There are a ton of great TV shows in the world today. The amount of content is so overwhelming that one struggles to find time to watch it all. It doesn’t help that streaming services like Netflix do jack all to actually advertise these shows. One must turn to the world wide web to get some good word of mouth. Which is how I found the very excellent Blue Eye Samurai!

TV Show Rating: 9/10 – Great

Netflix just keeps making shows, putting them on their service and then just moving on with their lives. But enough people and websites mentioned how good this show was, so I gave it a try and loved it! Not that you need new things to watch, but Blue Eye Samurai is worth your time. And Netflix has already renewed it for season two, so huzzahs all around!

Join me after the jump for my thoughts and review of the first season of Blue Eye Samurai. Expect LIGHT SPOILERS for the show. And feel free to share your own thoughts in the comments below.

6. Just a real awesome show

The overall premise of Blue Eye Samurai is pretty basic, but it still works. And then they take that basic premise and really shine in the details. It’s the story of a lone, sword-wielding samurai warrior making their way across Shogun-era Japan being a badass. Its awesomely choreographed sword fights, its great character development, its interesting twists and big reveals. Blue Eye Samurai tells a very fun story over the course of its 10 episodes, with some truly incredible action when called upon. It doesn’t slouch in any regard. The main character is cool as hell, with an interesting story, a great quest and some real surprises in store in their development. The supporting characters are well developed, some in surprising directions. The villain is truly dastardly, and is built nicely throughout the series. And the ending is big and spectacular, with a fine cliffhanger and plenty of more material for future seasons. This show is the whole package when it comes to a fun, entertaining and badass sword-fighting Western anime. The fact that it’s also very adult, with graphic violence, sex and nudity, is just icing on the cake.

5. Predictable tropes

Despite being a great show, I didn’t give Blue Eye Samurai a perfect score because it does become a little too predictable at times, especially in the end. Imagine for yourself a story of a lone, badass samurai fighting their way across feudal Japan. A lot of the basic ideas you might think of are the basic ideas behind Blue Eye Samurai. The main character is an orphan outcast. They are raised by a blind blacksmith who is also the greatest sword-maker in the land. They make their sword out of a meteorite because of course they do (as did Sokka!). There’s a comedic sidekick. The three-act structure is followed pretty perfectly, including the moment when all is lost and the build-up to the big finale.

Don’t get me wrong, the show does it very well, and all of it is entertaining…a lot of it is still fairly predictable, and that detracts from the overall show just enough to be worth a mention.

4. Also plenty of surprises

All that being said about predictability, there are still plenty of surprises to be found in Blue Eye Samurai. Certain characters make choices I didn’t expect, and that was interesting. There are some big reveals about character histories and backstories that I didn’t see coming, and enjoyed even more than what I thought might happen. Especially in the first half of the series, the show zigs when I thought it would zag, and it makes for a much better show. It really fuels the forward momentum and keeps you on your toes.

And speaking of surprises, the true purpose of those weights that the Blue Eye Samurai wears blew my freakin’ mind!

3. Great cast

What a great cast! I didn’t look up the IMDB at all before starting the show, but I started hearing recognizable voices immediately. Shang Tsung himself, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa is the blind swordmaster, and he’s perfect in that patient, subtle way of his. George Takei and Ming-Na Wen bring experience to some of the older characters, while the likes of Brenda Song, Stephanie Hsu and Masi Oka pop up as younger characters! It was super fun recognizing Hsu in a small supporting role. And Randall Park is absolutely perfect as the villain’s second in command. He’s really interesting as a voice actor. The villain, by the way, is an unrecognizable Kenneth Branagh. I kept wondering if I’d ever heard him speak like that before.

And Maya Erskine, man, she’s really on the rise. She voices the Blue Eye Samurai and kills the hell out of it. Her voice isn’t instantly recognizable yet, but once I saw it was her, I got really excited. She’s been doing so many interesting roles in recent years! And this one is a nice feather in her cap, I hope. Because the Blue Eye Samurai is really damn cool.

2. The main character is cool and could have been cooler

The Blue Eye Samurai themselves is cool as hell. They open the show walking through the snow, and the design is absolutely perfect! Blue cloak, giant hate, slender frame, nifty eyeglasses and a really badass sword. The main character in this series rules and pulls you in from the very beginning, then easily carries all 10 episodes. They fight like the wind, push through the pain and there’s so much story to tell about them. They are a mighty protagonist.

But if I’m being honest…the show underestimated how badass I was willing to let the Blue Eye Samurai be. Like any good protagonist, the BES has their faults, flaws and setbacks. They’re a complex character, as is all well and good. But honestly, I would have been very, very happy if they were more unstoppable and awesome, like The Bride in Kill Bill. Remember when Uma Thurman’s character struck down the entire Crazy 88? Yeah, I would have been cool with BES being that damn good. Maybe it would have made for a worse show, but in the moment, I would have stretched my disbelief as far as it could possibly go to allow more badassery.

1. Bring on all the sequels

As I said, the first season of Blue Eye Samurai ends on a story cliffhanger as it clearly moves on to the rest of its story. It’s not some big, tense, edge of your seat cliffhanger. It just moves the story along to the next part without actually going there. And the show clearly set up future seasons. BES has a quest, and they have not yet completed their quest by the end of season one, so yeah, there needs to be more to come. And I am here for all of it! The cliffhanger offers some really juicy potential, so I cannot wait! Of course, I’ll have to wait. Much like with Arcane, this is probably going to take forever to return to screens. Modern animation just does that.

Still, check out Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix. It is completely and totally awesome.

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