I agree with you 100%. The show has great character work throughout but the storytelling via plot/narrative crescendos to an episode 5 that I consider to be one of the greatest episodes in television history (part conviction, part exaggeration, part admiration, and part I haven't seen nearly as many TV shows as I need to) and goes a bit downhill from there. But, like I said, the character work and the storytelling via animation are so good, and the show is just dense enough with foreshadows and callbacks, references (which I personally thought were fun homages/easter eggs and nothing more), and an internal mythos that is based on thorough research into history and Japanese culture/mythology, that you can't fault the writing entirely. It's just the little inconsistencies that you pointed out that needed to happen because, personally, I feel the writers shoved themselves into a corner by adding Akemi as a central character. But, once again, they handled all the characters really well, including Akemi, and never lost sight of character-based storytelling through subtlety (hinting at the depth and nuance, Fowler in the Chapel for example, or diving in and fleshing out the story, the Onryo flashback, when necessary). However, personally speaking, I felt adding Akemi to the main roster stretched the writers too thin (removing focus from Mizu, the four white men, and Taigen), which is why the plot couldn't be as airtight come episodes 7 and 8 (because Akemi brings with her not only herself but also Seki, her father, the shogun's family, and the reconstruction of the shogunate). Still, it is one of the best TV shows that I've ever seen and I really enjoyed your analysis. Thank you very much for you take.
You get the pin of spitting facts. Thank you for fully understanding. I’m also really glad you enjoyed it and detailed it out in this comment, that’s what it’s all about, different and understanding, good takes
@SaiGade-go9wp Do yourself a favor and watch actual anime. Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and betrayal OVA is a masterpiece even decades after. And so is Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.
I like to interpret that there were supernatural elements to this show. That Mizu strength doesn’t come just from her training but her determination and desire. That she quite literally became an Onryō, that all the HATE cause her to become a literal Monster. Thats just my take.
It's the lone warrior trope that's a common thing in the genre. Akira Kurosawa's films are like that. 7 samurai, yojimbo. Even outside of the genre if you look at The Raid or Rambo or any Bruce Lee film. The lone warrior who can stand up to entire armies. If you made mizu a man, what mizu does is still unbelievable. It doesn't make it any more plausible. It's less of a gender thing and more of a genre thing
Having re watched the episodes again I think this is actually the case. Kind of was a good portion of why the flashbacks in episode five are there and happen during a combat sequence. I think they left it ambiguous on purpose for this reason
7:25 To be fair, it's the characters who get mad at her for letting Akemi go, not the story itself. The characters' grievances with Mizu are completely logical in accordance with their own motives and morals. And besides, Mizu is explicitly written as more of an antihero anyway. I don't think the show is trying to say anything as blunt and simple as "she's bad for not fighting for Akemi"
That’s a fair point, i honestly couldn’t find the exact point but I do remember the show bringing it up as a point of guilt, where she was reflecting on it. Unless my brains messing with me which is also possible, I could just be wrong ofc. But yea that’s why I saw it as the show rather then just the characters but idk. Also on the characters alone, on ringos side it felt off for me when he said that, he was understanding the whole time and also followed mizu above all, for that moment to break his loyalty compared to any makes no sense to me
@@AntiKash I got the feeling that ringo is more of an idealist. He doesn't fully comprehend Mizu's moral framework in its complexity, which is understandable given how little info she shares about herself. So yeah, it was a matter of time before the honorable strong image ringo had of her would be shattered
@@xpatches13 no, that's code for "I respect your point of view, but here is a detailed explanation of why I don't think you're right in this particular bit of media analysis".
I agree. My husband and I were a bit frustrated by the same exact things that you outlined here. It lost a bit of its grip on him in the end. But I still enjoy it overall.
You feel her jumping down a cliff landing 2m later on one arm balancing a sword is grounded? Because to me it was then clear style>realism, in this show. Also Tengen not telling his captors where Mizu is, makes sense to me when looking at how stubborn he is when it comes to that concept of honor. He wants to duel Mizu to regain his honor, if Mizu dies he can not kill her. That is more important to him than his life, that's also why he left his partner to search for Mizu, also because he would not be able to marry Akemi in this state of affairs. He sacrifices everything for the samurai concept of "honor", until he turns in the end when reuniting with Akemi. Also physical attraction can be there even if you actively dislike a person for their ideals, or their ethnicity. If you say that makes no sense, maybe elaborate. Just saying it makes no sense, leaves to much room for speculation. Those are my counterpoints. Would be curious what you would argue you against them.
I understand that she did things like that balancing on a rock and etc, but my point was the setting was grounded, edo Japan, and even with those feats she always used a sword and was simply just strong af, but dodging a bullet completely breaks that sense of grounded imo. From a edo time period with racism and xenophobia to fuck it dodging bullets. Not to add on to the fact that Japan had guns during this time period for one and two if she’s dodging bullets what is the threat anymore and to add on Fowler could have killed her at many times but simply decides not to? And then tenges I’ve seen the honor take but where was his honor when he was cheating with mizu ? And then isn’t he breaking his honor by siding with his humiliator ? That’s my view at least of it all
I'm with Kash on this one. The show is balancing several spinning plates here. 1. The racism is offensive but also not offensive. 2. Wants to come off as realistic but then we get one armed pointy rock handstands in the rain. Sword scaling a cliffside with a man that weighs twice your size hanging from your neck. Teeth as weapons. The guy sliced a raindrop.....in the rain. Lol. Isn't he slicing several just by swinging the sword in the downpour? 3. Ameki is praised as a strong female character for what exactly? She eventually dicked down a stranger, blackened her teeth, and kicked her man to the curve. um ok. 4. Why are they playing the gay card with ole boy? Can't the writers just go with him finding out she's a girl? The gay trope is not subverting any expectations anymore. It's to the point where straight relationships on screen are now taboo. 5. After spending more than a minute with Mizo there would be no way in hell that I would think she is a man. Maybe ole boy knows but hey. Kash went through all the other eye rolls so I won't bother. The point is this show is good but most of ya'll holding this shit up to the sun like Simba. Nah man.
@@3rdeyerate508precisely! It’s hard to criticize a good show but people need to chill about it. There’s nothing new in BES. What it does, it does well but not perfectly either. It certainly has a lot of major flaws that people seem to be in denial about.
@@3rdeyerate508 of course ameki is a strong female character, you missed a lot. During the scene between ameki and the customer, if you havent noticed, she managed to get back the full control of the situation, she made the man cum without touching him She didnt leave with Tengen because he was telling her to run away and start a new life when it wasnt what she wanted. In her journey, she learned to stop chasing after a man, learned more about herself and what she desires and how to obtain them And her blackened teeth, well, she can only do so much, she cant always win but even so after her teeth got blackened and after her wedding she didnt want, she never stopped fighting and found ways (the night with her husband, hiring the prostitutes to work for her) to regain power inside the castle. Of course it aint perfect like, she was a bit naive and caused Ise's death but at the same time how could she have planned her father to be a traitor. There's so much to this show and its characters.
That’s actually true it might be too early to judge, but that’s also why I had issues with 9/10 + high praise etc so soon, I feel like it’s barely into what it can be
im pretty sure they showed her entire training arc already, this is common for animes and movies from asian countries, like Oldboy it doesnt make any sense at all but its one of the much much smaller problems that the show has
this was honestly the hugest problem with the show anything else one can wrap heads around. This is the mary sue crap cause even if they show the training next season something could have been showed that touched on why she was so skilled and next season could have expanded upon it.
@@thegooch1684 isn't it already shown? The Training arc that she had, she'd been observing good swordsmen since a young age and learnt almost every kind of fighting style. She fights but she also gets hurt. It's not mary sue since there's a lot she has to learn. She's just better than most. And Also has a lot of rage and motivation than most.
One of the most annoying tropes, at least for me, is when the protagonist does one "bad" thing, and everyone instantly turns on them. Their friends, everyone they bonded with throughout the story, just turns on them and doesn't even want to hear their side. No, instead they instantly determine the protag is horrible and ignores the other good things they did. The part where they go against Mizu because she didn't save Akami from the guards was so dumb. Like, what were you expecting her to do? She just took out all these soldiers, nearly died, def has to rest and heal up, then Akami's problems show up and they blame Mizu for not doing anything? How did Akami even expect Mizu to help her? This even happens again, in the flashback with Mizu's husband. We get a beautiful, well paced montage of their time together and their growing affection for one another. It was so well done and you could really feel the romance growing in their relationship. Then Mizu gets carried away in sparring, and her husband instantly becomes a dick. Yeah, what Mizu did wasn't cool, but instead of going "woah, calm down honey, we're just playing, remember?" he just shoves her off and calls her a monster. Like, HELLO?! What about literally all the other great things you two had? She messes up once and all of the sudden she's the worst person in the world? It's just so weak, and I hate that trope so much.
THANK YOU, OMG like ringo defended every single fkin thing that mizu did up to that point, and even explained to taigen that he would never leave her side, SHE TIED HIM TO A FKIN TREE, and AKEMI TRIED TO KILL MIZU, like wtf, I also share that fucking trope, and then the husband turning too and then boom she just kills him like wtf
She literally murdered a child just before that 😂. Amazing that you tried to defend her almost murdering her husband as well. How dare he not have a calm reactions almost being killed by the person he was married to?! 😂 it’s terrifying what you people excuse when it’s a woman
@@ExpertContrarian First off, I never excused her almost murdering her husband. I literally said she was wrong for getting carried away like that. Only that her husband switched on a dime and completely cut her away despite everything they've been through. Second off, I also never excused her killing that girl. It's amazing how you make things up and put words in my mouth. My issue lies with Ringo leaving her cause she refused to help Akemi even though she was heavily wounded (not to mention, again, Akemi also tried to murder her 10 minutes ago.) Plus Akemi was only being taken back to her palace, it's not like she was being kidnapped by brigands. You think Akemi would be better off at the dying samurai's side who has people constantly trying to kill her instead of a comfy palace? I'm actually a little frustrated that Mizu killing the girl never comes up again, as it's pretty much the worst thing she does in the whole show. And it would have been a far more justified reason for Ringo to leave her if he found out.
I personally liked it, i like when stories mix some mystery into them. At the start scene with the meteorite falling already sets some kind of magic folklore thing that i really dig. It reminds me of the kafkian style of writing, absurd situations that the people involved in the story try to get past through being rational. Mizu strength is of her hate, Ringo ability to be the voice of reason is because of his pure heartedness, Taigen will to change ideas and his rationality is portrayed by the changing swords of his journey, and Akemi determination portrayed by her ability to always find a way to reach her goals with her overwhelming charisma. The story is set overall to be present as a story of a legend, like the greek epics, they are geounded in real life events but they are depicted as great stories using fictional assets. I respect the fact that this kind of weiting is not in everyone's bread and butter and want to assure that I am writing this just to express my personal opinion (i am on my 5th rewatch by now), at the end i just think it's a neat series and i can't wait for s2. 😊
they can do that and have the things like Mizu being able to tank shots and dodge bullets, the issue he stated in the video however is consistency, if mizu can tank a giant metal spike through her ankle and the 3 knife weapon thing to her kidneys, then a small metal ball being shot at her by Fowler shouldn't cripple her to the point shes unable to defeat him in a sword duel another thing is having her be the "greatest sword fighter ever in japan", which again is completely fine, but when they forget about that in the scene where her and the 2nd best sword fighter are sword dueling fowler (never establishes hes a better dueler?) and fowler manages to outstrike both of them in that specific scene, it gets annoying
We had the same experience. After watching I looked for reviews to see others’ opinions. You’re the first who points out the same problems I did. It especially lost me in the big final fight. Fowler had so many times he could easily have killed her, but ran away. I wasn’t convinced his fear was earned. (Also seemed like the fire spread a little fast, but I could forgive that if the other problems weren’t there)
Yes and no. At this point we are shown that Fowler is clearly afraid of fire due to his psychological trauma. he is distracted from the battle (and this happens precisely at the moment when the flame appears) and for the first time we see the horror on his face
the fire actually happened in real life, but it was due to very windy day that allowed that fire to spread, so it still didn't make much sense, and that initial burst of fire was waaaaaay too quick
another thing with fowler vs mizu is they severely nerfed both her and taigen, fowler should have died back in episode 6 i think when they climb the tower, that bullet shouldn't have done any damage at all to mizu given shes already tanked the metal pole to the ankle and the 3 bladed weapon to the kidneys taigen and mizu get another shot in the last episode and somehow fowler beats both of them in a duel despite fighting on 2 sides with a katana, the tool that theyre best at?? mizu goes to chase him after and for some reason forgets to take a fucking sword she has multiple chances to stab him when she has a knife in the last part but fucking does nothing
I’m a little tired of the disbelief in a character’s power unless every detail of their leveling up is on screen. What appeared to be Mizu’s earliest battles on the quest to kill the first person on her list, she got her *** handed to her. And the show completely skipped over the first white guy that she killed. I guess for me it’s a little easier to believe her abilities because we are introduced to her fully realized. Not everything was detailed out and there is clearly a lot of time missing in her backstory. That she got her start shadowing other swordsman doesn’t mean that was ALL of her training or ALL of her experience. And quite frankly I almost don’t care because her journey to her second kill was so much more interesting.
Fair point, though my disbelief isn’t just in asking for every little detail of powering up, she also dodged a bullet. And power scale aside the show was entirely grounded before then, mizu was simply an expert swordsman but then they pulled that out 🤷♂️
I watched up to episode 5 today. Safe to say I kinda have an addiction. Personally, I don’t care abt unrealism. The story is cool, characters are well written, and the action is just amazing
Right it’s a fkn work of fiction to me it’s much more unrealistic to have characters act in unbelievable ways or motives this show does character development correctly maybe a bit far fetched and fun at times but music and fight scenes choreography soooo good all of it the plot etc
THANK YOUUUUUUUUU OMGGGGGGGGGGGG , I’m making a whole nother vid on this for two reasons , the main one is I was a bit too negative honestly, I didn’t speak enough about the good parts butttt two- American made works INSTANTLY 9/10 100% rotten tomatoes etc like cmon, THIS is better than jujutsu kaisen😭😭 there’s only one damn season out too. Thank god I’m not the only one who noticed that tho
Spoilers for the series, if you want to watch it. 5:07 Fun fact: Japan HAD guns during the Edo period, infact, they had been using guns had been extremely prevalent in the period before the Edo period, being the Sengoku Jidai, meaning that Fowler's entire plan was EXTREMELY STUPID being just "The gun beats the sword so I should bring in the gun." Once his plan was revealed, I started to lose interest knowing that the story wasn't actually about following a realistic revenge story in the Edo period, which is a real shame, as it had such an interesting premise.
So, interestingly enough, according to a research paper titled 'The Social Life of Firearms in Tokugawa Japan' by David L. Howell, while there were guns and gunsmiths in Japan during that period, they were uncommon to use in actual fights, since there weren't many large-scale conflicts and swords were more practical for the average small-scale fight. They were apparently used more as a farm implement to fend off animals that damaged crops. In the 1800s, guns started to be used more as straight-up weapons but that's after Blue-Eyed Samurai's time and, interestingly enough, apparently this began with experimenting with Western firearms. So, this would mean that it is unlikely that soldiers in Blue-Eyed Samurai would be using guns. They would be more common with peasantry. And I'd wager a guess that they were not the most effective guns either and wouldn't stand a chance against the latest, state-of-the-art Western firearms. So, while I can accept that it is weird that the show seems to assume there are no guns at all in Japan during that time, Fowler's plan is still solid. An army equipped with modern (for that time) military firearms would still be quite overpowered.
I definitely felt like the ending could have been a little stronger for Blue Eye, but I'd have to disagree with you about the show being grounded. From the very first moment we see Mizu fight, shes "inhuman." And kind of a terrible person overall. It felt more fantasy than historical for me. I'm interested to see how they develop her, and honestly I think the show just needs more time for a lot of its issues. Even though the main plot is Mizu seeking revenge, I think the story is more about identity and especially about how women fit into society in the Edo period. I'd say most of the story and metaphors it uses are for people of mixed heritage (or fish out of water), as well as the tension between being a woman and being your own person. And obviously all of this within the lens of old Kurasawa films and the classic "samurai" tale. From what I've seen and from talking with other people, that seems to be the thing people are liking most about this show (besides the incredible fight choreography). The non-cliche parts are actually the commentary that's framed within the lens of cliche, and that's what makes the show unique. Cool to hear other takes though, and I hope you keep making videos✌
W take and I appreciate u hearing mine out, I see that as well and tbh it’s why I made an entire new video on the show cus I was def too harsh and people also mistook my take on the show as it’s bad, I just meant I had personal issues and etc, but there’s no doubt at all that the shows great. Glad that we could speak without just shutting each other down
To be honest i think ending is part that makes this show a really good one. It's written well first we see fire, then we know that mizu did not come out of it as we get the conversation with sword father and only then we see a ship sailing. That strikes us and makes the point, there is no redemtion here Mizu is self centered vengence focused monster, of course she did not go to say byee, why would she? it's unnecessary for her goal thus there is no point to go and speak to companions that are to be left behind.
Just finished the show and I agree about the unrealism. And not just in the ridiculous feats by Mizu. Akemi acts completely different from women during this time period and is constantly given a pass from everyone around her because plot I guess. Ringo somehow is able to kill one of the thousand claws with a kitchen knife and stumps for hands because plot I guess. Taigen just gives up on his revenge and starts to lust after Mizu because plot I guess. The writing just falls flat in so many areas, and it gets harder and harder to ignore as the story progresses. It's depressing how for some reason, here in the West we seem content with shows that are pretty OK as long as it has pretty visuals and a solid cast. Meanwhile Japan will absolutely obliterate an anime if it strays even a little bit off course from the manga. We need to raise our standards here, but it'll never happen.
The difference in standards amazes me like u said, in making this I just realized that in the west we think good visuals = good animation, but no there is so much more to the show. Writing is so key, it’s wild that a single mangaka could out write a team of writers in the west
i have a question about akemi too, did it make sense to you her arc near the end? its been awhile since i watched it but from what I remember Akemi doesnt show the signs of wanting to be a leader, nor that she would be good at being one, so when her old man friend says "my only dream is to see a japan ruled by you" and "I shouldnt have told you what to do" it made no sense given what the character goes through, and when she doesnt leave with taigen but stays behind because she wants to rule, i absolutely did not understand why
another thing was i absolutely did not understand why the husband from episode 5 goes from not minding being married to mizu given hes an outcast himself, to loving her, to suddenly wanting her dead because she beats him in a duel, is that some japanese thing where if your loving wife beats you in a duel you get the lords men to kill her or some shit??
@@MoustafaHamed-qc2zyits just a theory but i think it was the modern days version of greatly over- exaggerating the societal implications of the male ego of getting beaten by a girl.. We see it in a lot of movies and its usually used as a tool to make men just seem sexist but it comes from a biological need for protection and to be a protector. Men GENERALLY need to feel stronger than their partner because of the protector instinct. So if a guy loses to a girl its often an unconscious ego blow. Throw in potential ridicule and social aggression from society if its witnessed, it can be very detrimental to men and their reputation. It would cause a man to lose great status if it wasnt clearly obvious he lost the match on purpose. Also losing to a vvoman can have a similar effect on vvomen. They will get what we call "the ick" these days. She will think "wow he is weak if he cant even beat a girl, how can he protect me?" This is all on an instinctual level that most people dont even realize. But like most things modern media takes this biological concept and survival adaptation and perverts it in a lazy attempt to say "man bad, now hate him"... Modern society hates gender differences so much they just dismiss them and call everything misogyny because they want to believe nature cares about equality.
I think u bring up valid points. But my main issues were lack of exploration of Mizu's goal and a poorly developed antagonist. And as the pinned comment mentions, this is probably due to the disconnected Akemi sub-plot. That entire sub-plot could be removed and the story doesn't change. But back to Mizu's goals. She states it's to kill the white men as revenge. But why? It's just taken as a given that she hates them for her situation, but they do not control Japanese society which is the cause of her outcast status. I think what she really wants are answers to why she was abandoned by her father. But we don't get to explore her motivations and goals in depth because of Akemi's plot. I think this goes back to ur point on the producers wanting to show off the atmosphere of the Edo period. How could they tie in courtly culture in this revenge tale of a street urchin? Well, forcefully weave in a subplot about a princess. It's out of place and probably why the court intrique and coup is so undeveloped and rushed at the end. And fowler is such a flat antagonist. Stories are only as good as their antagonist. What are his motivations? Power for powers sake? Even if that is true, that makes him a poor antagonist for Mizu. The antagonist should challenge the core belief of the protagonist ( think joker to batman, moriarty to holmes, magneto to professor X). What is Mizu's core belief? What is fowler's? We don't know because the story doesn't discuss it. Blue eye samurai is a good watch, but an average story. The plot and character development are too disconnected and uneven to be anything else.
I agree honestly, like im not asking to humanize Fowler but give him some type of characterization as the main antagonist, he really feels like a cartoonish 2d villain with no depth.
Hes white in the 1600 they did a lot of fucked up shit, want to ask them their motives? We already know what white people did in history they are earth’s antagonist
Both of these takes are from a misunderstanding... Mizu wants to kill the white men not as revenge for her situation, but for two reasons. Firstly, they are all terrible men who have brought terrible things into the country; Mizu says several times that they entered the country to sell drugs, guns, and women. Secondly, she wants to kill her father for *making her.* If you pay attention, Mizu thinks herself just as much of a monster as the rest of Japan does. She's conditioned to hate herself for being a mixed-blood, she's *racist against herself.* I do hope that future seasons make her challenge that idea, and perhaps change her mindset in regards to her goals. Fowler, on the other hand, doesn't want "power for power's sake", he wants *control*. His entire life up until this point has been spent living in filth and isolation, first left poor and alone in his home country, then left locked up in his own home in Japan, and his resentment towards the people who caused him to be trapped in this situation leads him to build up a revolution so he can have *control.* He does not want to let *anyone* tell him what to do, and the easiest way for him to do that is to take over the country.
@@juicyjuustar121With his desire for control he states several times about hating his forced seclusion in the keep and how much he wanted to be free. And add his line about never wanting to do things he is forced to do, ot makes sense. He wants to make money in Japan and he wants to do it HIS way. Not be locked up in a cage except one day a year where he can't even meet the person he's trading with.
@@Ashbrash1998 yeah, like he says all this stuff in the show. If you watch the show and still think he's shallow and just wants power for power's sake then you weren't really paying attention, he's honestly a great villain. Even at the end when he loses, he still leverages his enemy's weaknesses to keep some level of control and that's rad
I kinda liked it BUT the fact alone that the bad guys aren't either portuguese or dutch kinda grinds my gears. The writers should have read a book... or two. I mean, the portuguese are the number one reason why they shutdown to all foreigners, after founding the port city of nagazaki and bringing the guns and worse: christianity. The dutch still remained a couple decades till they also got expelled. This anglo-saxon centrism is super innacurate
Exactly, the historic portrayal threw me off too, especially since Japan developed guns around this time so I’m convinced the writers did zero research on that aspect which is wild to me
@@AntiKash It'll be interesting to see if they depict the English civil war by the time they get to London for season 2. Since the show is set in ~1637 and the war takes place in 1641. The travel time should take a couple of years for back then. Doubt the writers are aware of it though. Since they referred to the British, despite Britain not being a country yet.
This actaully isn't an anime in the classic sense of Japanese produced animation. This is a animation that takes place in Japan, so I can see where the mix up can happen. I did the same thing. Criticisms are fair and I did the same thing, having to suspend disbelief at parts where I felt the script needed Mizu to win her battles because she's the main character. The story isn't air tight. But there's enough good to say this is a well made show and deserves a watch. Best animation of all deserves more time to make that declaration.
