Blue Eye Samurai (TV Series) The Great Fire of 1657 (2023) User Reviews

WTF!!!! you were doing so well!

[robertdlar · 7/10 · 26 November 2023]

7 Episodes (go see what I rated them) 8s and 9s. They seemed to have a solid grasp on Japanese life and culture of the period and while they took some liberties with dialogue for us westerners, it was pretty solid till the end.

First, this was the Season finaly and while they did close ONE plot line (the overthrowing of the Shogun) it was such a small subplot that it had zero impact on us viewers. You never know if you are going to get a 2nd season, even if they say you are, so I always prefered it when Shows would end a season on a High note. I also figured, with her hunting 4 people they would do one per season, and she could have closure with each but NOOOO.

So the season ends with thise wessel worming his way out of a death sentense at the hands of Mizo, and gets a trip off of Japan to London. This is where I have serious problems. There is NO way the Samuri let this man live, let alone Leave the country after his coup attemp and murdering the Shogun with no honor. She is not going to be able to sneak him out and she is 'frankly' too small and weak to Force him onto a boat without help so I am just not buying the end of this story. This is why they had to just show him already on the ship to London because if they tried to explain HOW she sneaks him out, no one would believe it. Also nothing good happenes for ANY of the other protagonists, they are all in just as bad or worse of a situation then when they started, so this was a completely unhappy ending for everyone.

I don't think that the final episode is THAT bad...

[negancoach · 8/10 · 29 November 2023]

I see that many people are disappointed with the final episode of the season, mostly because it ends on a cliffhanger and doesn't provide a satisfying conclusion to the entire story. Although I can perfectly understand these complaints, I personally don't mind that it ended on such an open cliffhanger. As long as we're getting a second season, I'm sure that pretty much all of the unfinished plot points will eventually come to resolution. Many great series have seasons that end on massive cliffhangers - we just have to be patient.

As for the episode itself, it was just as epic and exciting as the rest of the series. I believe that all characters are staying true to their arcs and that the story is likely to be going in the right direction. There were a couple of moments which feel a bit off in terms of logic, but I can live with that, since the series has never been about sticking to absolute realism. I believe that episode 6 was still the series' peak in terms of epic absurdism and I was all down for it.

All in all, I'm satisfied and patiently waiting for the next season.

Season 2 saves the finale!

[and_mikkelsen · 9/10 · 9 January 2024]

This was a bleak end to the season! At this point I am glad that we got a season two cause this episode was a great season finale, but as a series finale it would have been very unsatisfying with numerous unfinished arcs and open plotholes!

This episode culminates with Fowlers plan being set in motion! After all this time in the shadows he fully reveals himself and his strength! He is a guy with no redeeming qualities! A villain you can only hate!

I enjoyed Akemis journey as well as she has descided now what to do with her life after getting a choice!

The finale part with Mizu was not as bad as others are saying! To her, the mission is the most important thing to her, and she will not risk it, even if it means sparering a life.. for now! She is still determent to get revenge!

This season was incredible! One od the greatest surprises from last year! I can not wait for season two!

opens up the story to becoming truly epic

[nerrdrage · 9/10 · 18 March 2024]

The machinations in the Shogun's palace were breathtaking. It was like this isn't Mizu's story anymore. Just turn it over to Azumi and let her wrangle her way through the machiavellian plotting. The plot twist of someone close to her being involved in Fowler's schemes was shocking but somehow not too surprising.

Mizu enters the story like a hurricane and wreaks havoc on Edo. It's bold of the writers to depict their heroine as such a destructive force. Just for her personal sense of vengeance?

We even get more backstory on Fowler, to understand his evil. Doesn't excuse it, but offers context.

I loved the ending, but I'm seeing this series after the renewal for season 2 has already been announced so there's no threat of the series ending on a cliffhanger. They have really opened this story up to becoming truly epic.

I'm getting a feeling that Mizu might discover some rather unexpected things about her true parentage. One thing's for sure, none of the four men she's targeted for death will turn out to be her father. That is way too expected for this series.

This show is all about overturning gender expectations and ironically, Mizu has some gender expectations of her own that might get overturned. And I'll just leave it at that.

So amazing until THIS episode

[MDawn · 6/10 · 20 November 2023]

Not going to spell out specifics here but will refer to the ending generally and will therefore mark for spoilers.

I love this series for so many reasons, including the animation, the characters, the historical window into old Japan, the original story and the many surprises. What was a sad surprise to me was the ending of this ep & season. Let's just say the nickname of this ep could be "Avatar Part 2, again (groan)," which I assume the creators landed on to I guess ensure there was enough reason to extend this show for another season? Well, I'm here to tell the creators that they didn't need that sorry old trope of faux tension to sustain this incredible story. Everything else worked so well, did you really need to undermine Mizu with that antithetical ending? Everything up to that point felt like you were 100% there, and then when it came to the end you threw in the towel and went on vacation. I'm so disappointed. I mean, why be so groundbreakingly original only to finish by being so derivative?

