#Kazuyoshi itoh

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Speculation about Mizu's parents pt. 5

I know. I'm sorry this is long, but I promise to get through it soon.

So Mizu's father. I think he was the Japanese, and not only that, but he was probably someone important. Remember, the bounty on Mizu was implied to be so high that little can resist it, and the way that Fowler refers to Mizu as "Little Miss" if you turn on the subtitles on Netflix both first letters of the term are capitalized, like it's an important title.

I want to talk about episode 3 now, specifically when we see Mizu as a baby

Remember the two men who were tasked to kill Mizu as a baby, but one of them stopped the other from doing so. Well, if you look for the IMDb page for this episode, it lists the two voice actors for the two men:

You know who else they voice?

The Shogun's sons

Now, I don't think the two men in the beginning are actually the Shogun's sons, but they could be the late Shogun's relatives, maybe even his brothers trying to get of evidence that the Shogun broke his own rules, because I do think the late Shogun was Mizu's father.

Also, keep in mind that there's most likely going to be more historical events referenced in the show in the future. Considering the show takes place in 1657, and Fowler stated that they arrived 20 years prior to that date, and Mizu is canonically 19 years old, meaning she was born around 1637-1638 around the same time the Shimabara Rebellion was going against the Shogunate. Needless to say, it was probably a pretty stressful time for the Shogun as he most likely sent forces to subdue the rebellion and had to hide the fact that he had a mixed-raced child.

I assume the four white men, along with the two men shown in the beginning of episode 3, were sent to kill Mizu as a baby, hence why the fire broke out, connecting to what Fowler said "don't you want to know which one tried to burn you as a baby?"

The four white men could have also been sent to prove their loyalty as historically it is speculated that the Shimabara Rebellion was fueled by Portuguese traders due to the affiliation with catholism. After the rebellion was defeated, the Portugal, one of the two European countries legally allowed to trade with Japan during the isolation period, was barred from trading. The only other European country that was also legally allowed to trade with Japan was the Netherlands, which was the allowed to still trade from then and there because they helped the Shogunate subdue the rebellion, and agreed to the trading conditions.

I also want to point out that in episode 8, when Fowler meets with the Shogun's sons, he states that he helped the Shogun become the second richest man in the world, which is quite the statement. This means that the Shogun and even his family would have enough money to set out a very high bounty if they wanted to, especially to hide their shame.

Who more than anyone would want to hide the Shogun's shame?

Now, it could be possible that Mizu's mother could have had an affair with the Shogun, but I'll present a more interesting idea that may be a bit more far-fetched, but maybe not too far-fetched. I think that maybe the Shogun, Lady Itoh, and Mizu's mother may have all possibly been in a relationship together, which wouldn't be too out of the ordinary for the time, and would point to the potential love triangle that's be hinted at by the people behind the show, but take this part with a grain of salt.

Maybe Mizu's mother was involved in a relationship with the Shogun and Lady Itoh, and it only became a problem because her mother accidentally got pregnant with her and probably refused to give her up.

Mizu's mother probably had to make a choice like the Bride from Kill Bill did

And she most likely chose Mizu, and as stated before, Mizu could be seen as evidence that the Shogun broke his own rules, his shame, and that would not do.

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

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I love the irony of Takayoshi being labeled as a 'tyrant to women', but he was the only one aiding his brother's wife while escaping the fire

He's a keeper

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Speculation about Mizu's parents pt. 6

Mizu has already killed one of the first white men, Violet. Fowler isn't going to last too long once there's no use for him, and assuming both Routley and Skeffington are in the British Isles, because I doubt the show will have Mizu relocate again farther from Japan to find her target, Mizu will most likely kill them three in season 2, and that seems a bit too easy.

Having her kill all the four white men by season 2 seems too quick, especially since the people behind the show want four seasons. It's too quick, unless there's a plot twist, like none of the four men being her father and none of them putting the bounty on her.

Don't get me wrong, they probably were involved in Mizu's mother getting killed. Remember the bird Mizu had to kill when on the mission Madame Kaji requested?

A bird flies from its nest for two reasons if a person is near, one reason is to fly away from danger. The other reason is that if the bird has eggs or hatchlings, it will try to defend its nest, like how the bird in that scene tried to do.

Look at the way the dead bird was laid out, the four white eggs that are there, almost like they're looking at the dead mother bird.

It looks like these two scenes I brought up before.

Mizu finding out her mother was the European one instead of her father will not make her happy; it will fill her with a lot of complicated feelings, especially anger, and she might even hate her mother. The worst part about it is that her mother is likely dead, and she can't enact her vengance on her mother if she's already dead. She will believe it was all for nothing.

I do think she will probably eventually find self-acceptances, especially if she finds out her mother really did love her and died protecting her. Maybe she'll even find an old diary of her deceased mother describing how much she loves her.

The revelation will probably lead to Mizu wondering who actually put the bounty on her, which will lead her back to Japan seeking answers, which will set up Lady Itoh as the final antagonist.

