Cinepals - BLUE EYE SAMURAI 1x2 "An Unexpected Element" Reaction & Discussion! | Mata Erskine | Brenda Song

Episode Date: June 2, 2024

Jaby & Michael watch "Blue Eye Samurai" is an animated series set in Edo-period Japan, following a mixed-race swordswoman as she navigates a path of revenge and self-discovery in a society that shuns her.   Main cast: Maya Erskine (PEN15 & Insecure), George Takei (Star Trek & Heroes), Masi Oka (Heroes & Hawaii Five-0), Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Mortal Kombat & The Man in the High Castle), and Brenda Song (The Suite Life of Zack & Cody & Dollface).   Join our Patreon https://www.Patreon.com/JabyKoay or become a YouTube member for access to full length watchalong reactions!   SOCIAL MEDIA: ~CINEPALS~ YouTube: @CinePals Insta: https://instagram.com/TheCinePals Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheCinePals   ~MICHAEL~ Insta: @booseisloose

Sinha. Pals! We're continuing forward with Blue Eye Samurai. This is episode two, and here we go. Let's get into this. You're going to challenge me to a duel now? That's stupid. That's so...

Oh, you are such a dick. I'll kick your butt wounded. I am owed my honor. Then take it. She's still going to kick your ass, dude. Uh-huh. Even like... Whoa.

Let's see what happens. Yeah. Yeah, you're gonna just take it right now? You just saw what happened. There's no honor in that. I was gonna say, that's not how the samurai do things. Oh my gosh, what if that's the end of the show? Just cut to black, two episode season, that's the end of it.

That would be quite the surprise. Like, the rest of the show just follows the big dude. Oh my God, that's hysterical. Learning how to make noodles. It becomes like a slice of life anime. Yeah, that'd be something. Yeah, this was a nice continuation. It's hard not to just like be stunned at the visual magnificence.

Oh, yeah. The scaling and everything. Absolutely. How beautiful they make, you know, Japan and everything like that. I mean, Japan is beautiful, but like seeing it through animation and whatnot. Yeah, it's easier to do when you've got such a great canvas like Japan. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

They did a really nice job of setting up how intimidating the, what do they call them, the fang? Yeah, the four fangs. The four fangs. Like, they set them up really well because right from the word go, they're just like, they have such a, I don't know what's it called, like a foreboding presence. Yeah, yeah. Like it's an ominous presence too, yeah. I was gonna say ominous.

I'm like, so. Why no those two? Yeah. It's, yeah, like when they walk in just the shadow and everything like that, the use of shadows in that in the first scene with them at the restaurant, the irony of the guy cleaning the, the blood, I knew, I knew as soon as he, as soon as any character out loud says, oh man, I just got done doing this thing that was really annoying. You're like, oh, you're going to have to do it all over again.

Yeah. And, like, probably ten times worse. Because, again, like I said, now it's all over the ceiling and the walls and all that jazz. You saw how vicious they were. Oh, my God. Yeah. Turned him into mincemeat. Yeah.

Yikes. The dude in the restaurant was, like, his good cuts were everywhere. That was crazy. Oh, my God. I'm wondering if the guy who had his head shaved, what's his name, the character? Tygon. Tygin. Yeah, Tygin.

I'm wondering if he's going to have a character arc. I don't know. It could be one of those things like Goode, like, Vegeta, where, you know, like, I'm going to wait for you to get better so I can fight you and then lose again, you know? And then I'm going to get better and you're going to get better and then we're going to fight each other again. And one of these days I will defeat you. Yeah.

I feel like it could end up being like that kind of relationship because I don't foresee it being this thing where now he's aligned in a real way of like wanting to learn from our blue eye samurai, you know. He's going to have some sort of change of heart because like right now he, he, does seem kind of like an entitled dickhead, dickhead, exactly. And so I think he's got to have some sort of humbling. And he kind of got that when she defeated him the first time. But like, you know, we saw how quickly his ego was like, no, I've been wronged. I got to go settle this score rather than what his girl was trying to tell him and be like, it's okay. Your honor is still intact. You can

go on with your life. So I think we're definitely going to see, like you said, some sort of arc. but I wasn't sure if we were just going to have him constantly chasing her throughout the show, and then it was going to be like some final showdown, but now that he's found her wounded, there's no way he comes out of that not being a lasting character in the show. You know, we're not just going to have him

get defeated next episode. I assume they might pull the wool over our eyes and, you know, have them duel at the end of next episode. But I imagine, yeah, he's going to have some sort of character arc where he joins the group unwillingly. I really like the scene when Ringo was eating the noodles, and he just was like having a reality check

