#mizu theory

[lillymakesart]

I've been thinking a lot a lot Mizu thanks to your posts (tho tbh when am I not am I right?) and idk, I'm not good an in depth character analysis, but Mizu feels a lot like the moon; only shining with the permission of whichever sun she has let into her life and into her heart.

But unlike the moon, its not because Mizu cannot shine, but because she doesn't feel worthy of shining.

(Sorry I had a moment of brainrot and none of my friends have watched BES, hope it's okay I dumped this here ;^; )

never apologize to me for sending me bes blessings in my inbox im literally on my knees begging you guys to do this

but YES i am thinking in the same vein!! in my head actually Ringo is the sun and the only light source that Mizu permits to let the light in and reflect back into the world, since Ringo is the only person that she does favors for (e.g. she saves Taigen thinking of him, and promises him that she would save Akemi too)

it can also be thought of in the opposite way too - Mizu is the blinding sun, Ringo (the moon) is the only celestial body worthy enough to catch her light, and Taigen is the earth that circles her and needs her light (maybe Akemi is the stars all around because she doesn't need anything from Mizu and can hold down her business in her own arc)

when I write fics I actually think of Ringo as the sun, Mizu is the blindfolded eldritch beast fighting against her own bubble of darkness (but the sun is trying to show her a lightened path), and Taigen is the guy chasing Mizu on some own personal Moby Dick type shit that literally nobody else but him cares about lmao

my favorite one is from somewhere else on tumblr where Ringo is the kind pet owner that adopted a dirty cat (Mizu) and a dumb dog (Taigen) from the dumpster and he's desperately trying to keep both alive and stop them from killing each other (original author pls come forth if you see this im sorry i could not find you in time to tag)

many interpretations, all good!!! all valid!!! i love literature!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

[icantbeseenlikethisonmymain]

Me to my brain: oH my FUCKING god I KNOW she's hot please for the love of all that is holy LET ME LIVE

my brain: LOOK AT HER SMIRK. LOOK AT IT. LOOK AT IT FUCKING LOOK YOURE NOT LOOKIN YOU BITCH--

[elsinoreechoes]

popular unpopular opinion, i believe mizu is a woman. i respect everyone’s opinion, and everyone is entitled to headcannon/make theory’s about whatever they want.

there’s this one deleted scene that really drives it home for me,

, it’s mizu in madame kaji’s brothel, before akemi comes in. she takes her hair down, and kinda experiments with it (???) with feminine connotations.

to put it short: mizu discuses herself as a man for safety, and ease compared to traveling as a woman. i think this is why we potentially see her as identifying as a male, or gender non conforming.

i’m sorry if this is bad i am not good at words 😞

edit: also, this!

[hauntingofhouses]

While theorising about the events to come in future seasons, I just keep going back to the question about who Mizu's parents really are.

So to try to figure it out, let's go over what we already know about Mizu's parentage and the white men. This info is from the flashback of Mizu as a baby in Episode 3, from the bounty hunters who came to kill Mizu in Episode 5, and from Fowler's reveals in Episode 8, assuming that everything he said is the truth.

Mizu must be someone important, as Fowler calls her Little Miss. It is capitalised in the Netflix official subtitles. This implies that Little Miss is something like a title, rather than just a nickname.

There is a bounty on Mizu's head with a sum few can resist. Whoever is trying to kill Mizu is rich and powerful.

Two men are sent to kill Mizu as a baby. They are Japanese. We know this because their swords are both katanas, and they're shocked when they see Mizu's blue eyes, discovering she's a "half-breed." Man #2 also calls her a "devil child" at the end of the flashback.

Man #2 is hesitant to kill her, as she's "only an infant," and ends up killing Man #1 to stop him from killing Mizu. Man #2 then gives Mizu to Mama, who is actually her maid.

Mama is paid to keep Mizu hidden. Mama does as told for years. We can infer that there was a steady stream of income going towards her, as she did as told until "the money ran out."

Skeffington and Routeley were the "worst" of the four white men, making their money from "selling Japan's unwanted daughters." Unwanted daughters like Mizu.

One of the white men "tried to burn Mizu alive as a baby."

One of the white men killed Mizu's mother ("Don't you want to know which one killed your mother?").

When bounty hunters came to the ranch to ambush Mizu, she asked them which white man they worked for. They only replied that the only white person they see is her. This could just be a way to avoid her question, or it could also imply that they do not work for a white man at all.

