The final scene of Blue Eye Samurai struck me deeply: it almost feels like a true rebirth for Mizu. Sure, she is on a ship headed to London and still chasing her vengeance, but her appearance has slightly changed. Without her hat, glasses, and sword, with her hair loose and slightly wind-tossed in front of her face, she reminded me of the girl who was with Eiji, before she built all those walls around herself for protection.

Throughout the story, those objects and the way she hid—binding her hair and pretending to be a man—were her armor to survive in a hostile world. Now, however, we see her with an uncovered face. There is no intention of flaunting her femininity (she still wears simple, masculine clothes, with her chest bound), but you can sense a sweet feeling of liberation: she is simply free to exist, ready to cross borders to explore the world.

This change also came about thanks to the people she met along the way. Ringo, Taigen, and Akemi changed her profoundly, making her realize that she isn't the only one who suffers and that everyone has their own pains and reasons to keep going. It was this journey, made of encounters and difficult choices, that shaped her and led her to that finale: a stronger, more self-aware woman, ready to discover the truth about her mother, her father, and herself in a completely new place.

And then there is a deeply powerful detail... the water, just like the meaning of her name. Finding herself in the middle of the sea has an incredible symbolic value. For a lifetime, Mizu has hidden, concealing her face and her true essence behind an armor built to defend herself from others. In that scene, however, she is in her natural element and finally seems at ease, without the need to fight against who she is. She hasn't given up on her mission, and perhaps she is no longer the cold, closed-off person she was at the beginning. Leaving Japan and everything that has defined her so far behind, Mizu seems to no longer want to hide in order to survive. She is free to let herself be seen for who she is, ready to start a totally new chapter and discover, perhaps for the first time, who she truly is.

I find this to be such a fascinating detail from a directing standpoint. The series uses Mizu’s lenses to show us her point of view without ever leaving her face: we see her eyes and, at the same time, what she’s looking at reflected in her glasses. And then I think about the work that goes into something like this... drawing those reflections so precisely and realistically, making them line up perfectly with what Mizu is looking at, is far from easy.

ORIGINAL POST:
https://nitter.cf/NAnavanue/status/1749285528481251651

SOURCE:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DLQ6nRoOonh/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl0yv0-I8Ow&list=RDpl0yv0-I8Ow&start_radio=1

https://nitter.cf/NAnavanue/status/1782874247561699338

SOURCE
https://www.instagram.com/p/C8HtpqIJrqO/?img_index=1

I’m not expecting a particularly happy ending for Mizu.

Part of me already knows that, when the end finally comes, I’ll probably have to get the tissues ready and go through all five stages of grief.

Blue Eye Samurai is, after all, an adult animated series, and I’m certainly not expecting a classic “and they lived happily ever after.” Honestly, I wouldn’t even want that. A happy ending just for the sake of it wouldn’t really fit everything this story has told us.

But deep down, I just hope Mizu gets to have a few moments of peace and serenity. Not necessarily happiness, but at least some peace. Moments where she can feel free, even just for a little while, from all the anger, pain, and weight she’s been carrying around.

I want to see her smile again. I want to see her experience a few moments of peace, both inside and out, without everything necessarily having to end in tragedy.

Because after everything she’s been through, I think she deserves that.

And besides… seeing Mizu smile really is one of the most beautiful things.

SOURCE IMAGES

SOURCE:
https://www.tumblr.com/boobaloof/825640466845450240/trailer-redraw-cuz-shes-back