A producer and director of Netflix’s Emmy-nominated animated series, Blue Eye Samurai, offered an update on when audiences might see Season 2 released.
The adult animated series tells the story of Mizu, a woman of mixed race in Japan in the Edo era, who trains herself to become a Samurai to track down and kill the four white men who could have been her father.
Netflix show was first renewed in December 2023, but no further word has been given on a proper release date or window for Season 2.
In the meantime, however, Season 1 of the show has been nominated for “Outstanding Animated Program” and “Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series.”
Blue Eye Samurai Season 2 Gets Release Window Update
In an exclusive interview with The Direct's Russ Milheim, Blue Eye Samurai executive producer and director Michael Green gave an update on the release date of the Emmy-nominated show's Season 2.
When asked when fans might be able to expect Season 2 of the series, Noizumi announced that it would be in "2026." This comes as somewhat discouraging news to fans who have been eager for new episodes, now having to wait at least 26 months between the premieres of Seasons 1 and 2.
Green revealed that "[they've] written more than half" of Season so far:
"We've written more than half [and] we're starting to produce the first two. When we're finished with one more interview, we're going to look at some early storyboards for the first episode, and it's not the first round that's come in."
For now, the team is reveling in their Emmy nominations for Season 1.
Green admitted that they "felt lucky enough [to be] getting to make it at all," and Wu declared that the experience had been "Incredible."
Jane Wu (supervising director) also spoke with The Direct, where she shared how she felt blown away that "100%" of the show worked as opposed to the "80%" she projected in her head:
"It's such a unique show. In my head, I was telling myself, I think 80% of this should work, and the fact that it actually did work at 100% was, yeah, I'm pleasantly surprised."
Green jumped in to make sure and give credit to the "sound design:"
"And then all the elements came together. Everyone talks about the animation, and they should because it's incredible, something that hadn't been done before and was really hard to do. But then also our music, our sound design, which is also Emmy nominated with darn good reason, created the show when we were finally able to see it done ourselves."
Continuing on about how the sound design helped complete the project, the filmmaker noted how hearing it made it feel like they'd "done even more than [they] set out to do:"
"For example, sitting in a mix stage, realizing that it was as much an experience as a story. And people said it transported them to a world they could actually sit in. It was really complimentary hearing [that]. [It] felt like we'd done even more than we set out to do."
One thing unique to Blue Eye Samurai is how it hands nudity and never shies away from it—whether it be casual or sexual in nature.
Amber Noizumi (Executive Producer/Written By), who was also part of the conversation, pointed out that in Japanese culture, "they weren't embarrassed of nudity:"
"When Michael and I set out to write all the episodes, we talked about Japanese culture at the time. If you look at the art of the time, people weren't embarrassed about bodies or sex, they didn't have this puritanical Judeo-Christian worldview, and they weren't embarrassed of nudity."
While they didn't shy away from it, they did make sure that it was all "story-driven" and "nothing gratuitous nudity in [their] show."
Everything nudity-related was "story-driven" and "in service of character or story arcs," rather than being there to shock people:
"It will all be story-driven. There was nothing gratuitous. All of the sex is in service of character or story arcs, and any nudity is just part of the world, not just to shock people. Maybe some people were shocked."
In talking about what they really wanted to make sure came across while telling a narrative in Edo, Japan, Green confirmed that all intentions "start with just the character."
However, one of the main questions they eventually set out to explore was a complicated one: "What happens when a country successfully homogenizes its population and says you're not allowed to be foreign here?:"
"I mean, it starts with just the character. Here's someone who feels she doesn't belong there, and it's a very restrictive world. What happens when a country successfully homogenizes its population and says you're not allowed to be foreign here? Obviously, those are themes that are unfortunately relevant today. And what if you're living in a world where women aren't allowed to own their own bodies? Unfortunately, it is a little too resonant today."
The director made sure to not that they did not "set out to get on a soapbox about it," but exploring those issues became organic in following a character "who had a goal that was in direct opposition to the conditions of her time:"
'Now, it's not that we set out to get on a soapbox about it, but we had a character who had a goal that was in direct opposition to the conditions of her time and had to create a new life for herself, a new reality for herself, who's so driven that she's willing to do that, in order to accomplish what she needs to accomplish. We were lucky enough to have that idea and to recognize like, oh, wow, hey, that lets us tell some really great stories."
"The Edo period," which took place from 1603 to 1868, "is fascinating for so many reasons," Green elaborated:
"But the Edo period is fascinating for so many reasons. The art is beautiful, and the wardrobe is beautiful. It's cinematic, but it's also held up as a golden age, and yet there are many dark underbelly elements to it that, again, create just a good story."
Noizumi admitted that she hopes that their show will push other shows to "experiment more within the animation realm:"
"We really tried to create a story that was based on personal experience and telling one person's story and using authentic culture and artistry and not being afraid to do close ups and let the story breathe and really follow that narrative and make it very adult. We're hoping that more shows, I'm not saying more shows like us, but that it opens the pathways for different shows to try new things and to experiment more within the animation realm. And there are obviously some shows that are doing it."
At the end of the day, working on Blue Eye Samurai has enhanced the already massive talent of everyone who has made their mark on it.
For Wu, she pointed out how one of the key things she's learned is "just being able to pace [herself]:"
"I think for me, it's it's how long animation takes and and just being able to pace myself so that it's sustainable and to take care of myself, because it is such a long process, because, you know, in live action, you just go hard, because, you know, in six months or in a year, you're done, but this is like a three year process, so you really have to pace yourself. That's what I'm learning."
On Noizumi's side, she noted how important it is to most to the "chorus" of voices that all play a part in creating the final product that audiences see at the end of the day.
"I would say it's maybe listening to all of the many, many, many voices that this chorus that comes to creating the show, and how we all have to listen to each other to create this, this kind of unified piece. And, you know, figuring out how we all listen to each other to make it."
Blue Eye Samurai is now streaming on Netflix.
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