So from this, again assuming this is all true, let's go over some things:

The white men are NOT the ones who paid Mama to protect Mizu, as one of them had been responsible for trying to burn Mizu alive as a baby.

Mizu's mother was killed by one of the white men. She likely died protecting Mizu.

If it was the white father who tried to kill Mizu and her mother, then it's likely the mother's side who paid Mama to hide Mizu.

Mizu's mother must have been rich enough to afford servants.

Mizu's mother must have been someone powerful enough to have been in the shogun's inner circle, allowing contact between her and the white men.

Furthermore:

Mizu's mother should be someone tied to existing characters, to make the reveal of her identity more narratively significant.

So with all that said, let me dip my toes into wild theory-land for a bit and propose a new idea.

WHAT IF: Mizu's mother was a concubine or even the previous wife of the Shogun? And, considering how people have pointed out how similar Lady Itoh and Mizu look (credits to @roninzuzu in particular for her post on this), what if, maybe just maybe, Mizu's mother was also Lady Itoh's sister?

If this is true, then Mizu's connection to the shogunate would explain why and how Fowler knew so much about Mizu's past, especially regarding her maid taking care of her, etc. This is because Fowler is allied with the Shogun himself, as well as one of the shogun's closest advisors, Master Chiba. So if it were true that the previous wife/consort of the shogun gave birth to a blue-eyed baby, it would've been a big scandal that was certain to reach Master Chiba's ears, and he would have in turn informed Fowler about it.

If this is the case, both the shogun and the white man would be trying to kill Mizu and her mother. The shogun would be trying to cover up the scandal, while the white man would be furious that she wanted to keep the baby at all, as the scandal likely ruined his business dealings in Japan and forced him to retreat back to London or wherever else he came from.

But then, if that is the case, then who would have been the one paying Mizu's maid to take care of her? I think it's Lady Itoh. If she and Mizu's mother had indeed been sisters, perhaps Lady Itoh went behind the shogun's back to protect her sister and her baby niece. Because maybe Lady Itoh knew that Mizu's mother had wanted to protect her no matter what happened. In such a case, what kept Mizu alive would thus have been love. Her mother's love. In this scenario, Mizu would have been brought into the world through the sheer strength of her mother's unconditional love. This would be a very poignant message that overturns everything Mizu believes about herself.

Moreover, Mizu having connections to the shogunate would inevitably lead to her wanting to discover the truth about her mother's identity. This would thus bring Mizu back to Edo palace, and would neatly tie Mizu and Akemi's storylines together again, letting them cross paths once more and work together to face the main plot-conflict.

TL;DR it's my crazy theory that Mizu's dead mom was the sister of Lady Itoh and the previous consort of Shogun Itoh. She had an affair with one of the white men, and against her better judgement and against what everyone else wants from her, she decided to keep Mizu. By making this decision, she risked and sacrificed everything for Mizu, out of love.

[evaglass]

Speculation about Mizu's parents pt. 4

Going back to the story of the Ronin and the Bride

This is official concept art, I believe. Look at the blue eyes, then specifically look at the baby, and the blanket the baby is wrapped around her. That blanket is seen somewhere else.

It looks like the blanket baby Mizu had laying below her

It's also seen again in a flashback when Mizu is a child and also used as her belt throughout the show.

Remember when I said that the Ronin and Bride could also represent her parents. Using the connections with the films that influenced the show, as well as hints of foreshadowing, I believe Mizu's mother found out she was pregnant, probably tried to run away to raise Mizu in safety (like the Bride in Kill Bill), realized that finding safety for both her and Mizu might take more time than she thought, left Mizu in the care the maid, during that time her actual mother was found and killed by one of the white men like Fowler stated before she could ever reunite with Mizu.

I also have a hunch that Mizu's biological mother died the same night Mizu's childhood home went up in flames, and she was left to survive on the streets. It would make the scene where Mizu is a child swearing to her 'mother' that she'll avenge them. Of course, Mizu was referring to the maid, who later turned out to survive that night, but then her quest for vengance later shifted to the reason being of her existence as a 'monster'.

I also believe the blue eyes of the Bride from the puppet show when she comes back as an Onryo are supposed to represent Mizu's mother's eyes as well, and that she got her blue eyes from her mother. Like Yuki, Mizu could be a representation of her mother's need for vengance after death.

Why? Well, because, as I said earlier, she could have tried to run away and find the best opportunity to leave Japan unnoticed (like how Beatrix tried to run away with her unborn daughter), but eventually was found and killed. So, her rage lives on through Mizu because her mother was taken away from her, was stripped of the chance to raise her, to be there when she was scared, lonely, or sad, to see all her milestones, to let her know that she loves her, etc.