Umm what?

[deerpoo-27271 · 6/10 · 2 February 2024]

I know it's a fictional show, but some things were so unbelievable it pulled me right out of the story. What's with the laser accurate guns? There was no rifling at this time in history, so muskets often couldn't hit the side of a barn.

The candle scene made me laugh out loud. Was that room as well as the whole city doused with gasoline beforehand?

Why in God's name does she let Fowler live? He gave her the names as well as where they are. By her character she would have ended him there.

Its beyond silly that ANY of the characters still believe Mizu is a man. Like WHAT! Why is she struggling to reforge the sword?! She made it in the first place!

This show has been immensely enjoyable till this episode.

Yanked back to reality

[SimonK101 · 5/10 · 26 December 2023]

This show had me fully immersed from the first 30 minutes of episode one. Actions, event and characters felt believable, consistent, and authentic. But something odd happened in the final episode. It slipped into the territory of characters and events becoming unbelievable and illogical which upended the fantasy somewhat.

A few of the moments which really broke the spell for me:

If Fowler could so easily overpower Mizu time and time again, why did he never bother to kill her? He just kept smacking her and Taigen to the ground and then jogging off into the castle. This felt so incredibly cliché and unrealistic.

When Akemi and Seki bravely decided to close the doors to the castle and trap the fleeing enemy army, they just about managed to get the doors closed before the fleeing army slammed into them from the other side. I was expecting the doors to fly open, but somehow an old man and a princess managed to resist the pushing force of a tens of male warriors long enough to barricade it. My physics/biology brain found this incredulous.

If the soldiers burned to death behind those doors how did Taigen stroll through them a short time later to appear on the bridge?

When the camera panned out to show the whole city burning and about 5 minutes had passed inside the castle I was scratching my head again feeling like believability had been swapped for plot convenience.

And there were many more ...

Perhaps you will see this as unfairly picking holes in an animated fantasy. Perhaps it is, but these kind of glaring holes barely existed until the last episode, so for me it was very jarring to see so many appear. As such, I finished a great series with a lack of confidence in the writers and a fear season 2 might be similarly full of frustratingly silly moments. Fingers crossed it was just an issue with trying to tie up too many loose ends in too short a time and the same mistakes won't be made next season.

It was amazing, until this episode...

[berypurda · 6/10 · 28 November 2023]

I was amazed by the originality, the plot was fairly unpredictable.

But this episode.... At the beginning when Seki came for Akemi.. Me and my girlfriend were like... yea he's gonna die saving Akemi, like usual in any series/movie... They lost the unpredictability.

Also everything else about it was just the usual netflix cliche, find excuses to end it on a cliffhanger and make a 2. Season. Would have even been fine if Mizo killed Fowler, but this...

The fights in the series were something I've never seen before, sometimes pretty flashy, but mostly I would say, unique.

But even the fights were less interesting than before.

What the... ?

[jotafracchia · 6/10 · 11 January 2024]

What? How? Why?! Show was going amazing before this season finale. I love everything about this show, the characters, theirs story arc, the setting, the animation, the music, everything looked like it fit's, but then we have this finale, and i must say, it felt rushed. Like VERY rushed. I didn't like how the main villain just walk trough the city with barely any fight back, looked like the shogun really just had an army of 50 samurais and thats it. The other thing is why did the writers buff Mizu? She is an amazing samurai, extremely skilled with any kind of weapon, she can beat armies of 50 in some very creative moves, but when she had the moment to kill the main villian she doesn't do anything of that, she looked weaker, and can't handle a sword fight, doesn't make sense.its weird.

Disappointing end to the series

[thomassaunter · 5/10 · 11 December 2023]

I'll start by saying that till this episode I felt the show was a strong 8-9/10. Really enjoyed the characters, story arcs, and animation style.

This episode left me confused as it didn't feel like the show that I had watched till now.

The pacing felt all over the place and the fights just seemed unbelievable. I know the show wasn't completely grounded in reality but I lost the ability to suspend disbelief in the final fight. The characters completely changed to advance the plot at a pace that wasn't on level with the rest of the show. The story backed itself into a corner on it's own and then broke to get to the destination.

Will I watch a S2 - most definitely - but I hope it's at the same level as the episodes preceding this one.

A fitting end to a season, a strange end to a miniseries

[Rws05261 · 7/10 · 8 December 2023]

I'll start by saying, I don't think the ending had any characters betray their arcs.