For sure, overall a great point, and yea i used anime for the simple term as I know that’s generally used for Japanese animation not all animation, but I used it for sake of comparing animation as a whole. And including it helps explain to people that they need to get over the barrier of different language to experience peak entertainment especially in comparison to BES. But yea like you said it’s still good for sure and to most worth watching, I was just pointing my own problems out
"Anime" is literally just short for "animated." Thus, anything that is animated is anime. I know a lot of people like to make distinctions based on nationality (ie Japanese anime, American animation, French, etc), but there's no reason we can't begin to compare animation from different parts of the world. Even amongst Japanese anime, there is quite a lot of variety in style, storytelling, and theme. The odd thing that wasn't mentioned (or maybe not emphasized enough) in the video is that it's problematic that an animated show can only reach "best of the year" heights if it is an American production. There are plenty of Japanese anime that deserve the kind of attention that we usually reserve for Oscar winning movies, or the kind of films that get academic attention. While Blue Eye Samurai is delightfully good, there are plenty of other animated stories beyond even your typical Miyazaki, Oshi, etc. that deserve this kind of attention, but aren't getting it, because their first language isn't English. He's right in that Frieren deserves a lot more attention, although, I will also say Frieren is one of those stories that is actually better as a comic than an animation. But people who are calling Blue Eye Samurai one of the best animations of all time need to watch something from across the border too, because unfortunately, anime like BES are very uncommon in America, where anything animated is still often misconstrued as childish, while there are more examples from overseas. I better quit this comment before I go on a rant about funding for different kinds of storytelling . Lol.
You raised some really good points. The sheer exhibition of Mizu's skills made for some great action eye-candy, but I was raising my eyebrows more and more by the the final few episodes. Outside of the stylistic choices of the series a lot of my disappointment boiled down to the MC's logic and motivation. Why was she setting out to kill four men, one of whom MIGHT be her father? At its core revenge is a response to a deeply personal injustice by one or more individuals known to the character. Kill Bill, John Wick, I Spit on Your Grave, Payback, the list goes on. You are reveling in the MC's war path because you can see what the enemies have done to them and it's time for retribution. For me it was just too hard of a sell for me to believe a character proceeded to take up this quest for vengeance against four guys she's never even met. The show tried to substantiate this desire through more peripheral causes. She faced horrible prejudice throughout her life--yes, but that seems more like people around her being a**holes than her father's fault. She also meets people during her journey that are able to look past such superficial bs and try to connect with her. Fowler is undeniably evil, and it sounds like the other three guys are as well--yes, but the emperor and other characters demonstrate that evil and corruption are not purely foreign concepts (pun 100% intended). Overall the writing demonstrated why Mizu would be an angry and bitter human being, but it didn't deliver on why she would take on a mission that is nothing short of suicide. Even when she causes an ENTIRE CITY to be burned down (that fire did spread weirdly fast if you ask me 0_o), she never stops to think that maybe she could reassess her aims. The show could have drawn a closer connection between Mizu and her cause for hatred against the big 4, but they seemed more intent on fitting in more time for action and cultural exhibition. Don't get me wrong, the animation and visuals were stunning and the portrayals of Japanese culture amazing, but they could've had a better balance of both substance and appearance.
Couldn’t have said it better, like you said I could also tell that the shows creators valued the fights and visual aestethic more than the writing behind motivations and such. It was still great in its own right but with reasoning like that is exactly why I didn’t like it as much personally but not to say it takes away from the show that much objectively, it’s just how I felt subjectively
She doesnt just hate them coz they might be her dad. Mizu hates herself. This is said pretty explicitly, 'they made me a monster'. She's going after these men as a kind of metaphorical suicide. By killing the white men in Japan, she hopes to kill the whiteness in herself. She sees herself as a creature of violence (born of rape), and she only really understands how to work her will on the world through violence. Perhaps she thinks that by killing her violent origins (Fowler et al), she can cleanse herself of violence and be at peace. I think there's a lot more going on with the character motivation than you give it credit for.
I haven't seen the show. But I have heard some good things about it. Personally I don't mind if a tv show,movie, and or video game chooses style over realism. As long as it isn't too far fetched.
@@AntiKash I just assumed that it was trying to be like Kill Bill from what I've seen from some of the fight scenes. As long as it isn't like current Resident Evil where Jill picks up weapons no HUMAN could carry. Or ignoring physics like the Fast and the Furious.
2:03 This is definitely something I need to work on myself. I tend to ignore my own opinions about media because if the reviews are overwhelmingly the opposite of mine, I tend to gaslight myself into thinking I just didn’t understand it. While I enjoyed BES, it felt like there was a piece of the puzzle that just never got put into place for me. Like there was something missing that stopped it from being as great as I thought it could have been.
Ay, the fact that you can admit that in itself is a step the majority of people cannot even take. And tbh I still even struggle with it, even after making this video I got mad hate and I’m like damn, I guess I was wrong. But nah, all personal feelings aside, the show has its flaws and most people in these comments, even ones who loved it had admitted that. People just often confuse their personal love and critique and as someone who tries to balance the two, it’s def not easy. But with that being said, I’ll always try to be true to myself and I think that’s something to live by.
One of the creators is japanese and they actually brought traditional clothing to the studios to show them properly how the characters should move (that's one example that they didn't do whatever). It's funny how people pretend they are experts on a culture that isn't their own just from watching anime.
one of the creators is half japanese, american born, alot is also said by the fact that japan had guns during this time period but in the show they just didnt... all it takes is a quick google search but yea... anime expert over here so who knows @@oscarchavezavellan2738
@@AntiKash I mean, the show very clearly did say there are Japanese guns in the very first scene. It's also one of the first things Mizu says. She literally points out how Hachiman's pistol isn't Japanese and explains how she knows (implying she has enough experience with Japanese weapons to immediately know when one isn't).
It did too me aswel. Just like Afro revenge is all I want. The lives Afro messed up, he didn't care, too kill his father's killer was the one thing the only that matter. After watching a movie called The last Samurai Starring Tom Cruise. I wrote a short story called the Black Bastard Samurai a story about a child of a slave who were washed up on the shore and found by a Fisherman Monk.
THANK YOU I was getting so fed up when I was looking through reddit for not liking BES and people kept bringing up "have you ever watched anime?" Like BRUH, have you??? Everything that you said was prefect, and I feel the same about Frieren because BES is an emmy nom somehow
THANK YOU HOLY 😭 the amount of hate and shit I received for this video made me rethink all my takes. But genuinely I still don’t get the praise IN COMPARISON to other fucking amazing anime, that is somehow worse or just less popular then BES. Like I said a lot, it’s good ofc mainly visually but damn Emmy nom is insane, it’s wild to me how slept on Anime as a whole is in the west, like if that’s Emmy nom, Frieren is a fuckin Oscar winner. Sorry for yapping so much😭
@@AntiKash You're good! And tbh I seriously do think the majority think it's good because there isn't really any good adult animation, so when one is good, it's amazing to them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I think you hit it spot on tbh, to non anime viewers, they assume animation is purely Disney and cartoon I guess, so then anything rated R with a decent plot is like 10/10 lol. Good for them tho on enjoying it, I just wish more people gave anime a try
Thank you, so much. This is how i felt about BES, but everyone else was loving on it, and i was left wondering if i missed something or was just an old grouch. I thought it was obvious what was happening. The only time i thought i had been wrong... the short lived bliss of her marriage... was very, shortlived. If they had supernatural elements, like the spirit (kami?) of revenge possessing her, then the ungroundedness could work, but without that? Nah, bro, doesnt work.
Yes thank u too, I got an insane amount of hate from making this but oh well 🤷♂️ rather be honest than front so people would like me better, also glad people like you are out there so Ik I’m not crazy lol
About the unrealism: You said that anime does not mean unrealistic, I agree, but it does not mean that anime has to be realistic. And I cannot agree that it got less realistic as time went on, I mean mizu was pulling bullshit moves from episode one, the situations just got more extreme. I thought the dynamic between mizu and taigen was really interesting and I think it makes complete sense for him to save mizu and almost dying in the process. He himself was talking about killing himself because of the lost fight against mizu, he knew the only way to come back to the life he was promised was to beat her in a real duel and he would do anything to get there (yes even almost dying for mizu). And the thing about mizu leaving the akemi, I think it's not brought up because she necessarily thinks she did something wrong, it's more something she was still in the process of questioning, I myself am still not sure whether or not she actually did the right thing. From her pov the princess just tried to kill her and now she's commanding her to defeat the samurais that are about zo take akemi so she has her reasons to not help her. But at the same time, akemi just saved her life a few moments ago and clearly just wants to find taigen so she also would've had reasons to help her. I think that was a great scene since it showed that mizu is selfish, the only thing she cares about is revenge, until later in the series where she realizes she actually wants to help taige, ringo and akemi. Even if I don't agree with all the points of the video, it was still very enjoyable to watch and I hope you can share your opinion on my thoughts
Thank uu for this response, glad u still enjoyed it and honestly I think u bring up great points, at the time I made the video idk y but I was def too harsh, now I still have disagreements and etc but it’s a agree to disagree type of situation but it’s a good show nonetheless and glad we could come to an understanding!
I was also having extreme hard time trying to understand how so many people fell in love w this one. Good visuals + a classical revenge story shouldn't be this appealing, I thought. Bc like you said, there are SO many plot holes. The plot armor is unbelievable. A lot of scenes make no sense either logistically or historically. Also extremely oriental. I'm semi fluent in Jp and I love their culture & history but this show was the POV of a very white person
Right! I’ll give most shows the benefit of the doubt, that they’ve done their research, and I actually have seen that one of the creators is part Japanese etc. but the entire time it just felt like a fan fiction violent written Mulan, idk maybe we’re just crazy but it amazes me to see the praise this has instantly gotten
This viewpoint is such a strange. Can a show not be great and still have problems? It's not highly praised and loved because everything around it is bad. Nothing is stopping anyone from watching older shows or movies that they enjoy. You aren't restricted into only consuming media from the year it's released. The reason it's highly praised and loved is because it's a great show that's entertaining. Great storyline, characters, themes and style. It's something new to add to what you already watch. Yeah there's problems, but so what? Even the greatest shows and movies of all time have problems. I'm not saying the show is a masterpiece, but it's definitely not just good.
@@RudeAndObscene Thanks for your opinion. It is your opinion indeed and not fact ;) I’ll hold onto my ~~~strange~~~ opinion. But you also sound like you don’t understand how people consume media and how general pop culture works.
YES THANK YOU! Especially the thing with Mizu’s and taiken’s relationship - it was so rushed! It made zero sense to me that these two ended up liking each other. Also I agree with the fact that it makes no sense for Mizu to feel anything towards Akemi - like they are not friends, they barely know each other. Mizu has no idea what it means for her to be taken back to ido (and neither has Ringo), so I don’t get why either one of them feels guilty.
THANK U😭I got so much hate for this video but Idc people like you remind me that I’m not crazy. They Literally rush an enemies to lover trope and I just feel like a lot of this is written from a fan fiction perspective 🤷♂️ glad I’m not the only one
@@AntiKash I was literally so happy to have stumbled across this video, because everyone keeps saying this show is a flawless masterpiece. I thought I was the only one who felt there was something wrong with it
This video is a perfect example of watching to criticize vs watching to be told a story. Not saying you can’t criticize, but the criticism itself is not constructive and sounds more like diluted complaints. 4:06 1) The show itself has not been confirmed to be anything realism, realist or otherwise. I honestly believe it’s going down the path of fantasy because of the first hint at the blue meteor that fell from the sky, that old swords-smith picked up with his bare hands and a child managed to smith into a sword. 3:21 2) the plot is grounded and very easy to understand. Everything is thought out from beginning to end. What part of the plot is missing? It’s leading into (hopefully) more seasons so ofc a lot is held off. 4:27 3) to back your opinion about how you think the show was practically lackluster in your eyes with…. Shonen anime, of all things is rather dull and one sided. Considering this show is French animated and funded by Western producers, this show is far from an anime and shouldn’t be compared? Let’s say in comparison to Arcane, another French animated show, it’s very similar in Forgiveness, Femininity and Foreign oppression which I know one of these things you have no experience with. You don’t have to like something. But again to criticize without backing up your points with actual analysis, then there was no point in posting.
To start with it not being an anime, I know that but why does that make BES incomparable. Anime is just Japanese for animation, Western works like arcane proved great writing and animation can come out of non anime works. Two - never does it claim to be grounded is true yes but the point that everyone is missing is the level of reality that it broke in dodging a bullet eliminated any threat in any possible way. To start with a story set in edo Japan during a real time period and even a real instance of a fire, but to one state that Japan didn’t develop guns( which they did at this time) but to then eliminate the threat of the biggest issue of imperialism, what’s the point of the setting, and what is the threat anymore, and not forgetting the plenty of times Fowler could have killed mizu but chose not to for literally no reason. Again you sound very well spoken but to completely throw away my actual criticism is wild, the show is carried by its visuals and decent writing.
tbh my first hint that something 'wasn't right' were the subtle misinformed cultural references and mis-matched clothing from hundreds of years apart: things most casual western audiences wouldn't pick up on but set off a strong 'cultural uncanny valley' vibe with people really familiar with the subject matter. Add the plot issues + writing and 100% it feels like a non-Japanese trying to tell a Japanese story based solely on what Europeans had to say about the country. Close but just barely 'off' in a hard to describe way.
Honestly, I don't think that's becazse of non japanese writing it. Historical fiction allways has these inaccuracies and anarchonisms. Just look at things like Braveheart, it also has this problem. It's annoying, but it's a wider problem whith historical settings in general.
People just don’t bow often or deeply enough in the show. It made me deeply uncomfortable. At least once in the first episode, Mizu would have been dismissed - if not decapitated - for her lack of etiquette, long before anyone noticed the colour of her eyes.
Thank you for not just glazing this show. I felt the exact same about the plot. It had so many parts where I was like "is she supposed to have powers or not!?"
Thank u for appreciating that cus I got so much shit for just being honest 😭guess I can’t critique some shit even when it’s clearly true, and it’s still good overall as I said but people just missed that
Have to leave a dislike cuz I feel the criticism of it being unrealistic is kind of the point. It’s set in the real world, but that doesn’t mean it can’t also have some fantastical elements. That’s just a preference you’re trying to pass off as an objective negative.
If you actually listened to the video then you’d know I say the show is objectively good, and then I state my own personal issues…quite literally the opposite of what ur saying I did lol.
you just said I "tried to pass off a preference as an objective negative".... thats literally saying that I tried to say the show was bad off of my own opinions which I explicitly stated I did not ....@@Aureilius2112
reading comprehension 101 , the comment said that I tried to pass off a preference as an objective negative, I specifically said "the show is objectively good" and "i didnt like it for said reasons, all my opinion" . "grow up" who still says that as an insult lmaoo@@Alex-qy8nj
"Unrealistic" Of course it is, most adventures and revenge-fantasies usually do include characters that are unrealistically powerful in some way. So, do you only have an issue with it when it's a female character?? Real question. I hear lots of guys say "unrealistic" but on;y as a criticism when there is a powerful woman. How "realistic" is the Terminator? Or the more grounded Die Hard (but one guy still takes out an army on his own)?
Again if you’ve watched my video it has nothing to do with gender. If mizu was a man I would’ve had the same issues, the setting is edo Japan 1600s aka a real time period with a real scenario about white men and their view and destruction in 1600 edo Japan. The terminator is a story about a robot person… mizu is a regular human, in a regular setting, her feats are unrealistic, simple as that
91 days is one of those anime which set a realistic setting and does not stray from it. That is why I recommend it to non anime fans. You don't have titans eating each others and people destroying planets, it is just a story during the prohibition period
Exactly!!! Glad u mentioned it cus I put it in this video for a reason. It tells an amazing story and never strays from it’s grounded setting, it’s perfect for anyone who thinks anime is just a non realistic thing
So glad to see a review like this. This started so strong, and I love strong female leads, but they really lost me in the 2nd half. Mizu straight up defied logic in the second half of the series - you're really going to dodge a bullet with a 1-2 foot range when you've never seen a gun in your life?? You're going to fall 300ft into 10 inch thick FROZEN ice after being beaten within a second of your life, survive, and then be pulled out by a guy with NO HANDS???? MKAE IT MAKE SENSE. If they gave Mizu special powers or intensive training...maybe. just maybe... In addition, too many cliche writing moments for....??? ughhh. U.S. writers looove to do that.
THANK U 😭😭I got so much hate for this vid to the point I questioned if I’m really a women hater, I’m not though, exactly the points you said, thank u again for this comment
@@savemoneysaveplanet Fullmetal Alchemist is one example of women being written well and realistically (though not a female-led anime, the women have a strong presence throughout). Whether they are the antagonist or protagonist. Hiromu Arakawa writes such depth and nuance in her female characters. Arakawa actually nails every part of the series from the start to the end without falling into the pitfalls of cliched writing.
Just gonna mention that we know she knows what guns are and how they work, it was literally the introduction scene where she asks the flesh trader where he got the gun. She even points out it's not a japanese gun, it's an european one - making it illegal.
“Anime does not mean Unrealism.” *turns on “Chainsaw Man, Yasuke, Deathnote, Naruto, Demon Slayer, Claymore, etc.* Totally realistic, right? Jokes aside, I can appreciate where you’re coming from. Not gonna get too tied up on the technicalities of this not being an anime, and while I disagree w some of your takes (and the baiting thumbnail), it’s always nice to hear different opinions. I personally loved this show. Disagreement aside, your presentation is solid. Good content :)
Thank u , thank god ur an understanding person😭 and yes I apologize for baiting but after posting for a while I realized it’s not terrible because if the content is half decent then people don’t get too hurt. And yea like you said, it’s opinions at the end of it and on my biggest points with unrealism I meant a world that’s set in realistic places, aka edo Japan, you know what I mean. And then her training and just stuff like that, it’s not major enough to make it a bad show like I said, just all opinion and technicalities. Regardless thank u again for being super understanding
I'm so glad you pointed this out, I agree with literally everything. I spat out my water when another RUclipsr said "arcane has nothing on this" like YO?? BE SO FR. Also. I agree with what you said about how you get homages and you get unoriginality. I do think that episode 4&5 were practically flawless but the others felt like a weirldly ungrounded rehashing of mulan, lady snowblood, kill bill and vagabond.
Exactlyyyyy like cmon ARCANE😭 I don’t understand what people are seeing in the writing wise, besides like you said 4 and 5 were pretty damn good but the rest, was pretty average writing, great visuals tho but not a 9/10 show as many claim
Yeah! One small thing I'd like to add is that you mentioned how it feels like a slightly westernised fantasy of Edo Japan and I found it really strange that there wasn't an option to watch it in Japanese dub, which would have made it more immersive... (I mean come on, Scott Pilgrim had one!), and with my knowledge and reading up about it, it definitely is less historically or culturally accurate and more of a love letter to that period... from an American. It gets a good deal of things right but a lot of stuff especially how the characters interact are just very un-Japanese. I also just felt like, sexism and racism aside, the politics could have been done better, if we're trying to compare it to Arcane. Luckily, towards the end Akemi gave us some of that. The writing was weird... I do think it's a first season that's setting itself up for more and in hindsight will be better after more seasons, but a lot felt underdeveloped... unlike, again, Arcane.The one character that I do felt was done well is Akemi, though. It's clever how they balanced Mizu using her masculinity for gain with Akemi using her femininity for gain. Ultimately, like you said, it's good, it's like a solid 7/10 but nowhere near Devilman Crybaby, Arcane or Pluto. Honestly I just think people don't consume that much anime/series and are easily wowed by something actually decent in a world where most of what we do get is subparr. So I fully stand with you in feeling like it's overhyped.
I COULD LITERALLY NOT AGREE MORE LIKE OMGGGGGGGGG, it feels so westernized, and again people use the defense of oh the "creator is japanese" shes american af and only one of the creators. I just feel like if youre going to make a westernized version of japan at least approach it that way, don't try to go all edo period, this was japan at the time and than get it wrong. Like you said, still a solid show overall but so damn overhyped@@geekkiddo
Another nitpick I have with this show, is that I wish Ringo was more of a character. He just feels too much like the "lovable comic relief" trope. But I want to know more about him and his struggles. They only ever kind of talked about it once with the "my whole life has been a battle" line, and that got me really interested to know more about him. How does he feel being disabled? Why does he so desperately want to be useful to someone? Why does he want to be "great?" They just did not delve into him enough for me to care about him as a character.
Ringo had much more to his character than his comedic relief, and his character development IS there, despite not changing fundamentally as a person. Ringo is meant to be a rock in the story, someone to be consistent among all these other characters going through drastic change. Despite this, he has moments where he proves to be useful, when he saves Mizu’s life multiple times. She would’ve died multiple times in the series if not for him. Even so, Ringo’s aspirations change. He goes from wanting to be a samurai, to wanting to be great, to deciding he will help greatness. Though it’s done in a way that is light and silly, it provides a refreshing step back from all the blood and gore. Ringo is disabled and he knows this, he’s been told his whole life that he’s useless (look at the way his father treated him) so he wants to be great at something so he is validated by others. He settles into a role that he is capable of doing, not because he truly wants greatness, but that validation. To feel useful. Mizu gives him this validation (though it’s subtle) which is why he sticks with her as her apprentice. His development is simple, but he’s also a simple person who is content with taking the sidelines, because he realized all he needs is that feeling of worth. I’m sure we’ll see more development in the future, but overall he’s one of my favorite characters and it’s sad to see a lot of people chalk him up to comedic relief. The writing in this show is phenomenal, and most of the development for side characters is not explicitly said, but shown in the details. If you have the time, give it a second watch and you’ll see what I mean by Ringo’s development!
@@anyeh2921 First off, I appreciate the comment. It's always nice when I get actual in depth replies instead of people leaving unhelpful ones. I did actually rewatch the series recently, and I admit, I did like Ringo more on rewatch. I'd still like to see some more development out of him, but I can see what you mean.
Damn usually the realisticness of stories makes the immersion into storytelling is a big standard for me. But for some reason none of Mizu's supernatural actions and achievements throughout the show made me feel like Mizu was inconsistent with the world building/immersion. I thought Mizu's overpoweredness was just like Batman's overpoweredness. I liked it because Mizu's OPness didn't ring any alarms in my head.
When she lifted a full grown man with a single arm and proceeded to climb a wall, falling and holding on with a single hand, while again, holding unto a full grown man? That didn’t set off any alarms?
omg finding someone that had any critic for this was so hard I almost had to make my own video / for a second I stopped believing in my judgement after seeing all the praise on yt and now Im thinking maybe this also has sth to do with me being both an anime and film fan
Sameeee, I think the fact we love both anime and film, we really know what peak writing is, I wasn’t trying to say this was bad, but it just wasn’t as good as everyone was claiming. Appreciate your words though, helps knowing I wasn’t crazy for this take lol
I know what you mean about it seemed like it was grounded and realism and then all the suddenly not. I guess i view it like it’s sort of like James Bond but with samurai.
Fair honestly, I’m glad you could see my pov cus I see yours completely too😭 I meant to make this vid as like my perspective of it but if anyone like yourself can view it as a James Bond type of flick than I’m glad if anything, I don’t want people to not like this show which a lot of people thought for some reason 😭
@@AntiKash oh no I didn’t take it that way at all. I think what you said is valid. They might have a better idea of what they want to do in 2nd season. This is kinda off topic, but It sometimes makes me sad that shows rarely get go past season 3. I find that sometimes they need season 2 and 3 to really get solid. An example imo would be Parks and Rec.