Mizu could be a representation of her mother's rage beyond the grave, and she doesn't even know it

When Fowler finds out Mizu is actually a woman, he knows exactly who she is. That she was raised in hiding, that she had a maid raise her, that there's a high bounty for her.

I don't think Fowler laughed at the fact that Mizu is a woman, I think he might have laughed because he finds the situation ironic. He knows that Mizu is out for vengance because she's mad about her existence; that a white man, who brought pain to many people with his three fellow white men, impregnated her Japanese mother, causing her to be born a 'monster', and costing her the ability to live a normal life.

Fowler found out Mizu wants all her potential white fathers dead before he even found out she's a woman. After finding out Mizu is a woman, a specific woman too, he laughs because maybe he knows none of the white men are her father because it's mother who was the European one, and she's going through all that trouble only for the white person responsible for her existence to already be dead.

So if that's the case, why didn't Fowler just tell her? Well, do you honestly think Mizu would believe him? If anything, she could have seen the potential reveal of her mother being the European as getting him, Skeffington, and Routley to dodge responsibility. Fowler is a shitty person, but he's not stupid. Mizu is also a bit hot-headed, she probably would have definitely killed him if he revealed something like that.

Fowler knows Mizu being mixed-raced is a big insecurity for her and has proven to her that she will do anything to kill the people responsible for it. Fowler not telling her, could possibly be for the reason of simply buying himself time because him telling her she won't find Routley and Skeffington without him gives him the chance to find away to escape when they arrive at the British Isles.

Now, there's the question of who could be Mizu's father. I'll explain in part 5 (I know this already long, but I'm almost done)

Part 1/Part 2/Part 3/Part 4/Part 5/Part 6

[starlight-bread-blog]

Going to get off the mountain, from a high place, down to "look at the fun", to do something she'd enjoy, to seek out pleasure for once, is what saved her life.

By the end of the season, I interpreted Akemi and Taigen's relationship as over. It appeared to have been doomed when Akemi married to a man she actually liked, but if I had any doupt, it was cemented by them growing incompatible to each other.

(Notice how Akemi is on one side of the shot, with intense orange fire in the background, while Taigen is on the other side, with the blue sky and the calm forest in the background. Everything from the colors to the atmosphere signifies incompatibility).

Taigen used to value greatness, the show makes references to this all the time.

But something changed. Isolating his lines from the previous scene:

He chose happiness over greatness - the thing he valued, but ultimately had no value if it means he's not happy. Just like Mizu's quest for revenge. It is undoubtedly unhealthy for her and for those around her. She must choose happiness over it, she must dodge the sword.

[lc-417]

Blue Eye Samurai Theory

*Spoilers Ahead*

This is just a crazy, shot-in-the-dark theory, but one that would make for an interesting twist (in my opinion anyway). What if Mizu's white half doesn't come from a man....but from a woman? Think about this:

Assuming Fowler isn't lying, the woman Mizu thought was her mother wasn't actually her mother. Just a maid paid to look after her (and who only did it until the money ran out). So who is Mizu's real mother then, and why couldn't she raise her daughter?

When Mizu was a baby, two men tried to kill her, but one lost the nerve and either maimed or killed his partner to save her instead. Could this have been her father, who couldn't bear to kill his own flesh and blood (even though it was mixed blood)? And though we never see him, we hear him refer to her as the "Devil Child". If this had been a white man, he probably would have made reference to her being a half-breed. It was the Japanese that saw her as a devil or demon.

It seems to be common knowledge that there were four white men in Japan when Mizu was born. But how many white women were there? Considering how Japanese women were seen as lesser than men, would anyone have even considered white women worth noting?

If the show keeps true to genetics, in order to be born with blue eyes, BOTH of Mizu's parents would need to be carriers of the recessive blue eye gene. So one of them had to be mixed race, or at least have white ancestry. Chances are equally good that this could have been her mother or her father. But seeing as how life was so difficult for Mizu that it was safer to pose as a boy, odds of surviving to adulthood would likely have been better for a mixed race man.

Like I said, just a crazy theory. But I think it would be interesting if, after killing all of her targets, Mizu discovers that none of them were her father and that the source of her white blood was her mother all along. Would she be as eager to exact revenge knowing a woman may not have had a say in the pregnancy?

