Blue Eye Samurai is the best thing Netflix has done in years

polygon.com:

Every so often, a show comes along that makes you remember exactly why you love stories. Not just television series or animation, but the bigger, grander concept of storytelling in general, and how someone’s personal experience can inspire something greater and universal, without ever losing that individual spark.

Blue Eye Samurai comes from husband-and-wife team Michael Green (Blade Runner 2049) and Amber Noizumi. It was inspired by a very personal moment in Noizumi’s life: After the birth of the couple’s child, she looked at her child’s blue eyes and wondered why she was so thrilled to see white features in her daughter. Interrogating that thread, Noizumi came up with the story of Blue Eye Samurai, Netflix’s newest animated show.

Every part of Blue Eye Samurai clearly comes from a personal place for Green and Noizumi — and that passion speaks to just how brilliantly evocative and exciting it is. The show is much longer than typical animated television, but the sweeping scope of the story deserves that much attention. It’s not a show that takes time to gel. From the beginning, it hooked me in, and there wasn’t a second where I felt my attention waning throughout the eight episodes.Blue Eye Samurai reminded me that the best stories feel like they speak directly to you, even if they’re about places you’ve never been and experiences you’ve never had.

[Ed. note: This review contains spoilers for Blue Eye Samurai.]

Blue Eye Samurai starts off in familiar territory: a revenge-driven samurai, a lone warrior who doesn’t have time for friends or any meaningful relationships. But from the get-go, there are enough small twists to differentiate it. The warrior at the center is a mixed-race woman named Mizu (Maya Erskine), who