The show’s co-creators promise Mizu’s religion is still revenge even if she has to start a fire in London to get it.
At Anime NYC, Netflix gave viewers a first look at its slate of adult animated series on the horizon—including the second season of its sleek, action-packed Japanese revenge epic, Blue Eye Samurai.
Co-created by husband and wife Amber Noizumi and Michael Green and animated by Blue Spirit Studio, Blue Eye Samurai is a 2023 animated series that dropped quietly on the streamer before blowing the minds of many viewers with its lavish art direction of period Japan and high-octane action. Set in 17th-century Edo, Japan, the story follows Mizu (Maya Erskine, known for Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Pen15), a mixed-race swordswoman who disguises herself as a man on a quest for revenge against her father. Along the way, she fights off hordes of fearsome warriors in a tale reminiscent of Kill Bill meets Lady Snowblood, with a sprinkle of Mulan and tons of other samurai film motifs from Akira Kurosawa and beyond, as well as the show’s unique flair for high-action spectacles thrown into the mix.
The featurette includes Noizumi, Green, and executive producer Jane Wu, who remind viewers that revenge remains Mizu’s primary mission. The only thing that has changed is her destination: London. With Abijah Fowler (Kenneth Branagh), one of the men she previously believed to be her father, held captive, Mizu plans to use him as a living map to lead her to her actual father. Mizu’s quest occasionally crosses over into the bigger picture of the political rigmarole of Japan—but for the most part it remains laser-focused.
Throughout the show, Mizu has persistently sought out the man she believed to be her father, driven by a desire to confront him for his role in her life as a “half demon” on top of the trope of white foreigners’ (and potential fathers’) insidious plans with the post-isolationist leaders of Japan, making her revenge all the harder to exact.