of just like, oh my gosh, I thought I was good at this. And you get into the real world and you realize, oh, those other people who were so much better and it puts you to shame and it makes you want to keep your day job kind of thing. Yeah, right? You know, I've heard something,

this could just be anecdotal, but I heard something about how the strokes will make a great album. Then they'll hear a song from the foo fighters and be like, we need to go back to the drawing board. We got to do this again. I might be misremembering some of the details there, but it was something like that

where you feel good about something. Even a Japanese reference, Hideo Kojima was like feeling so good about Metal Gear Solid and then he played Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear Solid 5 specifically. Then he played Grand Theft Auto. He's like, oh, shit. I got to go back to the drawing board. I'm like, how are you comparing Metal Gear to Grand The Top?

But anyway, yeah, that was just like, it's a very real moment. Ringo has to be like a fan favorite. Absolutely. I mean, he's so delightful. And you don't have like such a cute, happy character like that without everybody being like, oh my God, I love him. He is best boy. But I mean, like, there also is a fine line between those characters.

Like sometimes you can have a character like Ringo who is like the quirky sort of, I guess, audience insert in a little way where it's like, ah, we're the happy ones following along on the journey. And they can just be really annoying. So like I think the team has done a really, really good job of making him like a lovable character rather than just an annoying motor mouth that's like, oh my God, will you just shut up? Like his annoying quirks are funny to us even though they annoy the main character. And I think that's like the fine line you got to ride with those kind of characters. It's difficult. Yeah, for sure. How do you do that in a way that's not obnoxious and frustrates the audience?

Yeah, exactly. And, like, he's got to have some sort of arc and, like, learning as well, because if he remains the sort of silly, goofy, annoying one who's just innocent, like, that gets old after a while. So I'm really curious to see what his arc ends up being. You know, what he got the magic stick? What is the thing that he's going to be best at? We speculated that it's stealth.

So maybe he's got some sort of, like, I don't know, ninja glow up in the works or something like that. But, you know, he's got something that he's best at. It's just a matter of, like, revealing what it is. And it's not necessarily maybe being a samurai like he wants, but it might be something that's the real samurai skills were the friends we made along the way, you know? He's definitely got, what do you call it, courage and resilience.

Yeah, what's the word I'm looking for when you just, like, you keep driving forward. Tenacity? Yeah, he's got a tenacity to him where he will just keep at it. In spite of everything telling him no, he will keep moving forward. You need that in life. It's a very inspiring trait in a character. Like, if someone like that, you know, is able to do something, this might be a weird parallel

to draw, but, like, I remember, this is going to sound really dark. But a friend of mine who is, like, totally able, you know, was feeling down on himself. And then he heard this story about someone who worked in the Twin Towers. Oh. Who went down when the Towers, who died when the Towers went down. But he was, like, paralyzed or something like that. Like, he didn't have much control over his body, but he was still working a nine to five every day at the towers

and he's like, yo, if that guy was able to do the, I have no excuses. I literally have no excuses. So like, likewise here, you have a character who's just got so much tenacity, like, so much ambition in spite of like every reason to not. Yeah. You know, and I think that's such an admirable

thing to like having a show. You don't see that very often. I think it's super cool. I like, even when he got in the water and he's trying to go for the stick, I'm like, how could you possibly? And then it was the most obvious thing, which is he's using his mouth. Yep. You know, as a fully able person, like you're not thinking Yeah, we're just thinking about, like, all the things we couldn't do without our hands. And he's thinking about, like, all the things that he can accomplish with everything else on his body.

Exactly. Which I think is, yeah, again, that incredible resilience of just like, I'm going to make it work. Yeah. Life has given me these circumstances and I'm going to make it work. And, like, the fact that he's come out of it so excited and willing to adapt. Optimistic as well. Optimistic as well, especially considering, like, you know, his dad used to beat him when he was too loud or made noise in the noodle shop. So he just got really good, like, walking around.

And now he's proud of that. Like, it's these weird, dark things where it's like, okay, you could have gone both ways. You could have been, like, really, really jaded and, like, my life sucks. I hate that I don't have hands. Or you can be like, well, this is my lot in life, and I'm going to adapt to it. And I think that's the beauty of his character. Yeah, it's an interesting thing to realize how sometimes the brutal circumstances that are your upbringing actually make you into a doper person.

Yeah. That's, it's like, it's a weird thing to kind of arrive at it. It's like an evolution of mind, you know? Because like I mentioned earlier, like pressure makes diamonds. And so this blue eye samurai person had a really rough beginning, but is the dopest of the dope. You know, it's like, how do you get that person without having to go through all this? Yeah.

