Recap / Blue Eye Samurai S 01 E 04 Peculiarities

The episode begins with a woman adding drops of a suspicious substance to a pot of sake, then serving it to a samurai. Then the audience sees that the samurai is Mizu, and the woman serving the drink is Akemi.

At this point we jump back in time. Mizu has just arrived in a new town, and after witnessing a duel, she goes out, seeking the parlor that would be sending prostitutes to the remote castle of Heiji Shindo and Abijah Fowler. She stops at a house run by Madam Kaji, who is known for catering to... "peculiar" tastes. When Mizu goes inside, she asks Madam Kaji's assistant to see Madam Kaji herself. The assistant replies that people schedule appointments with the madam months in advance, but after hours of Mizu sitting inside the brothel showing no interest in anyone or anything else, Madam Kaji finally comes to speak with Mizu.

Madam Kaji gives Mizu a talk about the nature of desire and tries to interest Mizu in various things her parlor offers, and Mizu finds herself a bit disconcerted when Madam Kaji's questions about what Mizu really wants causes Mizu to think of the moment she locked eyes with Taigen while they were wrestling. When the two are alone in a private room Mizu brings up Abijah Fowler. A disconcerted Madam Kaji quickly guesses that Mizu is out to kill Fowler, and begins to refuse to have anything to do with the matter. Mizu demonstrates her sword skills and offers a trade, with Madam Kaji telling Mizu how to get into Fowler's island castle and in exchange Mizu will use her sword skills against whatever enemy or to do whatever deed Madam Kaji wants. Mizu also mentions her maiming of Heiji Shindo, which seems to help persuade Madam Kaji.

Madam Kaji then tells Mizu about the local Yakuza boss Hamata, who rules the town with his gang the Thousand Claws (who are called this due to their penchant for using Wolverine Claws as their preferred weapon), and whom Kaji and her brothel are forced to pay tribute to. Worse, Hamata has demanded more than money from Madam Kaji, having also taken a deaf mute girl named Kinuyo that Madam Kaji had taken a motherly interest in and promised to protect. Mizu guesses that Kaji wants her to assassinate Boss Hamata, and is surprised when the madam says that she wants Mizu to put Kinuyo out of her misery. Kaji notes that she will be the main suspect if anything happens to Boss Hamata and there will be a terrible reprisal from the Thousand Claws, but an accidental death arranged just right could bring the life of pain and terror Kinuyo is living to a close without the Thousand Claws descending on Kaji's brothel and slaughtering everyone there.

Madam Kaji promises to give Mizu the information she desires in return, asking only that Mizu make a special sign to Kinuyo, which will let Kinuyo know that Mizu is acting on Kaji's behalf and give Kinuyo calm and peace. Madam Kaji offers Mizu a private room to stay until later in the night when Mizu will attempt to carry out her mission when fewer people are awake, then leaves the room, crying softly for Kinuyo. Just a few moments later Akemi enters and pours some sake for Mizu, claiming it's from Madam Kaji.

At this point we see Akemi's own journey to the town. She goes through town after town alongside Goro, and whenever he is distracted in a town or away from her side for a second Akemi asks everyone she can for information on Taigen. Each time they receive no information, and Akemi tells Goro that they can do better than whatever brothel they were looking at, and at her insistence the two move on to the next town. At some points along the way they have to dodge soldiers who serve Akemi's father, as he has finally caught onto a ruse Akemi used to cover her absence.

Goro begins getting impatient, and he starts to complain about how much trouble Akemi is being for him despite his good treatment of her (including at one point grumbling to himself that normally he can just drug troublesome girls into compliance while toying with a small container), but because he thinks Akemi is his big payday he puts up with this and keeps moving on. Eventually they arrive at the same town and witness the same duel Mizu did, and Akemi notices Mizu wearing Taigen's scarf. Akemi then follows Goro to Madam Kaji's brothel, proclaims that "This is the one", and covertly swipes Goro's knockout drug container.

Madam Kaji immediately sees through Akemi's act of being an experienced courtesan, but also sees Akemi's legitimate desire to escape from home, and decides to give Akemi a chance in the brothel. Akemi uses her wits to trick one client into pleasuring himself, then grabs some sake, pours a few drops of Goro's knockout drug into it, and goes into Mizu's room to serve her the sake, claiming that Kaji told her to do so and will beat her if she doesn't. Much like Madam Kaji, Mizu isn't fooled by Akemi (in fact she remembers Akemi from Kyoto), and quickly baits her into revealing herself by claiming that she killed Taigen. When a grief stricken Akemi draws a dagger and attacks, Mizu subdues her, then reveals that Taigen is alive, ties Akemi up, and has Ringo watch her while Mizu leaves to go on her mission.

