.
loved the kitchen staff one of my favorite jokes from the series
something which I haven't seen mentioned, is how great a blacksmith Mizu is. she managed to forge a blade out of that meteorite, which her teacher wasn't able to do, and then, of course, are those perfectly interlocking metal segments which can be attached to her katana and make a naginata. there's some great craftsmanship in there.
one of my favorite parts of the show is the _for me_ misdirect in the puppetshow. i first thought the the ronin was representing misu. made sense, revenge etc etc. but the further you got in the episode the clearer it became that misu was the bride. was happy with that. i felt so betrayed by her husband ... it is such an awesome show
This is also a reference to The Bride in Kill Bill
This was a truly incredible series. This and Arcane really shows the shift in what western “adult” animation can be, not just raunchy comedies, but stories with complex and mature themes, and I hope it inspires way more.
I would argue that it’s Bojack Horseman that’s responsible for the wave of good adult animation we’re getting.
@@joshuasgameplays9850 no. bojack may be good, but it's firmly in the "raunchy comedy" section of adult animation. it's big claim to fame is that it's a simpsons/family guy-esque "adult cartoon" that eschews being just about laughs and instead decides to be genuine drama. arcane and BES on the other hand, go for genuine cinematic drama and action that _occasionally_ dips into a couple laughs. it's the difference between owen wilson and liam neeson movies.
@@malum9478 I’m saying it isn’t *just* a crunchy comedy.
19:31 i’m also p sure the belt thingy around her kimono is made out of the same blanket that was in her basket when she was a lil baby so it’s been with her her whole life ☹️☹️☹️❤
I did not expect the series to be as original as it was. I was expecting the violence, the twists, the tortured backstory, the message warning against revenge, but I was not expecting the packaging they all arrived in. So refreshing to see this portrayal of an antihero archetype.
I love how along with Kenneth Branagh stealing every scene and being both irredeemable and sympathetic he is like the stereotype of contemporary Europeans from Japan, being a brutish red haired giant who eats weird food both because he’s a monster and that he’s the sole European in Japan
If I were to respectfully pick one tiny little nit with this show, it is Branagh's voice performance. The weakest of them, his accent varies to the point it seems like the character is being voiced by several different actors. Seems to me, just his own natural accent, used consistently would have sufficed.
@@orangelion03 really ?, personally for me he had the strongest performance but I thought Randall park had the weakest so maybe it’s just contrasting them
@@orangelion03 I honestly didn't notice his accent varying at all
@orangelion03 as someone from Ireland, and also if you look into the voice actor, hes from Belfast and uses that accent. If you think he sounds weird that's just because he's from Belfast lol
@@orangelion03 I have my own problems with Kenneth Branagh, but his performance here was not one of them
Episode 5 was perfect. It felt so long because of how perfectly paced it was. Just so much greatness somehow encapsulated in a single episode. This show repeatedly exceeded my expectations, and I hope it finds greatness again in its second season
i'll be honest, i only watched till episode 5, so i don't know what happens after that but that fight scene was interrupted too much by the flashbacks and the puppet show (which where both very beautiful) in my opinion, and the husbands behaviour was also very strange and didn't make a lot of sense from my understanding
I had initially put this show as a 'something in the background so I can fall asleep' and I ended up binge watching the whole thing, at night, without stopping. I really did not expect that from an anime on Netflix. Amazing in all aspects, I am glad people are talking about it and not sleeping on it. Literally in my case.
Same! Well, not sleep, but lunch while I did other stuff too. I actually turned it on once and after like 30 seconds turned it off cus I just wasn’t in the mood. The next day I watched 4 episodes and finished it a day later.
Same! I put it on so I could have some sound while drawing, and eventually had to put my iPad down and was just absolutely glued to the screen
also, the way how mizus new hair cut (bangs) when she was on the ship is actually very similar to her childhood hair cut! i just love it all in this show
i was so blown away by this show. its honestly so good. and honestly in a weird way this show reminded me of the last air bender. where as you end up loving characters that seems to boring and dry, until they get a decent amount of screen time fleshing them out.
