This is unironically one of the best episodes of television made in my 40 years of life, as far as I’m concerned. “Is Mizu the Ronin or the Bride?” “Yes.”

This is my favorite episode! I will never be over that Naginata fight sequence- and Mizu's backstory makes TOTAL sense to me, in that she really did try to have as close to a normal life as she could and it didn't work. It's tragedy in it's purest form and makes me fully understand how bitter and ruthless Mizu is at the beginning of the series. The contrast between the Ronin and the Bride Bunraku play and Mizu's life have SO many interesting parallels and use the primary themes of the show in the most elegantly executed way.

From the play of the puppets, I understood that the four are the representation of Mizu, the Ronin being the masculine and warrior side, the wife the feminine side, the baby the innocence side, when these three die, there is only the representation of anger and revenge, the Onryou spirit.

'Woke' has become like 'socialism', in that it is a word that certain people use to simply mean 'things I don't like' rather than having its original meaning.

This episode is such a masterclass in storytelling, story embedding, symbolism, grief, trauma, and duty. I seriously believe that this episode will change storytelling for the better. In the way that Enter the Spiderverse gave us this fantastic digital art style. Also, the kitchen knife reference to episode 1. Brilliant. OMG, that moment you recognize the girls on the bridge.

The more I watch this episode, the more I appreciate it. And I think the reason why Mizu is the ronin in the beginning of the play and then the bride after is because of what role she takes to herself in this society. First she identifies as a man, then she is a bride and now she is a monster.

Season 2 is already greenlit. When you get to the end of season 1 you will understand. I am so glad there is more.

I haven't really stopped thinking about this episode since I first saw it last week. What a masterpiece.

I love how they didn't tell us who betrayed Mizu for the bounty. It could have been either.

i dont think it was necesarily hes ego. woman those days werent suposed to be agressive, and now she is showing a fierce yet murderous side, ofc hes shocked. it would be like if you entered in the ring with a friend for a light spar and hes almost chocking you out or throwing the heavy hits in, you would be like wtf. it doesnt excuse him for his weakness, but we are all human. thats the point of this show

It's interesting, I never noticed until now that when Mizu is talking to Ringo and say's she's on the path of revenge and doesn't have time for weakness, her gaze looks down on the word "weakness". Assumably, she is looking at his missing hands.

I feel like they missed the part where he told her to Stop during their fight, and she just kept going. No means No right?

I am 52 years old, and I've never seen a show like this episode. Perfection. Also, in the D&D you mentioned, I always have got a little bit of Beauregard Lionett in Mizo lol.

Those anti-woke channels rather love this show. Main points they like is Mizu is a strong woman who trained & isn't invincible. Episode 5 especially since she was a happy wife until betrayed. This and Arcane, the other series w/ strong female characters is well loved by that group. Beyond that, both shows are masterpieces.

I think the difference between this and the Star Wars stuff brought up is that this feels genuine and has good writing while most Star Wars stuff feels like a soulless assembly line product mining our nostalgia for cash. You’re 100% right that there is a knee jerk reaction of saying “woke”, but I think it’s their inability to articulate their more understandable anger of cynically monetizing passive Progressivism (ie the two gay characters far in the background of Rise of Skywalker put in for Western audiences but easily removable for China and Middle East markets, etc). They don’t realize that what they hate is Hollywood capitalism and can only critique with the culture trigger points they’ve been told is the reason for the problems in their lives

There's a push that STEM should actually be STEAM as art is such an important thing to how we think and see the world. Art and media literacy both really need to be a bigger part of standard education. They are incredibly important skills to have and only becoming more important in the age of disinformation we've entered.

I can't believe I'm commenting this, but as a queer history nerd I do in fact know the answer. Strap-ons and other sex toys were actually already invented in some forms before this so heyyy throuple time lmao.

The rest of the season couldn't compete with this episode (or any before it) and it's no one fault. Episodes 1-5 was a masterclass of character building. Episodes 6-8 were the aftermath which inserts Miso into a larger story which had to happen at some point. This is true of any show once the audience knows the main characters enough so they struggle to surprise us. Miso is the Onryo and she has been released.

