I know I'm late but Happy Valentine's day <3
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@iri-atk
I know I'm late but Happy Valentine's day <3
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i just cant stop drawing them srry
its edo era national wedding xd
Mizu's Ember is not only hate and destruction
It can also be these:
Curiosity
Passion
Determination
Home
Desire
Rebirth
I'm in such an awe about how creators of Blue Eye Samurai use fire to create an amazing scenery and show character's emotions.
Why Taigen absolutely HAS TO go to LONDON – 5 reasons
Main reason: because if he doesn’t, it would be a huge waste of his potential to grow as a character.
Reason #1 – To make his romance with Mizu believable
If Taimizu is supposed to be the endgame (and creators are giving us multiple hints that it WILL), Taigen and Mizu simply CANNOT spend the whole season in two different corners of the world.
I mean… creators COULD go with them meeting again in season three as two completely different people, so they could give their relationship a fresh start, but personally I think it would be a bad solution.
Yes, they are supposed to be “enemies to lovers” but for them to fall in love more naturally, I believe we need to add another word to the formula: enemies to FRIENDS to lovers. For that they need a whole season together of simply knowing each other.
Reason #2 – So he can experience racism firsthand
I mean, come on… after season one the plot just BEGS for it to happen.
Taigen has already made a huge progress by realizing Mizu is not just some monster without feelings and he cannot just erase what he did in the childhood by FORGETTING about it. (check my other post about WHY Taigen could want to forget his past so much)
But just realizing something is a completely different story than actually EXPERIENCING it.
I believe Taigen really, really needs to experience THIS – immediate contempt, distrust and violence directed at him, without any good reason, just cause he’s face is a little different. Only then he will grasp the full magnitude of what MIZU was feeling.
Reason #3 – To meet "Good Whites"
In the show Ringo is the only person who approaches the concept of a white person with gentle curiosity, bombarding Mizu with questions about "HER people", asking whether they drink milk or get sunburn. Everyone else – including Taigen AND Mizu herself - simply brands westerners as “the white devils”. So, when the journey to London happens there might be a lot of surprises.
Of course SOME aspects of European culture might be unpleasant for our protagonists – like completely different cuisine and the part about SMELL, because yeah, in that period of time English people considered taking a bath unhealthy, so the part of them being “stinky” would be one hundred percent true.
BUT there is also English Code of Honor, something every respectful gentleman followed and THAT might be a huge shock for some of our heroes, especially Taigen.
Imagine him meeting an English nobleman who is much more honorable than him (perhaps even a rival for Mizu’s affections?) – too good to be true.
Check out this delicious (and veeery honorable) English cupcake, John Rolfe!
Anyway, both Mizu and Taigen need to see that being good or evil has absolutely NOTHING to do with someone’s nationality. Mizu needs it to suppress her own safe hate and Taigen needs his own experience with the whites so he can encourage her to do so.
Reason #4 – To end things with Akemi, once and for all
Last time we see Taigen in season one, Akemi tells him “WE should stay”, meaning they should remain in Edo.
Now, it could be… just a phrase that wouldn't imply that they should literally stay there together, just the fact Akemi has no intention of running away with Taigen. Or it could mean staying in Edo to make sure it’s safe under the new shogun’s rule, help people who lost their homes, etc.
OR, it could mean Akemi wants Taigen to stay FOR GOOD, as a loyal samurai. If that’s the case, it would be incredibly selfish from Akemi’s part, especially considering the fact that in his head Taigen still probably BELIEVES he is in love with her. Yeah, really cruel. But I think it is something Akemi could do – I do love her as a character, but I have to admit she is pretty selfish (like in episode two, when she was prepared to say anything to make Taigen stay with her, completely disregarding his own feelings and consequences of losing his honor, even going as far as to have sex to keep him) and used to things going HER WAY (“NOONE refuses me”).
So what I want to see at the beginning of season two is Taigen leaving, explaining very firmly that he will not stay in Edo to be Akemi’s personal guard while she and her new husband play house, instead he will search for Mizu, to make sure “the idiot doesn’t kill himself before our duel” or something along these lines ^^.