I already can tell Akemi is gonna have conflict with Lady Itoh, especially if Akemi and Takayoshi start developing actual romantic feelings for each other because that would make Lady Itoh lose more control over him. I highly suspect Lady Itoh is behind the death of Takayoshi's first wife, so that puts Akemi in potential danger, and Lady Itoh has no problem trying to put Akemi down with what she pulled in the dinner scene. I think the common enemy of Lady Itoh will have Akemi and Mizu ally with each other

Going back to this scene, I think there's more potential foreshadowing to explore here. I think the man who tried to kill baby Mizu was voiced by the same man who also voices the older son, Kazuyoshi, while the man who stopped him was voiced by the same guy who also voices Takayoshi. I think this will foreshadow what choices Kazuyoshi and Takayoshi will make in the future.

Look at this scene that's in the POV of Kazuyoshi before he does what his mother tells him to do, which is to lock in the Lords to die because they saw his father's shame. Look at how his mother is in front, then Takayoshi, and then Kazuyoshi's own wife is way in the back.

This may show that Kazuyoshi puts his mother first, then his brother, and then his wife last. I think both Kazuyoshi and Takayoshi will have a choice: they will either have to choose their mother or their wives, and by extent, their possible half-sister Mizu.

Kazuyoshi will choose his mother, while Takayoshi will choose Akemi and Mizu.

The show has subtle moments of sibling tension and/or drama; Akemi and her younger half-brother show the different societal expectations set for them, Fowler's backstory with his dead sister who's kidneys he had to eat to survive, the two men in the beginning of episode three could have easily been brothers, the subtle hints that Kazuyoshi and Takayoshi could end up on opposite sides later in the show, and I also possibly believe that Mizu's mother may have been one of the four white mens' sister, mostly leaning towards Routley because of the "pretty eyes" comment from Fowler.

It could be possible that Routley brought his sister with him to Japan. I can assume that Violet was the oldest of the four men, and they all came from broken backgrounds like Fowler before Violet took them under his wing. It's probably why Fowler looked so upset when he realized Mizu was the one who killed Violet. Routley could have easily been an orphan with his sister before meeting Violet and working with him.

This would mean that Routley probably agreed to betray Mizu's mother in order to keep the deal with the shogunate intact, and oh man, I love sibling angst and betrayal. It's probably why Fowler thinks he's worse in his opinion.

Now there's one more film I want to talk about. It was cited that there were a good number of films that influenced the show, the main two being Yentl and Kill Bill, another I stated earlier was also Lady Snowblood.

Now I can't find any source to claim that the film I'm about to bring up also influenced Blue Eye Samurai, but it could be possible that it did, because like Kill Bill I heard it was also inspired by Lady Snowblood

I'm talking about the South Korean film Sympathy For Lady Vengeance.

I've also seen this film. It's about a woman named Lee Geum-ja who gets pregnant in her teens and decides to run away from home and stay with a former teacher of hers who used to make really inappropriate comments about her (she was a scared pregnant teen who wasn't thinking straight, and probably thought if she came home to tell her parents she's pregnant they would have kicked her out).

Obviously, it goes south pretty quickly. The man is still a teacher, and one day, he decides to murder a boy from another class. The teacher makes Geum-ja take the fall for him due to him threatening her baby's life. She falsely confesses to the murders and spends 13 years in prison, planning her revenge against the teacher for when she is released from prison.

When she is released, Geum-ja puts her plan in motion and also finds out her daughter was adopted by a couple in Australia and was named Jenny. She goes to Australia to meet her daughter, in which her daughter threatens to stab herself with a knife if she doesn't let her visit Korea.

Geum-ja loves her daughter, but Jenny is mad at her for giving her up (she's a 13 year old kid) she expresses that in a letter, which Geum-ja reads after getting it translated and then takes Jenny to where teacher is being held by her and makes him translate her speech to her in English

The reason I bring up this is not only because of influences from Lady Snowblood from what I heard, but also the themes involving mother-daughter relationships

The complexity, tragedy, sacrifice, anger, hate, sadness, and love can all align pretty well with Mizu and her mother. Mizu will no doubt have complex feelings about her mother, especially if she was the European one, but I think under the circumstances, I've brought up Mizu's quest for vengance will shift to making her potential white father pay for her existence to avenging her mother.

One more thing before I finally finish this. I want to briefly talk about the theory that Lady Itoh could be Mizu's mother or her maternal aunt. I can see where it's coming from, and it is possible, but I can also see it being a red herring

Yes, both Lady Itoh and Mizu have smaller faces, but Lady Itoh's features are still round and soft while Mizu's are angular and sharp; Lady Itoh's face is more oval shaped while Mizu's is more shaped like a diamond. Even up close, their noses look a bit different as well.

I also think that if any of the four white men actually impregnated and killed a Japanese noble woman when they first got to Japan, they would have lost the trading deal. Yeah, Fowler killed the Shogun, but that was after 10 years of building up an army. Plus pretty poetic that they're reminded of the woman they betrayed through her daughter's eyes.

But I'm open to being wrong. Anyway, I'm sorry this was long but now I'm done. Let me know what you guys think, I'm totally open for discussion

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