The wilhelm scream at 18:16 LOL I just caught it haha

This was the best Netflix show I've seen since Sandman.

I think you may have forgotten her main objective. That's the only way I believe you could assume that there would only be one season. Otherwise, great work guys 🖖😎👍

This is parallel stories scriptwriting perfection. Imagine this people doing a Star Wars project?

I would push back a bit at the husband overreacting. While he did ask for the dual, he was clearly reluctant at the thought of continuing with real weapons. On top of that, he didn't consent to being kissed with a blade to his throat. While that might turn some people on coming from someone they trust, not everyone is into that. It is probably especially uncomfortable if you have been attacked by someone with a sword before. Couple that with him calling people who force themselves on others brutes earlier in the episode. Granted calling her a monster may have been too far and the rest of the episode leaves it somewhat ambiguous as to who called the soldiers, but his reaction was definitely more complicated than being just ego.

@nerdynightly it's not about 'woke' or 'woke'.....it's more about how tasteful is the application of messaging, art in all form have always and will always have message but the problem arises when the message is the main point of the art, then at that point it's no longer art it becomes propaganda. For example Terminator 2 is a movie about female empowerment, where Sarah not longer wants to be a victim or slave to the future but instead wants to change it and make a new future for her and her child but nobody ever complains about that cus it's well done creatively.....

I actually watched a couple of those anti-woke channels reviewing Blue Eye Samurai out of curiosity a while back. It was pretty funny because they recommended the show, but they had to preface it with "look, I know it's got a strong female lead BUT" because of their typical audience. Anyway I think the main issue is that BES is so good that if they did trash it they would look foolish, and if they called it woke it would contradict the usual 'woke media is bad' narrative, so they have to acknowledge that it's good but pretend it's not woke (whatever that even means these days).

Really wasn't expecting the in depth discussion of nerd culture and media literacy but I very much appreciate it

He def had a fragile ego. But that sword fight was not an example of that. I don't want someone attacking me while I ask the person to stop and they ignore it... Everyone has different tastes, pleasures, and wants. He was actively voicing for her to stop. She was ignoring his consent. Ignoring your consent is never a turn on or ok. He was someone high up that fell, and was in love with finally having someone beneath him. We mistook that for loving her (as did she), so it stung when he turned out to just be a man like many other. Once he saw she would never truly be inferior to him, and even in his own house he was still below (or so he'd feel), he lost any love he had for the situation.

It is not "woke" because it is done right. :) Rey = "Mary Sue" Mizu = actual badass, tragic, relatable, vulnerable (fictional) human being WITH real human weaknesses and reactions. I believe one of the reasons that this show doesn't come across as "woke" is that the story around the women (i.e. Mizu, Akemi, Madame Kaji) at the time doesn't feel forced.They are still very strong women, but they are forced to play by the rules of the time to get where they want to go. Mizu had to train for years to get that good with the swor, Akemi has to use her wits and her femininity to bend the will of the men in her favor. The show made sure, that we see how they got to where they are. They earn every win they get along the way, but they also lose a lot and grow. That is why I am rooting for them and not for the likes of Rey. Since @NerdyNightly brought up Rey: She doesn't have an arc anywhere near Mizu or Akemi, because the rules in her story are made to fit her, and rules we already knew from the SW-universe were tossed aside so she could become the heroine of the plot. She doesn't have to train, she doesn't really sacrifice anything and everything she does, goes in her favor. Before she even met Luke she was able to fight and stand her ground against Kylo Ren - without any training!!? HOW? The dude is twice as big and heavy as her AND he trained since he was a young boy. It is just not believable, but such an important part of the SW-lore. The character, from a narrative perspective, simply didn't earn any of that. Sabine in "Ahsoka" has a similar problem even though it is not as severe. Long story short: Swap Rey for Mizu in the fight against Kylo Ren and I could have believed, that she was able to stand her ground!

the episode I have been waiting for you guys to see!!