It really feels like people just see a 3d computer animated action show that doesn't make you want to stab your eyes out and suddenly its the best thing ever. I couldn't get past episode 1 it felt so half-backed and in need of three more drafts. I couldn't get past episode 1 of Arkane or whatever either but that was obviously just not something I understood the point of and clearly didn't have the kind of mistakes this show makes. I didn't like Castlevania but at least finished it. Need to watch Pluto.
Yea arcane is def worth watching but also not every show is for everyone so I wouldn’t force it. Pluto is one of my genuine favorites in the past couple of years, I made on video on it but I’ll have to make a follow up soon
i would argue that the crazy unrealistic plot and fights comes from classic kungfu and samurai movies. Think Kill Bill and Lady Snow Blood kind of crazy hah. I see the show as a love letter to postmodern Asian martial arts movies. But yeah the show kinda shot itself in the foot with grounding itself since the plot is based on so many references lol.
Yea I think that’s completely fair to say and ultimately true, my issues just remain the same because works like kill bill or even ip man don’t start off with “edo Japan 1600s, ethnocentric isolated country, racism” and then to add on, it actually gets into imperialism and negative trades with guns, just for her to dodge the bullet and defeat the entire army basically by herself. Kill bill sets the tone from the very beginning, and BES sets a different tone, which it slowly progresses from OP swordsman which I personally could let pass to then breaking any logical rule
My problem is the dialogue. It feels like fanfic written by 16 year old POC girls in California. How tf am I supposed to believe this is taking place in 17th century japan?? There are some other nitpicks. Spoilers for ep 5: We see the two stories of the Mizu and the Ronin playing at the same time. The ronin is obviously supposed to represent Mizu since both are crazy swordsmen out for revenge. Then they find peace in life and both get married. Somehow the story then turns into this betrayal by a lover and Mizu is represented as an Onryo?? Did she just switch characters? How tf does the story of the ronin have anything to do with Mizu's story? Especially that ending with the Ronin killing the Child. Her husband also made no sense. The guy seemed like a level-headed loner who only takes care of horses and potentially wants to win favor again by his lord. He meets mizu and their marriage starts out rough. Slowly but surely they start to fall in love together and you see them enjoying each other's company. Then the story wants me to believe that because of a single fight with Mizu his pride is hurt and therefore he betrays her. The guy wasn't even established as Greta fighter. Just a caretaker of horses. We literally see him teaching Mizu how to ride a horse since he clearly has a lot of experience. Mizu then later in the episode beats him in a horse race and he doesn't even seem all that bothered by it, yet him being beaten in a fight once is enough to destroy his whole marriage and peaceful life? Isn't this the same bastard that said he would accept her for who she was? Atleats let him betray her for blue eyes, cuz then you can use prejudice as an excuse. His ego however? Where tf did that come from? We litetally meet him that episode and barely know fuck all about him. It just seemed like the writers didn't know what to do with him and needed a reason for mizu to be betrayed. The writing isn't even all that bad, however the amount of people glazing this series as the second coming of christ really makes me scratch my head. Especially episode 5 that I found a very mid episode compared to the others. It reminds of celebrities tweeting their hearts out about Demon slayer and especially episode 19 just for it to be an absolute garbage series and people's judgement mostly being clouded by pretty colors and animation.
Thank u , like damn, that’s exactly how I felt too. Like a damn fan fiction, and I think it actually worked, and the praise it’s getting is because whatever their target audience was, has been nonstop praising it. It just bothers me because people can’t differentiate the enjoyment they have and then actual great writing. Like 9/10 scores and people claiming it’s anime of the year, no fucking way, there is so much better I just refuse to accept that, if you enjoy it that’s great but at least look at it objectively if they’re gonna compare
@@AntiKashWhat if in their objective opinions it’s anime of the year? Just because they don’t share your opinion, doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re wrong.
@@randomguy6679 that’s somewhat fair, but the issue is anime of the year means you’re comparing it to other anime objectively, it’s an objective award, but yes if someone subjectively says it was their anime of the year they could I’m not gonna deny that, but to claim it as THE anime of the year is claiming objectively that it’s better
@@AntiKash But the fact that it’s their own opinion should go without saying, just like how any review is someone’s own opinion. How annoying would it be if every positive statement or review opened with “in my opinion”? Isn’t that just common sense?
and its my opinion to argue against it, i dont know what youre trying to point out here, If i think something isnt AOTY then thats how i feel, same thing goes for people who think BES is, its all just opinions, i just think objectively that there are better choices and i could point that out @@randomguy6679
In regards to Mizu’s training I feel like it’s important to recognize she wasn’t just shadowing any normal samurai, these men had to have been the best in Japan as Swordfather was clearly renowned as the great sword maker he would only make swords for those who were worthy. I think you can also assume they would do more than just show techniques since swordfather told them he needed to fully understand the samurai in order to make their blade. Still doesn’t give a good reason as to why she can dodge bullets and take down armies single handedly but I think it does explain why her skill is greater than pretty much any single samurai we are
@@ExpertContrarian she watched them then trained at night emulating the same movements, and again they would explain more about their techniques and what it means to be a swordsman at the request of sword father. It’s like learning something through RUclips if you watch and emulate enough you will learn
One of the biggest ways to point out the realism inconsistency I felt is to compare the fight with Taigen at the beginning, where while her skill level was above that of him, the fight was well coreographed and there was tension in the fight. Each move was calculated, and it was the first fight that grounded the realism for me. I thought it was the precedence the show was going to run on. And then they did away with that. I think you made a very good point on establishing rules and then breaking them. Because if she can do insane feats of strength and power, it’s fine, as long as it is consistent across the board. If they had gone for that style along the whole way, I wouldn’t have had any problems with big crazy things happening.
Exactly, thank you for understanding that cus I really started to think I was going crazy, somehow most people didn’t see that but as you said, so many rules were initially established and so easily broken. If they had the unrealism from the beginning I would’ve been completely fine but to go “edo Japan 1600s” and sword fighting to dodging bullets is just dumb
i agree with this 100%. the part that angers me is why the fuck is she leaving japan?? why is she going to London? you built this japan world and for what?! just to leave????
EXACTLY😭I didn’t even get to that but that made everything feel like an excuse to just have another setting, wtf was the point of Japan, to show some nice cherry blossoms😭😭
Ok ok hold on before going off, you do have to understand that Mizu is after revenge that's the whole point, yes they did build the world for that entire plot but you can not expect the white men just to be there already thus the journey to London makes sense for it to further the plot
@@AntiKash the ending actually puzzled me a bit ,she was taking this Fowler as her prisoner to London (England },his home country she is very unfamiliar with ,away from her home/birthplace ,her home advantage ! what could go wrong?
Great show. Check all those subtle metaphors! You know, I'm a bit old to sit on the anime sword but I saw a lot of parallels with the old Zatoichi movies of the 60's. And I'm glad the writers tipped their hats in that direction. Lots of revenge, betrayal, broken relationships and grief.. And lust! The perfect metallurgical ingredients for a Samurai's sword, right? But my problem was that Mizu was never a Samurai. She's more like a well-trained Ashiguru in that era. Unless we find out where and how she trained (lock-picking? Hello?) and with who? They got mixed up with Abijah Fowler though. An Irishman would never let a Geisha with a long-nosed mask stick it anywhere back there! He must have been English!! Great video, man. Good review and opinions 👍👍
6:55 Uh so you are missing something key with this part of the plot about Taigen and Mizu. I do agree with the part of some plot unrealistic like the bullet part with ringo. But the part with Taigen not trying to kill Mizu was because in Samarai culture they had offical fights. They had a SIGNED contract saying they are going to fight. This was a thing like how we have MMA fights or titles for boxing. (That is why in ep 3 they showed two town guys fighting for winner. It is kind of like a country "quick draw." Another show that did this was avatar the last airbender with the "agni kai) They had these contracts to handle disputes.
That makes sense and I got that, but then they literally proceed to fall in love and I just don’t get how that happens in any capacity especially after what mizu did to taigen
I think it’s a very fumbled show that tried to be samurai Champloo. Music is quite shit and was not established well. Sometimes the characters have very cringe worthy dialogue. But Mizu is quite the compelling character, the only other thing I dislike is the “revenge story” template which is overdone and was not that well done in this.
Failed scenes that went nowhere: the writing on self scene the sex scene with the princess and her betrothed the constant backstory with the MC's failed marriage interrupting a cool fight that had a lot of stuff going on the scene where Gringu is with the sword father and connects with him, but only with the fact that they both share a disability, while being cool and interesting. it didn't come back later in season 1 the scene where the Villain Elijah is shooting his damned men with his new shipment of smuggled guns. (I think this, because he only shows us how he smuggled the guns and that he has a lot of them now. but if we where to cut it. I think we would be fine actually) the rebirth scene, where Gringu wins the stick while he's naked in the water, to make a wish come true
for the first few i think they did actually bring plot to the story and not just 'filler'. The writing on self, is a way to show that shes ready to let people help her and not to do this alone -> she actually goes to ringo and asks him to help her coz she "cant do this alone" not only that but the swordfather actually told her that she shouldnt live purely with just hate, so shes trying to cleanse herself with a way of meditation. the sex scene at least how i interpreted it was that akemi wasnt the typical submissive princess lead, ESPECIALLY at that time she wasnt 'allowed' to have sex before her marriage but she did it anyways because thats what she wanted to, we see HER initiate it and take charge literally being ON TOP of a man (you could say its a symbolism to patriarchy and how she wants to take charge instead). The backstory is more so to understand what made her how she is and so willing to keep going just for revenge, before when she was married and was 'softer' maybe she wouldnt have done this to this extent etc but now we understand why shes so closed off why shes so 'inhuman;.
I think 'failed' is a very harsh way of putting it. At most, loose or open threads that weren't developed further. More development with Ringo could happen in Season 2, he doesn't have to complete his arc of 'finding his greatness' in the first season alone. That being said, I'm mostly neutral on a lot of these scenes and understand why some people might question them. Except for two. 'the constant backstory with the MC's failed marriage interrupting a cool fight that had a lot of stuff going on' Absolutely disagree. There's a reason so many are calling that episode the peak of the show. If you got annoyed by the flashbacks and thought they were disruptive, that's your experience and fair enough. But for me, it was a great backstory that tied into the symbolism and main themes through the puppet show, and built up to the Mizu going berserk at the end. The fact that we see how she became the 'on-ryo' made it so much more satisfying and impactful when we see the demon in full action. At least for me. That kind of intertwined storytelling tickles me just right. 'the scene where the Villain Elijah is shooting his damned men with his new shipment of smuggled guns. (I think this, because he only shows us how he smuggled the guns and that he has a lot of them now. but if we where to cut it. I think we would be fine actually)' Firstly, you make it sound like Abijah (not Elijah) is shooting his own men for no reason. In case you believe that, you are incorrect. Those were his allies who betrayed him by trying to find the guns themselves, which is why he was executing them. Secondly, the main purpose of this scene is to provide a piece of Elijah's backstory that deepens your understanding his character. You remove the scene. You remove that character development.
This is western anime. Franco-American anime. It took so much from Japanese anime that this root deserves recognition. Thank you for a level headed commentary. I really enjoyed both your thoughts and the series itself.
Some great points mate. What got me was the last episode, the entire army were burned alive OUTSIDE. I mean, WHAT??!? The whole climax of the gun army finished off by a woman and an old man closing over a gate so they can be burned alive outside. Ruined it for me. How in the name of god did the fire spread so far and what kept it burning?
EXACTLY WHAT KINDA SORCERY 😭 and it’s the fact they were just so willing to eliminate this overbearing threat instantly. Like wtf, get a whole army, armed with GUNS and then yea just wiped almost instantly by a couple of people
@@AntiKash Thank God I’m not the only one who was annoyed by this! 👌 and mate, Mizo and fowler literally still fighting in the burning building where the whole entire fire started. The place not burn down before the whole entire outskirts of the palace?
I'm no history buff, nor am I educated in Irish culture, but I was thoroughly confused when the Irish villain generalized himself as a "Brit". Wasn't this the period where Ireland was going through a lot of bad stuff from the English oppression? Does it make sense for the Irish of the 17th century to identify themselves this way? If anyone here is knowledgeable in the topic, I'd greatly appreciate the insight. It was even worse when this same character made a threatening prediction about the cultural changes in Japan, stating it would be flooded with "our" cultural elements. But wasn't it American culture that flooded it? I don't remember Irish tunes suddenly becoming the mainstream musical style in Kyoto. Again, would a 17th century's Irish man generalize himself this way? This seems like a modern American simplification of the rest of the world, rather than what non-Americans would be thinking of themselves - identifying with the specific culture they represent and not throwing themselves in the lot for the sake of skin color, especially when they share it with their own enemies.
I’m with you. I’m not a history buff either but it felt off, especially the fact that Japan developed guns around this time period,and it only took me a quick search to find that, so the fact they didn’t realize that was wild
Hes an irish person only in name really. It makes no sense for him to generalise himself as british. There would have been people born in ireland that identified as british but they would have been the children of the planter colonisers. We know Fowler isn't as he says he suffer under the hands of the Tudors (British) because he was part of the O'Neills. Moving past the point that the British made it illegal for irish catholics to even own land let alone a opium and weapons shipping company, Fowler wouldn't have even spoken english, he woulda spoke irish at the time. Despite all that I think theres still hope for Fowler as a character. Maybe they can kinda retcon and make him part of the british colonial irish. Maybe he relinquished his irish roots. Idk but as he stands hes basically not even irish. The idea that this show is about anti coloniasm and the main bad guy was an irishman really through me off. They acknowledge themselves that ireland was colonised at the time. Irish people weren't even considered white!
While I can believe the show has historical inaccuracies, I'm not sure if we should take Fowler's statements as the show's statements on history. I can believe that, at that time, someone could assume British culture would be the one to proliferate through the world. And even if Fowler is Irish, he clearly admires and subscribes to the British's methods. Even if his own people were oppressed by them, he prob doesn't care. He's a cruel, depraved, sadistic villain who only wants to cement his own power. Either way, Blue Eye Samurai is at most historical fiction. Doesn't have to be 100% accurate. Could be alternate history fiction, really. At least, that's my attitude towards this kind of stuff, which is why historical inaccuracies have rarely bothered me.
Thank you it means a lot too that we can both admit how great it is but also share the criticisms. 🙏and Pluto is amazing I highly recommend, hope u enjoy it
Completely agree with you. I like BES and respect it as a well done show. But geesh, it’s currently overrated as hell. Arcane and Pluto are at a different level from BES.
I really appreciate this analysis. I finished watching the show last night and have been searching for someone else who shares my opinions on the lack of clear character development and clunky plot moments, while also simultaneously being able to praise the great moments the show has (particularly episodes 1 and 5), as the great moments are GREAT. Also appreciate the recommendations, I will check them out. You earned a subscribe!
THANK U , got an insane amount of hate for this video. Which of course it comes with it,making videos, but what was eating at me is the fact most didn’t even watch the video or register any of my actual praise😭 like I said it was objectively good yet people didn’t realize that. Regardless it means a lot getting support like this, thank you❤️
I don’t find it unrealistic (okay maybe dodging bullets but everyone gets to dodge bullets) because guns actually did exist in Edo period Japan. There were gunsmiths. This is all according to Wikipedia if anyone’s interested. It’s not particularly unrealistic. The setting is at a time of change.
Fair enough I dropped two videos on this cus I was being pretty harsh on it, just because the initial ratings were really high in comparison to some new shows I felt were slept on
should this even be considered an anime? created and written by Americans and animated by a French studio. if anything it's Western animation like arcane.
I see a lot of people bringing up the same issue in the comments. Being unrealistic vs realistic is a matter of taste and shouldn’t be a strike against the show. Perhaps that’s your opinion but not everyone agrees.
That’s fair of course, but what everyone’s missing is I mentioned the show is objectively good regardless. The issues I had and many agreed with the unrealism is my opinion at the end of the day, the actual faults lie in actual mistakes like one - historically Japan had guns at the time, Fowler just didn’t kill mizu when he had many chances too, etc. unrealism was my personal issue which I think people mistook, even though I said objectively the shows good regardless
No it is not a matter of “taste”.if you want to have super natural elements to exist in your show you have to establish them early in your series. Also establish those things existing in the world. For example in the first episode of Naruto a literal charka fill beast(9 tails) attacked the village and we also seen ninja using justu. in demon slayer in the first episode we seen demons and breathing styles. In the first episode of bleach we(audience and MC) see soul reapers and a hollow. So when people say unrealistic yes it is because it doesn’t line up with any of the ground work that the show has shown us thus far
@@t-god2439 appreciate all ur comments my guy, we lack a lot of understanding people especially in an online space where anyone could say anything but people like you help a lot, genuinely appreciate it 🙏
Well I'm late to the party but you've made a good takes so i guess i'll add something from me About "enemies to lovers" i don't belive that he's fully ready to die for her or anything like that, it's shown multiple times that he is very in line with samurai honor etc. It is also shown that he wants to see that honor in her, first he chases to get "oficial duel", then they have a few heated arguments about honor, "then you're no samurai!" lines are thrown. Then he gets a promise, something along the lines "after i'm done with revenge we'll have our duel, and you'll have my full atention on it" Thus he's not ready to die or i guess suffer for some kind of love or friendship but mostly for holding up traditions which been he's entire life and worldview up to this point. Some people say subplot could be removed and yes i guess it could, but like why? the subplot was good the fact that it converges with main plot mostly at the very end doesn't bother me. It's not second arcane, it's not that kind of writing where there is no moment to breath for the viewer. To be fair i kinda like it in terms of worldbuilding, you can focus more on it and less on slashing and action there. At the end yeh, the bullet scene crosses a line. Like the wall climb etc i can suspense disbelive coz show it's consistant with it. It's not a dark show, it has dark themes but it's very heroic. None of the main characters ends badly, they are wounded time and time again and get up soooo fast, they fight many enemies at the same time. It's a writing choice and It's not a bad one in my opinion, but the fucking bullet nah that was baaad
Fair points for sure, I still just find it weird that taigen falls for her after all she did to him, I could see if they worked together but then him having a boner outta nowhere just threw me all the way off, regardless glad u could understand my points too, appreciate the comment
The only unrealistic thing in my opinion is Mizu winning after she's pinned down. Realistically the giant or Fowler should destroy her after pinning her down/grabbing her. Other than that I enjoyed every part of the show. Not a huge fan of the princess character but that doesn't mean she's poorly written.
The show was a solid 7/10 in my book. The visuals were great for the most part but character designs left a lot to be desired. The soundtrack was weird in some fight scenes and ruined their mood sometimes. The main character is another typical girl boss that beats everyone with ease and wounds don't work on her. Although here they made her slightly better than other girl bosses by making her past a bit relatable and her goal is a Mistake to begin with so they could get away from her being a mary sue in basically almost every aspect. But a flawed strong female character with a tragic past ain't enough to make a 10/10 MC. Her goal is beyond stupid to begin with. It's even worse than the goal of the likes of naruto, deku, gon and other stupid shonen garbage main characters. She ain't likeable in any way shape or form. Her design is mid, her voice acting is mid, her fighting style basically doesn't exist. She does moves out of her butt and doesn't have a particular fighting style. Unlike Azula in avatar for example Also by making an unlikable, boring character basically invincible, they made her even worse. The show is Also extremely preachy. Talks about racism but it's all talk and no substance. Talks a lot about how women were treated in the past but we've seen this shit more than thousands of times. It's enough already. This Shit is getting beyond cliche at this point. Also you can clearly understand who is the good guy or bad guy without even reading the plot: Of course every man (which ain't disabled or gay) is stupid or bad and every girl is intelligent, resourceful and cunning. It's the same terrible netflix/Disney/Hollywood formula: straight white men are bad, disabled men are relatable, girls are leaders, gays are also welcomed. Same modern woke garbage which I'm tired of. No a 80 pound girl can never beat a fighter dude so deal with it. It wouldn't be as bad if the setting was some sort of fantasy like arcane or avatar but it ain't. Also the villains (which all are basically stupid men) are beyond terrible. And sidekicks suck except maybe for akemi which again she's the exact copy of literally every single modern Disney princess. Now after writing this much, i think the show ain't even a 7/10. It's more like a 6 and that's if I'm generous enough.
I sort of fundamentally disagree with you calling back to the anime is unrealistic argument, /film/ and /entertainment/ is unrealistic, suspension of disbelief is something valued in animation a lot but even just stories, realistic and true to life as they can be they cant encapsulate everything, they have to pick what to show and what not, so when all the parts click together in a story perfectly that is unrealistic to most life. There are a few places in the show i saw and thought, lol yeah theyd be dead there, the frozen river especially for like 4 different reasons, but if im watching for the character journeys and story and meaning i dont even think about how some action scenes and drama is unrealistic for long- there are times when its REALLY jarring and really does take away from the narrative and show as a whole, but for me id say bes doesnt do that. That being said i do hear what you mean and i can see why someone might not feel the same, everyine has different lines of what is the right amount, this was just my way of seeing that :>
I'm in love with it, cant stop watching it, and i do agree with you over all but it also upsets me to on some point were people cant accept mizu is a female under disgise as a male, but say she is a transgender which over all she never said she wanted too be a man, she said she HAD to be as one in order to get through things and survive because shes half white and a female, another thing is people shipping her with akemi when as well over all they have no chemistry and just want mizu to be gay for no reason, while we do see taigen becoming a version of Shang from Mulan, its over all stupid and i dont like the fact that they ship mizu and akemi its so random.. but i do believe that the creators are going to have taigen get his character development since we see him slowly getting to there, but what i do like is the story and the characters, but overall people need to accept things that go on and plus mizu being a woman since this is a period point of Edo in the 16th century.
For sure I really appreciate your viewpoint and I never meant to change anyone’s mind who liked it, I just wanted to voice my own opinion. I’m glad you enjoyed it but can also understand some of my points
@@AntiKash no i completely understand your view point too, since some thing in the show wasn't much good but thank you for responding and viewing my opinions and i know you weren't trying too change people opinions on this show.
I don't know if this qualifies as an anime just because it's an animation about historic Japan... Anyway I agree that there were some leaps in logic. I kept waiting to see what OTHER training Mizu has gone through to be the badass that she is, or maybe for a confirmation that yes, she WAS a demon. That whole part really didn't click for me. But other then that, I thought the rest of it was phenomenal and it only got better with each episode.
Yea technically it’s not I just used anime for sake of comparing it to anime, as anime is just Japanese animation, it’s all animation at the end of the day. Regardless like you said, it was still great but certain logical things lacking, doesn’t take much away overall though it was still great
Where I thought that the story suffered was trying to use JAPAN as a setting for an anti-colonial message. Japan was itself one of the colonial powers right along with Britain, France, USA and Germany. Their holdings included Korea, Taiwan, Sakhalin, Northern China and others. This is also why this show is very much a westerner's idea of what Japan was. I find that a lot of western people do not know the full extent of The Empire of Japan's colonial history. That said, I still loved the show.
Yes that was part of the “unrealism” I was getting at, which people just ignored, but to me why even use a place that you’re going to be completely in Accurate about, knowing all it takes is a little bit of research 🤷♂️ still a good show tho like you said but that was a bit annoying
And to boot, the main antagonist was an irish man, someone from an actually colonised country at the time and throughout history. Something about rubbed me the wrong way. They could make it work in S2 though
I didn't see an anti-colonial message really. The closing of borders for actually happened (and lasted for a bit more than 200 years). The story was made by a half japanese couple so that is the reason they choose a japanese setting. There are a ton of historical accuracies in the show. The most inaccurate things are the stylized fights, the total lack of guns in japan (firearms did exist, but they still weren't anything close to common but the show portrays it like japan had almost no firearms), the focus on honor, katana worship,and the way the people speak, because japanese culture is very much based on indirect messages.
