Despite not having anything remotely in common when it comes to subject matter or genre, it feels like the closest antecedent to Netflix's new animated series "Blue Eye Samurai," is "Arcane." These are both shows that are aimed at adult audiences and feature graphic violence in abundance, but they don't fall into the category of high-octane exploitation that earlier experiments with adult animation like "Spawn" and "Afro Samurai" did. Instead, these newer shows are more ambitious, concerned with telling compelling stories first, and ensuring that the sex and violence they feature doesn't feel too gratuitous.
I was very cautious about "Blue Eye Samurai," because the vast majority of the people who worked on it aren't Japanese, even though a few of the key creatives like Amber Noizumi, who co-created the show with her husband Michael Green, are. The primary animation studio, Blue Spirit, is French Canadian, and the audience is clearly meant to be a Western one. The animation style can't escape some comparisons with Japanese anime, but it sets itself apart with animation that is more fluid, and character designs that are more European-influenced. It'll probably rub some people the wrong way that "Blue Eye Samurai" chooses to portray heroines with very individualistic, proto-feminist attitudes, and there is some uncomfortable focus on sexual content and Orientalist exoticism. However, it's also clear that the creators aren't trying to pass off the show as something authentically Japanese. There's a great love of Japanese culture on display, and everyone did their homework, but the underlying story is unapologetically, aggressively from an outsider's perspective. And in this case it's a good thing.
The show is set in Japan's Edo period, when foreigners were expressly barred from existing in the country. The title character is Mizu (Maya Erskine), a blue-eyed, mix-race woman who disguises herself as a swordsman with tinted glasses, and is on a mission for revenge in a world that is incredibly hostile to her. Along the way she picks up a cheerful comic relief sidekick, Ringo (Masi Oka), who was born without hands, and is pursued by a rival swordsman Taigen (Darren Barnet), who Mizu defeated and left disgraced. A parallel story follows Taigen's fiancee Akemi (Brenda Song), a rebellious noble-born woman who resists being married off to someone else. The major antagonist ends up being a loathsome Irshman, Abijah Fowler (Kenneth Branagh) with designs on killing the shogun and taking over the country. And you'd better believe Branagh has a great time with that Irish accent.
Action fans will appreciate the wonderfully violent and gory swordplay scenes, created by Jane Wu, where Mizu demonstrates that she's a badass over and over again. However, the brutality feels earned because the rest of the show is equally as harsh and unforgiving. Edo era Japan was rough for everybody, and "Blue Eye Samurai" doesn't shy away from showing the worst parts of it, specifically focusing on the plight of women. There are a few episodes spent in and around brothels, and several scenes with Akemi specifically discussing the futility of her rebellion against the established gender dynamics of the time. I've seen a few older Japanese films that have addressed such topics, but never in anime, and never in a genre piece like this. There are a few female warriors who show up from time to time, but it's never anyone as cold and dangerous and impossible to dismiss as Mizu.
And that's why "Blue Eye Samurai" hits a nerve. It's not the familiar revenge story or the impeccable animation or the excellent performances of the actors, but the point of view that stands out. This show talks frankly about sex, but is almost never salacious. It expresses Western attitudes, but all the Western characters depicted are evil, rapacious, and vile. The female characters are so active and so vital, it can be unnerving. I'm sure you could make a show like this in Japan, but nobody does. Yes, there are anachronisms everywhere, and modern music needle-drops, and Mizu should die at least a dozen times during the course of the story, but I've never seen an animated series tell this kind of story so whole-heartedly, and I really need them to make more.
With the recent release of "Scavengers Reign," and the new seasons of "Invincible," and "Pantheon," all coming within the same few weeks, it feels like we've finally reached a point where animated adult dramas are finding a foothold. Let's hope it lasts.
---
No comments:
Post a Comment