Whatever direction this show takes, I just want Season 2 (and 3...and 4...whatever it takes to reach a satisfying conclusion). And soon (not 3 years later like Arcane). Get on it Netflix. If I don't get more Blue Eye Samurai, I'm gonna go on the revenge path...and I assume I won't be alone.

[sad-endings-suck]

Mizu’s Fighting Style: Season 1 VS Season 2

Season 1: Kill Bill katana era.

Season 2: John Wick gun era.

[pyromanicfool]

Ok but think about who, besides Mikio in her brief marriage, makes Mizu smile the most? Taigen. She smiles in relief when she sees him in the dungeon, often smiles when talking fighting/swords with him and in their last spar it was genuine, fun, and like they had come to some level of understanding with each other.

Just thinking about how it'll be next time they see each other again but Taigen looked so desperate for her when he said "we aren't done yet" that I am sure what he said when leaving right after Mizu told him about the shotgun was more bark. Stupid boy yaps a lot but he can at least keep his mouth shut when it matters (sobbing bc dumbass bitch endured TORTURE for Mizu. After offering up his life so they both don't die when running from the arrows.). The man is obsessed.

These two are literally insane for each other it's beautiful. "The time to kill your enemy is while you can" and she literally ABANDONS HER MISSION TO KILL ABIJAH TO SAVE HIS ASS. They truly both have a respect and care for each other even if there's a lot of hatred and a complicated past.

[midnightskye05]

I hope that the conclusion of Blue Eye Samurai is that Mizu’s parents were deeply in love but couldn’t be together (since they’re a mixed-race couple) and genuinely sent Mizu away to protect her and try to give her a better life. Shit hit the fan though, and the “bad men” are actually trying to reunite Mizu with her parents. But, because of the prejudice against mixed-race people, it’s just kind of assumed that they want to kill her.

Adding to that I think Mizu will only find out about this after she kills her father.

I’m interested to see how Mizu will cope with the suicide-mission aspect of her revenge quest once she finds peace. She’s only ever pictured a future for herself when she was with Miko, now she just has to kill her possible dads. Then what good is a half breed demon? Taigen will have to do some serious damage control lol

[maxfieldparrishes]

random predictions for s2 that i have floating around in my head that have pretty much no basis other than huh:

1. routley is genuinely pious, or religious at the very least. don't know why i think this other than that we haven't seen a genuinely religious (christian) character yet, and considering this is the very end of cromwellian england...

2. skeffington is the worst of the four. hands down. total sadist. basing this one off the fact that skeffington has also been spelled skevington, as in the torture device skevington's gyres invented during the reign of henry viii.

like... fowler's already awful but imagine these two. one religious nut who believes that whatever horror he unleashes is justified by either saving his victim or bringing them to their appropriate punishment, and one just... absolute psycho. worse than fowler, which seems pretty impossible but i'm afraid of what they'll show us 😬 mizu is gonna have a fucking TIME

i dunno, just my predictions! lemme know what you think might go down in season 2 ✌️

[lillymakesart]

to eiji, mizu is synonymous with the space rock. the rock, like mizu, crashed into eiji's life and stayed in his hut for many years. the rock, like mizu, transformed and left eiji behind on a quest for revenge. the rock, like mizu, was shattered to pieces and came back to eiji, asking for space to heal and be fixed.

mizu may have left japan, but in her heart she is still in eiji's hut, still held by his hands, still protected under his care send post

[pepto-bismolfan]

BLUE EYE SAMURAI SPOILERS

——————————————————-

OKAY so theory time and or just a symbolism I found

So! We know that there were four white men in Japan before they all get banned right? And how they were all horrible people and what’s another group of four people that are bad? The four horsemen of the apocalypse

Now I thought of this before we knew really anything about the four white guys; however, this was solidified during episode 8 when Fowler pulls up on his white horse

(Apologies about the quality of the photo lol)

Now the four horsemen each have their own kind of horse

Conquest on white

War on Red

Famine on black

Death on pale/green

Now fowler fits the conquest archetype like a glove; his entire plan is to conquer Japan and take it for himself.

But now it’s got me wondering what the other men will be. From Fowler we know that rest of the men were named Violet, Skeffington, and Routely, with the last two according to Fowler being the worst.