Totally agree. Super American-centric despite taking place in Japan. Completely felt like this period of Japan and its culture was being co-opted as a decoration for a white American fantasy; be a samurai and have a racially oppressed hero. The art direction and choreography is exceptional of the work. But the racial choices were honestly unnecessary, imo. The weakest point of the story. Given that the work seems catered to an American audience, I squint my eyes at the work’s depiction of Japanese people and a half-white protagonist. Seems a bit more cultural-appropriate-y than cultural-appreciation-y. Nothing against white protagonists, I love arcane and Seinfeld (amongst many other stories 😂) But the handling of the racial theme-which was core to this story-is suspect to me.
Basically; they really want me to root for this white girl mowing down all these Japanese people so that she can kill her white dad, when really she could’ve just been making swords all day, making money and chillin with her mentor 😗 honestly I feel like that would be a more interesting anime than what they did 😂
U get it thank god 😭 like genuinely like u said it feels like some white American fantasy that just loves the culture and aestethic of Japan but has absolutely zero knowledge of the actual history. For one, Japan developed guns around this time period so that alone should tell u that these writers did not to do it Justice. Though it looks amazing ofc like u said, the writing is mos def flawed
@@nightmarilyn I don't think the show wants you to just root for her. It's more complicated than that. It's a classic revenge story where the protagonist's motivations are shown to be understandable but a lot of her actions are still commented on as, at best, morally grey and at worst... well, she's constantly compared to a demon, right? They literally have her kill a kid. Don't think they want you to root for that. And the whole tragic element is that the pursuit of revenge will rob you of the chance of having an actual happy, fulfilled life. This show knows that, so I don't know what you're criticizing. Also, the show, if anything, is very critical of white people. The villain literally extolls the British's unparalleled ability to cause death and destruction and promises a Christian god to give him a whole new nation of devotees. And man, I'm sorry, but the way you just call her 'this white girl'... when she is half-Japanese, it kind of makes me uncomfortable, to be honest. I don't want to say it because it's probably an overreaction, but it reminds me of the very attitude Mizu faces from people in the show. I have a half-White, half-Chinese friend who almost wasn't allowed in an Asian-only rec league because he didn't look Asian enough. That annoyed me to no end, and I can only imagine how he felt about that. People of mixed race don't seem to have a lot representation of their struggles with disconnection and fitting in to the world around them and that's why I'm super appreciative of a character like Mizu and the theme of impurities strengthening the whole. It's sad that there are people looking at her and saying 'it's just a white girl' when there are probably a lot of people who relate to her struggles of being shut out of one half of their heritage and culture.
Fully agree with you but The guy with no hands defending her with a hammer makes sense, he puts the hammer inside his wrapped wrist. It was shown multiple times in the show
@@AntiKash that scene didn't-bother me. But so many did. Specially since i was invested in the show when they started happening ore often and more unbelievably. Very annoying. Why are people praising this I don't get it
I loved it so much. The fantasy factor didn't bother me. I found the exaggerations entertaining. The characters have depth, color, and flaws, and are not black and white. I like the flashbacks and the fact that each episode is different from the rest in style and storytelling. The scenes are fabulous. The fight scenes don't look too animeee. Misplaced items and lack of some details did bug me. Like her having the three broken pieces of the sword with her after all the chaos, or no battle scars when she is writing the sutras on her body. But some details also amazed me on a rewatch . In the first episode, she tells the guy in the Ramen place,'You don't deserve my blade', but the kitchen knife she uses to cut his fingers has her own signature on it. Or Fawlers children's skeletons in his castle. Or Misu actually wearing the same robe as her husband's. I had a lot of fun watching and re-watching it. Just why on earth didn't she kill Fawler????
Fair it’s a dope show no matter how I feel I admit that and yea I didn’t like the fowler bit either, she killed entire armies just to spare him? Things like that just bothered me overall tbh
I feel you, man. It's not easy to dislike a popular show! I found it a bit annoying but extremely entertaining. I hope it wasn't a total waste of time for you, either.
and shes simply taking his word on it after all she had been through to kill him lol surely theres other routes to finding them as well, she found fowler through other means ...@@kbreezy1581
I know I used “anime” for sake of comparison, the fact that jts not changes nothing, arcane proved it can be as goood if not better than anime, just because it’s not Japanese produced doesn’t mean anything different
@@AntiKash I see what you mean -- but you also have to understand that whether or not it is _actual anime_ -- does, indeed, make a huge difference. The entire aesthetic scheme, for one. TBH, everyone looked like Japanese people perceived through western eyes. Japanese people, and Asians in general, would not depict themselves that way. Another pertinent factor would be how the score is approached. Some of the tracks used in the latter half of the show were just... bafflingly out of place. And so on. Point is, the entire production is markedly, _not_ anime, and really should be clearly identified as such.
The bad writing just kills it for me!! Thank you for also bringing it up!! Plus the super human female lead is getting so old. At first I though it was going to be a tag team end fight, proving that coming together is always better but sadly it wasn't. Yes women are strong but men & women together that's a team! Thank you for the video!!
Just glad to see someone reviewing this show honestly and not jerking it off like some other people, it’s a great show and everyone should watch it, but damn recognize that it’s flawed as hell and it could’ve and should’ve been better honestly. If they hadn’t dropped the writing and plot drastically due to not having enough time and having to rush then maybe this could’ve been seriously compared with some of the greats, but making that comparison with how it really is, isn’t a good comparison.
Yes exactlyyyyyy, thank you for being level headed, yes it’s good and people should watch it but damn, it’s flawed and very visibly in the writing department, rushed works always end up like this and a lot of people miss that completely somehow
Fuck man. I had the exact same impression of the writing, even down to the specific scenes that made no sense. Unfortunately, the only coverage I've seen on this show is all calling it flawless, until this video. I just don't understand how so many people unanimously don't see the writing flaws. Thanks for validating my opinion.
Of course, thank u as well, I legit thought I was crazy for this opinion and proceeded to get mad hate for this but people like you let me know that I’m not.
I had heard nonstop rave reviews about this show praising everything about it but I also didn't like it. I watched the first episode with my friends and we all agreed that while the show very obviously wears its inspirations on its sleeve, it felt more like an imitation of those inspiring works rather than an homage or improvement. While the animation was fine, the art was pretty, the voice acting was passable, the show overall just seemed like it was lesser than the sum of its parts. Which is a shame because I wanted to like it but I just couldn't. Then I went and looked around and I could only find praise for it still, until I came across your critique which I mostly agree with. However it seems that even your well constructed critique made people angry for some reason, judging by the like/dislike ratio. I don't get this show, but I really wanted to. Oh well. Guess I'm also a contrarian for not like the hot new thing everyone else seems to love.
Thank u so much for this comment, this was quite literally exactly how I felt. I wanted to like it so much, and the fact that I knew people loved it, I knew I’d get hate critiquing it. But what can you do right 🤷♂️ if people hate because you don’t have the same opinion then that’s reflective on their character more than ur own. Thank u tho again and I’ll assure u as someone who knows a lot of contrarians, we are certainly not one 🙏
@@AntiKash For sure and thank you. I had gotten so focused on the subject, that I neglected to mention how funny I found your jokes and editing during the video as well. So this is my second chance to say that Mufasa bit had me giggling.
This is the best and most honest review I've seen of this show. I realize that I will never understand how hard it is to point out the truth about anything having to do with females in this business, but I can still appreciate the few critics who do.
Thanks fam, I like to just be honest, I don’t know why some people walk a tightrope with critique. Had this show been the same with a male Mc I would’ve had the same critiques. It is what it is I guess. Thank you again tho
I'm a woman and I agree with your points. One problem I have with this show is stakes because I'm not invested in certain if I know that Mizu is going to win. I really wish shows would change how they do fight scenes when it comes to dealing with numerous opponents and have the main characters trying to escape instead of having them mowing down like they're nothing. I was really invested in the red light district fight because there was a lot more tension but later on, it just felt like a video game and...I grew bored. I think because Yasuke was disappointing, I was more lenient with Blue Eye Samurai.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s exactly what I wanted to get at with the OP ness that she was, I couldn’t get the exact words but yes the stakes, once you see her mowing people down or dodging a bullet there’s basically zero threat, and that’s like half of the show, ofc it’s still fun to watch etc but in terms of plot and stuff idk just feels worse
It’s clear that anyone complaining about the magical element in it has never seen Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon or House of Flying Daggers. This anime read to me a mix of those old films with a hint of Kill Bill. Thought it was wonderfully done and can’t wait for more to be unraveled in season 2.
I’ve seen crouching tiger hidden dragon, and the point that a lot of people are still missing, is not just the unrealism but what the unrealism does for the plot. Mizu is incredibly OP to the point she dodged bullets, there is literally 0 threat in the entire show. Even in works like kill bill you mentioned, there are still enemies with a major threat, fowler beat mizu up just to spare her and then somehow lose the same type of fight to her soon after, when she had 0 training in between. It completely messes with the logic of the show and it’s why I could never see it as an objective 9/10 show. That being said if you liked it, that’s your opinion same way I could dislike it, just our opinions at the end of the day
Maybe because I've seen better samurai movies and anime but the whole thing screams DERIVATIVE to me. It's a mishmash of influence from Lady SnowBlood, Kurosawa movies and the likes. It's set in Japan but it never really feels authentically Japan because everything is so stereotypical and shallow.
Omggggg thank u, so many people were trying to tell me “oh this is inspired by Kurosawa and kill bill and japan” I KNOW THAT, but inspired is one thing, its another thing to just come off as a false copy. I mean to start with the fact that Japan had developed guns at this time period, it took me a simple search yet the creators couldn’t even figure that out like cmon 😭just adds to that stereotypical feeling.
@@AntiKash Yep. The Shinsengumi carried guns and guns were used in the latter part of the Tokugawa era. Not to mention that there were actual women samurai who didn't hide who they were and even openly highlighted the fact that they were women fighters (Yamamoto Yae aka Bakumatsu Joan of Arc, Tomoe Gozen, Nakano Takeko). What boggles me is that there doesn't seem to be any particular era when its set. If she's half blood then this would most likely happen after Commodore Perry opened Japan to the West and yet none of that reflected in the show. This period in Japan's history was a time of unrest because you had the Imperialist battling to return the Emperor to power and the shogunate grasping at the last bit of control---yet none of that makes it into the show. This all adds to how superficial the writers thought of the setting of their story. A better samurai movie to watch (if you can find it) is Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal OVA. The whole revenge thing is so old and cliche (especially when its as flimsy as this). Which is probably why Kenshin is such a novel concept for me when I was introduced to it in the 90s--How do you, the most feared monster to ever wield a sword, seek atonement for all the lives you took? For me, that's a better and more compelling story to tell.
Thank you, I saw people putting this on the level as Arcane and I was baffled. Like yeah it's good but not that good. Also the realism was also a big issue for me. Mizu (don't spell check me pls) legit solos everyone in this barely escaping near death and heals, then does it all again in the next episode. Obviously there is some level of time passing but watching this show in one sitting just didn't leave a good taste in my mouth in that regard. Also not sure if it was my tv but I saw some weird animation errors where some lines on characters faces would kinda be glitchy and pop in and out. Over all still a solid show, but very over hyped. It's like a good niche indie game that all the fans start hyping up to be the next Mario or Zelda when it's not.
Exactly, especially that comparison of a good niche game supposedly the next best thing, like so many people are getting me wrong, I think the shows great, it’s just not as perfect as everyone swears it is
Thank you for making this video! I was legitimately both mad and laughing my ass off watching this series and had no choice but to turn my brain off for the sake of enjoyment. I'm like alright, they better give her a badass backstory or a short training arc. But nah, she only copied samurai techniques and got her ass whooped by Chiaki. THe writers could have killed two birds one stone by having Mizu's resolve killing the white devils by having her husband die protecting her and in their time together, he trains Mizu to be a samurai. But no, they fight once. THe husband gets his ass handed, calls her a monster, and ends up betraying Mizu. What a letdown! Also how are we to believe Mizu is this badass, but in episode 5 she gets stabbed by random goons because she was clumsy!?... there's so much more I hate about the writing but you already pointed it out So i’ll leave it at that. To make it make sense for me I have to assume there is magic or a curse for being half white. She's a literal Oniryu and was born with amazing reflexes and battle sense. I had fun watching S1, but I won't give S2 a chance because I despise thinking about what could have been. Again, thank you for making this video, 7:46 got me ded!
Thank you for this amazing comment!!!! I ended up getting so much hate for making this 😭 but eh I’d rather be honest and hated then lying and supported, and regardless people like you actually supporting means a lot, and reassures that I’m not actually crazy 💀 but ty again I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one who saw the flaws, and on top of that the fact it was still fun to watch but def not the “amazing writing” many claim it to be. Glad u enjoyed 7:46 too💀 I was dying when making that part.
@@AntiKashyeah, the fellas and I felt like fish outta water and weirded tf out when we see high ratings, praises, and multiple videos that don’t even point out the flaws of the show (except maybe gaijin goomba saying the Japanese culture and mannerism is out of place). You the GOAT for mentioning series that handled the same tone and had better, stronger female protagonist with the examples at the end. My friends and I loved watching them, and coming to BES was a mixed experience. Keep up the honesty! We need more of it!
So I'm not an anime fan per se. I've watched most of Demon Slayer (only rly enjoyed s1), love Cowboy Bebop (the best to ever do it), Akira (mi amor), s1 and JJK movie (def want to catch up s2) but that's about it as far as actual anime goes. What I mean by "actual anime" is Japanese anime, BES and Arcane are French animated and American produced (you seem to lump in these two with Japanese anime despite the vast differences in their productions origins). A big point that I feel like I see most true anime fans (my entire friend group and others) miss with western animations like Blue Eye Samurai or Arcane, is the style of writing. There are certain themes that are more prevelant in western society and thereby it's texts than in eastern tradition and vice versa. The way that Mizu developed in her backstory with the Swordfather, her husband, and childhood before all that is very much in line with traditional, western archetypical writing; the wise old man mentor type that hones the hero into something prepared for a given journey, you get what I mean. Not that this archetype isn't found in eastern tradition (it's how humans develop naturally), but you can point to most western stories adopting this trope, effectively too. In such a trope full of training montages or allusions to personal growth, it is meant to emulate the many many many moments that went into Mizu's development of prowess in the art of the blade. Her character motivation and understanding that is just as important to accepting her character's domination in battle. She is so incredibly motivated that she is capable of inhuman feats at critical moments; this is normal for both western and eastern animation. Lmao bro why do you even take issue with this? happens all the fucking time in anime. Your take truly confuses me because by all accounts, normal audiences (not audiences that exclusively consume anime) should adore this show, suspend the normal amount of disbelief, and they do. Even the critics enjoy it. It is quite telling when the anime fans that are so intoxicated with certain tropes of that medium (particularly shonen archetypes) because they tend to not accept the basic elements of storytelling in favor for nitpicking things like the characters' power levels or in this case, Mizu's skill level. When you can't accept or ignore the basic elements of a character, how can you expect to enjoy their growth, let alone the advancement of the plot? which, in the case of Blue Eye Samurai, is incredibly sound and never loses itself. Your point on Mizu not protecting Akemi is also a very illogical point, totally neglecting what actually happened. Nobody was really painting Mizu as the bad guy for not defending Akemi. Ringo had his own image painted of who Mizu was which was an honorable samurai; that's not Mizu. For Akemi, it is just a personal stance because she was seemingly betrayed. Unfortunately for Akemi, we don't need to care about her feelings on this since we understand Mizu's reasons which make far more sense than Akemi's. I understand that the narrative can attempt to cast a shadow on the hero's morals especially in times of need for growth but it's just not one of those moments. Mizu is in the right and no one will dispute that. Overall, I think if you stashed away your anime favoring biases/expectations, you might have enjoyed this show a lot more than what you discredited by attacking a very solid plot with exquisite and enticing characters along with discrediting the crew who did a lot of historical fact checking on the design of the visuals; it's far more original than "inspired".
Fair enough, the only thing I’d have to say about the historical fact checking you mentioned that they did, Japan had guns at this time so that was a major flaw in their history, hence my feeling of inspired and fan view rather than a historical one. That being said, u make great points on the rest of it and I could see why u enjoyed it
6:40 Taigen almost died for Mizu because he felt she didn’t deserve to die at the hands of fowler, shindo, or any of their buddies. He wanted to kill her by himself to earn back his title. That’s not “enemies to lovers” it’s just respect
…he could’ve just told fowler that he’d find her and kill her, that he was an enemy etc. and then on top of that even if he did all that for “killing her himself” then why did he stop trying to kill her, was that pride, respect and honor just forgotten ?
@@AntiKash well, yeah? At the very last episode he said he didn’t want to be great, he wanted to be happy. All of that stuff stopped mattering to him at that point. Also, are you forgetting that Taigen was brutally tortured and imprisoned in Fowler’s castle for who knows how many days and only got out because Mizu risked her neck to save him, even after he told her to leave him in the dungeon? That’s the point when he started to treat her differently, when he noticed she was more than a stray dog feeding on gutter scraps. His change in attitude definitely makes sense.
wheres the immaturity, simply responded to your comment that was clearly mistaken. But if you take that as immaturity, go right ahead, the fact you're the only one to say that must mean something... Don't think i have to say it though lol
Re: the point about Taigen not giving Mizu up, its not because he suddenly forgives Mizu for ruining his life. He expressly states several times in the show 'no one gets to kill you but me'. Thats the reasoning. Sure, it's irrational but it speaks to his obsession with status and honour and prestige. He says it so many times that it even becomes a self-referential joke in Fowler's castle. It's kinda wild to me that you missed that.
I didn’t really miss that…it was just inconcistent, for someone who cares so much about honor and prestige it’s a bit Weird that he ends up FIGHTING for the one who literally stripped him of all that. Mizu cus his hair of(a representation of honor in old times) and defeated him in front of his squad. He also ends up getting a boner for mizu which is just even more random ass shit, clearly they just wanted an enemies to lovers trope but it made zero sense
watched the first episode: she wants to kill 4 bad white guys, she is female and looks like she likes the noble pretty girl (let's call her: the princess of the story, for convention), she is a super master samurai but of course she had no teacher, she learn everything just watching other samurai (I should play soccer like Messi and tennis like Nadal). The princess is in love with another samurai, but of course he is a bad guy that only wants her for money, he is a guy after all. Then there are a lot of inaccuracy on the historical side, the not black teeth, the way the princess talk to his father, that she actually meets the samurai before any officially among the families. Man, this is just an American movie made in cartoon and on service of THE MESSAGE. Another version of the same story told 1000 times
Thank u for seeing through it like damn, I cannot believe how many people are blindsided by the show, it’s almost like people are scared to be honest about it because they’ll be mistaken as misogynist, which is so dumb in itself. And so many people tried to claim “but the creator is Japanese she knows what she was doing”… actually one of the two creators (the other a white dude her husband) was HALF Japanese and clearly American asf, and even if she was a native Japanese just because you are something does not make you a pro at its history, as this clearly showed. Again I just don’t see the 9/10 show many claim, good visuals but the writing is not it
I agree with you 100%. The show has great character work throughout but the storytelling via plot/narrative crescendos to an episode 5 that I consider to be one of the greatest episodes in television history (part conviction, part exaggeration, part admiration, and part I haven't seen nearly as many TV shows as I need to) and goes a bit downhill from there. But, like I said, the character work and the storytelling via animation are so good, and the show is just dense enough with foreshadows and callbacks, references (which I personally thought were fun homages/easter eggs and nothing more), and an internal mythos that is based on thorough research into history and Japanese culture/mythology, that you can't fault the writing entirely. It's just the little inconsistencies that you pointed out that needed to happen because, personally, I feel the writers shoved themselves into a corner by adding Akemi as a central character. But, once again, they handled all the characters really well, including Akemi, and never lost sight of character-based storytelling through subtlety (hinting at the depth and nuance, Fowler in the Chapel for example, or diving in and fleshing out the story, the Onryo flashback, when necessary). However, personally speaking, I felt adding Akemi to the main roster stretched the writers too thin (removing focus from Mizu, the four white men, and Taigen), which is why the plot couldn't be as airtight come episodes 7 and 8 (because Akemi brings with her not only herself but also Seki, her father, the shogun's family, and the reconstruction of the shogunate). Still, it is one of the best TV shows that I've ever seen and I really enjoyed your analysis. Thank you very much for you take.
You get the pin of spitting facts. Thank you for fully understanding. I’m also really glad you enjoyed it and detailed it out in this comment, that’s what it’s all about, different and understanding, good takes
@SaiGade-go9wp Do yourself a favor and watch actual anime. Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and betrayal OVA is a masterpiece even decades after. And so is Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.
@@rumblefish9trust and betrayal is leagues above this with less runtime but this still had nice flavoring to satiate me
I like to interpret that there were supernatural elements to this show. That Mizu strength doesn’t come just from her training but her determination and desire. That she quite literally became an Onryō, that all the HATE cause her to become a literal Monster. Thats just my take.
Best take I heard in reference to that tbh , W take
It's the lone warrior trope that's a common thing in the genre. Akira Kurosawa's films are like that. 7 samurai, yojimbo. Even outside of the genre if you look at The Raid or Rambo or any Bruce Lee film. The lone warrior who can stand up to entire armies.
If you made mizu a man, what mizu does is still unbelievable. It doesn't make it any more plausible. It's less of a gender thing and more of a genre thing
Having re watched the episodes again I think this is actually the case. Kind of was a good portion of why the flashbacks in episode five are there and happen during a combat sequence. I think they left it ambiguous on purpose for this reason
SPOILER:
Plus there’s all those ghouls in the prison hold, was that just interpretation? Or…
@@angelods417bad writing genre.
7:25 To be fair, it's the characters who get mad at her for letting Akemi go, not the story itself. The characters' grievances with Mizu are completely logical in accordance with their own motives and morals. And besides, Mizu is explicitly written as more of an antihero anyway. I don't think the show is trying to say anything as blunt and simple as "she's bad for not fighting for Akemi"
That’s a fair point, i honestly couldn’t find the exact point but I do remember the show bringing it up as a point of guilt, where she was reflecting on it. Unless my brains messing with me which is also possible, I could just be wrong ofc. But yea that’s why I saw it as the show rather then just the characters but idk. Also on the characters alone, on ringos side it felt off for me when he said that, he was understanding the whole time and also followed mizu above all, for that moment to break his loyalty compared to any makes no sense to me
@@AntiKash I got the feeling that ringo is more of an idealist. He doesn't fully comprehend Mizu's moral framework in its complexity, which is understandable given how little info she shares about herself. So yeah, it was a matter of time before the honorable strong image ringo had of her would be shattered
Validd reasoning
lol, this must be code for, "stop man-splaining Anti Kash! This Mary Sue flick rocks!"
@@xpatches13 no, that's code for "I respect your point of view, but here is a detailed explanation of why I don't think you're right in this particular bit of media analysis".
I agree. My husband and I were a bit frustrated by the same exact things that you outlined here. It lost a bit of its grip on him in the end. But I still enjoy it overall.
