Mizu's Side Quest for Madam Kaji Explained

In her quest for revenge, rogue samurai Mizu (Maya Erskine), the protagonist of Netflix's stunning adult animated series. Blue-Eyed Samuraifinds himself on a devastating side mission for Madam Kaji (Ming-Na Wen). Blue-Eyed Samurai follows Mizu, a half-white, half-Japanese woman and self-taught samurai, on her mission to track down the four white men who were in Japan at the time of her birth. Having been treated like a monster her entire life because of her mixed ethnicity, Mizu plans to kill them all in revenge.

This leads her to Madam Kaji, whose brothel services the fortress where Abijah Fowler (Kenneth Branagh) has taken refuge. In exchange for explaining how to contact Fowler, Kaji asks Mizu to do other work first. Kaji once sheltered Kinuyo, a mute girl who Kaji saved from an abusive father until the cruel city lord forcibly took Kinuyo and began abusing her daily. Kaji knows that making a move against him would bring the wrath of his followers upon everyone in his care; I see no other option, she asks Mizu to kill Kinuyo to end her suffering.

Kinuyo's response to Mizu's gesture explained

Kinuyo understands why Mizu is there and doesn't want to die

Kaji instructs Mizu to make a certain gesture towards Kinuyo, which indicates love and safety. Mizu successfully infiltrates the overlord's residence and reaches Kinuyo while alone. When she makes the gesture to Kinuyo, the girl just shakes her head, leaving Mizu confused. and having to come up with a new plan. Mizu simply tells Kinuyo that she will protect her and offers her hand, which the girl takes. Madam Kaji was almost certain that if Mizu delivered this message, Kinuyo would understand that this was her only way out and would be at peace.

However, despite what he suffered at the hands of his father and his current captor, Kinuyo still has hope and wants to live. What she tries to convey by returning the gesture to Mizu and then shaking her head is that she can guess what it means, and even that Kaji thinks this is an act of mercy, but she doesn't agree. It's something Mizu can relate to, as she's spent her entire life refusing to give up despite everyone beating her up, which only makes what happens next more painful.

Mizu isn't the type to save viewers in Blue Eye Samurai

Mizu is an extremely realistic character, who ignores the conventions of other fictional heroes

Kinuyo accepts Mizu's offer of protection; while Mizu apparently figures out what to do next, Kinuyo curls up against her, appearing to be experiencing a genuine sense of security and affection. to your savior. Mizu then takes advantage of this, starting to return the hug and then using his position to break Kinuyo's neck. She sets it up to look like an accident resulting from one of the guards attacking Kinuyo and leaves. As characteristic as it is for her, Mizu is shaken by this like nothing that has happened in the series so far.

Blue-Eyed Samurai it carries the weight of a true story and establishes that Mizu doesn't save viewers. The series goes through several storylines where a different rogue protagonist may have gotten into a fight specifically to save a defenseless citizen. However, Mizu is a complex figure and not such a clichéd heroine. She knows that saving one girl wouldn't fix the larger society that causes the suffering of so many like her, and she has such a jaded worldview that even that wouldn't be worth it to her.

Mizu also prioritizes revenge above all else, and when she needs Kaji's help to achieve this, Kaji's orders take precedence. Even with Kaji, someone who also understands the cruelties of the world, Mizu lies. When Kaji asks about Kinuyo's answer, Mizu just says he understands. However, the side mission to save/kill Kinuyo delicately underlines Green Eye Samuraicentral themes, while also creating yet another illustration of this type of tragedy in the next episode.

Mizu's work for Madam Kaji highlights the harsh setting and revenge story

Blue Eye Samurai is a historical fiction tragedy that shows the difficult life experiences of many people

Blue-Eyed Samurai makes it brutally clear that being a woman often leads to some kind of suffering in Edo-period Japan. Mizu has already suffered from being mixed race and presenting herself as male to avoid additional obstacles. The story also follows Akemi (Brenda Song), a young noblewoman about to get married against her will. But the man she ends up married to is relatively kind and she still has some agency as a character. On the other hand, Kinuyo perhaps has the resilience to be Mizu or Akemi in a different life.

If Kinuyo's fate wasn't enough, just before Mizu finds her, she kills a bird flying in the rafters of the building she was sneaking into, so as not to alert the guards to her presence. She places the dead plane in the next one full of eggs. She irregularly tries to avoid him, but Mizu leaves death in her wake. In a matter of minutes, she kills a bird to keep it quiet and kills a human who still wants to live.

The following episode is widely considered the standout chapter of season 1, "The Tale of Ronin and the Bride", showing a flashback where Mizu briefly fell in love and believed she could live a peaceful life until her intended came to fear her. It ends tragically in heartbreak and bloodshed. Blue-Eyed Samurai is a multi-layered tale about how Mizu became trapped in a cyclone of violence, both for the sake of the world she lives in and for herself. With the path she chose, calamity always happens, most of the time to people like Kinuyo, who is a distortion of Mizu.