Mizu manages to infiltrate the top floor of Hamata's gambling house, evading detection at every step. Kinuyo has just been visited by a doctor, and is in the company of a bodyguard trusted to be by her side when boss Hamata isn't around. Mizu disposes of the guard with a dart to the neck, then makes the sign Madam Kaji told her to make to Kinuyo. Kinuyo is reluctant to trust her, but finally approaches Mizu after Mizu says that she'll protect her. The women crouch together in the dark room while boss Hamata's guards patrol nearby, trying not to raise the alarm... and then Mizu abruptly breaks Kinuyo's neck. The other woman is likely dead before realizing Mizu turned on her. An emotionally distraught Mizu arranges the scene to look as though the bodyguard attacked Kinuyo in an attempt to rape her and she stabbed him in the neck with one of her hairpins, making it appear to be a Mutual Kill.

Mizu slips out of the building and into a nearby alley, where she is still disturbed, shaking, and having trouble holding in her feelings. She realizes that a young boy has seen her, and considers silencing him, but seems unable to work herself up to it and so tells him instead to report a fight between two people to the night watchman. Mizu then heads back to the brothel, where Madam Kaji gives her information on how to infiltrate the castle and allows Mizu to rest for a day before departing.

Not long afterward, however, there's a scream from outside the building, and Mizu and company run outside to see boss Hamata and his Claws are assembled there, with Hamata holding Madam Kaji's doorman hostage. Hamata calls on the boy Mizu spared to identify the figure he saw in the alleyway, and the boy points at Mizu. Boss Hamata slits the throat of the doorman, then orders his men to kill everyone from Kaji's brothel and to burn it to the ground.

The episode ends there.

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Tropes for this episode include:

