Mizu is also the murdered child [innocence] “I’ll avenge us, momma” Her vow against her fathers is a death wish she has committed to

'tear' is fuckin right. I get emotional watching OTHER people watch it.

Top tier and tears

And the bride before becoming the onryō

She began the story as the ronin and became the wife/onriu when she bested him sparring.

AND the baby

You can still write those papers. There’s no rule that literary analysis has to be confined to an academic venue. Arguably, there is greater value to writing something out of personal interest, rather than for a grade.

Oh, I was cooking up some gender studies shit in my head after watching. How Mizu at times is the samurai, the wife, and the onryo in the story is saying some stuff about expressions of masculinity and femininity; gender code switching being a big one.

I wish he had been killed, just because it's so common for women to be fridged in order to motivate male characters, so it would've been refreshing to finally see a guy be fridged as a motivation for a female character as to why she can't forget her path. But what we got was super interesting too.

@@freeverse4304 Oh there is a lot on the topic. Role reversal, expectations, double standards. It was such a great writing choice that Mizu had to pretend to be a boy, because it plays off so many expectations in society. Even the writing itself plays off of this, with Madame Kaji saying that Mizu is more "man" than anyone else who entered her brothel.

Right, it's like it no longer mattered. In her eyes, it was proof enough that the life she was trying to live failed. It was enough for her to realize that she was wrong to choose that path. Maybe before she was committed, afterwards she was dedicated, even obsessed.

They do eventually say who in the end of s1, but im glad they waited till later to tell us.

I love the show but this episode I didn’t like the ending, I just don’t believe the husband would turn on her for such a little thing… he is fine with her problematic mother, he is fine that she is a mixed race ‘demon’ but she’s just a little too good with a melee weapon and all of a sudden he thinks she is a monster? He is literally ready to turn her over to the authorities because she wielded a sword…. He forfeits the love he has developed for her because she is a master swordsman? Really? It was the first moment in the show I felt the writing REALLY made no sense.

i thought that was to explain the fire, not the later turn in@@rtchemp

​@@corvus2512 Never underestimate what a man's bruised ego will do, especially in that era. Also, it wasn't necessarily him. Whether it was him or her mother is deliberately left unanswered.

I was floored that she killed her husband with the same move he taught her.

@@tigqc And killed all the men he sent after her with the weapon he told her was best for fighting a group of opponents.

Have you finished the season?

Yeah I didn’t realize why she went back for revenge but I think it’s part she wants a reason to go back to what she is good at. Swordplay and killing. She hates being called a monster and it’s due to the way she was born so maybe it’s payback for creating her. She really internalized her discrimination

The husband foreshadowed, “…if I bring him the perfect beast…”.

Ep 8 pretty much confirms who it was

I'm team 'mom' did it. Drug addicts will do what they have to for their fix. Hubby was for sure covering his coward ass, and the whole 'knifing maybe mom while the unstable killing machine slowly walks away' was a really bad fucking idea.

​@thrasherthetic I'm team Mikio did it tbh cause the "mom" had a bunch of times to turn Mizu in for a bounty all through out her childhood but never did, she could've done it when Mizu found her again, bleeding out and all that but still didn't. She has alot more credibility in Mizu's life than the husband who really wanted to be back in his lord's graces :/

Akemi is also a princess. Usually used to getting her way.

@@superscheuI mean she did

On one hand yes she did risk a lot to come in clutch for Mizu, but saving Mizu was also their only hope to survive, so it wasn't exactly selfless. At the same time there's a difference between asking for the help, and expecting/commanding it.

Hindsight’s a B and this show keeps it real. You can do things with the best intentions and still get a pile of 💩

That’s fair, but to reduce his motives to ONLY that betrays the writing IMO

Mikio didn't have a danger kink. Skill issue.

@@Merith89 Honestly if you have Mizu protecting you then danger will never be a concern 😂

I don't excuse him, but let's not totally ignore what she did either. It's like the Atom Eve special and her friend when she is using her powers and scaring her off. She literally mocked him asking if he lost his manliness, a sore spot for him, and then despite him asking her to stop multiple times kept attacking him and then even putting a blade to his throat. He was a guy that lost everything, his honor, his pride, and then here comes his wife saying, "What's wrong? Not man enough to use a real blade?" and then beats him and ignores his plea. The main issue is that because he was so low, he didn't really love her, he loved the idea of finally having something beneath him again. Something to protect and have power over. Once he realized that even at home he was the one on the bottom he threw a tantrum to show that he was the one in charge. But, given time, he could have maybe truly loved her. However that's the issue, in order for him to love her she would have to be "submissive" and "meek" a lot longer and hide herself in order to be loved. It's a parallel to Akemi and how her attendant told her to use her femininity and lilt her voice to get her way, to game the system. But that's not what Mizu wants, Mizu doesn't want to act like she doesn't have power in order to play the woman's game in a patriarchy when she KNOWS she's strong. That's not who she is, and she shouldn't have to. She played that game for a little while, pretending to not know how to toss a knife. Pretending to be weaker than him. And he loved it, ate it up. And she did it for a long time. When she finally thought she could start showing her true self, bam. So after he betrayed her by running away, and then even tried to rub in her face that he can sell her gift any time because he's the boss, she's like, "bye, good luck with life", and when he didn't take no for an answer and kept trying to follow her she killed him with the same knife toss skill he laughed at her before, like, "ha, look at the girl trying to toss a knife, she's cute hahaha". No more pretending. *Lightning fast accurate knife toss kills him*.