It would be such a good parallel to season one - Akemi trying to make Taigen stay for a second time and failing again (I imagine she would say something like: all you ever do is run away to chase MIZU).
Of course it doesn't mean Taigen and Akemi should stop interacting altogether - I see them becoming good friends in season three.
There is also a chance Akemi and Taigen have already settled things in season one, since the last time we saw Akemi she was with her husband's family WITHOUT TAIGEN.
Reason #5 – So that Fowler can tell him that Mizu is a woman
As soon as Fowler guessed Mizu’s true sex, a thought crossed my mind and I’m ninety percent sure I’m right on this one: This guy WILL reveal Mizu’s secret to someone and he will choose a VERY GOOD MOMENT to do so.
He’s already proven on multiple occasions that he is incredibly smart (the way he hid the guns) and quite patient (he planned his coup for YEARS). And Taigen seems just the perfect candidate, at whom he could drop the bomb. Fowler knows Taigen, because he tortured him along with Heiji Shindo, he has learned that Taigen is “stupidly loyal” towards Mizu, and now he also knows that the feeling is mutual, since Mizu discarded her struggles in Fowler’s Fortress just to save Taigen.
Look at how Fowler used Taigen to gain the upper hand in the fight:
Litterally using Taigen as a shield.
He is perfectly capable of using his opponent’s weakness against them, and he already knows that for Mizu it’s Taigen. She knows it TOO.
That’s why she pauses here:
My first thought was that she simply turns back to check Taigen’s injuries, but that’s not the case. She comes back because she knows Taigen WILL follow her and Fowler again, and possibly get hurt even more, and that Fowler will likely use Taigen in some way to either win the fight or to escape. That’s why Mizu sells Taigen the idea that Akemi needs him MORE right now, so Taigen should just go and escape with her. And that’s what Taigen tries to do.
But I think that the showdown with Fowler will continue in season two . (I even have a theory what could happen afterwards – check it out!)
Some ideas for the plot are just TOO GOOD not to happen.
When Taigen finds out Mizu is a woman...
Many people believe he will be angry at Mizu. But I think they are wrong.
It’s MIZU who will get really, really angry. Her outburst will soften Taigen’s own reaction and help him understand what Mizu was going through all this time.
Ever since season one ended, there have been speculations about Taigen’s possible reaction to Mizu’s sex reveal. People keep saying that Taigen is a direct guy, an immature person and a huge drama queen, so he has to get angry at Mizu when he learns the truth about her sex. But my own personal opinion is that he won’t. Instead he’ll get angry at himself and here’s why:
Yeah, all these things are true: Taigen IS quite direct, he IS immature and he IS a huge drama queen. But he also possess natural gentleness towards women (check my post about his “sweetness”) and despite being a bully in his childhood, he knows how to be compassionate (check my post about Taigen’s “duality”). And, most of all, he considers himself an honorable person and he is determined to act like a true samurai.
Guess what’s forbidden by the samurai code of honor? Hitting women. In Japanese society of Edo Period women and children were considered the vulnerable ones and samurai were expected to protect them. So imagine the potential consequences of hitting a woman for someone like Taigen.
Do you see where I’m getting here?
Having those things in mind, we also need to take a third factor into consideration: Mizu’s reaction to Taigen finding out about her.
Because if you assume that she’ll act like Mulan, clumsily explaining herself with tail between her legs, then you haven’t been paying attention to the show.
If you DID watch the show closely, Mizu’s reaction is going to be quite easy to predict.
When Mikio saw Mizu’s masculine side, he called her a monster. When Master Eiji learned that Mizu hid “something” from him, he refused to listen, choosing to remain “blind” not only literally but also metaphorically. Although it’s quite obvious that he knows, because if he didn’t, why would he deliberately use the words “boy” and “man” – and Mizu is extremely perceptive about how people choose their words (proven by her conversation with Heiji Shindo), so she must know that Swordfather knows, and they keep playing their little game of pretending.