I found episode 6 to be very clever, especially with how they made a "fire monster" and "zombie/vampire monsters" for her to fight. We know they aren't really monsters but she just sees them that way because she's still drugged by Fowler's flowers that was meant to cripple her with fear but she fights even harder in spite of it. It reminded me of the scene from Batman Begins when everyone is drugged by the hallucination inducing gas.
22:00 "Hatred is blind; rage carries you away; and he who pours out vengeance runs the risk of tasting a bitter draught." - Alexandre Dumas, Count of Monte Cristo Loved the analysis, wanted to add this to the revenge quotes you listed.
I burned through the season so damn fast...it was hard to resist watching it and try to watch just one episode a day lol. I'm super happy it's getting another season!
I connected with Mizu's story so much, I cried when she cried, and I felt her pain- especially in episode 5. The story telling is beyond amazing, it's masterful. Not to mention the art is so incredibly beautiful. I watch every reveiw video even though I've already seen it, just so I can talk about how much I love it😆 if you haven't seen, it I fully recommend. Also, to give my own take on the conversation about Mizu's gender at 27:00, I didn't interpret her as being trans either. I don't think she is attached to her gender, or her body as a whole. One scene that really stuck with me is the conversation she has with sword father, where they talk about how she wasn't raised to be human, but an artist- the art in question being revenge. For me, I thought of the detachment from being human to go hand in hand with the detachment from gender. However, you can still see scenes where she is alone, and is truly able to live without fear of discrimination or loosing her freedom. In episode one where she is in the waterfalls, you can see her connecting with her body, and being able to exist as she is for a fleating moment of peace. It was really beautiful. But honesty theres a lot of different interpretations you can take with it- especially if there's aspects of her identity or expression that you resonate with.
Exactly. Really hope people don't see this as "trans representation" and instead see it for what it is: women being oppressed so harshly that they need to hide their gender to survive, while never feeling ashamed about being female. It's about time we stop letting the trans movement erase women, especially gender nonconforming women.
Hey Lee, This is a bit different and I fancied writing the comment as if it were a letter because I feel like everything around Blue Eye Samurai deserves respect. You've made me for the first time ever hardcore binge a show. I'm from the UK, I saw this video at around 11:30pm yesterday evening, accomodating 5 hours sleep it's just gone 1pm and I'm done, watched your video now and here we are. I can't thank you enough for producing the content you do because while the majority of the time I come to watch and hear someone else effuse about shows and movies I love as well and feel like I'm relating with a good friend who wants to just explode with passion for the thing they've seen there are rare cases in which equally I come to watch an EGA which I haven't watched but tickles my fancy. This was one of those and the encouragement to watch it prior to watching the video really set me on my course. Blue Eye Samurai is just awesome, and without your guidance I probably wouldn't have gone out of my way to watch it. It feels silly because you'll receive 100's of these sorts of comments each video, but keep doing what you're doing because there's a couple people each time that you're expanding their pallet for enjoyable shows and films. I'm honoured (yes with a u :P) to be one of those this time round. Bring on season 2 and more things to try :)
Thank you so much. Comments like this make it worth it especially with a video that’s wayyyyy underperforming. So glad you like the show.
This
Mizu is honestly a Japanese version of John Wick. Both characters get beat to hell and have superhuman abilities to tank damage, and despite being beat up will still pull off the most insane feats
She is also like Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher). Both seen as monsters for their unnatural abilities and eyes
can’t stress enough how amazing this show is and i love seeing more and more people on youtube talking about it!
I’m obsessed to the unhealthy level 😂 good freking show
@@ireallycant4416 you?? OMG i binged this show just 5 days ago and it’s been on my mind ever since! i talk about mizu as if she’s an actual person and i’ve even developed a very real crush 😭😭 i have to watch an episode or at least a clip every day and i’ve been tearing through reactions. the soundtrack is getting play too 💀
I think it's so interesting to watch this little girl be told that she has to pretend to be a boy if she wants to survive and she turns her disguise to her advantage SO QUICKLY. Same with obscuring her eyes! She learned to play the strategy from such a young age!