You know, like every once in a while you have an exception, like Andrew Schultz, who's a brilliant comedian, but he didn't have a rough upbringing, right? Yeah. I know it's a weird parallel. Again, but I'm picking up what you're putting down. Exactly. But generally speaking, great comedians came from like kind of a rough situation. like a difficult upbringing of some kind and that's what makes him the funniest person in the room

like the sad clown kind of thing yeah and so yeah like pressure makes diamonds pressure makes diamonds that's the point that's the moral of this story slurp slurp slurp slurp slurp but ringo's definitely an inspiring character i like i like how they've written him and i think uh masioka he's another person i never met him but i saw him in person once oh yeah i don't i used to run auditions for a casting director named yumi takeda and she'd bring in all the Asians and she brought him in she brought I didn't, um, this guy from, uh, the last samurai. Did you see the last samurai? I did see the last samurai, yeah.

Um, the guy who told Tom Cruise, you think too much. Oh, really? Oh, wow. He came in. Super cool, super nice guy. Anyway, I was so stoked. I don't, I don't get celebrity starstruck too often. Right.

But I just got done watching heroes. And so, you are like, forefront of my mind right now. I just can't. Yeah. And so his voice is actually perfect for this character. Yeah. And it's kind of fascinating because he's a man. He's not a tall guy.

He's, I kept doing this to represent. He's shorter, right? Because Ringo seems so much bigger. He's huge. Yeah. But his voice fits him perfectly, you know? Speaking of voices, the one critique I would have against the show is the voice of the pops who gave away his daughter. Not the Shogun, but yes, yes, yes, yes.

Our other girl's dad. Yeah. You don't I'm talking about. The one who's giving away his daughter to the black teeth guy. I don't like his voice. I'm not a fan of it. Because it's just like there's something about it that feels like a put-on as opposed to a character. Everybody else in the show

feels quite lived in, and he's the one voice that sticks out to me where I'm like, I'm not loving that, but everyone else seems like perfectly cast in my opinion. Fair enough. I'm wondering if like, just because you said it feels a little put on, maybe that's part of his character is like he himself is putting on this air of like, I'm great because he's

always talking about how he rose from nothing and he's the emce. He's the MC. Yeah, the main character. And so people who are like that, that are so insistent that like you have to respect me because I built myself up, always put some sort of air on. So like I don't, I don't necessarily hate, I have a problem with that voice just because it feels like that sort of shallow, fragile arrogance that this character

really lives in, where it's like my only claim to fame is my ego and I feel like I'm, I wouldn't say imposter syndrome, but it's, you know, it's there. He's an imposter. He's an imposter. Yeah, I guess you're right, you're right. It's an imposter syndrome. It's literally an imposter. And so he's trying to make himself sound more like how he thinks he needs to sound. I feel like imposter syndrome is literally for people who shouldn't have this syndrome. You're right. You're right. You're right. You're right. Whereas he is literally an imposter. Actually the imposter. There's an imposter among us.

I suppose that's a fair counter. Yeah. I mean, I could, I'll use that because I'm really enjoying the show. Right. And so I'd rather love everything about it. Well, I'm happy I gave you something to work through it. they're definitely giving our characters interesting circumstances to like go up against you know it seems all quite harrowing and when i thought you know i guess i doubted our main character for a second when i thought below i samurai was going to just jump for a minute i'm like that actually kind of makes sense there's four of these guys who we know are sick with it you know they're very very dangerous it just makes sense to bail for the time being you don't always have to fight but little

did i realize that she was just creating an advantage for herself by narrowing the field and i'm Like, that makes sense. I did that all the time. Yeah, yeah, there you go. Proven battle tactics. Yeah, exactly. When you're a 20 fighting against a 40 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, it's like you don't have a bunch of a choice, but to start thrust kicking everybody.

And it was beautifully done as well. I mean, we talked previously about like how creative the fights are and stuff like that. And I think that they just continued that there. It's like, what can we do that's different that hasn't been seen a whole lot? It's like even though in real life, you do a flip onto one arm. like that, you're probably going to wreck your shoulder. Yeah, your shoulder's coming out of its socket. But it looks dope and it looks so cool in the throes of the show, you know.

It's just very, very well done. I think they really thought about that in terms of the design of the action. Like, how do we do this? How do we give the audience something that is completely new? And they wowed me again, you know, twice in a row. It's like, can you keep that up the whole time? Yeah, I was going to say, you got a few more episodes to go. Let's see what you got.

Yeah. Anyways, looking forward to that. you guys thanks so much for hanging out i'm jabby kui this is michael boose peace out