There are plenty of great adult animated shows out there that you should check out, but a personal favorite of mine over the last year has been Blue Eye Samurai, aka one of the best shows to binge-watch on Netflix. After its 2024 Emmy nomination, I had the chance to talk with the team behind the popular series – and how, while it's a great story, it's also a significant step in the right direction for Asian representation on television.
For those who don't know, Blue Eye Samurai is an adult animated series on Netflix that follows the story of Mizu, a half-white, half-Japanese warrior who travels across Japan in a quest for vengeance to kill the white men who assaulted her mother years ago. One of these encounters led to her birth.
As the series is cementing its place in popular culture, I had the chance to talk with Amber Noizumi, a co-creator of the series, and Jane Wu, the executive producer, regarding how they feel about this show becoming so popular and if they believe it's the proper step for more Asian representation in the media. Noizumi says it's "exciting" to see, especially since, as a child, she had never seen anything like it on TV:
I certainly hope so. It's been very exciting to see, well, first how animation as an adult storytelling mechanism, how it's really evolved over the years, and also look at the Emmy Awards in general and how Shōgun, how well it's done and how much Asian representation we have out there. And then last year we had Netflix's Beef, which won so many awards and we're seeing so much more Asian representation. And that's great because I know as a child growing up, I certainly didn't see that on TV.
While Netflix has plenty of adult animated shows, such as Arcane (soon heading into Season 2) or Disenchantment, I personally don't feel there's anything quite like the must-watch Blue Eye Samurai and the amazing storytelling it delivers over eight fantastic episodes with beautiful animation. Now, it's been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Animated Program.
Noizumi has a point, here, mentioning it's amazing to see other shows besides Blue Eye Samurai also help spread Asian representation. Shōgun received critical praise and earned several Emmy nominations, and last year Beef swept the Limited Series category—so much so that Beef Season 2 is in development, even if the main stars aren't set to return.
Executive producer Jane Wu commented on this, saying that a reason she joined Blue Eye Samurai was that it was the chance to create more stories with people who resembled her and to tell the world that the Asian community has "interesting stories to tell" as well:
This is also part of why I wanted to do Blue Eye Samurai, in that it was an opportunity to create stories with people that look like me, and to be able to say, 'We have interesting stories to tell too. We are human too. We are a complex group of people as well.' So it was very satisfying.
With more already confirmed to be coming down the pipeline for Blue Eye Samurai, now is a great time to check out the series and see just how fantastic it truly is. I promise you won't be disappointed.
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