Now I don’t have any idea what the other men could be horsemen wise but I have a sneaking suspicion that which ever one is war is Mizus father. Remember how she tamed a red horse…

[elsinoreechoes]

the transphobia surrounding the conversation of mizu being a woman is.. concerning.

speaking as transman, the idea or theory that mizu is transgender in anyway is… not factual whatsoever. but the discourse around it is borderline terf-ish.

please keep in mind that a lot of the fandom of bes contains queer teens, that project on to their favorite characters in hope to see someone like their selves in media. there isn’t a lot of rep for these people, but, let me illiterate the fact that mizu is representation for biracial women. there is next to zero representation for mixed woman in our media

don’t be transphobic. thank you for reading, take care of yourself

ps — tags are just for reach🤓

[ramblesbiab]

Thinkin about the scene in Blue Eye Samurai where they show Mizu forging metal while naked and covered in writing to help ensure she’s connected to the craft, because it’s a very beautiful and meaningful scene, but she spent the last like 6 episodes getting beat up and sliced to hell and back and they barely showed a single scrap of evidence acknowledging it. And like. Would it not have been *more* powerful to show how much she’s sacrificed and risked herself during her journey through the countless scars, especially considering they wouldn’t have been there when we saw her in a flashback in episode 5? Genuinely, that’s one of my only flaws with the show, because if she’s going to take over-the-top, unsurvivable brutality on a regular basis, then at least acknowledge the impact that would have on her body. Of course I don’t *want* to see the poor babygirl all bruised and beaten, but like. How is she not??????? She’s been shot, stabbed many times, got a hole clean through the side of her foot, fell like 100 feet into freezing water, got crushed under a door by like 6 guys, its just.

Yeah. Anyway watch Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix please its very good <3

[evaglass]

Speculation about Mizu's parents pt. 1

I don't like usually posting much online, but I do enjoy this series very much, and I would like to discuss possible directions it could go

I think about this moment a lot

A decent amount, actually

Mizu has had to hide her entire life of being a mixed-race girl for her safety, but there's an implication that it's not just because of that reason alone

There's a big assumption that one of the four white men put the bounty on Mizu, and as terrible as they are, there's reasons they probably aren't the ones that placed the bounty on Mizu. I don't think the four white men really care about any bastards they could have produced; I will explain.

Yes, Fowler neglected his offsprings to the point of starvation, but I don't think he was actively hunting them down, and here are the reasons why:

Fowler doesn't really seem to care to put too much effort into caring if the children he profduced in Japan lived or not. It just seemed more like he didn't want to be bothered with any children he had fathered.

If Fowler really cared about having all his children dead, he wouldn't have let Heiji Shindo give Mizu the option to be a Lord in order to leave Fowler alone in exchange

He just really didn't seem too bothered to deal with the situation. He didn't understand why Mizu went through all the effort to killing him (probably because he's not responsible for the bounty).

Also, Violet is already very much dead. I assume Routley and Skeffington have been away from Japan for a few years now, so why would they still keep the bounty up? It feels like it would be a bit counterproductive.

So why is there a bounty specifically for Mizu?

Is it for the "selling the unwanted daughters of Japan" aspect that Fowler pointed towards Routley and Skeffington of being responsible for? Do they want to sell Mizu abroad for profit? No, I don't think that's the reason.

When Mizu asked the bounty hunters, "Which white devil do you work for?" They respond by saying she's the only white devil they see, and then call to kill her.

When Mizu asked who told them where she was, they responded with "the bounty is a sum few could resist."

This says a lot:

The bounty is for sure specifically for her (a mixed-raced girl with blue eyes)

They're looking to only kill Mizu, as if to erase her from existence

The bounty is a high bounty

And the bounty hunters are probably not being sent by any of the four white men

So, who is responsible for putting a bounty on Mizu's head? Well, I want to dive into Mizu's parentage for this because I don't think any of the four white men are Mizu's father. I don't think her father was white at all.

I think there might be subtle evidence to suggest the contrary; that Mizu's mother was European, while her father was Japanese.

I'll dive into this. Remember the play about the Ronin and the Bride in episode 5?

Remember how people pointed out how both the Ronin and Bride represent Mizu, which I agree with. However, I think they're also supposed to represent her parents, and the child is also supposed to represent Mizu.

Before I keep talking about the Ronin and the Bride, I want to talk about the show's influences. I promise this has a point.

Two of the biggest influences are Kill Bill and Yentl. I'm not gonna get into Yentl too much, I have never seen it. I'm just gonna loosely retell a synopsis I found; Yentl is about a woman who dresses as a male in order to study religious scripture forbidden to women to learn. You can see some of the connections there.

I want to focus on Kill Bill more. Specifically more in pt. 2 as tumblr is only letting me use ten pictures per post.

Part 1/Part 2/Part 3/Part 4/Part 5/Part 6