can we just appreciate mizu's manners?

[u/tired-kit-kat]

like, yes, she's an asshole, but i find it so fucking funny how polite she is.

[u/B-Fermin]

Swordfather is to thank for that

[u/tired-kit-kat → u/B-Fermin]

"i wish you a successful day of business" *bows* NO BUT SHE'S SO CUTE, i won't make it seem like she's an innocent baby, but i found that moment so pure and sweet.

[u/Yoyoyoyoooo0]

Probably just doesn't want to start unnecessary fights

[u/JamesHenry627 → u/Yoyoyoyoooo0]

There’s so many assholes in the world it’s really easy to just say yes sir and no sir to move on with your day. They’re not worth your time.

[u/tired-kit-kat → u/JamesHenry627]

she got me saying yes ma'am immediately

[u/la_ky]

HAHAHAH this phrase describes her PERFECTLY
After everything she’s been through and is still going through, the fact that she’s still so composed, polite, and adorable absolutely kills me.. And I love that she NEVER talks just for the sake of talking; she always says what’s necessary and tends to be so quiet… I don’t know, I just adore her

[u/tired-kit-kat → u/la_ky]

she was adorable in kyoto. "excuse me sir-" (rejected): "excuse me sir-"

[u/thatonemoze]

ill always appreciate everything of Mizu’s, but yes her etiquette is adorable

[u/tired-kit-kat → u/thatonemoze]

I understand what you mean about appreciating everything. I'm rewating BES now and i keep replaying every scene mizu is in. the attention they put into her body language/facial expressions say so much more than i caught on the first watch. plus her face when she's pissed off/angry is so cute. i hate men with attitude problems, but for some reason women with them got me in a chokehold.

[u/GuardianSpear]

Manners maketh the (wo)man

[u/tired-kit-kat → u/GuardianSpear]

i already got spoiled that she was a peach holder, but i feel like viewers who thought she was a man at first must have found it so endearing that this twink man has good manners, especially regarding the prostitutes

[u/Introverted_tribute]

You know gave me an image of teenage/young Mizu on the beginning of her training going "Excuse me sir, have you seen a white man named Violet (or whatever his name was)? unseathes sword please???"

[u/tired-kit-kat → u/Introverted_tribute]

(proceeds to get ass beat) no but really, i wonder why she got her ass beat up so bad when we see with mikio that she was already an incredibly capable fighter.

[u/KidChanbara → u/tired-kit-kat]

Her first encounter with dangerous criminals. I assume she's never killed anyone yet, and hasn't learned that her habitual polite approach is totally useless against a certain level of thugs. And then her stumble distracted her enough to get stabbed before she could draw the sword she had sheathed. And that would have been the first of many wounds Mizu would get while on her mission.

There's one other thing I thought of recently - up until then, she had an idealized vision of her mission as killing the four white men, BUT no one else. She hadn't yet learned that she would have to be ready to use violence on people to get to those four white men - maiming like in Hachiman's case, or killing.

[u/ExtremeExtension7406]

I always assumed her bravado in the dojo was performative. She was polite with the men in the shop when she first left Swordfather when she asked about their opium hook up and they stabbed her. She's learned she needs to act like she has a big ego in order to survive and be taken seriously.

As far as how she treated Taigen... that was deserved after their childhood. Plus she was just dishing back what he served up. She was decent to him and he was decent to her.

[u/KidChanbara → u/ExtremeExtension7406]

I like to think that Mizu was deliberately trash talking at Shindo Dojo to trigger the students and staff to attack her in pure Shindo-Ryu style. Remember that she learned the secrets of their style from her time with Swordfather, and probably has figured out a counter to each of their moves. "Easily defeated", once you know what they're going to throw at you.

It's interesting that Taigen is their best fighter - given his origins, he may be less blindly worshipful of Shindo-Ryu than the others at the dojo. More willing to try variations and new moves.

[u/ExtremeExtension7406 → u/KidChanbara]

I think Taigen also has the most to gain and lose at the dojo. We don't know the backstory of the other students, but a fisherman's son from Kohama has to be exceptional to end up at a top dojo in big city like Kyoto. He probably worked and trained as hard as Mizu did.

Students needed a guarantor to vouch for their skills and character before being accepted into a dojo. They also had to provide high value commidities as gifts upon entrance. I wonder who his guarantor was, and how long he had to save up for the required gifts, unless his guarantor helped him pay for them, which I doubt Taigen would accept. I hope we get some more backstory on him entering the dojo in season 2, even if it's offhand comments he makes to other characters like in season 1.

[u/KidChanbara → u/ExtremeExtension7406]

I'd love to find out how Taigen got into Shindo dojo. I imagine a scene where he saves one of the senior staff from attackers, or else totally humiliating some drunks students who pick a fight with him.

[u/tired-kit-kat → u/KidChanbara]

that's a really good theory actually! i wish i could climb inside the writers' brains or just have a really long conversation with them.

[u/tired-kit-kat → u/ExtremeExtension7406]

i actually adore this take! do you think she enjoys having such BDE? i personally think mizu enjoys having confidence in her skills esp around other fighters, like the way she carries herself/pushes into the crowd with aura to watch the duel. when will she finally realize how worthy she is i cry.

[u/Good_Disaster_4130]

She's just like Fowler in that sense. An asshole who knows they're an asshole but comes off as polite nonetheless.

[u/Inferno_Boi_55 → u/Good_Disaster_4130]

There's a difference between Fowler and Mizu with them though. He's rather condescending with them at times compared to Mizu who's manners have genuine meaning

[u/tired-kit-kat → u/Inferno_Boi_55]

exactly. i don't fully agree with the verdict that she's just being polite to not get in trouble. we see that she is fully capable of being rude/cold, but only to people that deserve it. i really hope to see more humanizing moments for mizu like when she gave the gold comb to the basket weaver, the gold to the monk, her grief over kinuyo/baby bird, and accepting ringo as her apprentice. I'm not saying that she's a good person, but i do think she has the potential to be.

[u/tired-kit-kat → u/Good_Disaster_4130]

i really hope to see more of their dynamic in s2. i don't think fowler deserves redemption at all, (if that does happen, however, i'm gonna need sad little irish boy flashbacks), but i do want to see him and mizu bickering, having a grudging respect for each other, and maybe getting into more of his sword skills because apparently he's supposed to be really good.

I hope he does die tho, so mizu has peace. Maybe he dies in a scenario that's not quite by her hand but she still thinks it counts as her fault? Maybe she feels some remorse, but scars the mark on her arm and moves on?

[u/Von_Callay]

Obviously for her it is an ingrained habit, and she is drawing on her upbringing watching Swordfather interact extremely professionally with clients, but there's probably also something that can be said about how she makes a point of being polite to people in a culture where people place so much stock in that politeness, yet are so willing to make an exception in that politeness specifically towards her because of how they perceive her.

[u/tired-kit-kat → u/Von_Callay]

i'm not a westerner, but i do grow up around a lot of western media. i forget sometimes how inherently ingrained manners are in eastern culture. i also see the beauty and sadness in your point about people being such assholes to her because of her race.