Wait so you actually thought people that say woke as a reason something is bad are able to think?

The thing about Attack on Titan's political messaging being ambiguous is that...well, you see...it's like... ummm...in the end the character of Eren makes it clear that...huh...

Been a month since I watched this episode and am still thinking about it

Nerdy: …once the strap-on has been invented… Me: Who’s gonna tell him?

I think the core issue with wokeness is that people don't really see a difference between the themes of a story and the way they're explored. Much of the time, media that's trying to be "woke" tends to wear its subtext on its sleeve, or abandon subtext altogether, explaining in no uncertain terms what the story means. This is why they say, "show, don't tell." Blue Eye Samurai doesn't have to explain what it means. It trusts us to figure it out. On the other hand, what annoys me about all these people singing the praises of Blue Eye Samurai for not being "woke" is that they clearly don't understand the themes of the show, or else they don't know what "woke" actually means. When it comes to "woke" messaging, BES ticks every box. It's all about race and racism, sexism, it's got queer representation, disabled representation, brutal condemnations of patriarchy and male ego fragility, and not one, but two very distinct strong female protagonists. And it passes the Bechdel test with flying colors. So when people say it's not "woke," they just mean they don't feel preached to about subjects that make them uncomfortable. Which tells you all you need to know about what they think "woke" means. To them, it just means they think the show is telling them they're bad boys. Or at best, they'd rather stories let them ignore all the stuff they don't want to think about. They just want to stories on their own terms, without anyone shoving all that troublesome stuff about male fragility in their face. But much as I think this approach makes BES a better show, I sometimes feel like these people don't necessarily deserve to enjoy it. Because its woke themes are elegantly integrated into the story rather than spelled out, people get to ignore them and just see the show as another might-makes-right story about a bad-ass that kills the hell out of her problems. I'd love to see a big viral article that spells out how "woke" this show actually is, just to ruin it for all these lunkheads that think it's the antidote to wokeness. And yet, this reaction also speaks to how "woke" has become such a banal set of signifiers to sell the media to a woke audience. "Woke" is a term that's been so thoroughly distorted from its origins in black civil rights, it almost constitutes cultural appropriation. The only people more annoying than the "anti-woke" reactionaries, combing through all media for a hint of anything they think is telling them they're bad boys, is media creators whose top priority, for whatever reason, is to make media woke. Yes, this can often be a cynical pandering, trying to appease a self-righteous audience who're also scanning everything they watch for anything "problematic" (guilty!) But mainly, I think wokeness is done badly in so many shows for another reason. I'm a writer myself, so I know what insecure writing looks like. It's hard to trust your audience will "get it." It's hard to trust your own writing, that you made clear what you meant. The temptation to just make sure everyone understands you is enormous. So I try to distinguish loud, over-earnest wokeness from the cynical, pandering kind. While writing Apocalypse Now, Francis Coppola worried that he was failing to handle the important subject. He felt that when a writer tries to say something really profound, and doesn't pull it off, he's guilty of pretension. And pretension is contemptible, of course. But paradoxically, you can't make anything truly profound without running the risk of being pretentious. So that just means all these woke jackasses with their preachy, on-the-nose strong female characters, or their big broad metaphors about capitalism, or even whatever libertarian nonsense Zack Snyder was going for, the worst you can really say about them is that they were trying like hell to make great art, and didn't quite manage. Is that such a crime?

This was easily my favorite episode of the show! Just the storytelling in it and everything! Netflix and the animation studio did confirm it is getting a second season!

Talking about her blades’s ability to cut through bone. The hallmark of craftsmanship in a katana, the pinnacle… was called a three-body blade. One which could cut clean through three people with one stroke. At least that’s the legend. Hopefully they practiced on pigs and not prisoners lol 😮

People who use Woke as a pejorative are actually saying - I am intimidated by people who seem to have more developed empathy and ethics than I do, and it makes me feel insecure...