Mizu has time and again chosen to pursue her revenge over her own personal wellbeing and her decision to do such now made sense.

While Taigen did not have a happy ending, he did ultimately conclude that what he needed was not his honor (which he did earn earlier in the episode) or his revenge on Mizu but his own happiness... again fitting to what his arc was set up to be all along.

Akemi's decision to make the absolute most of her newfound agency also felt in character albeit in the bleakest possible interpretation.

My biggest gripes with the episode were honestly on the scale of it all. A whole army rolls into the world's biggest city and wipes out all of the guards then only a dozen or so even go into the palace? The rest then somehow all burned to death because they were locked within the walls but Taigen made it out without much issue? It also felt like the rest of the city was surprisingly empty when the fire was burning.

The central cast has had immense plot armor for this whole show but it somehow felt worse in this episode, possibly because there isn't going to be a season two and it's totally alright to have some point of view characters die.

Regardless of all that, the visuals and soundtrack were amazing, the violence was appropriate and there was enough conclusivity to get the type of ending they were going for. I'm all for leaving some stuff ambiguous but feel like the swordmaker should've at least had some sort of conclusive speech to wrap things up a bit rather than just a line or two to Ringo.

Hopefully not an omen for season 2

[ran2197 · 7/10 · 6 March 2024]

It's already been said better by others, but frankly I just need the catharsis of typing this out.

I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this season until the finale. Up to that point, this season was some of the most entertaining tv I have seen. The characters, pacing, and plot lines were all so well written and compelling, and the visuals and the score are absolutely stunning.

To be clear, I did not hate this finale. Rather, I just feel a bit confused and slightly disappointed as to why the writers decided to end things the way they did. Others have pointed out various issues such as Fowler running away instead of just killing Mizu and Taigen when he had beaten them, the rapid fire and pinpoint accuracy of the rifles, or the gate scene with Seki and Akemi. While certainly puzzling (and a little distracting), these did not trouble me nearly as much as Mizu, and the writers, ostensibly deciding to abandon Japan in favor of London for season 2.

Obviously, the feudal Japanese setting drives a lot of the plot and serves as a luscious, colorful backdrop for the surrounding story. Trading this for 17th century London, something many of us in the West have seen depicted in other media far more frequently, is a bit confusing, and I am worried some of the visuals may suffer as a result. On the other hand, I suppose it is an opportunity to showcase something contrasting to the main setting. I'm looking for positives.

But more importantly, I have concerns over how this change impacts the overarching story. Mizu's quest for revenge was the focal point of the show, but seeing her character grow and her heart appear to soften along the way was equally compelling. Further, the intertwining stories between the main characters was expertly done, and now they've fully removed the piece that brought them together, and not in a satisfying way at all. I don't necessarily hate the idea of Mizu not killing Fowler, but it certainly would've made more sense and been a clear ending to the season. It just feels like the latest example of a late season plot twist for its own sake.

With Mizu leaving Ringo and the others behind (without even saying goodbye), how will her arc change in a way that makes sense? How will her relationship with these characters continue to evolve, again, in a way that makes sense? And what about her Taigen? I appreciate that this is left open ended, but not by virtue of her being on the other side of the world. My worry is that season 2 could be more like this episode than the previous 7 episodes. Which would be a shame considering the quality of the series until that point, and all of the hard work that was put into the previous episodes.

All in all, this one episode is not entirely fatal, and I have hope that the writers can craft something incredible again for season 2. If not, I'm sure I will not be the only viewer left wanting after seeing what this series is capable of.

Could have been much better

[tifaeris-24377 · 5/10 · 11 December 2023]

This show had everything required to be excellent.

I didn't like episode 6, simply because it was not credible whatsoever. Mizu should have died 5 times. I don't mind when it's a bit too much, but this was way too excessive.

And this episode was even beyond this. It was like the opposite of something credible. That bothered me. Tons of archers unable to kill more than one enemy. Guns are of course more efficient. But with the whole army gathered and concentrated in the same path, no arrows able to reach more than one target !? The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise was way more credible in that regard. Bows and arrows can easily kill. Especially when archers are hidden, while the army of foes is in plain sight.

But what bothered me the most : there is always something to save Mizu. It is simply way too much, almost like a parody. We can still turn something unbelievable into something almost credible when it's well written and directed. Tarantino is an example. That's absolutely not the case here. This is poorly written.

And last but not least, I don't see anybody talking about the vilain and the multiple occasions he has to kill Mizu, but instead choose to run away... what the hell ? Is someone able to give a theory, because I am very curious here. The lack of credibility completely ruined my pleasure to watch this show.