(Why Master Eiji wants to keep Mizu’s sex a taboo is a story for another post)
And Taigen?
Taigen is a proud samurai, whose fiancé was Akemi, the very embodiment of traditional Japanese femininity (at least at first glance).
So, what is Mizu going to expect from Taigen when he learns about her? The absolute worst!
She’s going to assume the worst, and because she’s a natural warrior who never backed down from the challenge, especially involving Taigen, she’ll immediately go into the offensive. I can see it clearly: Mizu losing her shit, openly provoking Taigen to go on, call me a monster again, this is who I am, you’ve always said it, so why stay quiet now?!
Perhaps there will even be some physical violence, Mizu will get feral like a cornered animal, because that’s how she will feel at the moment. I think her intention will be to just make Taigen say whatever insult he has in mind, to just get it over with.
BUT…
That kind of behavior will allow Taigen to see her vulnerable side. And I believe that’s something he really wants to see, because he is eager to know Mizu, to learn more about her, and – most importantly – he wants to see her without her mask.
Just look at episode three:
In one of my previous post, I mention how Taigen makes an important decision to act honorably and NOT to kill Mizu when she’s unconscious. Right after he sheathes his sword, he kneels next to his rival but not to immediately examine the wound (which would be logical course of action) but just to STARE. As if he was asking himself: okay, if you’re not a cold blooded monster, then WHO are you?
And he’s trying to find out through the entire episode three. EVERYTHING he does in this episode is an attempt to get some sort of reaction from Mizu. He wants to crack her shell, because the only face Mizu showed him until now was of a cocky swordsman, who was pretty good at controlling her emotions, and only losing her cool to some extent (like when Taigen called her a dog and she cut his topknot).
The whole point of throwing insults at Mizu during the Chopsticks Fight is to get a REACTION from her. Taigen wants to make her angry on purpose and even though he loses the fight itself, he gets what he wants, because Mizu is pissed and hits him really hard. That’s why he’s smirking when it’s over.
And later there are those awkward attempts to have a conversation. Taigen is quoting the Lotus Sutra and immediately glances at Mizu, as if wanting to say “I studied sutras in the dojo, did you study them too?” Then he talks about his abusive father and tries to push Mizu to reveal something about herself.
But she keeps her cool and even though you can say she’s listening very carefully, she keeps silent.
Actually, when you think about it, Mizu isn’t very talkative and I think it irks Taigen - partly because HE is very talkative, but also because he’s genuinely curious about his rival. Ever since they were children Mizu NEVER said anything while being bullied – whenever she got insulted, she reacted through actions but never words. And she continues to do it in her adult life. I think it makes Taigen even more intrigued, so he really, really wants her to break, to reveal her true feelings.
The closest he gets to seeing a “glimpse” of vulnerable Mizu is only twice in the whole show. First time is when she coldly tells him “I remember Kohama”, which in this context means: “Yeah, I didn’t forget how you bullied me.”
Second one is when Taigen brings her the dumplings and she mutters “I’ve never tried them. Remember? I was just a dog who ate gutter scraps.” Which in this case means: “yeah, being rejected by people and being hungry actually hurt me, I do have feelings”. And she calls herself a dog – the very same insult Taigen always used. She's disappointed in herself, acting all defeated and resigned, there are cracks in her armor, and you can tell it really gets to Taigen, so he immediately tries to "pick up the pieces of her soul" (symbolized by her sword in this scene), to somehow help her get up.
So Taigen sees two metaphorical “drops” of water (Mizu). But they are only drops. Now imagine yourself poking a hole in the rock, and they are tiny droplets of water coming from it, so you get irritated. But then, there is a huge secret revealed, it’s like a bomb, so the rock crumbles all at once and there is this huge tsunami of emotions coming out. It must be shocking and unexpected!
So my guess is that Taigen will be shaken by the discovery that Mizu is a woman, but not because he will feel angry or betrayed, but because he will realize that all of his childhood he was bullying a little girl (I expect another flashback of little Mizu staring at him with those big scared eyes).