@Clarus, When you're talking about people not being able to dissect ideas and discuss them in a critical way, you're absolutely right. It's something that I've noticed gaining significance over the last twenty years or so...along with the rise of the Internet. People are so used to either getting all their ideas spoon fed to them in small digital bytes, that their attention spans, as well as their ability to critically think, have basically turned completely to shit. Unfortunately, I dont know what we, as a society, can do about it...well, I DO know, but it's one of those 'ebull Conservative "conspiracy theories"', but it's one that would benefit most Western countries...abolish all the various government sanctioned 'Departments of Education', and return control of education back to both educators and, most especially, PARENTS. Because our governments, as well as various powerful global organizations, want to keep the populous fat, dumb, and happy. The US used to be powerhouses in education...and then the Dept of Ed came into being, and you can literally see the decline start...just grab any statistical analysis and it's blatantly obvious. I dont know what the analogous governmental agencies are in Canada and Europe, but I bet if you look into the data, you'll find the same thing. It's more than a little frightening.

It's a masterpiece because it is. This is just much better than Ahsoka and the ST.

In the sparring it’s easy for us to go either «yea, girlboss,» or «please step on me.» This is feudal japan though where honour and the strength of man is absolute. What Mikio felt was complete humiliation, even asking to stop, with Mizio continuing while taunting him, even pushing the blade to his throat. For today? Piece of shit. For then? His anger and hurt would be a normal reaction.

Regarding the discussion about "Woke" etc. (I really hate that word, because it is stupid and can mean anything): It isn't the blood and samurai stuff that makes this great... it is the character development. The idea that a character is more than just one moment where they suddenly power up and is capable of incredible feats, without knowing why or because of a personality trait shared by millions of others. It is not about gender. Staying in the Star Wars universe; think of Anakin Skywalker. His story was equally stupid and disliked in EP1, because it is a childs fantasy. He is just magically great at everything. Same with Rey... same with She-Hulk... same with Captain Marvel. They just had it "inside them all along" and that is why they are great... even though millions of people share their exact qualities and have similar experiences. They have basically no faults, always picks the right decisions that will work out, and magically has the right "tools" for the job. Mizu has plenty of faults... but she also has very traumatic past experiences that makes sense for her to be suicidal on the path of revenge. She has the training and the physical strength because she worked for years. She fails quite a bit on her way. She is just so very human. IMO, it is not the blood and action that makes this show SO freaking good... it is the characters.

I *love* the D&D references. Keep em up. They are funny. =)

THIS FUCKING EPISODE

Love the show, would love this studio making an mistborn adaptation!

Its a great show, but oh wow does it goes to some really dark and twisted places by the end. And it does have a pretty definitive end to the season but as said, its been renewed for s2.

best episode of 2024

It has already been renewed for a second season.

Blue Eye Samurai, what if Tarantino wrote Kill Bill taking place in feudal Japan as a prequel to The Last Samurai.

been waiting for this one. my favorite episode.

It just got renewed today!

Great episode

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I don't personally think that this show falls within the "woke" narrative. All the characters seem equally flawed. If having a heroine lead makes this woke, then that narrative has been around for ages. There have been strong female characters in cinema for a long time, Ripley (Alien movies), The Bride (Kill Bil), Sarah Connor (Terminator), and so on. This show has a good balance of artistic style, good writing and great character development (and obviously the action sequences), which keeps the audience immersed in the story. l havent felt this good about an animated series since Arcane. Hats off to the entire Blue Eye Samurai team, cant wait for season 2!

Boy, are you guys in for a treat.

If they invent the strap-on, Taigen's the one itll be used on

I really don't understand how anyone could think AoT supports Nazism

I believe the reason this show does not get the "woke hate" is because the issues it presents which people would find woke, come naturally in the story telling. They are not just thrown in your face for shock value. First you have Ringo and you are shown simultaneously how his disability gets him mistreated, but also how he overcomes it. The blind Sword father and how he can see deep into the soul. Mizu portraying a man is truly secondary in this show. It is a means to an end, it is not her true nature. Episode 5 allowed us to understand this better. She was happy being the woman she is, it is society that is making her into something else.

