Blue Eye Samurai is the Real Thing
The best action movie/existential drama I’ve seen all year
Blue Eye Samurai is the best-written, best-produced show I’ve seen all year.
But, don’t worry, I’ll address the 800-pound gorilla in the room. Yes, it’s a cartoon.
Here’s the thing. I don’t give a shit it’s a cartoon. I’ve been an animation fan my whole life. Before the influx of anime into the West. Somehow, all along, I knew that animation wasn’t a genre and could tell any story.
If you’re one of those hold-outs who insists “cartoons are for kids”, I don’t know what to tell you. Go kick rocks, I guess. “Samurai” is most definitely not for kids.
These cartoons murder one another in exceptionally bloody ways. These cartoons fuck.
The show tells the story of Mizu, a half-white, half-Japanese master swordsman. Okay, I’ll not be coy, she’s a swordswoman. That’s the reveal at the end of episode one but if you’re surprised by it, you weren’t paying attention.
Anyway, the feudal Japanese ostracized mixed-race children. Strike that. They treated them as monsters. Poor Mizu has it especially bad since her true nature is obvious. It’s in the title. She’s got blue eyes.