She's like Katie Taylor. Irish female boxer who pretended to be a boy. And she beat them.
@@Maidaseu Really did she?? Or was that Made up.
Episode 7’s twist was one of the best delivered moments in a show I had seen in a while. It made so much sense, but it felt so sudden. Gut-punch for Akemi.
Blue Eye Samurai and Arcane are my top favourite adult animation shows. Personally, BES is better to me, but both are individually brilliant shows. Love this analysis.
Have you seen Castlevania? It doesnt have as high quality animation, but everything else about it is superb.
I watched it from start to finish in one sitting, truly one of those stories that felt a chapter in a larger story being told. I look forward to seeing where it goes and enjoyed how you went about doing this everything great about.
Honestly i love seeing this "i love this show even thought it doesn't fit the formula i HAVE to talk about it" approach and i love this series and the messy and complex story it told. Love the vids and hope to see more of this ❤
Was just rewatching Episode 2 today, and noticed for the first time that just after Mizu binds herself and is pumping the bellows, she starts to bleed around the bindings. And Master Eiji seems to notice. It's very subtle, and on a small screen you might not see it, but it's there. And it's these wonderful little details that make this show so great.
As the spawn of a suicidal "off to go get milk" punk rock father and an emotionally abusive suicidal hippy + 90s rap mother I have never related to any character more. The feeling of anger at my own existence is truly a unique feeling, I can relate to Mizu so heavily, my own conception was that of true insanity.
thank you so much for covering this show. I was concerned that it wasn't getting enough buzz and worried that it wouldn't get another season (so glad it is), so I appreciate that you took the time to show it some love. it's been one of my favorite series of the year and I look forward to re-watching it before season 2. Mizu slowly became one of my favorite protagonists in all of media because she was so dynamic to watch. thanks again for the video! 😃
This show was great. In my head Misu wears a scarf to cover up the lack of an Adam's apple, if it's true I love that detail
YES THIS!!!
I watched the entire show in one sitting bc I saw you had recommended it and while I lost sleep because of that binge I do not regret it one bit. I ADORE this show. Mizu is such a well written character and the plot is so intricately woven and it makes me scream. What sold it to me was Mizu’s tunnel vision and her transformation from the Ronin to the Onryō in ep 5. I had loved the show up until then but that entire episode made me cry because we are shown step by step in parallel why Mizu does the things she does and her emotional state crumbling to the ground which I think starts with her snapping the neck of the girl. It’s obvious she did not want to do that but she sticks to her goal. And it drives her to madness and violence and isolation but she doesn’t care until that care is slapped into her. I also wanna point out that episode 6 shows the lengths she’s willing to take to get her revenge. She kills nearly everyone in the castle to get to Fowler even when they’ve helped her. The first floor staff are crushed bc of her actions. The demons in her hallucinations are prisoners that she doesn’t think twice about murdering. She kills the advisor trying to walk away from the situation so she can use his corpse as a axel to pull herself up oh my god it’s so good. Fowler says it himself: look at what you’ve done to get to me. She’s stuck in the tunnel, and I hate that she is but it also makes so much sense.
also, its not easy to have guessed that Mizu was a woman until it was revealed because it is a very common theme for male characters to be voiced by women in anime, so it didn't feel out of place for Mizu, a supposedly male character, to have been voiced by a woman. Goku, a character who is literally seen as the manliest of male characters, has had a female VA for over 30 years. other examples would be Luffy, Naruto, Edward Elric, Ash Ketchum, Shinji from evangelion, Gon Freecs, i can go on and on. the same trend follows in English shows too, with Huey Freeman, Jimmy Neutron, Ash again, Luffy again, Alphonse Elric, Naruto and Luffy again. its a common trend and its always done beautifully.
i think mizu is a transmasc girl
Week 156 of Asking for Everything Great About Dead Man's Chest. (Year 3!)