LOVE that you speak in D&D terms! I create TTRPGS and would love to send you a few of ours.

in regards to the “woke” criticism missing from this versus Ahsoka. I think the biggest factor is that Blue Eye Samurai simply does not exist as big in the culture the way Star Wars does, so any accusations of wokeness won’t get the same media/viral attention that that section of “fandom” craves. they don’t really care if something is woke or not. they just want as large a target as possible to attack so that they can get attention.

Don't let the incel's dictate the platform. Commentary about challenging story lines is the definition of art. Stick to your guns.

Season two confirmed.

Media literacy and communication should be a more widely taught subject, for sure.

I wish wish that you two would watch Nimona.

fun trivia: this show was originally a kid's show. XD

Did you recognize Mikeo's cloak?

The fact that fans of Attack on Titan or any other show would send you death threats is insane and makes me glad no one knows who tf I am. And might explain why KZfaq won't let me watch a video without trying to sell me a "tactical" something or other.

Debating is something that needs to be reintroduced into schools so this reactionary bellyaching can be turned into something halfway constructive.

I will say that this does have quote on quote some woke talking points but I think it is done correctly, doesn’t feel forced and feels authentic, not let’s have strong female/female’s characters just cause they are female

This guys speaks nonsense? This guy makes more sense than most other react dudes... Also technically not a naginata but a nagamaki. Small head on a pole, naginata. Full sword blade on a pole, nagamaki.

The meaning of Woke was already changed into negative word thanks to Disney. Today, if a movie or show have bad story writing and characters, and the only positive thing the creators can spout in their mouth is the message they are sending (female empowerment, lgbtq, disability etc..) then it is woke. Just because you have a good message doesn't equals to good quality show. And people behind these shows blames the audience rather than accepting they suck on making a show and put more negativity to the word Woke. If a movie or show have the same message but it have good story and characters, it is not woke. It is called a masterpiece. That's the difference. No matter how many youtubers place a negative review on a good quality movie or show, people will still watch it and spread good word of mouth. It will keep it profitable. So if a movie or show flops and called woke, it is not a youtubers fault. It just simply failed to entertain people.

It's just setting boundaries, he asked her to stop. Ahead of his time I'd say. Lol

Spoilers, minor ones, for the live action ATLAB: Here in BES this dude runs when he sees how good of a fighter Mizu is and people rightly call out the sexism. Meanwhile in ATLAB LA when Sokka does basically the same thing, running away when he sees how strong Suki is, they continue to claim "waaah, Sokka's sexism went away. The story is ruined!!" The cartoon is/was better so far, but I like most of the changes they've made in the show. Breaking Bumi especially.

One of the things I hate about folks is that run to calling something "woke" is then I I can't engage with them when something is actually just poorly written or executed. Then again, f they had any critical thinking skills and could actually give a valid criticism, I guess they wouldn't be a bunch of baby dick incels. An ouroboros of stupidty. This is probably my favorite episode. The parallel story lines of the bunraku play and more of Mizu's origin is heartbreaking. The fight scenes are cool but the most affecting part for me is that doomed love story. She was so close to happiness if daddy Mikio didn't have a little baby dick. I understand his fear because she really was hiding her true self from him but to entirely betray her just because of his fragile ego was just unforgivable. If I could pull a baddy like Mizu we we just be on a murder vacation together and then live happily ever after. I think Mama did it but Mikio or Mama could have been the ones to turn her in for the bounty. In the end they both betrayed her so their fate is earned. Moms betrayed her like many times over abandonment and then, mostly likely, with turning her in after Mikio's emasculation. Dope fiends can only be trusted to look out for their next high. In an earlier episode Mizu prays at a shrine, re-affirming her vow of vengeance to her mother's spirit, but after you meet her mother here, her mom was just trash. The mother Mizu is making her vow to is just an ideal in her head and also the vow Mizu is making is basically just to kill the people that forced her into existence by making her a halfbreed in a xenophobic and racist society. It is a vow that is basically an annihilation of self and that's some sad shit. Then seeing Akemi given over to the Shogun's family, teeth painted black like they mentioned earlier. Just rough. Another dope reaction, thank y'all.

i think it all comes down to better writing

What was that about inventing pegging? Pinocchio's dark side has entered the chat.

