Spoilers think revenge tastes better after a few minutes in the oven.

You’d be remiss to skip this one. It’s not about the twists, and it’s not about being original, it is just a well-executed and high quality production. And yet, the story is both simple and rich. The action and the dynamic fighting are second to none, following a familiar samurai lore – well, the one in the movies, of course. I was a bit skeptical until the first episode had passed the middle mark until I realized this was going to be something that I’d need to keep watching.

(Credit: Netflix)

Blue Eye Samurai (2023) is created and written by Michael Green and Amber Noizumi. The series has already been renewed for a second season. We’re in medieval Japan in the Edo period. Mizu (voiced by Maya Erskine) is a mixed-race lone samurai with a turbulent dark past, looking for revenge. The piercing blue eyes are hidden under colored lenses. As a kid, Mizu was raised by a blind swordsmith named Master Eji (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa). Now a wandering samurai, Mizu strikes an unwanted friendship with Ringo (Masi Oka) a disabled cook without hands that makes do. The brooding samurai and the optimistic cook don’t hit it off right away, but they end up becoming travel companions.

Our vengeful samurai’s quest is finding and taking out four white men who have remained in Japan after the borders were closed to all foreigners. Mizu will be making enemies along the way, including an arrogant swordsman named Taigen (Darren Barnet) who had a bright future in marrying the strong-willed Princess Akemi (Brenda Song). After being defeated by Mizu, Taigen is disgraced and his wedding is cancelled by Akemi’s father. Wanting revenge (seems to be in fashion), Taigen pursues the blue eye samurai.

That is the basic premise with some later reveals and twists along the way. The character development and world building are top notch making a rather solid story that uses familiar tropes without turning them into cliche. The action is extremely fluid and well thought. The violence does not shy away from spilling blood, without it being extremely gratuitous but still very, very graphic. It also has no qualms about nudity or depiction of sex, meaning this is very much not a family friendly series.

It works surprisingly well. The animation shines specially well during the fights which have their own choreography captured in detail. The voice acting is also a highlight as most of the main cast sound believable. Even Ringo, who does have a knack to sound annoying, does sound less so when the situation calls for it.

Highly recommended. Obviously it helps if you are fan of the animation as well as of the samurai genre, but even without it I’d insist you should still give it a chance. Not a kid friendly feature by any extent of the imagination, so families will have to be an exception to the rule. Worth a watch, and I’d even say you should pace rather than binge it in a single night, but everyone’s entitled to decide how they consume media nowadays.

That will do for now.