The first episode of Netflix’s gorgeous new R-rated anime is available to watch for free right now
Netflix has invested heavily in anime shows, and one of the most anticipated is this Blue-eyed samurai. The show is available to stream from November 3, but you can watch it for free now. We’ve embedded the episode below.
Set in 17th century Japan, Blue-eyed samurai has been described as “Kill Bill meets YentlIt follows Mizu, a mixed-race sword master who disguises herself to get revenge. The show from wife-and-husband team Amber Noizumi and Michael Green (Logan, Blade Runner 2049) and it is certainly ambitious: according to Green “if you want The witcherif you like animation, if you like Game of ThronesIf you want The crownif you like historical drama, if you will Shakespeare in loveif you like Tarantino films, there’s something in it Blue-eyed samurai for you.”
What is Blue Eye Samurai about?
The show is set in 17th century Japan, at a time when foreign faces were extremely rare – so rare, in fact, that there are only four white men in the entire country. And our blue-eyed, mixed-race hero, Mizu, wants to kill all four of them, including one who might be her father. That’s a tough enough challenge for any warrior, and even more so when you’re a woman in a gender-heavy society – so Mizu must hide both her gender and her race in order to get revenge.
There is an amazing voice cast that brings this epic story to life. Mizu is played by Maya Erskine, alongside Masi Oka, Darren Barnet, Brenda Song, George Takei, Kenneth Branagh and many other esteemed actors – and the showrunners made sure the cast was mostly Asian. Jane Wu (Mulan, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Game of Thrones) was the supervising director and producer.
For Wu, making the show was personal: In order to make some headway in the male-dominated film industry, Wu found that using her initials opened doors that her distinctly feminine name did not. “You couldn’t tell if I was a man or a woman, and you would have to judge me by my work,” she says. “That’s pretty much what Mizu went through to complete her revenge, and I think that’s what I’m doing too: completing my revenge.”
It’s worth noting that while Blue Eye Samurai is generally described as an anime, this isn’t entirely true. According to Green, it is “a 2D/3D hybrid, using technologies from both”, but always focused on a handcrafted visual feel. As you can see in the episode above, the results are amazing.
Blue-eyed samurai episode 1 is streaming for free now and the rest of the series comes to Netflix on November 3 – we might be looking at one of the new best Netflix shows.