• The Alcoholic: The doorman at Madame Kaji's carries a bowl of sake around with him and has the red cheeks of a prolific drinker.
• All for Nothing: Mizu is given a mission that needs to be carried out in absolute and complete secrecy, with no trace left behind to lead back to Madam Kaji. She sneaks around guards, barely avoids detection multiple times, noiselessly kills Kinuyo's bodyguard, stages the scene... and the ruse is almost immediately revealed and Hamata shows up outside Madam Kaji's brothel not long after Mizu returns there.
• Answer Cut: Akemi has been questioning everyone she meets about Taigen, trying to find any news of his whereabouts. Having found nothing, she asks in worry and despair where Taigen could be. Cut to him in Fowler and Shindo's dungeon, being tortured.
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • When Mizu rejects the idea of indulging herself, Madame Kaji asks, "If you are only a sword are you even a man, or a mere demon?"
  • Mizu tells Ringo to kill Akemi if she causes any trouble. When Ringo protests that he can't just kill someone, Mizu replies, "What do you think an apprentice does?"
• Aroused by Their Voice: For her first client, Akemi is told to service Watari the Walrus. Despite Watari not being capable of arousal for some time, she's able to get him off with renga poetry using erotic verses.
• Bad Liar: Both Madam Kaji and Mizu instantly see through Akemi's attempts at deception. Kaji quickly pegs her as a runaway noblewoman just by looking at her hands and teeth. Mizu remembers Akemi from Kyoto, but even if she didn't, she would probably not be fooled anyway, considering that Akemi appeared with sake mere moments after Mizu specifically said she didn't want anything from Kaji, or that Akemi's claims about how Kaji would beat her clash with Mizu's recent experience with Kaji.
• Bait-and-Switch: Mizu appears to have decided to rescue Kinuyo instead, which is what the audience would normally expect the heroine to do, only to Neck Snap Kinuyo once she's in her arms.
• Bargain with Heaven: After leaving Taigen's torture, Fowler walks past a small chapel that was built into the castle for him by his hosts. There Fowler attempts to offer what is essentially a bribe or business offer to God, saying that if Fowler succeeds in his attempt to take over the Shogunate, he'll take it as a sign of God's favor and respond by encouraging the spread of Christianity in Japan.
• Beneath the Mask: Akemi finds the 'demon' her lover is obsessed with dueling is just a childhood acquaintance of Taigen's with a permanent chip on their shoulder.
• Call-Back:
  • As Mizu watches the ronin embracing both a male and female prostitute, there's a Flashback Cut of Mizu wrestling with Taigen in "Fixed Number Of Paths".
  • When Akemi is posing as a courtesan, Kaji demands to know the favourite position of her richest client. Akemi replies, "Me on top" which is how she had sex with Taigen in "An Unexpected Element". So when Kaji scoffs that she's barely had two cocks in her life, Akemi raises a finger to show she's had at least one.
• Cat Scare: As Mizu is sneaking into Boss Hamata's house via the rafters, a bird flies out at her which she instantly kills, catching the dead bird before it falls on the guards below. Mizu actually looks bothered by this and places it gently back in its nest.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Akemi recognises Mizu because she's wearing Taigen's neckscarf, which she stole from him in the previous episode.
  • Gozo grumbles about how he drugs troublesome women, even taking out the vial. Akemi later steals it while he's distracted so she can drug Mizu.
• Cobweb of Disuse: We can tell that Fowler isn't kidding about not normally bothering with gods or religion because the chapel is covered in thick and dusty cobwebs.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Taigen is being subjected to it courtesy of Heiji Shindo, who calmly relays orders to a Torture Technician who carries them out.
  Heji: He will cut you with a knife. (smiles as Taigen screams)
• Comic Sutra: Both Madame Kaji and Lord Daichi mention "the Twelve and Twenty Positions" of lovemaking. The latter says that a good Japanese wife should know the twelve ways while the twenty is meant for professionals, but Akemi might want to study them all given that she's marrying into the shogunate.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror: Madam Kaji has seen and dealt with many terrible people during the course of her business, and as such is not easily shocked, even by things that are objectively horrible.
  Madam Kaji: If you killed every man I've seen who couldn't come until someone bled, you'd wear your blade down to a stump.
• Defiant to the End: Taigen is refusing to give Fowler and Heiji Shindo any information on Mizu despite being tortured. When Shindo, who now knows that Taigen is an enemy of Mizu's asks why Taigen is enduring so much for the sake of an enemy, Taigen responds by saying that Mizu deserves better than their sort.
• Didn't Think This Through: In the moment when she shoos the boy who saw her in the alleyway, Mizu doesn't seem to take into account that telling him to get the night watchman could be the wrong course of action for any number of reasons, including that the watchman could be on Hamata's payroll, or that a man who is obsessed the way Kaji described Hamata being obsessed with Kinuyo might learn about the witness, then seek out the boy and question him. Either way, it's quite an oversight, and one which very swiftly brings repercussions. Had, say, Mizu scared him into going home instead, things might have gone differently.
• Dirty Business:
  • Mizu sees killing Kinuyo as this, even calling it "ugly business" during her encounter with Akemi beforehand. It does indeed take a toll on her, and after it's done is one of the few times to this point in the series when she isn't cool, calm, and fully in control.
