Shogun Meets John Wick In Netflix's 8-Part Action Series

An eight-episode Netflix series combines the wall-to-wall action of John Wick with the deep historical fiction of Shōgun in a nearly perfect blend. John Wick and Shōgun rarely go together. John Wick is one of the best action movie franchises of the 21st century, while Shōgun is widely regarded as one of the best TV shows of all time. They offer very different forms of entertainment, with John Wick going for adrenaline-pumping fights and Shōgun instead focusing on tense and complicated political maneuvering and historical fiction.

Despite how different Shōgun and John Wick are, one of the best shows on Netflix combines their very best elements into one incredibly cohesive series: Blue Eye Samurai. The animated series follows Mizu, a young, biracial samurai living in the Edo period of Japan's history in the 17th century. Mizu embarks on a quest to find the father she never knew, one of only a handful of white men in Japan at the time, and kill them as revenge for the racism and bigotry she has experienced due to being half white.

While an animated series like Blue Eye Samurai may not seem similar to either Shōgun or John Wick, the show actually has quite a bit in common with both. It may not take place in the same century, but Blue Eye Samurai has all the action thrills and massive fight scenes John Wick fans love. While it leans into action, it also has the historical fiction angle of Shōgun while dabbling with the show's brand of complicated Japanese politics. The result is a great show that's endlessly bingeable.

Netflix's Blue Eye Samurai Is John Wick With Swords Instead Of Guns

Blue Eye Samurai's similarities to John Wick are the easiest to spot, even though they're very different stories on the surface. John Wick takes place in the modern day, it heavily features gunfights and modern espionage tactics, and it features the franchise's rich and intricate world of assassins, gold coins, and rule-bound hotels. While Blue Eye Samurai can't replicate those specific details, it does replicate the way it feels to watch John Wick.

Each episode of Blue Eye Samurai is jam-packed with massive, brutal, and prolonged fight scenes, just as every John Wick movie is. The way Mizu works through a crowd of enemies, slicing and dicing everyone in her path to ribbons, feels incredibly reminiscent of the way John blasts through other assassins and bodyguards. John Wick also prides itself on its martial arts and hand-to-hand combat, which Blue Eye Samurai has in spades.

The main characters of each story, Mizu and John, also have a lot of similarities. Both are out on similar revenge quests, albeit with different circumstances and goals. Both are incredibly highly trained, both have tragic backstories that propel their journeys along, and both are almost inhumanly determined to see their goals accomplished, even working through life-threatening injuries along the way. Best of all, Mizu's blue eyes give her the same almost mythical legend that John has as the Baba Yaga. If you like action heroes that are larger than life, you'll love Mizu and Blue Eye Samurai.

Blue Eye Samurai Also Brings The Edo Period Of Japan's History To Life Just Like Shōgun Does

Blue Eye Samurai's genre aligns it with John Wick very closely, but its setting and story also make it very similar to Shōgun. As previously mentioned, Blue Eye Samurai takes place in the early Edo period of Japan's history, the same general time range that Shōgun takes place in. They tell very different stories — Blue Eye Samurai is primarily an action show, while Shōgun is a political thriller — but they both take close looks at Japan's rich history.

Shōgun and Blue Eye Samurai offer different views into the world of Edo period Japan. Shōgun gives audiences a glimpse at the highest levels of power vying for control of the island and the Shogunate, while Blue Eye Samurai mainly follows someone from the bottom trying to dismantle the top of the social hierarchy. They do both, however, have the same angle of a white foreigner upending Japan's delicate balance of political power by introducing firearms to the country.

Blue Eye Samurai even has some of the political intrigue and underhanded subterfuge that makes Shōgun so great, albeit to a much lesser extent. Through Abijah Fowler, Blue Eye Samurai crafts a story about overthrowing the ruling Shogun, and through Tokunobu Akemi, it investigates the way both noble and peasant women were treated in feudal Japan. It may not be as complex as Shōgun, but Blue Eye Samurai is a great option for those who want more Japanese historical fiction.