And he will be extremely disappointed in himself. He will become aware of Mizu’s self-hatred and it will shock him. He will finally realize how much emotions she was suppressing till now and it will crush him. The realization will hit him that it’s partly because of HIM that Mizu grew up to be tough and cold, suppressing her sweet and gentle side.
Even in season one Taigen already KNOWS Mizu is capable of being gentle and sweet, and he was in awe both times he saw it (first after their friendly spar, second when she begged him not to follow her and Fowler). I think season two will deliver more of Mizu’s gentleness and that will make discovering her secret by Taigen even more painful.
So, Taigen will be disappointed of himself and it will show on his face, but Mizu will interpret it as a rejection and will lash out at him, forcing him to defend himself, verbally and (possibly) physically, which he will probably do rather clumsily, because he won’t be sure how to handle all of this shit and he doesn’t really want to hit A WOMAN, but that will rile up Mizu even more. Taigen may try to calm Mizu down, but being an idiot he will probably do so through yelling back.
Anyway, after the fight ends, Mizu might want to distance herself from Taigen like she tried to do with Ringo at the beginning of the series. So, ultimately, it won’t be Mizu who will have to explain herself and work hard to win Taigen’s trust back. It will be Taigen who will have to prove that he accepts Mizu as she is and therefore deserves her trust.
I don’t see it happening in any other way.
And seriously, if the creators decide to pull “Mulan shit” and present Mizu as the one who was in the wrong for hiding her true sex, I will be very disappointed. Because, hell, she WASN’T in the wrong – she didn’t become a boy because of ambition or any selfish reasons. It’s the truth that she CONTINUES to live as a man for her vengeance quest, but that’s not how it had started. Mizu’s mama forced her to become a boy and Mizu even made an attempt to live as woman.
Also, putting aside all of this, she still has a bounty on her head as a woman! She really has nothing to apologize for. Not even for not trusting Taigen and not telling him the truth, because what kind of person would in her situation?
Bonus theory:
How will the reveal happen? I think Fowler will tell Taigen, because him doing so would create such a perfect drama.
Imagine this: Taigen and Mizu go to London, Fowler escapes at some point, they eventually corner him (I imagine it happening somewhere at the end of season two) and Fowler teases Taigen with words like: You follow your WOMAN everywhere.
Taigen is confused, and there’s more teasing: Wait, you didn’t know? I was sure you were f*cking her!
It would be just TOO good. And imagine how difficult the fight would become, with Taigen distracted with this shocking discovery and not having the time to process anything. Just too good.
And I can easily image a conversation that would occur afterwards.
Mizu (angrily): You’re disgusted with me! Don’t pretend you’re not!
Taigen: (yelling) I’m not disgusted with YOU, I’m disgusted with myself. All my childhood I was bullying A GIRL. Do you know what it means to me? To my HONOR?!
Mizu: You think those stones you threw at me would hurt LESS if I had a dick? How is attacking a girl with five other brats MORE DISHONORABLE than attacking a boy with five other brats?
And they will quarrel like that, with Mizu expressing her self-hatred and probably also – for the very first time – openly expressing her true feelings about being bullied in childhood, and Taigen trying to explain himself.
And, like I mentioned before, I think that at some point Taigen will notice that Mizu is hurt, seriously hurt, he will acknowledge her suffering and his own role in it, and it will calm him down. I imagine Taigen becoming gradually more and more quiet, watching Mizu intently, while Mizu continues to yell at him.
I imagine it happening in the rain, so it would be hard to tell whether Mizu is crying or not.
I also kind of hope Taigen will kiss her just to shut her up, although realistically I think it would be much too soon for something like this to happen right after the sex discovery. So my guess is that the reveal will happen in season two (in the last episode or the one before last), while taimizu will begin in season three.