  • Madame Kaji doesn't mince words with the pampered Akemi that The Oldest Profession involves doing things that no woman likes doing, and she can either face that or be shown the door.
• The Dreaded: Just hearing Abijah Fowler's name spoken causes Madame Kaji—a woman who's implied to have witnessed a lot of cruelty and depravity in her profession—to tense up.
• Duel to the Death: Mizu witnesses one between what is apparently a local samurai and a man who apparently is a Rōnin, judging by how he's unshaven, gaunt, and scarred. The ronin wins in a Single-Stroke Battle, and Mizu is impressed by his skill.
• Establishing Character Moment: Madam Kaji is standing before three of her girls, asking if they think they've earned their keep this week, apparently ready to act out the type of the exploitative brothel owner who mistreats her girls. Two seemed doubtful and worried, while one is very confident and sure. Kaji proceeds to reward the two who seemed unsure while scolding the one who was confident, an early hint that there will be more than meets the eye with her.
• Everyone Has Standards: While Mizu has no reservations over killing other killers or leaving her mark on those who insult her directly, she's far less willing to kill Innocent Bystanders. While she agrees to kill Kinuyo as per her deal with Madam Kaji, she shows open remorse in the act. Then when a little boy spots her, she chooses to spare him despite the risk of leaving witnesses.
• Eyes Never Lie: Madame Kaji says regarding Fowler, "Some men's eyes say plainly that they've tasted human flesh, raw." A later episode reveals that she's right.
• Face-Revealing Turn: Lord Daichi tires of his daughter sulking in her quarters and goes to speak to Akemi, only to find a servant girl dressed in her kimono. Daichi is not pleased and sends his samurai out on horseback to track Akemi down and return her by force.
• Fetishes Are Weird: Averted; Madam Kaji's teahouse specializes in fetishes and she holds a positive view of them overall.
• Foil:
  • Mizu is impressed by the skill of the poor samurai who wins the duel, but seems disdainful of him and thinks that he's weak when she sees him in the brothel doing a roleplay with an older prostitute. It's a nice illustration of how Mizu has tried to sacrifice or set aside everything in life except for revenge, and how different that makes her from the people around her, even those who would seem to have some similarities with her.
  • The other brothels in town are brightly and garishly decorated, with their girls on display so they can be seen from the street and barkers standing outside to attract customers. Madam Kaji's is just another building, without any of the bright lights, external decorations, signs, or anyone standing outside to attract customers. The implication is that Madam Kaji's is well known enough, and well known for attending to particular fetishes, that there is no need for that. People looking to satisfy unusual tastes already know to frequent her establishment instead of the more vanilla ones.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Combined with Rewatch Bonus. While her face isn't shown, Akemi can be spotted in the crowd of onlookers observing the duel, made identifiable by the kimono she is wearing.
• The Gadfly: After recognising Akemi, Mizu brags about the 'ridiculous samurai' she defeated, pretends not to even remember Taigen's name, claims he was more upset about his Traumatic Haircut than his cancelled marriage to Akemi, then casually mentions that she killed him. She at least is decent enough to reveal the truth when Akemi collapses in tears, though doesn't stop insulting Taigen.
• I Gave My Word: Madam Kaji seems especially unhappy about Kinuyo's predicament because she promised Kinuyo her protection, and was unable to shield her from boss Hamata.
• In Medias Res: The episode begins with Akemi trying to serve drugged sake to Mizu. The episode then jumps back in time to show us how they got there and their paths intersected. It takes more than half an hour before we catch back up to the opening scene.
• Innocent Bystanders: Mizu is supposed to leave no witnesses to her deed, but after exiting Hamata's gambling house, she's spotted by a young boy. Logically, she should cut him down too, to be sure... but she's already distraught from killing one innocent and settles instead for telling him to give the night watchman a story about two people fighting, hoping that afterward the boy will head for home and that'll be the end of it. It isn't.
• I Own This Town: "That gambling house belongs to Boss Hamata. Everything belongs to Boss Hamata. Him...and his Thousand Claw Army." Madame Kaji has to hand over half her income and anything else Hamada might want, like Kinuyo. Anyone who defies him is slaughtered along with everyone they care about, their house burnt down to Make an Example of Them.
• Like a Daughter to Me: Kinuyo appears to have become a substitute daughter for Madam Kaji, until Hamata took her for himself.
• Mercy Kill: Madam Kaji sends Mizu on a mission to do this to Kinuyo, who is trapped by a brutal Yakuza who regularly sexually abuses her, and who will brutally kill her and anyone who helps her if they try to help her escape.
• Montage:
  • Akemi showing Taigen's portrait around, then when no-one recognises it, insisting to an increasingly exasperated Gozo that he take her elsewhere to find a better brothel to sell her to.
  • Mizu removing the weights around her arms and legs before infiltrating the gambling house is intercut with Kinuyo undressing to be treated by the doctor.
• Never Heard That One Before: Anticipating the response to her blue eyes Mizu says, "Whatever clever insult comes next is not as clever as you think." Akemi goes on to say What Beautiful Eyes! which Mizu hasn't heard before, but she dismisses it as the trained flattery expected of a courtesan.
• Noodle Incident: It appears likely from her reaction to Mizu's words that Kaji has beaten or abused even worse than that by Heiji Shindo specifically, but she never offers any details on the matter.