Yupp def a enjoyable and good show regardless, glad you guys still enjoyed it
You feel her jumping down a cliff landing 2m later on one arm balancing a sword is grounded? Because to me it was then clear style>realism, in this show. Also Tengen not telling his captors where Mizu is, makes sense to me when looking at how stubborn he is when it comes to that concept of honor. He wants to duel Mizu to regain his honor, if Mizu dies he can not kill her. That is more important to him than his life, that's also why he left his partner to search for Mizu, also because he would not be able to marry Akemi in this state of affairs. He sacrifices everything for the samurai concept of "honor", until he turns in the end when reuniting with Akemi. Also physical attraction can be there even if you actively dislike a person for their ideals, or their ethnicity. If you say that makes no sense, maybe elaborate. Just saying it makes no sense, leaves to much room for speculation. Those are my counterpoints. Would be curious what you would argue you against them.
I understand that she did things like that balancing on a rock and etc, but my point was the setting was grounded, edo Japan, and even with those feats she always used a sword and was simply just strong af, but dodging a bullet completely breaks that sense of grounded imo. From a edo time period with racism and xenophobia to fuck it dodging bullets. Not to add on to the fact that Japan had guns during this time period for one and two if she’s dodging bullets what is the threat anymore and to add on Fowler could have killed her at many times but simply decides not to? And then tenges I’ve seen the honor take but where was his honor when he was cheating with mizu ? And then isn’t he breaking his honor by siding with his humiliator ? That’s my view at least of it all
I'm with Kash on this one. The show is balancing several spinning plates here.
1. The racism is offensive but also not offensive. 2. Wants to come off as realistic but then we get one armed pointy rock handstands in the rain. Sword scaling a cliffside with a man that weighs twice your size hanging from your neck. Teeth as weapons. The guy sliced a raindrop.....in the rain. Lol. Isn't he slicing several just by swinging the sword in the downpour? 3. Ameki is praised as a strong female character for what exactly? She eventually dicked down a stranger, blackened her teeth, and kicked her man to the curve. um ok. 4. Why are they playing the gay card with ole boy? Can't the writers just go with him finding out she's a girl? The gay trope is not subverting any expectations anymore. It's to the point where straight relationships on screen are now taboo. 5. After spending more than a minute with Mizo there would be no way in hell that I would think she is a man. Maybe ole boy knows but hey.
Kash went through all the other eye rolls so I won't bother. The point is this show is good but most of ya'll holding this shit up to the sun like Simba. Nah man.
@@3rdeyerate508precisely! It’s hard to criticize a good show but people need to chill about it. There’s nothing new in BES. What it does, it does well but not perfectly either. It certainly has a lot of major flaws that people seem to be in denial about.
@@wordsrwind22 They should all go watch the Ninja Scroll series.
@@3rdeyerate508 of course ameki is a strong female character, you missed a lot.
During the scene between ameki and the customer, if you havent noticed, she managed to get back the full control of the situation, she made the man cum without touching him
She didnt leave with Tengen because he was telling her to run away and start a new life when it wasnt what she wanted. In her journey, she learned to stop chasing after a man, learned more about herself and what she desires and how to obtain them
And her blackened teeth, well, she can only do so much, she cant always win but even so after her teeth got blackened and after her wedding she didnt want, she never stopped fighting and found ways (the night with her husband, hiring the prostitutes to work for her) to regain power inside the castle. Of course it aint perfect like, she was a bit naive and caused Ise's death but at the same time how could she have planned her father to be a traitor.
There's so much to this show and its characters.
I'm pretty sure they are going to show the training arc at some point in S2. They have made clear that Mizu's past has a lot to unfold.
That’s actually true it might be too early to judge, but that’s also why I had issues with 9/10 + high praise etc so soon, I feel like it’s barely into what it can be
They have a lot to fix. Are they going to be able to do so well, or will it be a contrived retcon?
im pretty sure they showed her entire training arc already, this is common for animes and movies from asian countries, like Oldboy
it doesnt make any sense at all but its one of the much much smaller problems that the show has
this was honestly the hugest problem with the show anything else one can wrap heads around. This is the mary sue crap cause even if they show the training next season something could have been showed that touched on why she was so skilled and next season could have expanded upon it.
@@thegooch1684 isn't it already shown? The Training arc that she had, she'd been observing good swordsmen since a young age and learnt almost every kind of fighting style. She fights but she also gets hurt. It's not mary sue since there's a lot she has to learn. She's just better than most. And Also has a lot of rage and motivation than most.
One of the most annoying tropes, at least for me, is when the protagonist does one "bad" thing, and everyone instantly turns on them. Their friends, everyone they bonded with throughout the story, just turns on them and doesn't even want to hear their side. No, instead they instantly determine the protag is horrible and ignores the other good things they did. The part where they go against Mizu because she didn't save Akami from the guards was so dumb. Like, what were you expecting her to do? She just took out all these soldiers, nearly died, def has to rest and heal up, then Akami's problems show up and they blame Mizu for not doing anything? How did Akami even expect Mizu to help her?
This even happens again, in the flashback with Mizu's husband. We get a beautiful, well paced montage of their time together and their growing affection for one another. It was so well done and you could really feel the romance growing in their relationship. Then Mizu gets carried away in sparring, and her husband instantly becomes a dick. Yeah, what Mizu did wasn't cool, but instead of going "woah, calm down honey, we're just playing, remember?" he just shoves her off and calls her a monster. Like, HELLO?! What about literally all the other great things you two had? She messes up once and all of the sudden she's the worst person in the world?
It's just so weak, and I hate that trope so much.
THANK YOU, OMG like ringo defended every single fkin thing that mizu did up to that point, and even explained to taigen that he would never leave her side, SHE TIED HIM TO A FKIN TREE, and AKEMI TRIED TO KILL MIZU, like wtf, I also share that fucking trope, and then the husband turning too and then boom she just kills him like wtf
She literally murdered a child just before that 😂. Amazing that you tried to defend her almost murdering her husband as well. How dare he not have a calm reactions almost being killed by the person he was married to?! 😂 it’s terrifying what you people excuse when it’s a woman
@@ExpertContrarian First off, I never excused her almost murdering her husband. I literally said she was wrong for getting carried away like that. Only that her husband switched on a dime and completely cut her away despite everything they've been through.
Second off, I also never excused her killing that girl. It's amazing how you make things up and put words in my mouth. My issue lies with Ringo leaving her cause she refused to help Akemi even though she was heavily wounded (not to mention, again, Akemi also tried to murder her 10 minutes ago.) Plus Akemi was only being taken back to her palace, it's not like she was being kidnapped by brigands. You think Akemi would be better off at the dying samurai's side who has people constantly trying to kill her instead of a comfy palace?
I'm actually a little frustrated that Mizu killing the girl never comes up again, as it's pretty much the worst thing she does in the whole show. And it would have been a far more justified reason for Ringo to leave her if he found out.
@@SnagTheRabbitI’m not reading that. You said he became a dick for not wanting to be almost murdered by his wife. Psycho shit
I personally liked it, i like when stories mix some mystery into them. At the start scene with the meteorite falling already sets some kind of magic folklore thing that i really dig. It reminds me of the kafkian style of writing, absurd situations that the people involved in the story try to get past through being rational.
Mizu strength is of her hate, Ringo ability to be the voice of reason is because of his pure heartedness, Taigen will to change ideas and his rationality is portrayed by the changing swords of his journey, and Akemi determination portrayed by her ability to always find a way to reach her goals with her overwhelming charisma. The story is set overall to be present as a story of a legend, like the greek epics, they are geounded in real life events but they are depicted as great stories using fictional assets.
I respect the fact that this kind of weiting is not in everyone's bread and butter and want to assure that I am writing this just to express my personal opinion (i am on my 5th rewatch by now), at the end i just think it's a neat series and i can't wait for s2. 😊
Yup glad u enjoyed it and can appreciate my point 🙏great comment
they can do that and have the things like Mizu being able to tank shots and dodge bullets, the issue he stated in the video however is consistency, if mizu can tank a giant metal spike through her ankle and the 3 knife weapon thing to her kidneys, then a small metal ball being shot at her by Fowler shouldn't cripple her to the point shes unable to defeat him in a sword duel
another thing is having her be the "greatest sword fighter ever in japan", which again is completely fine, but when they forget about that in the scene where her and the 2nd best sword fighter are sword dueling fowler (never establishes hes a better dueler?) and fowler manages to outstrike both of them in that specific scene, it gets annoying
We had the same experience. After watching I looked for reviews to see others’ opinions. You’re the first who points out the same problems I did. It especially lost me in the big final fight. Fowler had so many times he could easily have killed her, but ran away. I wasn’t convinced his fear was earned. (Also seemed like the fire spread a little fast, but I could forgive that if the other problems weren’t there)
Yeep overall good for sure but certain issues just bothered me
Yes and no. At this point we are shown that Fowler is clearly afraid of fire due to his psychological trauma.
he is distracted from the battle (and this happens precisely at the moment when the flame appears) and for the first time we see the horror on his face
@@lnktv2215where did it show his psychological truama with fire? just curious
the fire actually happened in real life, but it was due to very windy day that allowed that fire to spread, so it still didn't make much sense, and that initial burst of fire was waaaaaay too quick
another thing with fowler vs mizu is they severely nerfed both her and taigen, fowler should have died back in episode 6 i think when they climb the tower, that bullet shouldn't have done any damage at all to mizu given shes already tanked the metal pole to the ankle and the 3 bladed weapon to the kidneys
taigen and mizu get another shot in the last episode and somehow fowler beats both of them in a duel despite fighting on 2 sides with a katana, the tool that theyre best at??
mizu goes to chase him after and for some reason forgets to take a fucking sword
she has multiple chances to stab him when she has a knife in the last part but fucking does nothing
I’m a little tired of the disbelief in a character’s power unless every detail of their leveling up is on screen. What appeared to be Mizu’s earliest battles on the quest to kill the first person on her list, she got her *** handed to her. And the show completely skipped over the first white guy that she killed.
I guess for me it’s a little easier to believe her abilities because we are introduced to her fully realized. Not everything was detailed out and there is clearly a lot of time missing in her backstory. That she got her start shadowing other swordsman doesn’t mean that was ALL of her training or ALL of her experience. And quite frankly I almost don’t care because her journey to her second kill was so much more interesting.
Fair point, though my disbelief isn’t just in asking for every little detail of powering up, she also dodged a bullet. And power scale aside the show was entirely grounded before then, mizu was simply an expert swordsman but then they pulled that out 🤷♂️
I'm pretty sure will find out about the first white guy in later seasons like from Flashbacks
@@AntiKash She just looked at where the gun was aimed and moved BEFORE he fired. She didn't 'Neo' dodge it.
@@lenajohnson6179 nope she Neo dodged it go rewatch it, the bullet was fired before she moved
@theoddonion2812 for sure they’ll probably show us what happened
I watched up to episode 5 today. Safe to say I kinda have an addiction. Personally, I don’t care abt unrealism. The story is cool, characters are well written, and the action is just amazing
Fair enough, the shows good regardless of what I say so I’m not mad at people liking it
Right it’s a fkn work of fiction to me it’s much more unrealistic to have characters act in unbelievable ways or motives this show does character development correctly maybe a bit far fetched and fun at times but music and fight scenes choreography soooo good all of it the plot etc
This is getting more praise than better anime because it is AMERICAN.
THANK YOUUUUUUUUU OMGGGGGGGGGGGG , I’m making a whole nother vid on this for two reasons , the main one is I was a bit too negative honestly, I didn’t speak enough about the good parts butttt two- American made works INSTANTLY 9/10 100% rotten tomatoes etc like cmon, THIS is better than jujutsu kaisen😭😭 there’s only one damn season out too. Thank god I’m not the only one who noticed that tho
Spoilers for the series, if you want to watch it.
5:07 Fun fact: Japan HAD guns during the Edo period, infact, they had been using guns had been extremely prevalent in the period before the Edo period, being the Sengoku Jidai, meaning that Fowler's entire plan was EXTREMELY STUPID being just "The gun beats the sword so I should bring in the gun." Once his plan was revealed, I started to lose interest knowing that the story wasn't actually about following a realistic revenge story in the Edo period, which is a real shame, as it had such an interesting premise.
Thank u! All it takes is a simple search to learn that and that really annoys me that they didn’t even know that like cmon 😭
So, interestingly enough, according to a research paper titled 'The Social Life of Firearms in Tokugawa Japan' by David L. Howell, while there were guns and gunsmiths in Japan during that period, they were uncommon to use in actual fights, since there weren't many large-scale conflicts and swords were more practical for the average small-scale fight. They were apparently used more as a farm implement to fend off animals that damaged crops.
In the 1800s, guns started to be used more as straight-up weapons but that's after Blue-Eyed Samurai's time and, interestingly enough, apparently this began with experimenting with Western firearms.
So, this would mean that it is unlikely that soldiers in Blue-Eyed Samurai would be using guns. They would be more common with peasantry. And I'd wager a guess that they were not the most effective guns either and wouldn't stand a chance against the latest, state-of-the-art Western firearms. So, while I can accept that it is weird that the show seems to assume there are no guns at all in Japan during that time, Fowler's plan is still solid. An army equipped with modern (for that time) military firearms would still be quite overpowered.
I definitely felt like the ending could have been a little stronger for Blue Eye, but I'd have to disagree with you about the show being grounded. From the very first moment we see Mizu fight, shes "inhuman." And kind of a terrible person overall. It felt more fantasy than historical for me. I'm interested to see how they develop her, and honestly I think the show just needs more time for a lot of its issues. Even though the main plot is Mizu seeking revenge, I think the story is more about identity and especially about how women fit into society in the Edo period. I'd say most of the story and metaphors it uses are for people of mixed heritage (or fish out of water), as well as the tension between being a woman and being your own person. And obviously all of this within the lens of old Kurasawa films and the classic "samurai" tale. From what I've seen and from talking with other people, that seems to be the thing people are liking most about this show (besides the incredible fight choreography). The non-cliche parts are actually the commentary that's framed within the lens of cliche, and that's what makes the show unique.
Cool to hear other takes though, and I hope you keep making videos✌
W take and I appreciate u hearing mine out, I see that as well and tbh it’s why I made an entire new video on the show cus I was def too harsh and people also mistook my take on the show as it’s bad, I just meant I had personal issues and etc, but there’s no doubt at all that the shows great. Glad that we could speak without just shutting each other down
To be honest i think ending is part that makes this show a really good one. It's written well
first we see fire, then we know that mizu did not come out of it as we get the conversation with sword father and only then we see a ship sailing.
That strikes us and makes the point, there is no redemtion here Mizu is self centered vengence focused monster, of course she did not go to say byee, why would she? it's unnecessary for her goal thus there is no point to go and speak to companions that are to be left behind.
Just finished the show and I agree about the unrealism. And not just in the ridiculous feats by Mizu. Akemi acts completely different from women during this time period and is constantly given a pass from everyone around her because plot I guess. Ringo somehow is able to kill one of the thousand claws with a kitchen knife and stumps for hands because plot I guess. Taigen just gives up on his revenge and starts to lust after Mizu because plot I guess. The writing just falls flat in so many areas, and it gets harder and harder to ignore as the story progresses. It's depressing how for some reason, here in the West we seem content with shows that are pretty OK as long as it has pretty visuals and a solid cast. Meanwhile Japan will absolutely obliterate an anime if it strays even a little bit off course from the manga. We need to raise our standards here, but it'll never happen.
The difference in standards amazes me like u said, in making this I just realized that in the west we think good visuals = good animation, but no there is so much more to the show. Writing is so key, it’s wild that a single mangaka could out write a team of writers in the west
i have a question about akemi too, did it make sense to you her arc near the end? its been awhile since i watched it but from what I remember Akemi doesnt show the signs of wanting to be a leader, nor that she would be good at being one, so when her old man friend says "my only dream is to see a japan ruled by you" and "I shouldnt have told you what to do" it made no sense given what the character goes through, and when she doesnt leave with taigen but stays behind because she wants to rule, i absolutely did not understand why
another thing was i absolutely did not understand why the husband from episode 5 goes from not minding being married to mizu given hes an outcast himself, to loving her, to suddenly wanting her dead because she beats him in a duel, is that some japanese thing where if your loving wife beats you in a duel you get the lords men to kill her or some shit??
@@MoustafaHamed-qc2zyits just a theory but i think it was the modern days version of greatly over- exaggerating the societal implications of the male ego of getting beaten by a girl..
We see it in a lot of movies and its usually used as a tool to make men just seem sexist but it comes from a biological need for protection and to be a protector.
Men GENERALLY need to feel stronger than their partner because of the protector instinct. So if a guy loses to a girl its often an unconscious ego blow. Throw in potential ridicule and social aggression from society if its witnessed, it can be very detrimental to men and their reputation. It would cause a man to lose great status if it wasnt clearly obvious he lost the match on purpose.
Also losing to a vvoman can have a similar effect on vvomen. They will get what we call "the ick" these days. She will think "wow he is weak if he cant even beat a girl, how can he protect me?"
This is all on an instinctual level that most people dont even realize.
But like most things modern media takes this biological concept and survival adaptation and perverts it in a lazy attempt to say "man bad, now hate him"...
Modern society hates gender differences so much they just dismiss them and call everything misogyny because they want to believe nature cares about equality.
I think u bring up valid points. But my main issues were lack of exploration of Mizu's goal and a poorly developed antagonist. And as the pinned comment mentions, this is probably due to the disconnected Akemi sub-plot. That entire sub-plot could be removed and the story doesn't change.
But back to Mizu's goals. She states it's to kill the white men as revenge. But why? It's just taken as a given that she hates them for her situation, but they do not control Japanese society which is the cause of her outcast status. I think what she really wants are answers to why she was abandoned by her father. But we don't get to explore her motivations and goals in depth because of Akemi's plot.
I think this goes back to ur point on the producers wanting to show off the atmosphere of the Edo period. How could they tie in courtly culture in this revenge tale of a street urchin? Well, forcefully weave in a subplot about a princess. It's out of place and probably why the court intrique and coup is so undeveloped and rushed at the end.
And fowler is such a flat antagonist. Stories are only as good as their antagonist. What are his motivations? Power for powers sake? Even if that is true, that makes him a poor antagonist for Mizu. The antagonist should challenge the core belief of the protagonist ( think joker to batman, moriarty to holmes, magneto to professor X). What is Mizu's core belief? What is fowler's? We don't know because the story doesn't discuss it.
Blue eye samurai is a good watch, but an average story. The plot and character development are too disconnected and uneven to be anything else.
I agree honestly, like im not asking to humanize Fowler but give him some type of characterization as the main antagonist, he really feels like a cartoonish 2d villain with no depth.
Hes white in the 1600 they did a lot of fucked up shit, want to ask them their motives? We already know what white people did in history they are earth’s antagonist
Both of these takes are from a misunderstanding... Mizu wants to kill the white men not as revenge for her situation, but for two reasons. Firstly, they are all terrible men who have brought terrible things into the country; Mizu says several times that they entered the country to sell drugs, guns, and women. Secondly, she wants to kill her father for *making her.* If you pay attention, Mizu thinks herself just as much of a monster as the rest of Japan does. She's conditioned to hate herself for being a mixed-blood, she's *racist against herself.* I do hope that future seasons make her challenge that idea, and perhaps change her mindset in regards to her goals.
Fowler, on the other hand, doesn't want "power for power's sake", he wants *control*. His entire life up until this point has been spent living in filth and isolation, first left poor and alone in his home country, then left locked up in his own home in Japan, and his resentment towards the people who caused him to be trapped in this situation leads him to build up a revolution so he can have *control.* He does not want to let *anyone* tell him what to do, and the easiest way for him to do that is to take over the country.
@@juicyjuustar121With his desire for control he states several times about hating his forced seclusion in the keep and how much he wanted to be free. And add his line about never wanting to do things he is forced to do, ot makes sense. He wants to make money in Japan and he wants to do it HIS way. Not be locked up in a cage except one day a year where he can't even meet the person he's trading with.
@@Ashbrash1998 yeah, like he says all this stuff in the show. If you watch the show and still think he's shallow and just wants power for power's sake then you weren't really paying attention, he's honestly a great villain. Even at the end when he loses, he still leverages his enemy's weaknesses to keep some level of control and that's rad
I kinda liked it BUT the fact alone that the bad guys aren't either portuguese or dutch kinda grinds my gears. The writers should have read a book... or two. I mean, the portuguese are the number one reason why they shutdown to all foreigners, after founding the port city of nagazaki and bringing the guns and worse: christianity. The dutch still remained a couple decades till they also got expelled. This anglo-saxon centrism is super innacurate
Exactly, the historic portrayal threw me off too, especially since Japan developed guns around this time so I’m convinced the writers did zero research on that aspect which is wild to me
@@AntiKash It'll be interesting to see if they depict the English civil war by the time they get to London for season 2. Since the show is set in ~1637 and the war takes place in 1641. The travel time should take a couple of years for back then. Doubt the writers are aware of it though. Since they referred to the British, despite Britain not being a country yet.
There are two more to see and one dead guy that we could see in flashbacks. We’ll just have to wait and see!
This actaully isn't an anime in the classic sense of Japanese produced animation. This is a animation that takes place in Japan, so I can see where the mix up can happen. I did the same thing. Criticisms are fair and I did the same thing, having to suspend disbelief at parts where I felt the script needed Mizu to win her battles because she's the main character. The story isn't air tight. But there's enough good to say this is a well made show and deserves a watch. Best animation of all deserves more time to make that declaration.
For sure, overall a great point, and yea i used anime for the simple term as I know that’s generally used for Japanese animation not all animation, but I used it for sake of comparing animation as a whole. And including it helps explain to people that they need to get over the barrier of different language to experience peak entertainment especially in comparison to BES. But yea like you said it’s still good for sure and to most worth watching, I was just pointing my own problems out
"Anime" is literally just short for "animated." Thus, anything that is animated is anime. I know a lot of people like to make distinctions based on nationality (ie Japanese anime, American animation, French, etc), but there's no reason we can't begin to compare animation from different parts of the world. Even amongst Japanese anime, there is quite a lot of variety in style, storytelling, and theme.
The odd thing that wasn't mentioned (or maybe not emphasized enough) in the video is that it's problematic that an animated show can only reach "best of the year" heights if it is an American production. There are plenty of Japanese anime that deserve the kind of attention that we usually reserve for Oscar winning movies, or the kind of films that get academic attention. While Blue Eye Samurai is delightfully good, there are plenty of other animated stories beyond even your typical Miyazaki, Oshi, etc. that deserve this kind of attention, but aren't getting it, because their first language isn't English.
He's right in that Frieren deserves a lot more attention, although, I will also say Frieren is one of those stories that is actually better as a comic than an animation. But people who are calling Blue Eye Samurai one of the best animations of all time need to watch something from across the border too, because unfortunately, anime like BES are very uncommon in America, where anything animated is still often misconstrued as childish, while there are more examples from overseas.
I better quit this comment before I go on a rant about funding for different kinds of storytelling . Lol.
You raised some really good points. The sheer exhibition of Mizu's skills made for some great action eye-candy, but I was raising my eyebrows more and more by the the final few episodes. Outside of the stylistic choices of the series a lot of my disappointment boiled down to the MC's logic and motivation. Why was she setting out to kill four men, one of whom MIGHT be her father? At its core revenge is a response to a deeply personal injustice by one or more individuals known to the character. Kill Bill, John Wick, I Spit on Your Grave, Payback, the list goes on. You are reveling in the MC's war path because you can see what the enemies have done to them and it's time for retribution. For me it was just too hard of a sell for me to believe a character proceeded to take up this quest for vengeance against four guys she's never even met. The show tried to substantiate this desire through more peripheral causes. She faced horrible prejudice throughout her life--yes, but that seems more like people around her being a**holes than her father's fault. She also meets people during her journey that are able to look past such superficial bs and try to connect with her. Fowler is undeniably evil, and it sounds like the other three guys are as well--yes, but the emperor and other characters demonstrate that evil and corruption are not purely foreign concepts (pun 100% intended). Overall the writing demonstrated why Mizu would be an angry and bitter human being, but it didn't deliver on why she would take on a mission that is nothing short of suicide. Even when she causes an ENTIRE CITY to be burned down (that fire did spread weirdly fast if you ask me 0_o), she never stops to think that maybe she could reassess her aims. The show could have drawn a closer connection between Mizu and her cause for hatred against the big 4, but they seemed more intent on fitting in more time for action and cultural exhibition. Don't get me wrong, the animation and visuals were stunning and the portrayals of Japanese culture amazing, but they could've had a better balance of both substance and appearance.