I needed to practice hands, so I did gay fanart about it
Mizu - Blue eye samurai fanart
Taigen to Mizu: “I hate you”
also Taigen when Mizu:
Taigen when Akemi's trying to sleep with him: 😐
Taigen when Mizu: 😳😃😏😊☺️
yall ever think about how the first time we see taigen kill anyone onscreen it's a "dishonourable" kill he does out of revenge.
like before this we hear akemi's father mention him killing 24 people in duels, but we never actually see taigen kill anyone onscreen until this moment. he helps mizu temporarily evade the archers in episode 3, but he doesn't actually kill anyone; the archers are invisible to them and the viewers. then he gets caught and tortured and when mizu finds him again, he's too weak to actually do any damage to anyone and mizu just slaps him away during the "bell tolls" fight sequence. and then skip to the final episode, there's that moment where he and ringo charge through the front door to meet the shogun, but even then it doesn't really look like they did any real damage and that's why they get easily caught after.
him killing heiji shindo in this way just shows how far he's come as a character. it's symbolic of him following in mizu's footsteps, not only in getting revenge against a man who's wronged him, but also in shedding his usual code of honour.
like this man got everything stripped from him by the boy he used to bully as a kid and then proceeded to be completely changed by that same boy.
his entire worldview and values were flipped all the way upside down. from wanting to be rich and powerful to just wanting to be happy. and all because of this one person, who, by "ruining" his life, actually made him a better person.
this beautiful badass stoic mysterious incredible strong arrogant intelligent person whom taigen has come to completely respect and admire by the end of the season.
someone whom he'd thought was ontologically evil by the nature of their birth, someone whom he himself had tormented in the past, now just constantly changing and saving his life and showing him there's more important things than ambition and pride.
imagine being so changed by your greatest rival. oh taimizu nobody is doing enemies to lovers like you!
Mizu smiling compilation
It's already 2025 but I'm still stuck thinking about Mizu. Specifically thinking about how Mizu does not smile very much throughout the series.
Most (like I'd say 90%) of adult Mizu's smiles are actually not from present day but from her Episode 5 flashback, which is of course unsurprising. This is during a time when she was comfortable being herself and letting her hair down. She was vulnerable, in love, and happy.
In present day though, most of her smiles are smirks she makes while showboating. She is arrogant, sarcastic, biting, intimidating.
"Do I duel the mystic Tengu themselves?"
"Maybe I've been following you. The famous Hachi with the famous gun."
"Your [Akemi] father probably lined up a nice, young replacement lord to marry."
"I see why he [Taigen] likes you [Akemi]. You're just like Taigen when we were children. A fucking brat."
But underneath her bitterness and bravado, Mizu has a soft heart. We see this side of Mizu most often when she's alone.
Like when she smiles proudly at her own achievements the same way she used to as a child.
She smiles while fondly sending a prayer for Master Eiji, whom she has given the affectionate nickname/title of Swordfather.
"Please protect Swordfather from time and harm."
She smiles at the sound of the drums during the Hadaka Matsuri. She secretly yearns for fun, and genuinely wanted to go to the festival.
"Huh. The drums. Maybe I'll just go look at the fun."
It's not only while alone that she smiles however.
She also smiles when Akemi compliments her eyes, taken aback for a moment and seemingly impressed by Akemi's ability to flatter her.
"Huh. I see."
Then right after, we get this dialogue:
MIZU: Your madam explained how it is some essential part of the soul that draws men to brothels, when it's only naked flattery. Do men usually fall for this? AKEMI: The ones I've known, yes.
And then Mizu smiles again:
There are a few ways you can interpret this. Maybe she's just smirking like "lmao those dudes are suckers," or maybe she herself feels flattered because Akemi could be alluding to how Mizu is not like other men, or maybe she's remembering that Taigen is one of the men Akemi has known, who, consequently, is one of those suckers to always fall for Akemi's flattery.
Oh, and speaking of Taigen. Funnily enough, Taigen is the leading cause of present-day Mizu's smiles.
First is when they first meet again in episode 1.
"You're from Kohama Village. […] You've climbed some heights... to be the prize of a miserable lot."