It’s crazy how many times you made me want to rewatch it again and again while watching this
"For whom the bells toll" in Japanese. Perfection.
As you comment on, a big part of why the overarching revenge plot works so much better than 'x killed my parents so now im looking for x' is because its linked to something more destructive. Her existence in japan is forever tainted by being half white half japanese, her access to a normal life and her control over what she can do with it has been completely eradicated by decisions, unlikely consensual, to bring her into it. She may never reclaim what life she could have had but she can get revenge on the one who put her in this situation.
she also wanted revenge on the villagers who 'killed' her mother. but her mother wasn't dead, but simply left her. which was probably also why Mizu felt so completely lost when she was reunited with her mother and agreed to marry this man. her way of doing things didn't work out, so she followed her mother's way - which was a complete disaster in the end.
@@benzaiten933According to Fowler, that was her maid who was hired to keep her hidden.
@TheHeadNinjainComics I know she was a maid but damn Mizu could've been spared a shitty childhood 😭
I love how mizu went from loathing herself for being a woman out of betrayal from her loved ones, then later embrace herself when she finally able to trust her companions again.
I didn't see it that way. Rather as stated, she came off to me as hating herself for being biracial. This was demonstrated by how she eventually enjoyed and appreciated being that horse trainer's wife.
@@WBMSS that too. It make sense if she hates herself for being a woman and biracial considering that her "mom" always emphasize that someone gonna be on a look out for biracial girl.
She never loathed herself for being a woman...just for being a halfbreed. Some people wanna see something in this show that isnt there...mostly based on woke nonsense. She might hate the rules for women in these times but no being a woman. Where did she say that? She did not seem happy when her "mom" told her she has to look like a boy to hide better. She never wanted to be a man...she was forced into the role of a boy.
I see it as her hate for Japan's views on women's roles in society, and even then she doesn't hate it nearly as much as her heritage. Her true hate is solely reserved for the 4 white men who made her a "monster" in everyone, including her own, eyes. She doesn't hate being a woman, she was actually happy being a horse farmer's wife until she was reminded of her "impurity" in everyone else's eyes. Only then was her rage re-stoked and she restarted her crusade.
I really fervently feel that Mizu doesn't hate being a woman. She was upset when her 'mother' forced her to pretend to be a boy. She liked being a wife -- that's the only time in the whole season we see her smiling and laughing. On multiple occasions, she tries to tell people she is a woman -- not something she'd do if she hated that about herself, especially with how secretive she is. Her choosing to present as male strikes me as a completely practical choice and not one motivated by self-hatred. It's borne of the fact that Edo period Japan kinda sucked for women's rights. When she tells Mikio about it, he asks, "you pretended to be a man?" Mizu's response is telling: "I *had* to." Which heavily implies that she didn't want to. I think that's a really important little subtlety.
Happy to see that it’s getting more recognition
Finished this season and have been actively searching out all supplementary content on it. The characters are compelling in a way I haven't connected with in years. I really like the way you interpret Mizus quest for revenge as an existential struggle at its core.
This show flew under the radar and it is so sad that it did. It deserves so much more attention from people. The fact that it is still getting a season 2 is amazing. I loved this show from beginning to end, and I agree with pretty much all of your points on it! Great video! Hopefully this will also help put a few more sets of eyes on the show!
I also watched Blue Eye Samurai immediately after Onimusha and personally felt like this show blue that one out of the water especially going in knowing nothing. This was fantastic from start to finishes and I love that the characters stay true to themselves and don't compromise even when a typical happy ending in another show seems T'ed up for them to take. I really wanna see how Mizu copes with Europe and just how different things for both good and bad. She might even finally learn to love herself if more mixed people are around who can sympathize with her plight of not being accepted almost anywhere.
