Even THAT guy can’t help but love Mizu on ‘Blue Eye Samurai’
Netflix has been bringing us some amazing animated stories recently, and Blue Eye Samurai is one of the best out there. And the creatives told us they knew exactly what kind of story they wanted to make going into the series and where they want to take it next.
The series follows Mizu (Maya Erskine), a master of the sword who is seeking revenge. A story like this with a woman at the heart of it instantly intrigued me, and after watching the hit Netflix series, it is easy to see why fans fell in love with Mizu’s journey. Talking with Michael Green, Amber Noizumi, and Jane Wu about the series, the reaction to Mizu’s story makes Blue Eye Samurai even better.
When I asked what their favorite reaction was to the show so far and a character like Mizu, Noizumi talked about hearing people mention how they’ve found themselves in her character. “It’s twofold,” Noizumi said. “I’ve had so many people come up to mention how seen they feel being mixed race—and not even just Asian mixed race, but all combinations of mixed race out there—and feeling that they didn’t realize that they had all of these unresolved feelings, and to see her out there onscreen dealing with those feelings was very cathartic for them.”
She went on to talk about how interesting it was to see the people who typically have a more sexist viewpoint like Mizu, as well. “Also just some of the sexist people out there who maybe are like ‘I don’t normally like girl characters.’ Those people, we all know who they are, saying, ‘I actually liked this one,’ which is a backhanded compliment. But it’s also nice to be rewarded for people who don’t normally root for a female lead.”
You can see our full chat here:
This is an exciting time for the show as it also has been nominated for Emmy awards! See the information from Netflix below:
BLUE EYE SAMURAI is nominated for 2 Emmy Awards including Outstanding Animated Program and Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation and earlier this year led all animated series with six Annie Award wins (and winning every category it was nominated in)including Best Animated Television Series – Mature, and top prizes for Character Animation, Animated Effects, Production Design, Editing, and Writing.
The Television Academy also announced last week that BLUE EYE SAMURAI won the below 3 Emmys via the juried category winners in Animation:
Character Design
Blue Eye Samurai • Nothing Broken • Netflix • A Netflix Series / 3 Arts Entertainment and Blue Spirit Productions
Brian Kesinger
Production Design
Blue Eye Samurai • The Great Fire of 1657 • Netflix • A Netflix Series / 3 Arts Entertainment and Blue Spirit Productions
Toby Wilson
Storyboard
Blue Eye Samurai • Hammerscale • Netflix • A Netflix Series / 3 Arts Entertainment and Blue Spirit Productions
Ryan O’Loughlin
Blue Eye Samurai is on Netflix now.
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