(series review) - Blue Eye Samurai

 
I love anime, but if I am honest, I am the anime watcher of yesteryear. I loved Manga when I was growing up. I collected Guyver on VHS, New Dominion Tank Police, I had Project A-Ko and Akira is an absolute classic. Unless I am mistaken, Anime is the "new" Manga and I am not really into it. I am not caught up and I do not watch them all some interest me and some don't. I simply want something to capture my attention and satisfy my anime-watching needs occasionally. I used to watch The Boondocks and Afro Samurai. I got into Attack on Titan (but fell off), I watched Castlevania and watched Troll Hunters (but fell off), I don't know. I just need something a bit more engaging. When I heard about Blue Eye Samurai, I kept hearing good things so I decided to give it a go.  It is great!

In the time of the Samurai around the 1600s and the Edo period of Japan, a mixed race/bi-racial child was born. Frowned on by the locals, discriminated against, bullied and called names like demon and monster, the child was seen as an outcast which left them bitter and resentful. Not knowing who their father was, they made it their life-long mission to seek revenge on the man who made them this way, no matter who gets in their way.

I do like samurai movies and anime. There are a few Samurai-inspired games I am also interested in such as 'Ghost of Tsushima', 'Black Myth: Wukong' and 'Rise of the Ronin'. Afro Samurai was great and this series also reminded me of that, in some ways. A tale of revenge, not unlike most samurai stories, but this one is told through a few flashbacks here and there through the different stages of the warrior's life, what led them to where they are, what they are doing and what the warrior did in a challenging situation. I kid you not, there is a long sword fight which leads to the best long sword build-up I have ever seen in life. It was absolutely amazing, as well as clever. I want to go into it, but I also do not want to spoil it. Long Sword fight!

What I also liked about the show, was the characters. Well thought out and well voice acted. The way the story is told, you have a bad-ass samurai and you are shown how bad-ass they are, but you are also shown that the samurai is not invincible and I loved that. Getting a few punches here and there is one thing, but when your character is shown to be human rather than achieving the impossible, you tend to like and connect with the character more, well at least I do.

Clever, and witty with great music and animation. There is a top-down view I have NEVER seen in animation before and with the lighting and movement of the characters, I can only stress how visually entertaining and stunning this show is. They also took a few liberties in how they would also tell the story with the flashbacks, some were told in puppet fashion whilst others were in "black and white" with splashes of blood, a lot of blood. This series is gory, so expect to see blood splash everywhere. I am hoping for a season 2 because, I can only assume (due to the storyline) we can have 3 seasons, but if any of the other seasons are like this one, I will definitely be back to watch it. Bring on that trailer!!!