Same, after i finished Onimusha i started to watch BES. I hope in season 2 there's a Ninja/Shinobi or a monster alike
@@neemojenkins881 I just finished BES yesterday but I'm yet to finish Onimusha. I absolutely loved BES but I have a feeling Onimusha will be a close 2nd for me. I kind of want to check out something outside of the Samurai genre (maybe Attack on Titan but I'm not sure yet).
This was an excellent video and I would absolutely love to see more like this. I started Blue Eye Samurai based on your rec after your Barbie video and loved it. Glad to see you’ve ventured out into more anime. There are so many great stories told through animation that just couldn’t be properly executed in live action. I’d love to see more videos of this condensed format encouraging people to give it a chance. Something like Mob Psycho, which is a completed and amazing series, would be an awesome place for most to start
Fowler is an amazing villain. The angry bite to his cheer whenever he talks about the murderous power of British colonialism getting a foundation in the penultimate episode when we learn he's been the starving orphan under their boot puts him into so much context. The lesson they taught him was to get ahead you need to stomp another culture into the mud and he became a master of the craft. A man so obsessed with being free from deprivation that he's overstimulated himself to the point of being bored all the time and the only way he sees out is to push harder for more excess, violence, and power.
I liked him way better then mizu.
I’m not a big anime fan, Studio Ghibli is pretty much my only true love. Until now. This show changed everything for me and I’m in love with everything about this show. You did an amazing job with this video and I love your breakdown. Thank you!
You're still not an anime fan. This isn't an anime.
It's made by a French studio in Paris.
Yes ! So much yes ! I absolutely adore the show and i'm so glad you did as well. Your insights have always been informative and interesting and i always watch your videos with curiosity but to see an upload about a show that i can't stop raving about to anyone i talk to ever since i watched it (and i'm literally in the middle of my 3rd rewatch at the moment). I've never clicked "Like" so fast !!!
Love the show. my biggest gripe with it though is the 8th episode and it's power scaling. I wouldn't say Fowler and his army was to powerful, but it felt like for being so powerful they fell apart easily. it kinda messes with the dispension of disbelief that an entire 2000 men army can be defeated by being trapped in one burning building. And Fowler flip from overpowering Mizu to being defeated felt like a bit too much. He had such an upper hand in the first part and could have killed them at many moments, then was reduces to running scared from Mizu. i think lowering his power a bit before and raising it after would have improved the tension a bit. (also the lack of pikes or bayonets in Fowlers army seems a bit odd, it's not like he couldn't have produced those "domestically" to improve his army.)
I think that the army's defeat could have been done better, they could have explained it as the flames igniting the gunpowder they all carried can causing a chain reaction.
Its cause shes a mary sue.
I had issues referring to Mizu all while watching it. But after episode 5, after witnessing how happy and fulfilled she was during her marriage, it seems apparent that she identifies as a woman and would do so if it would not interfere in her bid for vengeance. However, the world she exists in would not allow for a woman to have the freedom she requires, so she must continue to present as masculine until the end. ... Unrelated, but love that Georgia Dow shows up in your Nebula scroll during your pitch.
I don't comment on your videos enough so hopefully this'll help the algorithm get you, the video, and BES the credit they all deserve. It's such a shame that pieces of art like these can be underappreciated because we need more of it. All the best Mr. Cinemawins and happy holidays, I'll still be here watching anything and everything you gift us with!
Thank you for covering this series! I was blown away by this show. So excited to see the next chapter.
