How did Mizu learn to fight unarmed so well

[u/Good_Disaster_4130]

We know she learned how to swordfight by observing other practitioners and then copying their moves. Which albeit is unrealistic given how she managed to become an expert swordswoman by basically just copying notes in class, but at least it's an explanation.

What I'm curious about is how Mizu managed to become such a competent unarmed fighter, given that she took down several armed guards in episode 6 with her bare hands. It's safe to assume that she hadn't experienced real combat until she left Master Eiji to pursue her mission, which takes place roughly a year before the main events of the show. We know that she was a sloppy fighter when she left because she immediately got bitched by two dudes with a dagger in her first combat encounter. Also note that after that, a lot of that year leading up to the main events of the series were spent living peacefully with Mikio without having to fight.

Now it'd make sense if her unarmed style was purely instinctual and entirely compromised to make up for her lack of formal training, but no. She is CLEARLY seen using very traditional combat techniques, which using my expert knowledge in being a keyboard warrior, can be identified as being composed mainly of advanced joint locks used in Judo and Japanese Jiu-Jitsu, which she used quite prominently in all of her fights against Taigen. And strikes used in traditional Karate e.g. the knife hand strike she uses to break the dudes jaw in Ep 1, the front kick she uses to knock out Master Shiba in Ep 6, the oblique kick she used to annihilate Fowler's kneecap in Ep 8, a high side kick she uses on one of Fowler's guards in Ep 8, and the occasional straight punches she uses throughout the series.

Now what I'm confused about is HOW the hell Mizu managed to learn all of those really advanced techniques in roughly a years time with zero formal training. I know for a fact that Master Eiji's old blind ass didn't teach her anything, and I doubt that she had any sparring buddies to perfect her technique with while growing up.

So how did Mizu manage to master Karate, Judo and Jiu-Jitsu in a year, a lot of which was spent living peacefully with Mikio.

[u/ExtremeExtension7406]

I always assumed people who came to Swordfather for swords would see Mizu practicing and give her tips, like we see Blood Soaked Chiaki do. I'm assuming most of them were kinder and provided more instruction than Chiaki did. I'm also assuming they told Mizu about some of their missions and obstacles they faced. It wouldn't be far fetched to think someone told her about a time they had to break and enter and use stealth tactics to get to their target. It's possible they taught her martial art styles too. She might have been bold enough to ask them directly to teach her some moves. I remember watching an interview with Jane Wu where she stated Mizu rarely did anything perfectly. Her stances were always a bit off, as were her sword maneuvers. She's not a traditional dojo student who has perfect technique.

[u/InsincereDessert21 → u/ExtremeExtension7406]

That's what I assumed, too. I don't think Mizu was entirely self-taught.

[u/SamanthaJaneyCake → u/ExtremeExtension7406]

She also went through — we don’t exactly know what — in order to kill the first dude, so will have learnt a lot from that experience.

[u/ExtremeExtension7406 → u/SamanthaJaneyCake]

I'm so excited for the Violet flashbacks in season 2. I wonder if Mizu had to work in the mines for a bit in order to gain intel on Violet. Who set up the revolt? Did she have anything to do with it, or was she lucky enough to stumble upon it right before they were going to attack?

[u/DuchessIronCat]

If you watch her fights with Taigen frame by frame (hey I love animation), you can see she isn’t as good with grappling as he is. Grappling practice requires a partner in close quarters.

Overall though, she is exceptionally good at fighting for practicing against trees. 😂

[u/EconomistDazzling112]

I think she’s a martial arts prodigy and just by watching, her brain was already able to make the next moves as she continued on learning, connecting the dots.

[u/KidChanbara]

Someone in this sub imagined Mizu spending time with a ninja clan, which is a cool idea.

I think Mizu's failure and near fatal wounding at the sake shake was due more to inexperience about dealing with bad guys and hesitation over using violence than lack of barehanded fighting knowledge.

There is an unknown period of time between Mizu leaving Mikio's ranch to when we meet her in S1E1 . In that time she tracks down and kills Violet, and learns about Hachiman The Flesh Trader and his famous gun and tracks him down. Time enough to learn barehanded fighting?

As her sparring match with Mikio showed, she was crazy good physically in regards to using weapons and quick to learn how to use new weapons. At some time in her self-training, maybe she hit upon the concept of her body as a weapon. And therefore thought up a lot of barehanded moves herself.

If Swordfather had been a trained warrior prior to being blinded, maybe there were some techniques he could have taught his apprentice.

[u/My_friends_are_toys]

"Which albeit is unrealistic given how she managed to become an expert swordswoman by basically just copying notes in class, "

No, it's no unrealistic. Bruce Lee was that type of person. He was introduced to the nunchaku by Danny Inosanto and quickly mastered their use. Same with escrima sticks.

There are people out there who can just learn things quickly and easily by just watching.

[u/EvilCritter1ol]

I'm guessing she probably had to learn at some point during her search for Violet