This is, of course, not a genuine smile, but one of those cocky smirks mentioned earlier that she often makes. But while we're here, I just find it notable to point out because, despite the fact that he was her childhood bully, she is not afraid of seeing him again. Instead her first reaction upon realising who she's facing is to insult him to his face while smirking at him! I just find this interesting because it really sheds light on how she views Taigen in the present day. She doesn't see herself as his helpless victim. She's proud to show off that she, too, has made it out of Kohama, and that, in fact, she's better than him.
She smiles at him again later, just before they start their proper duel in the snow. She unsheathes her sword (which is the first time for both Taigen and the audience), and Taigen is shocked as he says this:
"You have a sword made by Master Eiji."
And then we have this:
Another smirk, playful and confident. Because joke's on him; little does he know that Master Eiji is her adoptive father, and not only that, the sword was in fact made by her own hand, and not Eiji's. Taigen is ever the fool and she finds it amusing.
The next time she smiles at him it's actually a genuine smile. It's in Episode 3, right after they work together to fend off the archers. Both of them are giddy and sheepish and awkward as they compliment each other's skills. Mizu smiles and looks at him with the same sort of hesitant admiration he gives her:
"Your timing… You're deeply skilled. The broken blade fits well in your hand."
The next time she smiles because of him doesn't involve him directly. Instead it's during the conversation with Akemi we talked about earlier. Right before she drinks from the cup Akemi gives her, she decides to bring up Taigen. We know this is because Mizu already recognised Akemi as Taigen's fiance and wants to mess with her. So she purposely alludes to him, boasting about how she'd defeated him in battle and smiling as she remembers fighting him. This is again one of those showboaty smiles, directed at Akemi, whom she is trying to deceive, but it ends up tying back to Taigen. She's smiling because he's an idiot, practically laughing at him.
But we do see her smile genuinely because of Taigen again. Later in Episode 6, Mizu finds Taigen in the dungeon of Fowler's fortress and her first reaction upon realising it's him is to gasp, before getting a hallucination of Mikio and Mama which unnerves her. It's when Taigen says her name that she snaps back to reality. This is when she smiles, glad to see an ally and a familiar face during such a painful time.
TAIGEN: [weakly] Mizu? MIZU: [relieved] Taigen.
The next episode is the penultimate episode of the season, and it finds Mizu at her lowest point. In a typical three-act dramatic structure, Episode 7 is essentially the "All is Lost" and "Dark Night of the Soul" portion. Mizu lost her sword, she failed to defeat Fowler at his fortress, and all attempts at reforging her sword has failed. Yet, it's during this time that Taigen begins to treat her as more than a reluctant ally, but also as a friend. It's here when he makes her smile the most.
First is when he reluctantly compliments her fighting skills.
"You're good. Maybe... even better than me. And no one is better than me."
She chuckles and seems genuinely amused.
This isn't just a cocky smirk but also a heartfelt smile. She recognises he's trying to cheer her up in his own way, backhanded as it might be.
And then he challenges her to spar, only to pretend right after that that he doesn't have the energy for it. She drops her hammer while smiling. The thought of a friendly spar already made her happy.
Then, of course, right after that, he charges at her and they have their playful little wrestling bout. And Mizu is laughing the entire time! Despite being at such a low point, this is still the happiest we see present-day Mizu.
We then see her smile because of Taigen again in Episode 8, but it's not while talking to Taigen, but about him. She is talking to Akemi, and her last words aren't even about Akemi or Mizu herself, but about Taigen. She smiles while thinking of him, talking of him almost fondly:
"Stubborn enough, [Taigen] will find you. He believes he loves you very much. He's not a good man. He could be a great one."
And that's it! I couldn't compile every single screenshot of her smiling because of the Tumblr photo limit, but this is roughly most of them. My wishlist for future seasons is for more Mizu smiles because my poor babygirl deserves to be happy.
Mizu smiles lighten my day
has this been done yet
Back to the beginning
Oh my God, that was me!
By Palsonart on X
i binged blue eye samurai and all i can say is i love women