Couldn’t have said it better, like you said I could also tell that the shows creators valued the fights and visual aestethic more than the writing behind motivations and such. It was still great in its own right but with reasoning like that is exactly why I didn’t like it as much personally but not to say it takes away from the show that much objectively, it’s just how I felt subjectively
She doesnt just hate them coz they might be her dad. Mizu hates herself. This is said pretty explicitly, 'they made me a monster'.
She's going after these men as a kind of metaphorical suicide. By killing the white men in Japan, she hopes to kill the whiteness in herself. She sees herself as a creature of violence (born of rape), and she only really understands how to work her will on the world through violence. Perhaps she thinks that by killing her violent origins (Fowler et al), she can cleanse herself of violence and be at peace.
I think there's a lot more going on with the character motivation than you give it credit for.
I haven't seen the show. But I have heard some good things about it. Personally I don't mind if a tv show,movie, and or video game chooses style over realism. As long as it isn't too far fetched.
Fair enough, you’d probably like the show then, although there are some points that might seem a bit far fetched even for you
@@AntiKash I just assumed that it was trying to be like Kill Bill from what I've seen from some of the fight scenes. As long as it isn't like current Resident Evil where Jill picks up weapons no HUMAN could carry. Or ignoring physics like the Fast and the Furious.
yea its a kill bill vibe but ccertain things happen like physics breaking stuff, i guess youll see once you watch it @@zionleach3001
2:03 This is definitely something I need to work on myself. I tend to ignore my own opinions about media because if the reviews are overwhelmingly the opposite of mine, I tend to gaslight myself into thinking I just didn’t understand it. While I enjoyed BES, it felt like there was a piece of the puzzle that just never got put into place for me. Like there was something missing that stopped it from being as great as I thought it could have been.
Ay, the fact that you can admit that in itself is a step the majority of people cannot even take. And tbh I still even struggle with it, even after making this video I got mad hate and I’m like damn, I guess I was wrong. But nah, all personal feelings aside, the show has its flaws and most people in these comments, even ones who loved it had admitted that. People just often confuse their personal love and critique and as someone who tries to balance the two, it’s def not easy. But with that being said, I’ll always try to be true to myself and I think that’s something to live by.
@@AntiKash I agree. Also, your channel is super underrated. I really dig the content 👍
@@theblackbasketball that means a lot fam genuinely, thank u 🙏🙏🙏🙏
This film feels like a white person saw Afro samurai and was like “ wait we can do that too. WHERE ARE THE 3D ANIMATORS!”
Thank u 😭😭😭like I was da thinking I went crazy by saying that it feels just like that, a fan made ass work, but it really does
One of the creators is japanese and they actually brought traditional clothing to the studios to show them properly how the characters should move (that's one example that they didn't do whatever). It's funny how people pretend they are experts on a culture that isn't their own just from watching anime.
one of the creators is half japanese, american born, alot is also said by the fact that japan had guns during this time period but in the show they just didnt... all it takes is a quick google search but yea... anime expert over here so who knows @@oscarchavezavellan2738
@@AntiKash I mean, the show very clearly did say there are Japanese guns in the very first scene. It's also one of the first things Mizu says. She literally points out how Hachiman's pistol isn't Japanese and explains how she knows (implying she has enough experience with Japanese weapons to immediately know when one isn't).
It did too me aswel.
Just like Afro revenge is all I want.
The lives Afro messed up, he didn't care, too kill his father's killer was the one thing the only that matter.
After watching a movie called The last Samurai Starring Tom Cruise.
I wrote a short story called the Black Bastard Samurai a story about a child of a slave who were washed up on the shore and found by a Fisherman Monk.
THANK YOU
I was getting so fed up when I was looking through reddit for not liking BES and people kept bringing up "have you ever watched anime?" Like BRUH, have you???
Everything that you said was prefect, and I feel the same about Frieren because BES is an emmy nom somehow
THANK YOU HOLY 😭 the amount of hate and shit I received for this video made me rethink all my takes. But genuinely I still don’t get the praise IN COMPARISON to other fucking amazing anime, that is somehow worse or just less popular then BES. Like I said a lot, it’s good ofc mainly visually but damn Emmy nom is insane, it’s wild to me how slept on Anime as a whole is in the west, like if that’s Emmy nom, Frieren is a fuckin Oscar winner. Sorry for yapping so much😭
@@AntiKash You're good! And tbh I seriously do think the majority think it's good because there isn't really any good adult animation, so when one is good, it's amazing to them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I think you hit it spot on tbh, to non anime viewers, they assume animation is purely Disney and cartoon I guess, so then anything rated R with a decent plot is like 10/10 lol. Good for them tho on enjoying it, I just wish more people gave anime a try
Thank you, so much.
This is how i felt about BES, but everyone else was loving on it, and i was left wondering if i missed something or was just an old grouch.
I thought it was obvious what was happening. The only time i thought i had been wrong... the short lived bliss of her marriage... was very, shortlived.
If they had supernatural elements, like the spirit (kami?) of revenge possessing her, then the ungroundedness could work, but without that? Nah, bro, doesnt work.
Yes thank u too, I got an insane amount of hate from making this but oh well 🤷♂️ rather be honest than front so people would like me better, also glad people like you are out there so Ik I’m not crazy lol
About the unrealism: You said that anime does not mean unrealistic, I agree, but it does not mean that anime has to be realistic. And I cannot agree that it got less realistic as time went on, I mean mizu was pulling bullshit moves from episode one, the situations just got more extreme. I thought the dynamic between mizu and taigen was really interesting and I think it makes complete sense for him to save mizu and almost dying in the process. He himself was talking about killing himself because of the lost fight against mizu, he knew the only way to come back to the life he was promised was to beat her in a real duel and he would do anything to get there (yes even almost dying for mizu). And the thing about mizu leaving the akemi, I think it's not brought up because she necessarily thinks she did something wrong, it's more something she was still in the process of questioning, I myself am still not sure whether or not she actually did the right thing. From her pov the princess just tried to kill her and now she's commanding her to defeat the samurais that are about zo take akemi so she has her reasons to not help her. But at the same time, akemi just saved her life a few moments ago and clearly just wants to find taigen so she also would've had reasons to help her. I think that was a great scene since it showed that mizu is selfish, the only thing she cares about is revenge, until later in the series where she realizes she actually wants to help taige, ringo and akemi. Even if I don't agree with all the points of the video, it was still very enjoyable to watch and I hope you can share your opinion on my thoughts
Thank uu for this response, glad u still enjoyed it and honestly I think u bring up great points, at the time I made the video idk y but I was def too harsh, now I still have disagreements and etc but it’s a agree to disagree type of situation but it’s a good show nonetheless and glad we could come to an understanding!
The anime problem is when bad writing gets frequently excused away on the basis it is anime.
Also, BES is not even anime.
Mizu should watch Vinland Saga
She’d have no enemies then… it’s the only solution.
I was also having extreme hard time trying to understand how so many people fell in love w this one. Good visuals + a classical revenge story shouldn't be this appealing, I thought. Bc like you said, there are SO many plot holes. The plot armor is unbelievable. A lot of scenes make no sense either logistically or historically. Also extremely oriental. I'm semi fluent in Jp and I love their culture & history but this show was the POV of a very white person
Right! I’ll give most shows the benefit of the doubt, that they’ve done their research, and I actually have seen that one of the creators is part Japanese etc. but the entire time it just felt like a fan fiction violent written Mulan, idk maybe we’re just crazy but it amazes me to see the praise this has instantly gotten
I genuinely think its because how bad everything else is/has been lately. This show is GOOD but not outstanding… it has VERY lucky timing.
@@anap7794 great point, the timing of this was extremely well.
This viewpoint is such a strange. Can a show not be great and still have problems?
It's not highly praised and loved because everything around it is bad. Nothing is stopping anyone from watching older shows or movies that they enjoy. You aren't restricted into only consuming media from the year it's released. The reason it's highly praised and loved is because it's a great show that's entertaining. Great storyline, characters, themes and style. It's something new to add to what you already watch.
Yeah there's problems, but so what? Even the greatest shows and movies of all time have problems. I'm not saying the show is a masterpiece, but it's definitely not just good.
@@RudeAndObscene Thanks for your opinion. It is your opinion indeed and not fact ;) I’ll hold onto my ~~~strange~~~ opinion. But you also sound like you don’t understand how people consume media and how general pop culture works.
YES THANK YOU! Especially the thing with Mizu’s and taiken’s relationship - it was so rushed! It made zero sense to me that these two ended up liking each other.
Also I agree with the fact that it makes no sense for Mizu to feel anything towards Akemi - like they are not friends, they barely know each other. Mizu has no idea what it means for her to be taken back to ido (and neither has Ringo), so I don’t get why either one of them feels guilty.
THANK U😭I got so much hate for this video but Idc people like you remind me that I’m not crazy. They Literally rush an enemies to lover trope and I just feel like a lot of this is written from a fan fiction perspective 🤷♂️ glad I’m not the only one
@@AntiKash I was literally so happy to have stumbled across this video, because everyone keeps saying this show is a flawless masterpiece. I thought I was the only one who felt there was something wrong with it
This video is a perfect example of watching to criticize vs watching to be told a story. Not saying you can’t criticize, but the criticism itself is not constructive and sounds more like diluted complaints.
4:06 1) The show itself has not been confirmed to be anything realism, realist or otherwise. I honestly believe it’s going down the path of fantasy because of the first hint at the blue meteor that fell from the sky, that old swords-smith picked up with his bare hands and a child managed to smith into a sword.
3:21 2) the plot is grounded and very easy to understand. Everything is thought out from beginning to end. What part of the plot is missing? It’s leading into (hopefully) more seasons so ofc a lot is held off.
4:27 3) to back your opinion about how you think the show was practically lackluster in your eyes with…. Shonen anime, of all things is rather dull and one sided. Considering this show is French animated and funded by Western producers, this show is far from an anime and shouldn’t be compared? Let’s say in comparison to Arcane, another French animated show, it’s very similar in Forgiveness, Femininity and Foreign oppression which I know one of these things you have no experience with.
You don’t have to like something. But again to criticize without backing up your points with actual analysis, then there was no point in posting.
To start with it not being an anime, I know that but why does that make BES incomparable. Anime is just Japanese for animation, Western works like arcane proved great writing and animation can come out of non anime works. Two - never does it claim to be grounded is true yes but the point that everyone is missing is the level of reality that it broke in dodging a bullet eliminated any threat in any possible way. To start with a story set in edo Japan during a real time period and even a real instance of a fire, but to one state that Japan didn’t develop guns( which they did at this time) but to then eliminate the threat of the biggest issue of imperialism, what’s the point of the setting, and what is the threat anymore, and not forgetting the plenty of times Fowler could have killed mizu but chose not to for literally no reason. Again you sound very well spoken but to completely throw away my actual criticism is wild, the show is carried by its visuals and decent writing.
@@AntiKashThat bullet dodging scene haunted you badly! It's matrix, man.
tbh my first hint that something 'wasn't right' were the subtle misinformed cultural references and mis-matched clothing from hundreds of years apart: things most casual western audiences wouldn't pick up on but set off a strong 'cultural uncanny valley' vibe with people really familiar with the subject matter.
Add the plot issues + writing and 100% it feels like a non-Japanese trying to tell a Japanese story based solely on what Europeans had to say about the country. Close but just barely 'off' in a hard to describe way.
Exactly!!! Thank u, idk how so many people are missing that tbh
Honestly, I don't think that's becazse of non japanese writing it. Historical fiction allways has these inaccuracies and anarchonisms. Just look at things like Braveheart, it also has this problem.
It's annoying, but it's a wider problem whith historical settings in general.
People just don’t bow often or deeply enough in the show. It made me deeply uncomfortable. At least once in the first episode, Mizu would have been dismissed - if not decapitated - for her lack of etiquette, long before anyone noticed the colour of her eyes.
Finally someone is honest!!!
I really believe people saying its the greatest anime even have haven't watched more than 3 they're entire life.
Frrrr the praise for the show is insane to me. It’s alright but in no way a 9/10
Thank you for not just glazing this show. I felt the exact same about the plot. It had so many parts where I was like "is she supposed to have powers or not!?"
Thank u for appreciating that cus I got so much shit for just being honest 😭guess I can’t critique some shit even when it’s clearly true, and it’s still good overall as I said but people just missed that
I felt like there was a “drop” or “shift” right at the very end, and while I would like more, I know that all good things can’t go on forever.
Right, regardless its good and I could see them maybe working out a good 2nd season as well, although it’d be tough to follow this up
I mean I still like it. It’s exaggerated but at the end it tries to tell you a good story and it does it really well. I would compare it to kill bill.
Fair enough, it’s a good anime I’m not mad at people enjoying it
Have to leave a dislike cuz I feel the criticism of it being unrealistic is kind of the point. It’s set in the real world, but that doesn’t mean it can’t also have some fantastical elements. That’s just a preference you’re trying to pass off as an objective negative.
If you actually listened to the video then you’d know I say the show is objectively good, and then I state my own personal issues…quite literally the opposite of what ur saying I did lol.
@@AntiKash if you actually read what I wrote I didn’t say you said the show was bad. Take your criticism and do better next time.
@@AntiKashCalm down kid. Your specific criticism was being called out. Your response makes no sense. No one said you didn’t like the show. Grow up.
you just said I "tried to pass off a preference as an objective negative".... thats literally saying that I tried to say the show was bad off of my own opinions which I explicitly stated I did not ....@@Aureilius2112
reading comprehension 101 , the comment said that I tried to pass off a preference as an objective negative, I specifically said "the show is objectively good" and "i didnt like it for said reasons, all my opinion" . "grow up" who still says that as an insult lmaoo@@Alex-qy8nj
"Unrealistic" Of course it is, most adventures and revenge-fantasies usually do include characters that are unrealistically powerful in some way. So, do you only have an issue with it when it's a female character?? Real question. I hear lots of guys say "unrealistic" but on;y as a criticism when there is a powerful woman. How "realistic" is the Terminator? Or the more grounded Die Hard (but one guy still takes out an army on his own)?
Again if you’ve watched my video it has nothing to do with gender. If mizu was a man I would’ve had the same issues, the setting is edo Japan 1600s aka a real time period with a real scenario about white men and their view and destruction in 1600 edo Japan. The terminator is a story about a robot person… mizu is a regular human, in a regular setting, her feats are unrealistic, simple as that
I also literally called mizu and Akemi strong female leads ….
91 days is one of those anime which set a realistic setting and does not stray from it. That is why I recommend it to non anime fans. You don't have titans eating each others and people destroying planets, it is just a story during the prohibition period
Exactly!!! Glad u mentioned it cus I put it in this video for a reason. It tells an amazing story and never strays from it’s grounded setting, it’s perfect for anyone who thinks anime is just a non realistic thing
@@AntiKash I put my comments because you put it in the video. Not the opposite. This anime is under rated
🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶
Completely agree. This show has so many fantastic characters, and is visually stunning, but boy is the hand of the author obvious.
Thank u 🙏🙏
So glad to see a review like this. This started so strong, and I love strong female leads, but they really lost me in the 2nd half. Mizu straight up defied logic in the second half of the series - you're really going to dodge a bullet with a 1-2 foot range when you've never seen a gun in your life?? You're going to fall 300ft into 10 inch thick FROZEN ice after being beaten within a second of your life, survive, and then be pulled out by a guy with NO HANDS???? MKAE IT MAKE SENSE. If they gave Mizu special powers or intensive training...maybe. just maybe... In addition, too many cliche writing moments for....??? ughhh. U.S. writers looove to do that.
THANK U 😭😭I got so much hate for this vid to the point I questioned if I’m really a women hater, I’m not though, exactly the points you said, thank u again for this comment
@@AntiKash honestly, writers tend to write female lead shows SO badly and they just end up so lame 🙃
MIzu used plot armor.
@@savemoneysaveplanet Fullmetal Alchemist is one example of women being written well and realistically (though not a female-led anime, the women have a strong presence throughout). Whether they are the antagonist or protagonist. Hiromu Arakawa writes such depth and nuance in her female characters. Arakawa actually nails every part of the series from the start to the end without falling into the pitfalls of cliched writing.
Just gonna mention that we know she knows what guns are and how they work, it was literally the introduction scene where she asks the flesh trader where he got the gun. She even points out it's not a japanese gun, it's an european one - making it illegal.
“Anime does not mean Unrealism.”
*turns on “Chainsaw Man, Yasuke, Deathnote, Naruto, Demon Slayer, Claymore, etc.* Totally realistic, right?
Jokes aside, I can appreciate where you’re coming from. Not gonna get too tied up on the technicalities of this not being an anime, and while I disagree w some of your takes (and the baiting thumbnail), it’s always nice to hear different opinions. I personally loved this show. Disagreement aside, your presentation is solid. Good content :)
Thank u , thank god ur an understanding person😭 and yes I apologize for baiting but after posting for a while I realized it’s not terrible because if the content is half decent then people don’t get too hurt. And yea like you said, it’s opinions at the end of it and on my biggest points with unrealism I meant a world that’s set in realistic places, aka edo Japan, you know what I mean. And then her training and just stuff like that, it’s not major enough to make it a bad show like I said, just all opinion and technicalities. Regardless thank u again for being super understanding
lso changed the baiting thumbnail, thank you for pointing that out, I get too caught up in the youtube game and views etc sometimes, thank you
@@AntiKash just keep doing what you’re doing, and you’ll be great dude.
❤️genuinely needed to hear that and thank u. Wish u nothing but the best as well
I'm so glad you pointed this out, I agree with literally everything. I spat out my water when another RUclipsr said "arcane has nothing on this" like YO?? BE SO FR. Also. I agree with what you said about how you get homages and you get unoriginality. I do think that episode 4&5 were practically flawless but the others felt like a weirldly ungrounded rehashing of mulan, lady snowblood, kill bill and vagabond.
Exactlyyyyy like cmon ARCANE😭 I don’t understand what people are seeing in the writing wise, besides like you said 4 and 5 were pretty damn good but the rest, was pretty average writing, great visuals tho but not a 9/10 show as many claim
Yeah! One small thing I'd like to add is that you mentioned how it feels like a slightly westernised fantasy of Edo Japan and I found it really strange that there wasn't an option to watch it in Japanese dub, which would have made it more immersive... (I mean come on, Scott Pilgrim had one!), and with my knowledge and reading up about it, it definitely is less historically or culturally accurate and more of a love letter to that period... from an American. It gets a good deal of things right but a lot of stuff especially how the characters interact are just very un-Japanese. I also just felt like, sexism and racism aside, the politics could have been done better, if we're trying to compare it to Arcane. Luckily, towards the end Akemi gave us some of that.
The writing was weird... I do think it's a first season that's setting itself up for more and in hindsight will be better after more seasons, but a lot felt underdeveloped... unlike, again, Arcane.The one character that I do felt was done well is Akemi, though. It's clever how they balanced Mizu using her masculinity for gain with Akemi using her femininity for gain.
Ultimately, like you said, it's good, it's like a solid 7/10 but nowhere near Devilman Crybaby, Arcane or Pluto. Honestly I just think people don't consume that much anime/series and are easily wowed by something actually decent in a world where most of what we do get is subparr. So I fully stand with you in feeling like it's overhyped.
I COULD LITERALLY NOT AGREE MORE LIKE OMGGGGGGGGG, it feels so westernized, and again people use the defense of oh the "creator is japanese" shes american af and only one of the creators. I just feel like if youre going to make a westernized version of japan at least approach it that way, don't try to go all edo period, this was japan at the time and than get it wrong. Like you said, still a solid show overall but so damn overhyped@@geekkiddo
Another nitpick I have with this show, is that I wish Ringo was more of a character. He just feels too much like the "lovable comic relief" trope. But I want to know more about him and his struggles. They only ever kind of talked about it once with the "my whole life has been a battle" line, and that got me really interested to know more about him. How does he feel being disabled? Why does he so desperately want to be useful to someone? Why does he want to be "great?" They just did not delve into him enough for me to care about him as a character.
Facts, he was literally just comic relief, he had potential but fell off bad, just became a point of comedy with some random moments
Ringo had much more to his character than his comedic relief, and his character development IS there, despite not changing fundamentally as a person. Ringo is meant to be a rock in the story, someone to be consistent among all these other characters going through drastic change. Despite this, he has moments where he proves to be useful, when he saves Mizu’s life multiple times. She would’ve died multiple times in the series if not for him.
Even so, Ringo’s aspirations change. He goes from wanting to be a samurai, to wanting to be great, to deciding he will help greatness. Though it’s done in a way that is light and silly, it provides a refreshing step back from all the blood and gore. Ringo is disabled and he knows this, he’s been told his whole life that he’s useless (look at the way his father treated him) so he wants to be great at something so he is validated by others. He settles into a role that he is capable of doing, not because he truly wants greatness, but that validation. To feel useful. Mizu gives him this validation (though it’s subtle) which is why he sticks with her as her apprentice. His development is simple, but he’s also a simple person who is content with taking the sidelines, because he realized all he needs is that feeling of worth.
I’m sure we’ll see more development in the future, but overall he’s one of my favorite characters and it’s sad to see a lot of people chalk him up to comedic relief. The writing in this show is phenomenal, and most of the development for side characters is not explicitly said, but shown in the details. If you have the time, give it a second watch and you’ll see what I mean by Ringo’s development!
@@anyeh2921 First off, I appreciate the comment. It's always nice when I get actual in depth replies instead of people leaving unhelpful ones.
I did actually rewatch the series recently, and I admit, I did like Ringo more on rewatch. I'd still like to see some more development out of him, but I can see what you mean.
He has no hands 😭
WITH A FKIN HAMMER😭like ain’t no way
Damn usually the realisticness of stories makes the immersion into storytelling is a big standard for me. But for some reason none of Mizu's supernatural actions and achievements throughout the show made me feel like Mizu was inconsistent with the world building/immersion. I thought Mizu's overpoweredness was just like Batman's overpoweredness. I liked it because Mizu's OPness didn't ring any alarms in my head.
Aye that’s completely fair too,just our own experiences at the end of the day, I’m not gonna take away from it
When she lifted a full grown man with a single arm and proceeded to climb a wall, falling and holding on with a single hand, while again, holding unto a full grown man? That didn’t set off any alarms?
I thought it was amazing. To each their own.
Of course, it’s all opinions at the end of the day
omg finding someone that had any critic for this was so hard I almost had to make my own video / for a second I stopped believing in my judgement after seeing all the praise on yt and now Im thinking maybe this also has sth to do with me being both an anime and film fan
Sameeee, I think the fact we love both anime and film, we really know what peak writing is, I wasn’t trying to say this was bad, but it just wasn’t as good as everyone was claiming. Appreciate your words though, helps knowing I wasn’t crazy for this take lol
I know what you mean about it seemed like it was grounded and realism and then all the suddenly not.
I guess i view it like it’s sort of like James Bond but with samurai.
