Bright: Samurai Soul is an animated, All-CGI Cartoon Spin-Off of the fantasy/crime Netflix film Bright, this time following the Jidaigeki genre and set not in modern day Los Angeles but rather in Meiji Restoration Japan.
During the Bakumatsu period, the harsh struggle of the imperialist Isshin Shishi against the forces of the Shogun reached its peak, but during the darkest, most hopeless time of the battle, a mysterious pillar of light eneveloped Japan, everyone lost their fighting spirit and peace was reached. A few years later, Iso is a mysterious, one-eyed former samurai working in a high-class brothel where the most beautiful Tayu of the country, Chihaya, lives. An elf child, Sonya, is sold to the brothel and that very same night a group of armed thugs attacks the building, among them a mighty orc called Raiden. Thanks to Chihaya's sacrifice, Iso and Raiden manage to get away with Sonya and promise to deliver her to safety in the elvish colony of Hakodate, but the forces of the evil Inferni are after them, seeking the little Sonya and the mysterious "Wand" that should be in her possession to awaken the Dark Lord and unleash darkness on the country.
Contrasting its movie source, Bright: Samurai Soul has a bigger emphasis on the fantasy genre, the Fantastic Racism motif, while present, is much less prominent and the story has a more Black-and-White Morality mindset at work.
This anime contains examples of:
- Achey Scars: Iso is often seeing clutching his face and wounded eye in certain parts of the movie.
- Always Identical Twins: Chihaya's sister is so identical she's mistaken at least once per character.
- Apocalypse Maiden: Sonya is a Bright, as such she can use the Wand to either cast a brilliant light or to call forth a wave of darkness. The villain apparently seeks to corrupt her.
- An Arm and a Leg: The Dragon has his hand somewhat dissolved when he tries to restrain Chihaya and Sonya. During the final battle he shots off Raiden's leg by simultaneously unloading two rifles in the knee.
- Artistic License – History: The opening's view of the Bakumatsu seems to depict the fight between the Isshin Shishi and the Bakufu as an endless conflict that would have lasted forever if not for the Wand. in real life, while the revolution was bloody and long, the "final battle" ended with Tokugawa Yoshinobu fleeing Edo Castle and surrendering, leaving the Bakufu Remnants to seek refuge northwards as the Shishi took over the capital.
- Back from the Dead: Sonya's use of the Wand brings Iso and Raiden back to life, though they still sport the scars of their battles.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: The reason why Raiden, despite being an orc, holds no hard feelings towards Elves and he actually goes along pretty well with Elvish children, like Sonya.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: Raiden is massive, threathening and tusked. He's also a very kind soul and a gentleman.
- Classy Cravat: Iso wears his scarf like a cravat under his kimono, for some reason.
- Combat Tentacles: During the final clash, The Dragon
inexpicably grows a set of pink octopus tentacles in lieu of his missing hand, allowing him to manhandle his opponents and wield multiple guns at once. - Curb-Stomp Battle: Iso makes the best use of his resolve to save Sonya and fights his former mentor and current Big Bad... and gets his own ass handed to him so bad he gets killed.
- Dark Is Evil: Hint, if it has a dark aura then it's bad news and will inevitably use the Wand for evil.
- Drunk on the Dark Side: The Dragon is clearly intoxicated and much more insane-sounding while he sports the octopus tentacle-arm.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: The bad guys routinely employ orcs, goblins and dwarves in their forces.
- Eye Scream: Iso lost his eye to his former master and use his hair to cover the gash. He loses the other eye during the climatic final fight, but he gets better thanks to Sonya.
- Failure Hero: In the end, both Raiden and Iso fail to accomplish something in trying to stop the bad guy from getting Sonya, they only manage to (indirectly) hand the Wand to Sonya, who's somehow able to channel its powers to destroy the Big Bad and save everyone.
- Family-Unfriendly Violence: Raiden finally kills The Dragon by smashing his entire skull with the spiked part of his polearm, leaving a dangling mandible attached.
