Blue Eye Samurai (2023)

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa: The Swordmaker

Photos 

Quotes 

• [In a flashback, an adolescent Mizu is training with one of Eiji's sword at night in the rain. She swings the sword, but it slips out of her hands and falls. Mizu grunts and bends over to get the sword. However, Eiji hears her and lightly hits her in the back of the head with his tongs. Mizu grabs her head and turns to Eiji] 

  The Swordmaker : A sword? Are you stealing from me?

  Mizu : [pause]  I'm not stealing. I... am practicing.

  The Swordmaker : Why does a swordmaker's apprentice practice swordplay?

  Mizu : [breathes deeply]  Because I must become a great swordsman. I must become the greatest swordsman alive.

  The Swordmaker : [chuckles]  Is that all? And why must you become such a swordsman?

  Mizu : [sighs]  Forgive me. I've kept from you a secret. One everyone else knows as plain as my face, but you do not.

  The Swordmaker : [pause]  I know you're ugly. What is ugly to me?

  Mizu : You are blind... and so cannot see the shame of my face. I am... made of mixed metal. No amount of hammering can remove my impurity. At the time I was born, there were four white men in all of Japan. Men who traded in weapons and opium and flesh. One of them took my mother and made of me... a monster. A creature of shame. I do not know their names. I do know their fate. They will all die by my hand. I have vowed this.

  The Swordmaker : [pause]  What have I taught you about steel?

  Mizu : The strongest sword is a blend of steel - soft and hard.

  The Swordmaker : Pure and impure. You may be something shameful. You may also be strong.

  [Eiji turns to walk away] 

  The Swordmaker : You may train at nights.

• [a wounded Mizu gets in the hot springs. Under a small waterfall, she is sitting on her knees, in a bowing position. A flashback takes place to the past where Mizu tells Eiji that she's going on her quest] 

  Mizu : It is time for me to begin my quest.

  The Swordmaker : [pause]  Revenge is like gold. It does not rust. It will wait.

  Mizu : I am ready.

  The Swordmaker : You will get yourself killed.

  Mizu : I am ready. I am. I can never repay your kindness. When I told you my shame, you did not disown me, even though I'm hideous to men's eyes.

  The Swordmaker : I have no eyes, so... I can accept you.

  Mizu : [smiles]  I will always be grateful to you, Swordfather.

  [Mizu bows before Eiji. In the present, Mizu takes a needle and thread; she stitches her shoulder wound in the water. The scene now goes back to the same flashback] 

  Mizu : Before I leave, Swordfather... there's something more I must confess.

  The Swordmaker : You have spoken enough nonsense today.

  Mizu : We cannot part in a lie.

  The Swordmaker : That is your burden to keep.

  Mizu : I have made your swords unclean.

  The Swordmaker : Quiet! You came to me as a stupid lost boy. If you insist on leaving now, it will be as a stupid lost man.

  [Eiji turns away from Mizu. He begins sharpening a tool. Mizu lowers her head in sadness for a bit; then, she puts on her kasa and gets up to leave] 

  The Swordmaker : If you must do this, take a sword.

  Mizu : I already have one, Swordfather.

  [She empoweringly unsheathes her katana and taps its tip on the ground. The clanking sound creates a unique echoing chime that Eiji recognizes. He opens his blind eyes, knowing that Mizu had used the metal from the meterorite that he could not do. In the present, Mizu is lounging in the hot springs in peace. A dark figure moves through some trees. The footsteps alarm Mizu. She quickly gets out of the water to grab her sword. She aims it at the intruder, who happens to be Ringo] 

  Ringo : [surprised and spooked]  Ah!

  [after a second, Ringo realizes that it's Mizu. Even more still, he discovers that Mizu is, in fact, a female. Mizu, wet and naked, lowers her weapon and glares at Ringo] 

  Ringo : Peaches.

  [Screen goes black]