I’m not a lot of an anime fan, however the early evaluations of Netflix’s new eight-episode Blue Eye Samurai that’s approaching Friday have been so laudatory that I needed to test it out. Suffice it to say, I don’t throw across the time period “masterpiece” flippantly, however the time period completely suits right here. Blue Eye Samurai, providing a Kill Invoice-style revenge narrative, is the very best animated launch from the streamer I’ve seen this 12 months, possibly ever. And it already has an ideal 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes forward of its launch.
The sequence is so good, actually, that Netflix has made the primary episode accessible to look at without spending a dime on YouTube (right here’s the hyperlink) — the pondering being that for those who don’t already subscribe to the streaming large, getting a style of it through Episode 1 of Blue Eye Samurai can have you reaching in your bank card very quickly. Exhilarating spectacle, compelling characters, beautiful animation, twists that enthrall — what’s to not like?
As for what it’s about, the present is ready in a Seventeenth-century Japan with closed borders. Per Netflix, “Our hero, Mizu (Erskine), is aware of there have been solely 4 white males in Japan on the time of her beginning and units off to kill these males, one among whom could be her father, who made her a ‘creature of disgrace.’ However revenge shouldn’t be an choice for girls, so Mizu should forge her revenge quest whereas hiding her gender in addition to her blue eyes.”
She’s joined on her revenge quest by three companions: Ringo, a soba maker with desires of greatness; Taigen, an boastful samurai; and Princess Akemi, who’s betrothed to Taigen. The band units out throughout Edo-era Japan for a sequence that corporations the edginess of live-action with jaw-dropping animation.
The co-creators behind Blue Eye Samurai are the husband-and-wife crew of Amber Noizumi and Michael Inexperienced (a author whose movie credit embody Logan and Blade Runner 2049). “We wish individuals to sink into it and be taken by the story and the extent of artistry and neglect they’re watching animation,” Inexperienced mentioned in a Netflix promotional interview in regards to the sequence.
“We’d love this to cross over into each curiosity — that for those who like The Witcher, for those who like animation, for those who like Recreation of Thrones, for those who like The Crown, for those who like historic drama, for those who like Shakespeare in Love, for those who like Tarantino films, there’s one thing in Blue Eye Samurai for you.”