- Fantastic Racism: The commoners holds Raiden in disdain for being an orc, refuse to let him pass the night in an inn and, at one point, assume he attacked and wounded a child when he actually gave him medicine. In the last case at least, the child's mother realise his intentions and defends him from the mob, who apologize for their rudeness.
- Faux Action Girl: Chihaya's sister actually joins the heroes in fighting the main villain with a dagger... and gets her ass kicked without landing a single hit.
- Forced into Evil: Raiden at the beginning of the movie. The deal was that finding the elf girl in the brothel would be his last task, then he'd be free to do as he liked.
- Gentle Giant: Raiden is enormous and strong, but also very kind to the point that he never once react with violence or threats to the showing of Fantastic Racism he receives.
- Giant Space Flea From No Where: The setting is fantastic, but never once the viewer is told about how The Dragon, a seemingly ordinary man, can suddenly gets a whole mass of octopus tentacles to replace his missing arm.
- Guns Akimbo: Thanks to the above-mentioned octopus tentacles for a hand, the villain's henchman can now wield and somehow fire both his revolver and at least three other rifles in one hand. So technically it's Guns Akimbo with one hand.
- Guyliner: The Dragon has purple lipstick and marks under the eyes.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: The Big Bad tries to enlist the help of Toshimichi Okubo, one of the three great leaders of the Isshin, to find the Wand to awaken the Dark Lord and be granted a reward. Subverted in that Okubo obviously doesn't trust him and, after his death, he's seemingly relieved and states that the new Meiji Government will prosper on its own, without magic or supernatural help.
- Holy Burns Evil: Hinted early on, when The Dragon's hand suddenly vanishes with a puff of smoke when Sonya activates part of its power. The Big Bad is downright pulverized.
- Karmic Death The Big Bad spends the entire story trying to get Sonya and have her use the Wand for darkness. When she ultimately use the Wand, the presence of Iso and Chihaya's sister makes the radiance light-aligned and promptly evaporates him.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Chihaya was the elf who once used the Wand to put an end to the Bakumatsu wars. As a result, she lost all her memories and thus took the name of "Chihaya" (Chiha can sound like "Destroyed Knowledge").
- Master Swordsman: The Big Bad is incredibly skilled with a sword, even after exchanging the traditional katana for a western rapier.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Raiden admits that orcs are usually uncouth and only wanted for their prodigious brute strength, while he himself is much calmer and introspective.
- Never Bring a Gun to a Knife Fight: The climax has The Dragon with guns fighting Raiden, who uses a polearm. He manages to shot his leg off, only to have his entire cranium smashed apart.
- Non-Dubbed Grunts: Painfully clear in the Italian dub of the movie, especially since many of the voice actors sounds nothing like their original characters (for example the original Raiden has a deeper voice than the Italian VA).
- Our Centaurs Are Different: A lone, small Centaur called "Tsukuyomi" lives in a small grotto near Mt Fuji and is a sage hermit and a Mr. Exposition.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: A single line mentions that the Dark Lord is currently in a deep slumber, implying that the main villain wants to release him with the Wand.
- Show, Don't Tell: The anime movie is rather stingy on explanations and events: many things are shown onscreen, but more often than not, the viewer isn't told what they actually are.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: An half-blind swordsman full of determination squares off against his former master and superior in a sword duel. After dealing a single wound on his opponent's hand, Iso is quickly overwhelmed, blinded and killed.
- Taking You with Me: After having his brains splattered all over the ship, The Dragon still lifts one of his tentacles to shot Raiden right in the head, killing him.
- The Tooth Hurts: To show his genuine intentions, Raiden rips out his right tusk and crush it into powder. Apparently it's an important orcish oath.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Sonya is terrified of water, so much that, near the beginning, the threat of having water from a gourd poured on her head is enough to make her behave. Apparently her ship sunk on her way to Japan from Russia, killing her entire family.