She was about to ride him through the ground

Yes... just yes. Very relatable X'D

Literally sat here in the same position as I speak 😂

Literally me last night. Ended up needing to finish the season and stayed up until 4am lol

Yeah after episode 4 there was no way I was going to stop. After this there was no way I was going to stop for the rest of the season.

If you haven't seen Scavenger's Reign you should check that out too, the other animated masterpiece from 2023.

@@Quitchy Oooh thanks didn't know about that one I'll check it out.

@@paulmccloud9395 the teaser trailer should give you a good idea as to whether it's for you, without really spoiling anything. It's what sold me.

@@Quitchy Finally ended up watching it, wow, what a story! Thanks for the recommendation.

@@paulmccloud9395 You are most welcome. Glad you liked it.

🎉 attack on Titan is better

@@mem5860 Well I think attack on titan is so great that it can't even be compared on the same level as these series especially since it has a lot more episodes and build up

@@mem5860different genre aot is ore animeish

Literally the stuff of Legends

@@mem5860 AoT is great too, but not as good as the examples I listed, in my opinion

And he cuts off two of the guys' fingers, just like the first time he saw Mizu demonstrating her skills

I'm reading this book right now! ❤

@@KrazyVideoChick it's an incredible book. Very unique and the imagery and prose are breathtaking.

Amy Doherty also did the score for “Undone”, a smaller but just as deeply dramatic animated show

My 2023 best ep was the season 2 finale of “The Bear”, but this is definitely the close 2nd

They're still grieving Allen 😭

Also, she was skilled with the type of weapon he has used for years. And that was the first time she used it. Bruised his pride.

I think that people that thinks it's just toxic masculinity are over simplifying his character, he was fine with her experimenting and even being better than him, she did a better job with the horse than he ever did and it's implied he had been trying for a long time to train it, he didn't mind nor did it hurt his pride. But what she did on that fight was Kind of messed up, he was ok for the first half of the combat, but mizu started teasing and questioning his character, unnecessarily beating his ass and then put a LITERAL kn*fe on his neck. I would be scared of my wife too if she did that to me, maybe not throw her under the bus, but I'm sure as sh*t that if a tell a normal person that my wife hold a kn*fe against my neck they wouldn't ask me to "communicate" or that if I'm scared of her or think she is crazy it means I have "toxic and fragile masculinity".

Damn you broke it down perfectly 👏

Counterpoints: Mikio is supposed to be a ‘great samurai’, but his preferred weapon is a naginata; not a dueling weapon or one of [male] stature or prowess… and that might have been simply staging for the present day EXCEPT MIkio is identifiably capable with it… this argues against Mikio being a warrior of the ‘score’, of collecting heads and being an absolute monster… this is not to exclude any [male] pride that might have been wounded, but what if he’s just not that kind of fighter whereas Mizu vowed and trained herself to be? A vengeful spirit who honestly enjoys showing up filthy casuals… and if it were Mikio, why would he wait seemingly a few years to collect the bounty to curry his Daimyo’s favor? Why wouldn’t he just collect on them day 2? Supposing it was the mother, 1) there’s nothing demanding she leaked Mizu’s whereabouts intentionally, because that opium is a helluva drug; 2) from her POV Mizu and Mikio were fine housing her, but not bankrolling her ‘medicine’; 3) or the most likely scenario, her opium dealer squeezed her for the information knowing she was strung out

Ngl I understand milkio didn’t want to fight cause they were fighting with sword unsheathed man! That’s dangerous af. Though I still think mikkio is a bitch cause he pussied out and snitched on her. That’s where I got pissed at him. I feel bad for mizu cause she didn’t fit into that submissive role and got punished.

And we always respect the real ones! Thank you so much!

but he might have wanted to curry favor with the Lord

@@SeanTanktop you think the lord knows about the bounty? I think it’s just the samurai reached by the mother

for all of 2023? no way. this was too perfect. Now, you can make an argument for the show over all. But this episode of TV beats the piss out the finale