Blue Eye Samurai – Season 1 Episode 4 Recap & Review

Peculiarities

Episode 4 of Blue Eye Samurai begins with Akemi making a drink for Mizu. This brief little teaser cuts us back to the dock, where Mizu and Ringo find themselves caught up in the drama in town. A death duel is about to take place. I mean, I say it’s a duel, it’s basically one sword slash and the man is downed like a sack of bloody potatoes!

Mizu heads through town and stops by a brothel, intent on putting her plan in order to take out Fowler. She shows up and requests an audience with Madame Kaji. They wait for a long time, before Kaji shows up and speaks to Mizu. The latter discusses the “peculiarities” available in the brothel, with strong men here to become weak and live out their wildest dreams. Madame Kaji points out the power and artistry of sex.

Spying these different rooms, there’s a really intriguing scene where a swordsman is kissing both a woman and then a man, as we cut across to last episode’s bout between Taigen and Mizu. It’s a brief flicker of what could be, before Mizu gets down to brass tacks.

Mizu knows that this brothel has served girls into Fowler’s castle, and Mizu wants to follow suit. The pair strike a deal, with Mizu agreeing to scratch her back if she scratches “his” and gets Mizu into the castle.

Kaji’s target happens to be Boss Hamata, who owns the gambling house. He also controls the “Thousand Claw Army”. Half of what the brothel makes in profits is forced to Hamata’s empire, and if anyone declines, then they’re dead meat. Mizu’s target is not Hamata but actually her protégé, Kinuyo.

Kinuyo is a deaf and mute girl whom Kaji took under her care from her abusive father. She grew to trust Kaji, whom she likened as a daughter. Kaji wants Mizu to take her out and kil her as an act of mercy. And as she prepares that night, that’s where we get that moment with Akemi serving Mizu a drink.

Now, Akemi had been searching for this place for a while, intending to track down the exact location of Taigen, and crossing paths with Mizu from afar during the death duel.

Akemi’s father has just sussed out his daughter has left, and sends guards out to track her down. Funnily enough, Kaji knows that Akemi is a highborn noble and she’s tested with Kaji. Or she would be, until one of the girls suggest she turn to Watari the Walrus.

The thing is, this guy hasn’t “got it up” for years and one of the girls even cracked 2 ribs while lying under him for 6 hours. Thankfully, Akemi intellectually stimulates him enough that it actually does the trick. The others in the brothel are impressed.

Flying high, Akemi then crosses paths with Kaji in the latter’s room. Mizu is clever and knows exactly who Akemi is. It eventually ends with Kaji tying up Akemi and tasking Ringo to watch over her, while she herself attends to her mission that night.

Mizu shows up in the middle of the night to see Kinuyo, holding her close and snapping her neck in the middle of the night. She poses the scene so it looks like her assistant killed her, and she fought back, before leaving. With the deed done, Kaji hands over instructions to get into Fowler’s castle.

As the episode closes out though, Mizu finds herself surrounded, as Boss Hamata shows up at the brothel with his army, intending to burn everything sown.

The Episode Review

Blue Eye Samurai continues to deliver exciting drama, and this time the attention turns to Kaji’s brothel and the lengths these women will go just to survive. The overarching theme here about survival is fascinating, all wrapped up in a thought provoking tone that echoes what Kaji said earlier on the episode. To survive in this world, women need to be resourceful.

The encounters between Mizu and Akemi are definite highlights here, while the thin snippets of humanity from our protagonist help to give her depth and more of a rounded persona than just a cold, hard killer.

The ending certainly hints that things are about to pick up in a big way, and thankfully we don’t have to wait too long to find out what happens next!