Blue Eye Samurai

[Drunk Monk]

Blue Eye Samurai. Trailer 2. November 3

Ready for some R rated jidaigeki anime? It’s remarkable that this is an American/Canadian production because it hits a lot of classic chanbara notes storywise and the animation is gorgeous. The sword fights are fun - super sanguineous - even more so than most because the contrasting color schemes. The dojo sword fight is glorious. And there are peaches. 

I’m sold with the premiere ep. Seven more to go (each about an hour) and I think I shall savor this ride instead of binging it all quickly. 

D00M recommended.

[King Bob]

I might give it a go, but Samurai Jack is still my favorite animated samurai.

[Drunk Monk]

It’s gratuitously sanguineous so it might not be your thing. Then again, there’s cross dressing. Is that your thing now? Just checking.

E2 had more peaches and more blood. This show is really into the aesthetics of a good sticky splatter. It continues to fascinate with some small episodic story arcs ending in bloody duels, while the larger arc continues to advance. Something that really works for me is the sword making. The details of forging katana blades are given great attention and the fine details seem right (I’m not a smith so I can’t say for sure but it matches what I’ve read and seen in books and documentaries). 

This ep ended in a cliffhanger but I’m going to stop for now. Gotta savor it.

I see Onimusha is available now too. That’s the one with Toshiro Mifune. Whaaaaat?

[Greg]

Peaches!

I caught the first episode. For some reason I knew the big reveal. But it still worked. I do like the Sword-Father. I really did like the big at the first school. Especially during the main fight, when Blue Eyes does the really cool thing. The cook with no hands sounds just like Kimurra from Spies in Disguise, the Will Smith/Tom Holland spy movie.

I thought I wasn't going to watch this for a while but then the Queen decided to have meetings on Monday which are now Blue Eye screening time. I might squeeze in more episodes before then.

[Drunk Monk]

The big reveal was obvs, even if you didn't see all the spoiler headline reviews. 

This has a great voice cast - a veritable who's who in Asian Hollywood right now. 

Ep 2 goes from peaches to eggplants, if you know what I mean. Just warning ya.

[Greg]

I win. The same actor does play Kimurra and Ringo. And that actor is Masi Oka who played Hiro in the NBC show Heroes.

There was an eggplant reference in the first episode.

[Drunk Monk]

Yup. I enjoyed the first few seasons of Heroes until the writer's strike killed that show. The bummer was that Ray Park got on the series as it was dying. 

Hiro was a great character, somewhat of a precursor to the roles Ke Quan is getting now. 

The voice actor that is absolutely unmistakable is Takei. So distinctive. 

Brenda Song, Randall Park, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Gedde Watanabe, Ming-Na Wen, Harry Shum Jr., Mark Dacasco, Stephanie Hsu, Tamlyn Tomita - almost all the Asians. Plus Branagh!

Peaches over eggplants!

[Greg]

In stunning move, the Queen agreed to catch an episode last night so we saw Ep 02.

Ep02 didn't seems as exciting as Ep01 but it was still very good. I think I see a romance coming. So many eggplants. I feel really cold watching this show. I don't how the Blue Eyed Samurai keeps going for swims in the ocean in the middle of winter. So much sanguinity. I'm glad we got to see more of the sword father.

[Drunk Monk]

But what did tQ think?

[Greg]

I don't think she was too involved with it. Not really her thing.

[Greg]

Let's get tea. The furious inventiveness of the first episode seems to be slowing down as we start to pay off the setups. Ringo is still the best thing about this show. I was confused though because at one point Ringo watches the guard fall of a cliff and in the next incarnation Ringo uses the guard as a shield. I do like the here's the date for our duel. I hope you have healed in time. And I do like how people from Mizu's past attend her in the present, especially Taigen and Mr. Broken Sword.

Good show still.

[Greg]

Two more episodes last night. One episode landed on just the worst cliffhanger so I had to continue. There is more background on Misu which was really surprising. I liked the balancing of the puppet show with her story. Ringo continues to delight. Nice big, big fight scene.

[Greg]

Ep06 The one where Misu sneaks into the castle. It does not go well. I'm thinking our blue eyed samurai should have healed a little before attempting this assault. At times, it looked like a FPS video game. They leaned heavily on D&D tropes. There was a great battle near some pit traps. Once again, a terrible cliff hanger.

[Greg]

BTS with the director and stunt choreographer.

[Drunk Monk]

Afer watcing an ep of Onimusha, the sharpness of the animation in this show is stark, especially with the opening color saturations of E3. This is beuatifully rendered anime.

I concur with Greg that this was somewhat of a slower ep. Ringo's coldbloodedness is great contrast to his happy-go-luckiness. What stood out was the tea ceremony. The details of that animation were precise, akin to how this show depicts swordmaking. This gets it represented right, with animation that's sharp and clean.

The fight scenes are spot on. Blood spot on. Blood splatted on everything.

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BTS with the director and stunt choreographer.

 
This explains a lot. I don't know Sunny Sun. Great name tho...