Fair honestly, I’m glad you could see my pov cus I see yours completely too😭 I meant to make this vid as like my perspective of it but if anyone like yourself can view it as a James Bond type of flick than I’m glad if anything, I don’t want people to not like this show which a lot of people thought for some reason 😭
@@AntiKash oh no I didn’t take it that way at all. I think what you said is valid. They might have a better idea of what they want to do in 2nd season.
This is kinda off topic, but It sometimes makes me sad that shows rarely get go past season 3.
I find that sometimes they need season 2 and 3 to really get solid. An example imo would be Parks and Rec.
parks and rec is fire and honestly thats true, a s2 of BES could solve basically any issue i mentioned, which Id love to see tbh@@janniegurl05
Excellent review. We had very similar opinions. I loved Pluto (both manga and anime), so I'm definitely going to check out your review on that series.
Thank u again genuinely glad to hear that and even more glad you loved Pluto, that was some peak fiction right there🙏🙏🙏🙏
It really feels like people just see a 3d computer animated action show that doesn't make you want to stab your eyes out and suddenly its the best thing ever.
I couldn't get past episode 1 it felt so half-backed and in need of three more drafts. I couldn't get past episode 1 of Arkane or whatever either but that was obviously just not something I understood the point of and clearly didn't have the kind of mistakes this show makes.
I didn't like Castlevania but at least finished it. Need to watch Pluto.
Yea arcane is def worth watching but also not every show is for everyone so I wouldn’t force it. Pluto is one of my genuine favorites in the past couple of years, I made on video on it but I’ll have to make a follow up soon
i would argue that the crazy unrealistic plot and fights comes from classic kungfu and samurai movies. Think Kill Bill and Lady Snow Blood kind of crazy hah. I see the show as a love letter to postmodern Asian martial arts movies.
But yeah the show kinda shot itself in the foot with grounding itself since the plot is based on so many references lol.
Yea I think that’s completely fair to say and ultimately true, my issues just remain the same because works like kill bill or even ip man don’t start off with “edo Japan 1600s, ethnocentric isolated country, racism” and then to add on, it actually gets into imperialism and negative trades with guns, just for her to dodge the bullet and defeat the entire army basically by herself. Kill bill sets the tone from the very beginning, and BES sets a different tone, which it slowly progresses from OP swordsman which I personally could let pass to then breaking any logical rule
My problem is the dialogue. It feels like fanfic written by 16 year old POC girls in California. How tf am I supposed to believe this is taking place in 17th century japan??
There are some other nitpicks. Spoilers for ep 5:
We see the two stories of the Mizu and the Ronin playing at the same time. The ronin is obviously supposed to represent Mizu since both are crazy swordsmen out for revenge. Then they find peace in life and both get married. Somehow the story then turns into this betrayal by a lover and Mizu is represented as an Onryo?? Did she just switch characters? How tf does the story of the ronin have anything to do with Mizu's story? Especially that ending with the Ronin killing the Child. Her husband also made no sense. The guy seemed like a level-headed loner who only takes care of horses and potentially wants to win favor again by his lord. He meets mizu and their marriage starts out rough. Slowly but surely they start to fall in love together and you see them enjoying each other's company. Then the story wants me to believe that because of a single fight with Mizu his pride is hurt and therefore he betrays her. The guy wasn't even established as Greta fighter. Just a caretaker of horses. We literally see him teaching Mizu how to ride a horse since he clearly has a lot of experience. Mizu then later in the episode beats him in a horse race and he doesn't even seem all that bothered by it, yet him being beaten in a fight once is enough to destroy his whole marriage and peaceful life? Isn't this the same bastard that said he would accept her for who she was? Atleats let him betray her for blue eyes, cuz then you can use prejudice as an excuse. His ego however? Where tf did that come from? We litetally meet him that episode and barely know fuck all about him. It just seemed like the writers didn't know what to do with him and needed a reason for mizu to be betrayed.
The writing isn't even all that bad, however the amount of people glazing this series as the second coming of christ really makes me scratch my head. Especially episode 5 that I found a very mid episode compared to the others. It reminds of celebrities tweeting their hearts out about Demon slayer and especially episode 19 just for it to be an absolute garbage series and people's judgement mostly being clouded by pretty colors and animation.
Thank u , like damn, that’s exactly how I felt too. Like a damn fan fiction, and I think it actually worked, and the praise it’s getting is because whatever their target audience was, has been nonstop praising it. It just bothers me because people can’t differentiate the enjoyment they have and then actual great writing. Like 9/10 scores and people claiming it’s anime of the year, no fucking way, there is so much better I just refuse to accept that, if you enjoy it that’s great but at least look at it objectively if they’re gonna compare
@@AntiKashWhat if in their objective opinions it’s anime of the year? Just because they don’t share your opinion, doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re wrong.
@@randomguy6679 that’s somewhat fair, but the issue is anime of the year means you’re comparing it to other anime objectively, it’s an objective award, but yes if someone subjectively says it was their anime of the year they could I’m not gonna deny that, but to claim it as THE anime of the year is claiming objectively that it’s better
@@AntiKash But the fact that it’s their own opinion should go without saying, just like how any review is someone’s own opinion. How annoying would it be if every positive statement or review opened with “in my opinion”? Isn’t that just common sense?
and its my opinion to argue against it, i dont know what youre trying to point out here, If i think something isnt AOTY then thats how i feel, same thing goes for people who think BES is, its all just opinions, i just think objectively that there are better choices and i could point that out @@randomguy6679
In regards to Mizu’s training I feel like it’s important to recognize she wasn’t just shadowing any normal samurai, these men had to have been the best in Japan as Swordfather was clearly renowned as the great sword maker he would only make swords for those who were worthy. I think you can also assume they would do more than just show techniques since swordfather told them he needed to fully understand the samurai in order to make their blade. Still doesn’t give a good reason as to why she can dodge bullets and take down armies single handedly but I think it does explain why her skill is greater than pretty much any single samurai we are
See*
Yup like u said still doesn’t explain it completely but yes that does help to understand her skill a bit
Howndoesnthe shadow training explain her ability to fight with any weapon, including the ones she has no experience in?
Watching people will not make you a god at fighting
@@ExpertContrarian she watched them then trained at night emulating the same movements, and again they would explain more about their techniques and what it means to be a swordsman at the request of sword father. It’s like learning something through RUclips if you watch and emulate enough you will learn
One of the biggest ways to point out the realism inconsistency I felt is to compare the fight with Taigen at the beginning, where while her skill level was above that of him, the fight was well coreographed and there was tension in the fight. Each move was calculated, and it was the first fight that grounded the realism for me. I thought it was the precedence the show was going to run on. And then they did away with that. I think you made a very good point on establishing rules and then breaking them. Because if she can do insane feats of strength and power, it’s fine, as long as it is consistent across the board. If they had gone for that style along the whole way, I wouldn’t have had any problems with big crazy things happening.
Exactly, thank you for understanding that cus I really started to think I was going crazy, somehow most people didn’t see that but as you said, so many rules were initially established and so easily broken. If they had the unrealism from the beginning I would’ve been completely fine but to go “edo Japan 1600s” and sword fighting to dodging bullets is just dumb
i agree with this 100%. the part that angers me is why the fuck is she leaving japan?? why is she going to London? you built this japan world and for what?! just to leave????
EXACTLY😭I didn’t even get to that but that made everything feel like an excuse to just have another setting, wtf was the point of Japan, to show some nice cherry blossoms😭😭
Ok ok hold on before going off, you do have to understand that Mizu is after revenge that's the whole point, yes they did build the world for that entire plot but you can not expect the white men just to be there already thus the journey to London makes sense for it to further the plot
@@AntiKash the ending actually puzzled me a bit ,she was taking this Fowler as her prisoner to London (England },his home country she is very unfamiliar with ,away from her home/birthplace ,her home advantage ! what could go wrong?
Great show. Check all those subtle metaphors! You know, I'm a bit old to sit on the anime sword but I saw a lot of parallels with the old Zatoichi movies of the 60's. And I'm glad the writers tipped their hats in that direction. Lots of revenge, betrayal, broken relationships and grief.. And lust! The perfect metallurgical ingredients for a Samurai's sword, right?
But my problem was that Mizu was never a Samurai. She's more like a well-trained Ashiguru in that era. Unless we find out where and how she trained (lock-picking? Hello?) and with who?
They got mixed up with Abijah Fowler though. An Irishman would never let a Geisha with a long-nosed mask stick it anywhere back there! He must have been English!!
Great video, man. Good review and opinions 👍👍
Ayy thank u 🙏🙏🙏same back at u, love this comment, written so well genuinely, thank u again
6:55 Uh so you are missing something key with this part of the plot about Taigen and Mizu. I do agree with the part of some plot unrealistic like the bullet part with ringo. But the part with Taigen not trying to kill Mizu was because in Samarai culture they had offical fights. They had a SIGNED contract saying they are going to fight. This was a thing like how we have MMA fights or titles for boxing. (That is why in ep 3 they showed two town guys fighting for winner. It is kind of like a country "quick draw." Another show that did this was avatar the last airbender with the "agni kai) They had these contracts to handle disputes.
That makes sense and I got that, but then they literally proceed to fall in love and I just don’t get how that happens in any capacity especially after what mizu did to taigen
I enjoyed it, it was like mulan, the last samurai and kill bill all in one.
Pretty much , if you look at it in that light than it does make it all the better
I think it’s a very fumbled show that tried to be samurai Champloo. Music is quite shit and was not established well. Sometimes the characters have very cringe worthy dialogue. But Mizu is quite the compelling character, the only other thing I dislike is the “revenge story” template which is overdone and was not that well done in this.
Frfr, it fell very short of its inspirations imo, just felt like a fan made it with a big budget
Failed scenes that went nowhere:
the writing on self scene
the sex scene with the princess and her betrothed
the constant backstory with the MC's failed marriage interrupting a cool fight that had a lot of stuff going on
the scene where Gringu is with the sword father and connects with him, but only with the fact that they both share a disability, while being cool and interesting. it didn't come back later in season 1
the scene where the Villain Elijah is shooting his damned men with his new shipment of smuggled guns. (I think this, because he only shows us how he smuggled the guns and that he has a lot of them now. but if we where to cut it. I think we would be fine actually)
the rebirth scene, where Gringu wins the stick while he's naked in the water, to make a wish come true
Facts facts
@@Nopeasaurus I was okay with the sex, but it was pointless so what the fuck.
for the first few i think they did actually bring plot to the story and not just 'filler'.
The writing on self, is a way to show that shes ready to let people help her and not to do this alone -> she actually goes to ringo and asks him to help her coz she "cant do this alone" not only that but the swordfather actually told her that she shouldnt live purely with just hate, so shes trying to cleanse herself with a way of meditation.
the sex scene at least how i interpreted it was that akemi wasnt the typical submissive princess lead, ESPECIALLY at that time she wasnt 'allowed' to have sex before her marriage but she did it anyways because thats what she wanted to, we see HER initiate it and take charge literally being ON TOP of a man (you could say its a symbolism to patriarchy and how she wants to take charge instead).
The backstory is more so to understand what made her how she is and so willing to keep going just for revenge, before when she was married and was 'softer' maybe she wouldnt have done this to this extent etc but now we understand why shes so closed off why shes so 'inhuman;.
I think 'failed' is a very harsh way of putting it. At most, loose or open threads that weren't developed further. More development with Ringo could happen in Season 2, he doesn't have to complete his arc of 'finding his greatness' in the first season alone. That being said, I'm mostly neutral on a lot of these scenes and understand why some people might question them. Except for two.
'the constant backstory with the MC's failed marriage interrupting a cool fight that had a lot of stuff going on'
Absolutely disagree. There's a reason so many are calling that episode the peak of the show. If you got annoyed by the flashbacks and thought they were disruptive, that's your experience and fair enough. But for me, it was a great backstory that tied into the symbolism and main themes through the puppet show, and built up to the Mizu going berserk at the end. The fact that we see how she became the 'on-ryo' made it so much more satisfying and impactful when we see the demon in full action. At least for me. That kind of intertwined storytelling tickles me just right.
'the scene where the Villain Elijah is shooting his damned men with his new shipment of smuggled guns. (I think this, because he only shows us how he smuggled the guns and that he has a lot of them now. but if we where to cut it. I think we would be fine actually)'
Firstly, you make it sound like Abijah (not Elijah) is shooting his own men for no reason. In case you believe that, you are incorrect. Those were his allies who betrayed him by trying to find the guns themselves, which is why he was executing them.
Secondly, the main purpose of this scene is to provide a piece of Elijah's backstory that deepens your understanding his character. You remove the scene. You remove that character development.
This is western anime. Franco-American anime. It took so much from Japanese anime that this root deserves recognition. Thank you for a level headed commentary. I really enjoyed both your thoughts and the series itself.
🙏🙏🙏🙏thank u so much again, u are An amazingly understanding person and kind, both super rare these days
Some great points mate. What got me was the last episode, the entire army were burned alive OUTSIDE. I mean, WHAT??!? The whole climax of the gun army finished off by a woman and an old man closing over a gate so they can be burned alive outside. Ruined it for me. How in the name of god did the fire spread so far and what kept it burning?
EXACTLY WHAT KINDA SORCERY 😭 and it’s the fact they were just so willing to eliminate this overbearing threat instantly. Like wtf, get a whole army, armed with GUNS and then yea just wiped almost instantly by a couple of people
@@AntiKash Thank God I’m not the only one who was annoyed by this! 👌 and mate, Mizo and fowler literally still fighting in the burning building where the whole entire fire started. The place not burn down before the whole entire outskirts of the palace?
I'm no history buff, nor am I educated in Irish culture, but I was thoroughly confused when the Irish villain generalized himself as a "Brit". Wasn't this the period where Ireland was going through a lot of bad stuff from the English oppression? Does it make sense for the Irish of the 17th century to identify themselves this way? If anyone here is knowledgeable in the topic, I'd greatly appreciate the insight.
It was even worse when this same character made a threatening prediction about the cultural changes in Japan, stating it would be flooded with "our" cultural elements. But wasn't it American culture that flooded it? I don't remember Irish tunes suddenly becoming the mainstream musical style in Kyoto. Again, would a 17th century's Irish man generalize himself this way? This seems like a modern American simplification of the rest of the world, rather than what non-Americans would be thinking of themselves - identifying with the specific culture they represent and not throwing themselves in the lot for the sake of skin color, especially when they share it with their own enemies.
I’m with you. I’m not a history buff either but it felt off, especially the fact that Japan developed guns around this time period,and it only took me a quick search to find that, so the fact they didn’t realize that was wild
Hes an irish person only in name really. It makes no sense for him to generalise himself as british. There would have been people born in ireland that identified as british but they would have been the children of the planter colonisers. We know Fowler isn't as he says he suffer under the hands of the Tudors (British) because he was part of the O'Neills. Moving past the point that the British made it illegal for irish catholics to even own land let alone a opium and weapons shipping company, Fowler wouldn't have even spoken english, he woulda spoke irish at the time. Despite all that I think theres still hope for Fowler as a character. Maybe they can kinda retcon and make him part of the british colonial irish. Maybe he relinquished his irish roots. Idk but as he stands hes basically not even irish. The idea that this show is about anti coloniasm and the main bad guy was an irishman really through me off. They acknowledge themselves that ireland was colonised at the time. Irish people weren't even considered white!
While I can believe the show has historical inaccuracies, I'm not sure if we should take Fowler's statements as the show's statements on history. I can believe that, at that time, someone could assume British culture would be the one to proliferate through the world. And even if Fowler is Irish, he clearly admires and subscribes to the British's methods. Even if his own people were oppressed by them, he prob doesn't care. He's a cruel, depraved, sadistic villain who only wants to cement his own power.
Either way, Blue Eye Samurai is at most historical fiction. Doesn't have to be 100% accurate. Could be alternate history fiction, really. At least, that's my attitude towards this kind of stuff, which is why historical inaccuracies have rarely bothered me.
Great review. I loved it but also share some of your criticisms. I’ve never heard of Pluto so I’ll check it out!
Thank you it means a lot too that we can both admit how great it is but also share the criticisms. 🙏and Pluto is amazing I highly recommend, hope u enjoy it
Completely agree with you. I like BES and respect it as a well done show. But geesh, it’s currently overrated as hell. Arcane and Pluto are at a different level from BES.
THANK U , I cannot believe Pluto and arcane are being compared as worse imo 😭 I just don’t get it, BES is great but not better then those two
I really appreciate this analysis. I finished watching the show last night and have been searching for someone else who shares my opinions on the lack of clear character development and clunky plot moments, while also simultaneously being able to praise the great moments the show has (particularly episodes 1 and 5), as the great moments are GREAT.
Also appreciate the recommendations, I will check them out. You earned a subscribe!
THANK U , got an insane amount of hate for this video. Which of course it comes with it,making videos, but what was eating at me is the fact most didn’t even watch the video or register any of my actual praise😭 like I said it was objectively good yet people didn’t realize that. Regardless it means a lot getting support like this, thank you❤️
I don’t find it unrealistic (okay maybe dodging bullets but everyone gets to dodge bullets) because guns actually did exist in Edo period Japan. There were gunsmiths. This is all according to Wikipedia if anyone’s interested. It’s not particularly unrealistic. The setting is at a time of change.
Fair enough I dropped two videos on this cus I was being pretty harsh on it, just because the initial ratings were really high in comparison to some new shows I felt were slept on
@@AntiKashhaha I get it I’ll check the other one out
should this even be considered an anime? created and written by Americans and animated by a French studio. if anything it's Western animation like arcane.
That’s a great point I was thinking the same honestly, I said “anime” for sake of easy speaking cus anime is just Japanese for animation, but yea
I see a lot of people bringing up the same issue in the comments. Being unrealistic vs realistic is a matter of taste and shouldn’t be a strike against the show. Perhaps that’s your opinion but not everyone agrees.
That’s fair of course, but what everyone’s missing is I mentioned the show is objectively good regardless. The issues I had and many agreed with the unrealism is my opinion at the end of the day, the actual faults lie in actual mistakes like one - historically Japan had guns at the time, Fowler just didn’t kill mizu when he had many chances too, etc. unrealism was my personal issue which I think people mistook, even though I said objectively the shows good regardless
No it is not a matter of “taste”.if you want to have super natural elements to exist in your show you have to establish them early in your series. Also establish those things existing in the world. For example in the first episode of Naruto a literal charka fill beast(9 tails) attacked the village and we also seen ninja using justu. in demon slayer in the first episode we seen demons and breathing styles. In the first episode of bleach we(audience and MC) see soul reapers and a hollow. So when people say unrealistic yes it is because it doesn’t line up with any of the ground work that the show has shown us thus far
@@t-god2439 appreciate all ur comments my guy, we lack a lot of understanding people especially in an online space where anyone could say anything but people like you help a lot, genuinely appreciate it 🙏
Well I'm late to the party but you've made a good takes so i guess i'll add something from me
About "enemies to lovers" i don't belive that he's fully ready to die for her or anything like that, it's shown multiple times that he is very in line with samurai honor etc. It is also shown that he wants to see that honor in her, first he chases to get "oficial duel", then they have a few heated arguments about honor, "then you're no samurai!" lines are thrown. Then he gets a promise, something along the lines "after i'm done with revenge we'll have our duel, and you'll have my full atention on it"
Thus he's not ready to die or i guess suffer for some kind of love or friendship but mostly for holding up traditions which been he's entire life and worldview up to this point.
Some people say subplot could be removed and yes i guess it could, but like why? the subplot was good the fact that it converges with main plot mostly at the very end doesn't bother me. It's not second arcane, it's not that kind of writing where there is no moment to breath for the viewer. To be fair i kinda like it in terms of worldbuilding, you can focus more on it and less on slashing and action there.
At the end yeh, the bullet scene crosses a line.
Like the wall climb etc i can suspense disbelive coz show it's consistant with it. It's not a dark show, it has dark themes but it's very heroic. None of the main characters ends badly, they are wounded time and time again and get up soooo fast, they fight many enemies at the same time. It's a writing choice and It's not a bad one in my opinion, but the fucking bullet nah that was baaad
Fair points for sure, I still just find it weird that taigen falls for her after all she did to him, I could see if they worked together but then him having a boner outta nowhere just threw me all the way off, regardless glad u could understand my points too, appreciate the comment
The only unrealistic thing in my opinion is Mizu winning after she's pinned down. Realistically the giant or Fowler should destroy her after pinning her down/grabbing her. Other than that I enjoyed every part of the show. Not a huge fan of the princess character but that doesn't mean she's poorly written.
Yea mizu getting out of the fowler situation threw me off a lot tbh and then her dodging the bullet didn’t really help imo
@@AntiKash To be fair they made Fowler good at swordfighting/defending somehow which didn't make much sense to me so it kinda evened out.
The show was a solid 7/10 in my book.
The visuals were great for the most part but character designs left a lot to be desired.
The soundtrack was weird in some fight scenes and ruined their mood sometimes.
The main character is another typical girl boss that beats everyone with ease and wounds don't work on her.
Although here they made her slightly better than other girl bosses by making her past a bit relatable and her goal is a Mistake to begin with so they could get away from her being a mary sue in basically almost every aspect.
But a flawed strong female character with a tragic past ain't enough to make a 10/10 MC.
Her goal is beyond stupid to begin with. It's even worse than the goal of the likes of naruto, deku, gon and other stupid shonen garbage main characters.
She ain't likeable in any way shape or form. Her design is mid, her voice acting is mid, her fighting style basically doesn't exist. She does moves out of her butt and doesn't have a particular fighting style.
Unlike Azula in avatar for example
Also by making an unlikable, boring character basically invincible, they made her even worse.
The show is Also extremely preachy.
Talks about racism but it's all talk and no substance.
Talks a lot about how women were treated in the past but we've seen this shit more than thousands of times. It's enough already. This Shit is getting beyond cliche at this point.
Also you can clearly understand who is the good guy or bad guy without even reading the plot:
Of course every man (which ain't disabled or gay) is stupid or bad and every girl is intelligent, resourceful and cunning.
It's the same terrible netflix/Disney/Hollywood formula: straight white men are bad, disabled men are relatable, girls are leaders, gays are also welcomed.
Same modern woke garbage which I'm tired of.
No a 80 pound girl can never beat a fighter dude so deal with it. It wouldn't be as bad if the setting was some sort of fantasy like arcane or avatar but it ain't.
Also the villains (which all are basically stupid men) are beyond terrible. And sidekicks suck except maybe for akemi which again she's the exact copy of literally every single modern Disney princess.
Now after writing this much, i think the show ain't even a 7/10. It's more like a 6 and that's if I'm generous enough.
Fair critique for sure
I sort of fundamentally disagree with you calling back to the anime is unrealistic argument, /film/ and /entertainment/ is unrealistic, suspension of disbelief is something valued in animation a lot but even just stories, realistic and true to life as they can be they cant encapsulate everything, they have to pick what to show and what not, so when all the parts click together in a story perfectly that is unrealistic to most life. There are a few places in the show i saw and thought, lol yeah theyd be dead there, the frozen river especially for like 4 different reasons, but if im watching for the character journeys and story and meaning i dont even think about how some action scenes and drama is unrealistic for long- there are times when its REALLY jarring and really does take away from the narrative and show as a whole, but for me id say bes doesnt do that. That being said i do hear what you mean and i can see why someone might not feel the same, everyine has different lines of what is the right amount, this was just my way of seeing that :>
Yea if one can look past it then it’s not a big deal, clearly I couldn’t and had some other issues🤷♂️ but just our opinions at the end of the day
Fowler has a lot of potential to be honest.
he does if they give him some more depth in the second season for sure.