This show captivated me like no other show ever have, BES deserved every award at this point, cant wait for S2
Seeing this video pop up made my eyes go wide and immediately excited. You make so many good points about the show and Mizu's character, and of course I loved hearing you praise the sheer beauty of the world and character design. Also I didn't know the second season was greenlit, so excited!! I really enjoy this slightly different format, in your EGA I always look forward to your insightful summary at the end, and videos like this are just an extended showcase of that, so again, I really really enjoy it. Hope it encourage more ppl to give Blue Eyed Semurai a watch! Heck, it's making me wanna rewatch it right now
When I finished watching it, my first thought was "I wanna forget it and rewatch it again"....I think this is one of the best thing I've ever watched. The episode 5 was so heart breaking, I went out to smoke a cigarette even tho I don't smoke much. I don't remember when last time some movie or series were able to take out from me SUCH emotions, as it happened on episode 5. It is completely another level. And the battle in episode 6, I rewatched it maybe 20 times already. The music, the scenes....I feel like going back in decades when I just discovered the beautiful world of cinematography and was watching my favorite movies for the first time.
IM SO EXCITED YOU COVERED THIS SHOW!! It has stuck with me for weeks and I can watch it over and over
I really appreciate the format of this video. There was something "off the cuff" about it that really allowed you to geek out that I really liked. You were able to let us see everything you enjoyed about this show! Your videos have done so much for my life. Never stop my dude.
I usually hate shows that are overly gory and/or use sex too often but to be honest the show strikes a balance where its a bit too gory for my taste but so good as a show that I still sat and watched all of it and enjoyed the actual story. This to say it is a great show.
I thought sex was used very well in this show, it didn't feel gratuitous.
Thank you for doing this episode. This is a rare gem that I have encouraged everyone in my life to watch. I so appreciate how you describe all the beauty of this masterpiece, it hits me right in the feels. This show needs more attention, thank you again for shining your light on it.
Absolutely loved the new format and loved that you covered the show; I imagine doing a TV series is extremely difficult and time consuming, but I would love to have these sprinkled in when you can. This certainly wasn't the video that I am used to but it was brilliantly done and as always you're insights are fantastic. Plus we still get a movie done on nebula so there's no loss here 😤 I did see a trailer for it and it looked really good but it was shoved on my to do list for sometime in the future; after seeing this I know I have to binge watch it this weekend. Keep up the great work!❤
Just finished off the show today so good timing! Brilliant to see this show getting a lot more attention!
Thank you for making a video about this show!! It deserves so much more recognition. Brilliant, gorgeous show!
Thank you for a beautiful break down of Blue Eye Samurai! This show needs so much more attention. Excited to see you break down season 2.
I just used my ONE free Nebula video on the uncensored version of this. Even though I've already watched the whole season 1. That's how good this show is!
"It is excellent" is underselling the show quite a bit. It's masterful, glorious, sumptuous, disturbing, hilarious, and stunning.
I am so so glad this show is getting so many videos about it telling others to go and see it and just analyzing the super interesting characters and how they all add to the story
yesss!! i watched this the moment i knew all the seasons were released, it looked so good from the trailer and I was so excited to start watching. its one that I recommend to everyone, and I always love to see people talking about it! I feel like being one of your [thing] is great videos is really high praise
When this show popped up on my Netflix feed I liked it. Then there was a gorgeous fight with a Japanese cover of For Whom the Bell Tolls. Then I was obsessed
FINALLY.... HOW IS THIS NOT ON EVERYONES LIPS... This show better takeover 2024, this is a legitimate masterpiece❤
This is such a good video!! Thank you so much for talking about this show, it deserves to be appreciated more!!!
Working on something and seeing how much love it receives it's fantastic! Glad Blue Eye resonated so hard with you (and reading the comments, with so many people!)
I DID NOT THINK YOU'D COVER BLUE EYE SAMURAI AND STARTED STIMMING AS SOON AS I GOT THIS NOTIF. I FUCKING LOVE THIS SHOW HOLY SHIT
Wow. Didn't expect you to cover this one. Yeah, this one was fire. Well done! 👏🏾👍🏾
Im glad to see content online for this show. I had an amazing time watching with show and then rewatching it twice with two different friend groups
Not an Anime Though. It is a french american show, written by an american and produced by a canadian studio. Nothing against that show, the people involved or the CinemaWins Channel, i am a big fan. Just pointing it out.
