“Blue Eye Samurai” premiered on 11 November on Netflix, and, surprisingly it is good. In truth I only got interested in it because of the aggressive add campaign that attacked my social media. I was drawn into this because of the art style. Which is not perfect of refined but there was something enchanting to it.

Now let’s get the most important thing out of the way. Blue Eye Samurai is a rip-off. Or its dancing on a thin line between “inspired by” and a “rip-off”. It resembles one of the greatest anime series ever made “Samurai Champloo”, created by genius of Shinichirō Watanabe in 2004. There is a long, long list of similarities between the two, but even the starting scene is almost an exact copy of Samurai Champloo. And the main character Mizu, seems to be a reflection of Champloo character Jin.

Now putting that aside Blue Eye Samurai is an excellent show. The animation is solid, and at times amazing even. The battle scenes feel real and have a certain, bloody aesthetic that we usually expect from productions like this. The plot is very interesting and revolves around my favorite motif – revenge. This is definitely the type of production that grips your interest very early and does not let go until the end.

Now of course as for any interesting production there is an internet debate about it. This production explores themes of women status in Edo Japan. For that reason its already been called feminist or modernist – whatever that means currently. This I very much disagree with as women status in Edo Japan sucked and it is an interesting theme to explore, especially considering the protagonist story.

The “Blue Eye Samurai” definitely gets a great note from HOW – 8/10 and I recommend this to be watched. And who knows, maybe we have entered a time when the best productions are animated instead of filmed?