I'm in love with it, cant stop watching it, and i do agree with you over all but it also upsets me to on some point were people cant accept mizu is a female under disgise as a male, but say she is a transgender which over all she never said she wanted too be a man, she said she HAD to be as one in order to get through things and survive because shes half white and a female, another thing is people shipping her with akemi when as well over all they have no chemistry and just want mizu to be gay for no reason, while we do see taigen becoming a version of Shang from Mulan, its over all stupid and i dont like the fact that they ship mizu and akemi its so random.. but i do believe that the creators are going to have taigen get his character development since we see him slowly getting to there, but what i do like is the story and the characters, but overall people need to accept things that go on and plus mizu being a woman since this is a period point of Edo in the 16th century.
For sure I really appreciate your viewpoint and I never meant to change anyone’s mind who liked it, I just wanted to voice my own opinion. I’m glad you enjoyed it but can also understand some of my points
@@AntiKash no i completely understand your view point too, since some thing in the show wasn't much good but thank you for responding and viewing my opinions and i know you weren't trying too change people opinions on this show.
@@melly-b8j thank you again, hearing people like you who can actually see both sides gives me faith in humanity lolll , please have a great day!!!
@@AntiKash your welcomeeee
I don't know if this qualifies as an anime just because it's an animation about historic Japan...
Anyway I agree that there were some leaps in logic. I kept waiting to see what OTHER training Mizu has gone through to be the badass that she is, or maybe for a confirmation that yes, she WAS a demon. That whole part really didn't click for me. But other then that, I thought the rest of it was phenomenal and it only got better with each episode.
Yea technically it’s not I just used anime for sake of comparing it to anime, as anime is just Japanese animation, it’s all animation at the end of the day. Regardless like you said, it was still great but certain logical things lacking, doesn’t take much away overall though it was still great
Where I thought that the story suffered was trying to use JAPAN as a setting for an anti-colonial message. Japan was itself one of the colonial powers right along with Britain, France, USA and Germany.
Their holdings included Korea, Taiwan, Sakhalin, Northern China and others. This is also why this show is very much a westerner's idea of what Japan was. I find that a lot of western people do not know the full extent of The Empire of Japan's colonial history.
That said, I still loved the show.
Yes that was part of the “unrealism” I was getting at, which people just ignored, but to me why even use a place that you’re going to be completely in Accurate about, knowing all it takes is a little bit of research 🤷♂️ still a good show tho like you said but that was a bit annoying
And to boot, the main antagonist was an irish man, someone from an actually colonised country at the time and throughout history. Something about rubbed me the wrong way. They could make it work in S2 though
I didn't see an anti-colonial message really. The closing of borders for actually happened (and lasted for a bit more than 200 years). The story was made by a half japanese couple so that is the reason they choose a japanese setting.
There are a ton of historical accuracies in the show. The most inaccurate things are the stylized fights, the total lack of guns in japan (firearms did exist, but they still weren't anything close to common but the show portrays it like japan had almost no firearms), the focus on honor, katana worship,and the way the people speak, because japanese culture is very much based on indirect messages.
Totally agree. Super American-centric despite taking place in Japan. Completely felt like this period of Japan and its culture was being co-opted as a decoration for a white American fantasy; be a samurai and have a racially oppressed hero.
The art direction and choreography is exceptional of the work. But the racial choices were honestly unnecessary, imo. The weakest point of the story. Given that the work seems catered to an American audience, I squint my eyes at the work’s depiction of Japanese people and a half-white protagonist. Seems a bit more cultural-appropriate-y than cultural-appreciation-y.
Nothing against white protagonists, I love arcane and Seinfeld (amongst many other stories 😂) But the handling of the racial theme-which was core to this story-is suspect to me.
Basically; they really want me to root for this white girl mowing down all these Japanese people so that she can kill her white dad, when really she could’ve just been making swords all day, making money and chillin with her mentor 😗 honestly I feel like that would be a more interesting anime than what they did 😂
U get it thank god 😭 like genuinely like u said it feels like some white American fantasy that just loves the culture and aestethic of Japan but has absolutely zero knowledge of the actual history. For one, Japan developed guns around this time period so that alone should tell u that these writers did not to do it Justice. Though it looks amazing ofc like u said, the writing is mos def flawed
@@nightmarilyn I don't think the show wants you to just root for her. It's more complicated than that. It's a classic revenge story where the protagonist's motivations are shown to be understandable but a lot of her actions are still commented on as, at best, morally grey and at worst... well, she's constantly compared to a demon, right? They literally have her kill a kid. Don't think they want you to root for that.
And the whole tragic element is that the pursuit of revenge will rob you of the chance of having an actual happy, fulfilled life. This show knows that, so I don't know what you're criticizing.
Also, the show, if anything, is very critical of white people. The villain literally extolls the British's unparalleled ability to cause death and destruction and promises a Christian god to give him a whole new nation of devotees.
And man, I'm sorry, but the way you just call her 'this white girl'... when she is half-Japanese, it kind of makes me uncomfortable, to be honest. I don't want to say it because it's probably an overreaction, but it reminds me of the very attitude Mizu faces from people in the show. I have a half-White, half-Chinese friend who almost wasn't allowed in an Asian-only rec league because he didn't look Asian enough. That annoyed me to no end, and I can only imagine how he felt about that.
People of mixed race don't seem to have a lot representation of their struggles with disconnection and fitting in to the world around them and that's why I'm super appreciative of a character like Mizu and the theme of impurities strengthening the whole. It's sad that there are people looking at her and saying 'it's just a white girl' when there are probably a lot of people who relate to her struggles of being shut out of one half of their heritage and culture.
Fully agree with you but The guy with no hands defending her with a hammer makes sense, he puts the hammer inside his wrapped wrist. It was shown multiple times in the show
That’s true, I just meant his timing, like how did bro just gain super speed with his hands to block that shit
@@AntiKash that scene didn't-bother me. But so many did. Specially since i was invested in the show when they started happening ore often and more unbelievably. Very annoying. Why are people praising this I don't get it
@@kolapse320 exactlyyyyy
I loved it so much. The fantasy factor didn't bother me. I found the exaggerations entertaining. The characters have depth, color, and flaws, and are not black and white. I like the flashbacks and the fact that each episode is different from the rest in style and storytelling. The scenes are fabulous. The fight scenes don't look too animeee.
Misplaced items and lack of some details did bug me. Like her having the three broken pieces of the sword with her after all the chaos, or no battle scars when she is writing the sutras on her body. But some details also amazed me on a rewatch . In the first episode, she tells the guy in the Ramen place,'You don't deserve my blade', but the kitchen knife she uses to cut his fingers has her own signature on it. Or Fawlers children's skeletons in his castle. Or Misu actually wearing the same robe as her husband's. I had a lot of fun watching and re-watching it. Just why on earth didn't she kill Fawler????
Fair it’s a dope show no matter how I feel I admit that and yea I didn’t like the fowler bit either, she killed entire armies just to spare him? Things like that just bothered me overall tbh
I feel you, man. It's not easy to dislike a popular show! I found it a bit annoying but extremely entertaining. I hope it wasn't a total waste of time for you, either.
@@AntiKashweren't u paying attention? She spared fowler because he's the ONLY way she can get to the other white men
and shes simply taking his word on it after all she had been through to kill him lol surely theres other routes to finding them as well, she found fowler through other means ...@@kbreezy1581
It's not anime.... It's a western production.
I know I used “anime” for sake of comparison, the fact that jts not changes nothing, arcane proved it can be as goood if not better than anime, just because it’s not Japanese produced doesn’t mean anything different
@@AntiKash I see what you mean -- but you also have to understand that whether or not it is _actual anime_ -- does, indeed, make a huge difference. The entire aesthetic scheme, for one. TBH, everyone looked like Japanese people perceived through western eyes. Japanese people, and Asians in general, would not depict themselves that way. Another pertinent factor would be how the score is approached. Some of the tracks used in the latter half of the show were just... bafflingly out of place. And so on. Point is, the entire production is markedly, _not_ anime, and really should be clearly identified as such.
@@HarderScience fair point, I agree too the scores especially that one rock song felt soooo off
The bad writing just kills it for me!! Thank you for also bringing it up!!
Plus the super human female lead is getting so old. At first I though it was going to be a tag team end fight, proving that coming together is always better but sadly it wasn't. Yes women are strong but men & women together that's a team!
Thank you for the video!!
Exactly, the theme of unity is better than anything and much less isolating, thank you for this amazing comment
@@AntiKash Happy too & thank you for replying!
The creators already said the goal for the story is for Mizu to become less isolated and find companionship
@@realityisascam I can understand that and even empathize with it but bad writing is still bad writing.
Just glad to see someone reviewing this show honestly and not jerking it off like some other people, it’s a great show and everyone should watch it, but damn recognize that it’s flawed as hell and it could’ve and should’ve been better honestly. If they hadn’t dropped the writing and plot drastically due to not having enough time and having to rush then maybe this could’ve been seriously compared with some of the greats, but making that comparison with how it really is, isn’t a good comparison.
Yes exactlyyyyyy, thank you for being level headed, yes it’s good and people should watch it but damn, it’s flawed and very visibly in the writing department, rushed works always end up like this and a lot of people miss that completely somehow
Fuck man. I had the exact same impression of the writing, even down to the specific scenes that made no sense. Unfortunately, the only coverage I've seen on this show is all calling it flawless, until this video. I just don't understand how so many people unanimously don't see the writing flaws. Thanks for validating my opinion.
Of course, thank u as well, I legit thought I was crazy for this opinion and proceeded to get mad hate for this but people like you let me know that I’m not.
I had heard nonstop rave reviews about this show praising everything about it but I also didn't like it. I watched the first episode with my friends and we all agreed that while the show very obviously wears its inspirations on its sleeve, it felt more like an imitation of those inspiring works rather than an homage or improvement. While the animation was fine, the art was pretty, the voice acting was passable, the show overall just seemed like it was lesser than the sum of its parts. Which is a shame because I wanted to like it but I just couldn't. Then I went and looked around and I could only find praise for it still, until I came across your critique which I mostly agree with. However it seems that even your well constructed critique made people angry for some reason, judging by the like/dislike ratio. I don't get this show, but I really wanted to. Oh well. Guess I'm also a contrarian for not like the hot new thing everyone else seems to love.
Thank u so much for this comment, this was quite literally exactly how I felt. I wanted to like it so much, and the fact that I knew people loved it, I knew I’d get hate critiquing it. But what can you do right 🤷♂️ if people hate because you don’t have the same opinion then that’s reflective on their character more than ur own. Thank u tho again and I’ll assure u as someone who knows a lot of contrarians, we are certainly not one 🙏
@@AntiKash For sure and thank you. I had gotten so focused on the subject, that I neglected to mention how funny I found your jokes and editing during the video as well. So this is my second chance to say that Mufasa bit had me giggling.
yeah... you're cancelled buddy
Pack it up buddy
He’s done for
This is the best and most honest review I've seen of this show. I realize that I will never understand how hard it is to point out the truth about anything having to do with females in this business, but I can still appreciate the few critics who do.
Thanks fam, I like to just be honest, I don’t know why some people walk a tightrope with critique. Had this show been the same with a male Mc I would’ve had the same critiques. It is what it is I guess. Thank you again tho
I'm a woman and I agree with your points. One problem I have with this show is stakes because I'm not invested in certain if I know that Mizu is going to win.
I really wish shows would change how they do fight scenes when it comes to dealing with numerous opponents and have the main characters trying to escape instead of having them mowing down like they're nothing. I was really invested in the red light district fight because there was a lot more tension but later on, it just felt like a video game and...I grew bored.
I think because Yasuke was disappointing, I was more lenient with Blue Eye Samurai.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s exactly what I wanted to get at with the OP ness that she was, I couldn’t get the exact words but yes the stakes, once you see her mowing people down or dodging a bullet there’s basically zero threat, and that’s like half of the show, ofc it’s still fun to watch etc but in terms of plot and stuff idk just feels worse
Hard to build tension when your character's strengths and weaknesses arent clear.
Netflix producing more anime then I could keep up😭 I got to get to it
I’m saying bro I haven’t slept in a week at this point 😭😭😭
It’s clear that anyone complaining about the magical element in it has never seen Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon or House of Flying Daggers. This anime read to me a mix of those old films with a hint of Kill Bill. Thought it was wonderfully done and can’t wait for more to be unraveled in season 2.
I’ve seen crouching tiger hidden dragon, and the point that a lot of people are still missing, is not just the unrealism but what the unrealism does for the plot. Mizu is incredibly OP to the point she dodged bullets, there is literally 0 threat in the entire show. Even in works like kill bill you mentioned, there are still enemies with a major threat, fowler beat mizu up just to spare her and then somehow lose the same type of fight to her soon after, when she had 0 training in between. It completely messes with the logic of the show and it’s why I could never see it as an objective 9/10 show. That being said if you liked it, that’s your opinion same way I could dislike it, just our opinions at the end of the day
Maybe because I've seen better samurai movies and anime but the whole thing screams DERIVATIVE to me. It's a mishmash of influence from Lady SnowBlood, Kurosawa movies and the likes. It's set in Japan but it never really feels authentically Japan because everything is so stereotypical and shallow.
Omggggg thank u, so many people were trying to tell me “oh this is inspired by Kurosawa and kill bill and japan” I KNOW THAT, but inspired is one thing, its another thing to just come off as a false copy. I mean to start with the fact that Japan had developed guns at this time period, it took me a simple search yet the creators couldn’t even figure that out like cmon 😭just adds to that stereotypical feeling.
@@AntiKash Yep. The Shinsengumi carried guns and guns were used in the latter part of the Tokugawa era. Not to mention that there were actual women samurai who didn't hide who they were and even openly highlighted the fact that they were women fighters (Yamamoto Yae aka Bakumatsu Joan of Arc, Tomoe Gozen, Nakano Takeko). What boggles me is that there doesn't seem to be any particular era when its set. If she's half blood then this would most likely happen after Commodore Perry opened Japan to the West and yet none of that reflected in the show. This period in Japan's history was a time of unrest because you had the Imperialist battling to return the Emperor to power and the shogunate grasping at the last bit of control---yet none of that makes it into the show. This all adds to how superficial the writers thought of the setting of their story.
A better samurai movie to watch (if you can find it) is Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal OVA. The whole revenge thing is so old and cliche (especially when its as flimsy as this). Which is probably why Kenshin is such a novel concept for me when I was introduced to it in the 90s--How do you, the most feared monster to ever wield a sword, seek atonement for all the lives you took? For me, that's a better and more compelling story to tell.
oohhh i love rurouni kenshin, every version of it from the source to the anime to the live action is actually really damn good@@rumblefish9
Someone with common sense, thank god! It pisses me off when the creators of a show think the audience is dumb
Yess exactly, the best shows are when they let us figure it out and could tell how intricately written and detailed it was
Thank you, I saw people putting this on the level as Arcane and I was baffled. Like yeah it's good but not that good. Also the realism was also a big issue for me. Mizu (don't spell check me pls) legit solos everyone in this barely escaping near death and heals, then does it all again in the next episode. Obviously there is some level of time passing but watching this show in one sitting just didn't leave a good taste in my mouth in that regard. Also not sure if it was my tv but I saw some weird animation errors where some lines on characters faces would kinda be glitchy and pop in and out. Over all still a solid show, but very over hyped. It's like a good niche indie game that all the fans start hyping up to be the next Mario or Zelda when it's not.
Exactly, especially that comparison of a good niche game supposedly the next best thing, like so many people are getting me wrong, I think the shows great, it’s just not as perfect as everyone swears it is
I would even hesitate to call it good even.
Yes, it's so nice to find someone else who did enjoy this show but also acknowledges how it has significant flaws.
Exactlyyyy, it’s insane how so many people missed that I said the show was really good😭 feels like some things just can’t be critiqued
Thank you for making this video! I was legitimately both mad and laughing my ass off watching this series and had no choice but to turn my brain off for the sake of enjoyment.
I'm like alright, they better give her a badass backstory or a short training arc. But nah, she only copied samurai techniques and got her ass whooped by Chiaki. THe writers could have killed two birds one stone by having Mizu's resolve killing the white devils by having her husband die protecting her and in their time together, he trains Mizu to be a samurai. But no, they fight once. THe husband gets his ass handed, calls her a monster, and ends up betraying Mizu. What a letdown!
Also how are we to believe Mizu is this badass, but in episode 5 she gets stabbed by random goons because she was clumsy!?... there's so much more I hate about the writing but you already pointed it out So i’ll leave it at that.
To make it make sense for me I have to assume there is magic or a curse for being half white. She's a literal Oniryu and was born with amazing reflexes and battle sense. I had fun watching S1, but I won't give S2 a chance because I despise thinking about what could have been. Again, thank you for making this video, 7:46 got me ded!
Thank you for this amazing comment!!!! I ended up getting so much hate for making this 😭 but eh I’d rather be honest and hated then lying and supported, and regardless people like you actually supporting means a lot, and reassures that I’m not actually crazy 💀 but ty again I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one who saw the flaws, and on top of that the fact it was still fun to watch but def not the “amazing writing” many claim it to be. Glad u enjoyed 7:46 too💀 I was dying when making that part.
@@AntiKashyeah, the fellas and I felt like fish outta water and weirded tf out when we see high ratings, praises, and multiple videos that don’t even point out the flaws of the show (except maybe gaijin goomba saying the Japanese culture and mannerism is out of place). You the GOAT for mentioning series that handled the same tone and had better, stronger female protagonist with the examples at the end. My friends and I loved watching them, and coming to BES was a mixed experience. Keep up the honesty! We need more of it!
it felt like there was a missing chunks of the show..
So I'm not an anime fan per se. I've watched most of Demon Slayer (only rly enjoyed s1), love Cowboy Bebop (the best to ever do it), Akira (mi amor), s1 and JJK movie (def want to catch up s2) but that's about it as far as actual anime goes. What I mean by "actual anime" is Japanese anime, BES and Arcane are French animated and American produced (you seem to lump in these two with Japanese anime despite the vast differences in their productions origins). A big point that I feel like I see most true anime fans (my entire friend group and others) miss with western animations like Blue Eye Samurai or Arcane, is the style of writing.
There are certain themes that are more prevelant in western society and thereby it's texts than in eastern tradition and vice versa. The way that Mizu developed in her backstory with the Swordfather, her husband, and childhood before all that is very much in line with traditional, western archetypical writing; the wise old man mentor type that hones the hero into something prepared for a given journey, you get what I mean. Not that this archetype isn't found in eastern tradition (it's how humans develop naturally), but you can point to most western stories adopting this trope, effectively too. In such a trope full of training montages or allusions to personal growth, it is meant to emulate the many many many moments that went into Mizu's development of prowess in the art of the blade. Her character motivation and understanding that is just as important to accepting her character's domination in battle. She is so incredibly motivated that she is capable of inhuman feats at critical moments; this is normal for both western and eastern animation. Lmao bro why do you even take issue with this? happens all the fucking time in anime. Your take truly confuses me because by all accounts, normal audiences (not audiences that exclusively consume anime) should adore this show, suspend the normal amount of disbelief, and they do. Even the critics enjoy it. It is quite telling when the anime fans that are so intoxicated with certain tropes of that medium (particularly shonen archetypes) because they tend to not accept the basic elements of storytelling in favor for nitpicking things like the characters' power levels or in this case, Mizu's skill level. When you can't accept or ignore the basic elements of a character, how can you expect to enjoy their growth, let alone the advancement of the plot? which, in the case of Blue Eye Samurai, is incredibly sound and never loses itself.
Your point on Mizu not protecting Akemi is also a very illogical point, totally neglecting what actually happened. Nobody was really painting Mizu as the bad guy for not defending Akemi. Ringo had his own image painted of who Mizu was which was an honorable samurai; that's not Mizu. For Akemi, it is just a personal stance because she was seemingly betrayed. Unfortunately for Akemi, we don't need to care about her feelings on this since we understand Mizu's reasons which make far more sense than Akemi's. I understand that the narrative can attempt to cast a shadow on the hero's morals especially in times of need for growth but it's just not one of those moments. Mizu is in the right and no one will dispute that.
Overall, I think if you stashed away your anime favoring biases/expectations, you might have enjoyed this show a lot more than what you discredited by attacking a very solid plot with exquisite and enticing characters along with discrediting the crew who did a lot of historical fact checking on the design of the visuals; it's far more original than "inspired".
Fair enough, the only thing I’d have to say about the historical fact checking you mentioned that they did, Japan had guns at this time so that was a major flaw in their history, hence my feeling of inspired and fan view rather than a historical one. That being said, u make great points on the rest of it and I could see why u enjoyed it
6:40 Taigen almost died for Mizu because he felt she didn’t deserve to die at the hands of fowler, shindo, or any of their buddies. He wanted to kill her by himself to earn back his title. That’s not “enemies to lovers” it’s just respect
…he could’ve just told fowler that he’d find her and kill her, that he was an enemy etc. and then on top of that even if he did all that for “killing her himself” then why did he stop trying to kill her, was that pride, respect and honor just forgotten ?
@@AntiKash well, yeah? At the very last episode he said he didn’t want to be great, he wanted to be happy. All of that stuff stopped mattering to him at that point. Also, are you forgetting that Taigen was brutally tortured and imprisoned in Fowler’s castle for who knows how many days and only got out because Mizu risked her neck to save him, even after he told her to leave him in the dungeon? That’s the point when he started to treat her differently, when he noticed she was more than a stray dog feeding on gutter scraps. His change in attitude definitely makes sense.
When the creator gets immature and spastic at all the people disagreeing with his criticism, should we really take what he has to say seriously?
wheres the immaturity, simply responded to your comment that was clearly mistaken. But if you take that as immaturity, go right ahead, the fact you're the only one to say that must mean something... Don't think i have to say it though lol
Re: the point about Taigen not giving Mizu up, its not because he suddenly forgives Mizu for ruining his life. He expressly states several times in the show 'no one gets to kill you but me'. Thats the reasoning. Sure, it's irrational but it speaks to his obsession with status and honour and prestige.
He says it so many times that it even becomes a self-referential joke in Fowler's castle. It's kinda wild to me that you missed that.
I didn’t really miss that…it was just inconcistent, for someone who cares so much about honor and prestige it’s a bit Weird that he ends up FIGHTING for the one who literally stripped him of all that. Mizu cus his hair of(a representation of honor in old times) and defeated him in front of his squad. He also ends up getting a boner for mizu which is just even more random ass shit, clearly they just wanted an enemies to lovers trope but it made zero sense
watched the first episode: she wants to kill 4 bad white guys, she is female and looks like she likes the noble pretty girl (let's call her: the princess of the story, for convention), she is a super master samurai but of course she had no teacher, she learn everything just watching other samurai (I should play soccer like Messi and tennis like Nadal). The princess is in love with another samurai, but of course he is a bad guy that only wants her for money, he is a guy after all. Then there are a lot of inaccuracy on the historical side, the not black teeth, the way the princess talk to his father, that she actually meets the samurai before any officially among the families. Man, this is just an American movie made in cartoon and on service of THE MESSAGE. Another version of the same story told 1000 times
Thank u for seeing through it like damn, I cannot believe how many people are blindsided by the show, it’s almost like people are scared to be honest about it because they’ll be mistaken as misogynist, which is so dumb in itself. And so many people tried to claim “but the creator is Japanese she knows what she was doing”… actually one of the two creators (the other a white dude her husband) was HALF Japanese and clearly American asf, and even if she was a native Japanese just because you are something does not make you a pro at its history, as this clearly showed. Again I just don’t see the 9/10 show many claim, good visuals but the writing is not it