All that anti-sjw stuff scares me, genuinely. You two soothe my anxiety, thank you for standing up for your fellow humans :)

Dude the attack on titan behavior was out of control. Not yours. The commenters. I was there for the last video and I read those comments. It was out of hand. The toxic opinions were mental. The harshness. I wanted to voice my support but I felt like the comments were so awful I didn’t even wanna place my comment next to theirs. A part of me wondered if the usual spiel of leave mean comments down below helped foster such a foul comment section that episode, because dozens of times I meant to leave a nice comment but hearing that made me feel like it would be contrary to your asking that, so I don’t bother and good attitude can snowball and grow. The only thing I that I hoped y’all just took those reactions to patreon exclusively. There must be non toxic fans out there willing to appreciate the content. But real though. They went too far. Hitting the brakes was the appropriate response. Those people need both counseling and to learn to chill out. Probably more than that. They need to learn how to be better people. I found both your opinions to be a refreshing perspective. No one I’ve ever seen called the characters on their bs like y’all did. Thanks for that. Forever support. Y’all are great.

I think the big difference between Misu and, for example Rey (sorry my dude but saying they are similar is a bad take) is that Misu does not always do what we think she should, she is allowed to be flawed. This episode is the perfect example: she abandoned her friends for her own goal and murdered her husband when she didn’t Need to. I don’t think we can reasonably judge those actions as “right” or “wrong”, but they are absolutely things a cardboard cutout of a female protagonist would never do, because they aren’t allowed to be real people.

Season 2 is already greenlit.

Most of the "woke" criticism is criticism of poor writing. I believe Mikios transgression was probably cowardice

While this is my favorite episode of season one, I didn't particularly like the portrayal of Mizu's husband in it. It felt a bit forced to me. If there had been signs of him being the type to have a fragile ego - sure, go ahead - but they made a point out of defying our expectations and making him appear like someone exceptionally tolerant and progressive considering how racist and misogynistic society in general is at that day and age. To me it felt like he did that 180° turn just for shock value.

Pain.

It wasn't just that she was good, she was hurtful and attacked his wound about being banished then attacked his masculinity. It was hurtful of her and overly competitive.

There are three reasons why this series doesn't get hated on by the anti-woke crowd: (1) Mizu isn't a Mary Sue. She's trained hard to acquire her skills and she's also not perfect; needing help and saving from others. (2) The discrimination she faces is rooted in the overtly severe racism/sexism which existed in premodern societies, rather than the subtle and relatively good circumstances by comparison in modern societies. (3) Mizu does not play the victim even though she is one. She doesn't whine, she just perseveres.

Thanks for your Aot comparison. Both are great shows, but I saw your Aot reactions and sadly you bore the brunt of the terrible side of the fandom. Aot is definitely not a "pro-Nazi" show, but the cringe self-proclaimed Jaegarists really made it their whole personality and ruined it (some were probably trolls). Thanks anyway and sorry for that side of the fandom :(

I hate this narrative oh people don't like shows because they are simply to woke ... no it's because of bad writing that comes with these "woke" shows ... arcane universally loved with a lesbian female protagonist and guess what good writing ... it's the same here

It's woke but it's wrote so well. Has nothing to do with the blood. It's all about the writing. Rey! come on bro?!? These two characters don't compare. You all are hypocrites. Your guilty of wich your accusing others of. And you're kind of pompous. I love this show and everything about it. U all got it all figured out though. Anyways I'm probably over reacting but I just recognize one of the best episodes ever. And have to hear your negative opinions on what ppl might think. Peace out.

Unskippable ads, can you please make your content more annoying ? (also you have a thing under your nose)