Took this as impetus to finally finish the series before watching the video. Well worth it! If more videos about shows are on the table.. might I suggest/request one about Andor? It's really excellent and deserves the praise more than anything else that's come out of Disney Star Wars lately. It's another one that not enough people are talking about.
A lot of great animated shows blitzed out over the last few months. BES, Scavengers Reign and Pluto really stand out.
What's BES?
@@samahsaadi839 you're under a video for it.
@@Nugnugnug ahhh I'm slow lmao missed that completely
@@samahsaadi839 dw bro i do that all time time. for some reason abbreviations take me ages to pick up on, even when they're obvious
i saw the name of this vid. went binged the show. and now i'm back here to see you rave about this show as much as i have been doing to all my friends because oh my god this show is beautiful.
I instantly loved this and was looking for other people singing this show's praise, but no one was talking about it. It's very fitting that it's you that talks about it, and great video as always!
Thank you for making this video. I just finished the show a few days ago and have been shilling it to people I know. I hope this video will get more eyeballs on it cause god it deserves it.
So glad you’re covering this, this show defo needs more eyes on it
I to watched Onumusha roght before Blue Eyed Samurai and was blown away with the contrast. One was very Anime and formulaic; nothing much to say that hadn’t already been said or done better before. The other was a a deep compelling story that I couldn't stop watching. Looking forward to the second season.
This is literally the most incredible show I've ever seen (animation wise). The cinematography, the characters, the inclusiveness, the humanization of these characters. The betrayals. The revenge. The mostly historical accuracy. I watched this on a whim maybe 3 days after it came out. I put it on to do some homework while having something on in the background. I didn't get anything done that day. In fact, I stayed up all night and binged the entire series. So I'm ecstatic that the series got the recognition it deserved, I was sweating for a month straight hoping it would get cleared for a second season. It did. Very quickly!
Thank you so much for making this video. I watched the show imediately after first 2 minutes of this video and was not disappointed at all. I cannot express in words everything about this I love.
Didn’t even make it to the point in the video where you actually told us to go watch it lol 😂. I took one look at this thing and binged it ( and loved it!!!) before this video was even a day old. Just came back to watch it now, so glad I did thanks Lee!
Hey, I was in a not so fun place after something’s that were going right went wrong, I watched this video to cheer myself up as your videos always do. I stopped 3 minutes in to binge the entire season and then came back. You really do make a difference and saved me from a bad Christmas break. Please do surfs up and have a great 2024
12:29 "Lets do it anyway" This is my first video I saw from you. This line made me a subscriber! Thank you! I look forward to watching future videos and your previous library.
I only saw one other commenter point this out but technically, BES is not an anime, which is a term reserved for animation originating in Japan. That said, I greatly enjoyed your in-depth analysis of this exceptional series.
@@jachyra9 Maybe in Japan but outside Japan, the term anime refers to Japanese animation.
@@jachyra9 While it's true the Japanese often refer to animation from anywhere in the world as anime, when the term is used in the English language, it's generally referring to Japanese animation. It's a way for people to differentiate between Japanese and non-Japanese animation even if you personally don't agree with that convention. Just try googling "anime shows" and see how many non-Japanese results you get.
It's best described as an artistic movement. Half (or more) of the "Japanese Anime" you see these days is outsourced to Korean animation studios anyway. It's a whole rabbit hole of pedantry if you want to dive into "X isn't anime!" Don't be that guy.
For probably the first time we seen cinema wins did a series instead of a movie this an amazing pick i binged watch the entirety of blue eyed samurai in one might and it was fucking amazing
So WandaVision and Ted Lasso don’t count as series, then?
@@KireaPhillips_superj0ka oh well this is the first one I seen of him make atleast when it comes to not having a win counter and just talking about it in general
@@KireaPhillips_superj0ka plus wandavision was out into individual parts while from what I recently seen B.E.S is complete
@@kakashi6957 Fair enough.
Awesome summary and coverage! Will always be here for you to cover the media that inspires you!
loved the video man, please upload more of these type fo videos they're great!