A custom image of Mizu from Netflix's Blue Eye Samurai.
The Big Picture At the end of 2023, Netflix released Season 1 of Blue Eye Samurai, an adult animated series with an original story by husband-and-wife team Michael Green and Amber Noizumi. In the show, Mizu, voiced by Maya Erskine , is a half-Japanese, half-white woman in Edo-period Japan, a time when the borders to the outside world were closed, meaning her whiteness was a sign of disgrace.
Creator Michael Green, Amber Noizumi Cast Maya Erskine , Kenneth Branagh , George Takei , Darren Barnet , Masi Oka , Randall Park , Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa , Brenda Song , Stephanie Hsu , Ming-Na Wen , Harry Shum Jr , Mark Dacascos Seasons 2 Writers Michael Green , Amber Noizumi , Yana Bille-Chung Streaming Service Netflix Directors Jane Wu , Michael Green , Alan Taylor Showrunner Michael Green , Amber Noizumi Expand The Creators "Didn't Know Anything About Animation" Before...
NOIZUMI: For me, I didn’t know anything about animation, so that was hard. Luckily, we had Jane and the whole team of geniuses who taught us what it would actually mean to make our show. We had written these scripts and we had these visions — the little movies that played in our minds — but didn’t know what actually went into all the many, many steps to make an animated series. There are a lot, so we’re taking that into Season 2.
GREEN: It felt like we were building something in our basement for so long, and the neighbors are like, “What’s all that noise?” And then finally, we got to show people what it was. I have to ask a curve ball. Michael, you were involved in Logan. Would you like to tell people what you did?3:00 Related Why ‘Logan’ Was — And Always Will Be — The Best X-Men Movie of The Fox Era We’re still waiting for that solo X-23 movie...
NETTINGA: As Michael expressed to us, this is a unique one-off episode of sorts. It’s in the story structure, but it’s a very unique challenge in that episode. It’s Mizu working her way up to the top of the castle to get to Fowler, and there are all these different challenges that aren’t really part of the typical story we’re seeing on the rest of the eight episodes. Everything in there was unique for the most part. It’s quite a ride of its own.
GREEN: On a couple of levels. With Amber and I on the writing level, we came at it with grounded emotion and grounded character. Yes, there are going to be really heightened, stylized things within that, but these characters are on a journey that’s emotionally recognizable. Then, on a technical level, I should throw it to Jane on that.
WU: No, I was too busy because then they put me in another thing and I’m busy doing that. I see it, and I go, “Oh, there it is. Yeah.” The turnover rate at Marvel, because we were working on film after film after film, we didn’t get a chance. It wasn’t until I came out of it did I lift my head up that I see what I had done. Somebody pointed out that I had done that many Marvel movies, and I just thought, “Okay, it’s time to leave. It’s time to do something else.
GREEN: We wrote the first season in between making all those quarantine lunches when the kids were home. We’re very good at pizzadillas now. Who Betrayed Mizu? "Everyone was complicit." Close I love Episode 5. I believe you, , wrote Episode 5, and you, , directed Episode 5, and this is your first time directing?
Do you all have an opinion on whether or not it was her husband or if it was her fake mom who called the guards?NOIZUMI: I think everyone was complicit in that episode.GREEN: Oh, I’m not gonna top that. I’m so curious about the editing room with a show like this.
One of the things that people don’t realize about animation is not only does it cost a ton of money, but some shots are way more expensive than others. What were some of the more expensive shots in this that you wouldn’t think are that expensive?GREEN: It’s the only thing we ever fought about. GREEN: We just watched an episode here — There’s the shot where Mizu’s in the hallway, the dollhouse looking down, and how is she gonna get out of this one? That was complicated as fuck, it turns out.
The Animation Style was Inspired by Mizu How did you guys decide on Blue Spirit as the company and the look and feel of the animation? GREEN: Kenneth Branagh was good fortune. When we were writing the first episode, I was on set for Death on the Nile, which is a film I wrote, and so I was listening to him between takes. We wrote that character and thought, “Maybe we can ask and see what he says.” He’s a congenially kind person and said yes, and was delightful to work with, and really enjoyed his time with us.
How the 'Blue Eye Samurai' Creatives Were Able to Overcome Challenges "Every episode is an escape from impossible situations." For each of you, which scene or sequence of the eight episodes of the first season was the one where you were like, “This is impossible? How are we doing this?”GREEN: In the same episode, Amber had written into this episode something we’d talked about.
NETTINGA: It’s tough for me to nail one scene, and I have to go with, again, Episode 6. The entire thing was so unique that every seven or eight challenges we had were all unique. You had to come up with this danger feeling and resolution each time, and it was all unique sound. You had to keep a pace and momentum throughout this entire episode. You didn’t want to feel start-stop like this is herky-jerky, and we were able to really achieve that flow.
GREEN: But it speaks to we owe a lot to Netflix for not only letting us make the show at all, but letting us make it right. That innovation of bringing a stunt team into an animated show was new, and early on, they said yes to this. They did not need to. They could have said, “Well, that’s not an expense that’s usually incurred.
The episodes range between 35 and 60 minutes. Talk about how you decided on the different runtimes. As we’ve talked about, every minute is so expensive. Did you ever feel pressure to get 45 minutes down to 35?WU: In animation, every minute is what you bid on, and so there was a pre-agreement on how many minutes we would have. How we decided to spend those minutes is up to us and how we divided it.
What We Know About 'Blue Eye Samurai' Season 2 Where will it take place? How many episodes? When can we expect it to drop? You’ve talked about how you’re working on Season 2 right now. What were the big lessons you learned writing Season 1 and making Season 1 that, as you’re writing Season 2, you know, “We can’t do this,” or, “If we do this, we have two minutes to do it?”
I don’t want to do spoilers, but the first season ends in such a way that Season 2 could take place in two different locations. Will Season 2 take place in two different locations?GREEN: As Jane was saying, she’d rather it take place in one. By the way, speaking of spoilers, Episode 8 is literally titled “The Great Fire of 1657,” so spoiler, there’s a fire. But yeah, we shouldn’t answer that.GREEN: Yes, there will be six episodes in Season 2.You’re writing Episode 4.
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