Despite the numerous challenges faced by Hollywood and mainstream cinema, the year still delivered a couple of memorable projects – mostly in the form of streaming. These victories include Netflix’s adult animated series Blue Eye Samurai. Now, less than two months after its debut, the streamer has renewed the show for a second season.
Given Blue Eye Samurai’s reception by both critics and audiences, Netflix’s renewal comes as no surprise. Released in November, the show made it into the streamer’s Top 10 English television series list just a week after its release, remaining there for two weeks and captivating over 12 million viewers.
Critics were equally impressed, awarding the show a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and a stellar 88% on Metacritic. Viewers were no different, with many fans professing their love for the show on just about any platform they could.
Netflix announced the renewal on Monday with a short video, showing a recap of some of the show’s memorable moments, posted to its social media platforms. Creators Michael Green and Amber Noizumi, a husband-and-wife duo, announced the news in a separate statement.
“When we started this project, we made a commitment to take this very personal story set in Edo-period Japan and bring it to life in the most authentic and beautiful way possible,” they stated. “Our animators, historians, musicians, martial artists and voice cast made this a reality beyond our expectations.”
Green and Noizumi extended their gratitude to everyone involved, including the devoted fans. They closed with a tantalizing hint: the second season will see our protagonist, Mizu, continue her bloody quest for revenge, leaving “a lot more blood to spill.”
Set in Japan’s Edo era, Blue Eye Samurai follows a half-white, half-Japanese swordmaster with a vendetta. For some yet-to-be-fully revealed reason, our protagonist, Mizu, is determined to claim the lives of four white men, including her father. Along the way, she faces many hostilities on account of her mixed-race identity, despite her best efforts to keep it hidden.
By the end of the first season, she has eliminated one of her targets and is well within reach of taking the life of another. However, she spares him so he’ll lead her across the oceans in pursuit of the other men, thereby establishing the premise for the second season.
Blue Eye Samurai stars Maya Erskine as Mizu and we expect her to reprise her role in the second season. We also anticipate the return of Brenda Song, Masi Oka, Darren Barnet, and Kenneth Branagh. While Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa played a significant role in the first season, it wasn’t pivotal enough to tell whether that his character will return.
Beyond the renewal, neither Netflix nor the creators provided any further detail. When this changes, you can rest assured we will bring it to your attention. In the meantime, you can watch the first season on Netflix, where it’s still streaming.
Audiences can also look forward to the debut of the streamer’s highly-anticipated space opera and potential “Star Wars killer”, Rebel Moon, which is now set to arrive a few hours earlier than its originally scheduled date of December 22.