And bonus : Akemi, after all those weeks looking for Taigen, totally ignoring him when they finally meet again !? This, most likely just to keep a potential future love story between Taigen and Mizu under their hat ? This is so not coherent and therefore bad.

I rarely write a review. I do it this time because I'm frustrated to have seen something average while it could have been something truly great.

Everything was great until the last episode

[jfdi-06743 · 1/10 · 4 December 2023]

The final episode of "Blue Eye Samurai" is an absolute disgrace, insulting its audience with its blatant disregard for historical authenticity. The laughable portrayal of the Japanese shogun's army pathetically trying to block bullets with their bodies is a slap in the face to any viewer with a shred of knowledge about historical warfare. It grossly undermines the intelligence and strategic depth that Japanese warfare is renowned for.

The tactical absurdities in the episode are beyond frustrating. The ridiculous contrast between Heiji Shindo's strategic genius in concealing 500 arrowmen and the shogun's utter failure to gather even a hundred capable soldiers is mind-boggling. It's as if the show's creators threw all historical accuracy out the window in a pathetic attempt to dramatize the plot.

The episode's portrayal of military technology is embarrassingly ignorant. Despite the actual historical use of matchlock guns by the Japanese, the battle scenes in this show are so fantastical they might as well be from a fairy tale. The complete absence of cannons in a siege battle and the exaggerated effectiveness of firearms against traditional weapons is an insult to anyone's intelligence.

The siege climax is a joke. The shogunate's forces, inexplicably clueless about firearms, are positioned as if they're begging to be shot. It's ludicrous to watch these supposedly trained soldiers being utterly clueless in the face of enemy gunfire.

Furthermore, the antagonist's decision to confront the protagonist with just a handful of soldiers, leading to a swift and unrealistic defeat, seems more like a convenient plot device than a credible military strategy.

Disgraceful finale to a great first season

[stepan-k · 3/10 · 2 January 2024]

I can't recall any other show that started so so well, only to be utterly dismantled by its final episode. I don't think a single thing that happened in this episode made any sense at all. Clearly it's setting up future seasons, but it could have also done that without stabbing itself in both feet and shooting its kneecaps out.

There are many things to point out, but mainly any scene with Fowler is where the plot lost its own footing. How is it possible that two of Japan's finest swordsmen are incapable to absolutely destroy an immigrant from Ireland? That they both fall to his fists within first seconds of a dishonorable 2v1 fight? And then when Fowler wins, he just runs away instead of finishing them off. In the grand finale, he shatters Mizu's vertebrae but somehow in the next few seconds she's all good and wins once and for all with some knee kicks.

It's a real shame and I hope that the future episodes somehow manage to iron this out.

Reduced to show to cliches

[luciannertan · 5/10 · 5 December 2023]

Really liked the show, but this episode reduced the show from something great, to above mid, because it's the last episode and the conclusion to the story.

It started promising, but then midway it evolved into nonsense.

Suddenly the villain forgets he has an army outside and fire weapons and decides to take on immortal samurai. Which he almost did, if the MC didn't somehow through deus ex machina gain super-strength and overpower his grip. Like ... sure

The show makes the same cliché mistake of other similar shows, where they put the MC in impossible situations and it just makes the MC look like a superhuman juggernaut. And this will prompt the cycle where you'll need even more exaggerated situations to challenge him

The whole gunner army was barely an inconvenience, because not only for some reason they didn't secure the exits and stuff, 101 military strategy, but also the villain left no leader to guide them and they all died in a very ridiculous way.

Then the princes that the whole show wanted to run up to the very moment, has an epiphany after her tutor, with a little too much infatuation for her which makes it borderline creepy, where she decides to be a princess after all. What prompted this 180 flip? Don't know

In the end we have no real conclusion. Japan is back where it was and Mizu is off to England to a revenge quest that never made sense in the first place.

Did someone else wrote the finale?

[gugasnebulabusiness · 3/10 · 8 April 2024]

Man, I never thought I'd be this disappointed, but this finale was a bigger letdown than Dexter: New Blood's mess. Seriously, they took the excitement and hype from the whole season and flushed it down the drain. What a waste.

The episode was just plain boring from start to finish. Mizu, our supposed badass samurai, was so weak it's almost laughable. I get it, she didn't have her sword, but come on, they could've at least made the fights interesting. And don't even get me started on how guns suddenly became these super-powered weapons. It was just lazy writing.

Instead of wrapping things up nicely, they left us hanging with more questions than answers. What happened to all those side characters? And what about the bigger picture stuff? It's like they didn't even bother to tie up loose ends.

Now they're talking about a second season, and I'm not sure how to feel about it but one thing's for sure, it's going to take a lot to fix all this.