  Mizu: [as Madam Kaji is walking away] Perhaps in your visits you met Heiji Shindo. [Madam Kaji stops, and stands still] Perhaps he laid a hand on you. [Madam Kaji's eyes widen and her mouth opens slightly] If it was his right hand, consider yourself avenged.
• Not Distracted by the Sexy: Mizu seems completely indifferent to anyone and anything Madam Kaji's brothel has to offer her. Only the memory her sparring and locking eyes with Taigen appears to give her any pause. The same can't be said for Ringo, who declines to leave the brothel when Mizu says it may take some time. Ringo tries to justify it by saying an apprentice shouldn't leave his master's side, but he is staring at the women around them while speaking.
  Mizu: Strong men come here to be weak, uncentered. They make themselves fools.
• Pain Mistaken for Sex: After Mizu has refused all offers at the brothel, Akemi enters the room declaring that no man can turn her down. On hearing the subsequent ruckus (because she tried to stab Mizu), one of the prostitutes comments, "She's good."
• Pet the Dog:
  • Mizu and Ringo encounter a group of Komusō playing as they enter the town. Mizu offers the last one in line some coins as they pass.
  • Fowler takes a spider in hand in the abandoned chapel for a prolonged period, and every viewer likely expects him to crush it at some point, but at the end of his "talk" with the statue of Jesus, he lets the spider go.
  • Madam Kaji is seen as being kinder towards the women working for her than most madams are usually depicted, and is particularly heartbroken about Kinuyo, whom she refused to employ as a prostitute despite having bought her.
• Portrait Painting Peephole: The different rooms of the brothel have peepholes in them, slipped in among the fancy decorations/paintings on the walls. Presumably, this allows Kaji and other staff to ensure her girls are not in danger with clients, and to make sure they're earning their keep.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Played with. When Mizu makes her intentions about Fowler clear, Madam Kaji appears ready to decline on the basis of pragmatism, asking why should she help kill a client. However, it seems likely that her true motive is to avoid any repercussions that might come from crossing Fowler and Shindo.
• The Promise: Kaji takes pity on the abused Kinuyo and promises that she will never let another man touch her, only to watch helplessly as she's dragged off the street to become Boss Hamata's Sex Slave. Keeping that promise is the only reason she accepts Mizu's services as a hired assassin, in payment for revealing the Secret Underground Passage to Fowler's castle.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Madam Kaji can only shake her head at Goro and lecture him on his stupidity for being taken in by Akemi's lies.
  • Mizu and Akemi trade these speeches during their encounters. First Mizu calls Akemi a spoiled brat and someone who has a chance to live a charmed life but is intent on throwing it away.
    Mizu: Women in our world don't have a single good option. Except you. Like some magical forest creature, you can have anything you want... and then you beg to eat trash.
  • After Mizu returns from her mission, Akemi gives Mizu a few choice words.
    Akemi: Underneath your mask you're not the killer you pretend to be... I thought you had to be something special. You're just... angry.
• Sadist:
  • Both Fowler and Heiji Shindo appear to be sadists, although Fowler grows bored of Taigen's torture and leaves. Shindo, who is probably much more invested in it because of the loss of his arm, continues to direct Taigen's torture even though there is no sign that Taigen will break. Madam Kaji also mentions Fowler's enjoyment in the pain of others, and Mizu guesses, apparently accurately, that Kaji has been beaten by Heiji Shindo. This is, in fact part of why Mizu goes to Madam Kaji's; apparently she has learned enough about Fowler offscreen that she knows his tastes and knows that only a particular sort of brothel would be able or willing to cater to them. Thus she ignores the more run of the mill brothels and goes to Madam Kaji's.
  • Madam Kaji describes Hamata as a man who "likes to break delicate things".
• Sex Slave: While there's been much discussion about prostitutes being not far from sex slaves in this world, and Akemi has spoken about her belief that an Arranged Marriage is not much different from being sold into prostitution, Kinuyo's case is by far the most explicit case. She has been kidnapped by Hamata, is forced to be by his side at all times, and is used only for sex or to be beaten.
• Shared Unusual Trait: An older woman at the brothel—who brings Mizu tea before Madam Kaji arrives—has green eyes, implying that she's mixed race also. However Mizu just looks upset and turns away from her.
• Single-Stroke Battle: The duel is one. The better off samurai attempts an overhead cut, while the poorer samurai draws his sword and strikes in one motion. At first it's not certain who has won... and then a cut appears on the neck of the richer samurai, along with a spurt of arterial blood, and he collapses.
• Snow Means Death: Mizu admires not only the Single-Stroke Battle but also the artistic spray of blood on the snow. "The painter's signature. Immaculate."
• Stab the Scorpion: When a bound Akemi implies that Mizu is not as tough as she's pretending, Mizu lashes out with her sword...cutting Akemi's bonds.
• Talk to the Hand: Akemi uses this to keep the lustful Watari at arms length.
  Akemi: (quoting) Heavenly orbs you must drink from afar, or scorch your skin.
• Undying Loyalty: Seki has continued to cover up Akemi's absence after returning to the castle, and when her father finally catches on, he denies knowing where Akemi went. While this may just be to avoid punishment, he doesn't even offer a 'suggestion' as to where she might have run off to.