“Blue Eye Samurai’ Was Inspired By Barbra Streisand Musical

The badass animated series, Blue Eyed Samuraireceives rave reviews after its debut on Netflix. Blending a unique animation style with an epic story of revenge, series creators David Green and Amber Noizumi spoke about the creative process behind the samurai series.

While fans have picked up on allusions to Kill Bill And Mulanrevealed Noizumi in an interview with Emmys.com that in fact, Blue Eyed SamuraiThe greatest influence of: Yentl. Yeah, the classic 1983 musical with Barbra Streisand. At first glance, the animated samurai story and Yentl seem nothing alike, but beneath the action, the stories are both built around female characters struggling to be accepted in a male-dominated world.

Via Collider:

Both Mizu and Yentl are hidden women living in a world where men dominate daily life. Mizu is not accepted anywhere she goes due to her “impure” blood which deems her a demon to society. She is a victim of the community’s ignorance towards mixed-race people due to lack of knowledge during the Edo period of isolationism. Similarly, Yentl also faces sexism in her country, which leads to her being frowned upon due to her desire to gain more knowledge. By becoming a man, Yentl and Mizu can have more choices in life and, above all, freedom.

Noizumi also revealed that Blue Eyed Samurai was inspired by classics of the genre like Lady Snowbloodbut Yentl was definitely the biggest because she and Green, who is also her husband, collaborated on the series while stuck at home during the COVID pandemic.

Blue Eyed Samurai is available for streaming on Netflix.

(Via Collider)