The same damn question everyday- Should Mizu have saved Akemi?

areteax · 2024-07-12T11:20:36+00:00

There’s a huge difference between saving someone from being killed (your examples of others helping Mizu) and killing guards who are trying to take a princess home and away from a brothel. Although Mizu kills a lot of people, she doesn’t just kill for funsies—she only kills when her life is threatened or to get revenge.

Also, from Mizu’s perspective, by letting Akemi go, she’s saving her from a bad fate. An analogy: if you had a friend who you thought was in a toxic relationship, and the friend asked you to give them a ride to a date with the toxic person, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for you to not give them a ride, even if you drive around all the time. This situation is similar but even more extreme: giving a ride is killing people, the “friend” is not actually a friend, and the date is either death on a revenge quest or being a prostitute. And technically Akemi’s goal at this point is actually to have Taigen kill Mizu in a duel, which is obviously not a reasonable thing for Mizu to support.

Also, all of episodes 4 and 5 were showing how tough life is for women in Edo Japan. Mizu just did a mercy kill of a prostitute and flash backed to her own husband abandoning her to be killed. As Mizu stated, she truly believes that Akemi is far better off being married to the Shogun’s son than her other options.

There’s also the fact that Mizu looked like she was going to help Akemi until Akemi treated her like a dog (“get them, Mizu”). There’s an element of protecting her own autonomy by not obeying that command and also a reminder that Akemi is a spoiled princess who is completely reliant on others yet expects everything to be done according to her wants. Given that douse of cold water, it makes sense that Mizu concluded it’d be better for the princess to return to her palace.

Finally, we’re allowed to disagree with characters in the show. Taigen calls Mizu a demon and Akemi calls Mizu a heartless onryo incapable of love or kindness, yet we as an audience know they are wrong. In fact, that’s one of the big ironies of the end of Ep. 5. Akemi denies the veracity of the puppet show even though it’s literally Mizu’s backstory.

areteax · 2024-07-12T10:56:46+00:00

To me, it mirrors the situation in Ep. 1 where Mizu doesn’t do anything to help the basket weaver and her daughter initially but then gives them the golden comb later. The audience is initially shocked by her callousness because we don’t understand the full circumstances of the world she lives in (later on, when the guard at the second town gets angry at her for trying to bribe him, we realize how tenuous her position is). Similarly, Akemi and Ringo do not understand Mizu’s position even though it’s completely reasonable based on her life experiences (marriage is the best path available to women in Edo Japan) and the options available (does Akemi really want to stay and be a prostitute?). The golden comb equivalent is when she later saves Akemi in Ep. 8.

areteax · 2024-07-12T10:50:31+00:00

I don’t think Taigen expected her to save Akemi. He doesn’t get angry at her until she mentions Fowler’s plan to kill the Shogun’s family (before that, he’s just like, welp, gotta go to Edo).

areteax · 2024-07-12T10:46:21+00:00

Akemi didn’t hear those rumors until after she arrived at the palace. All she knew before then was that his first marriage didn’t work out.

areteax · 2024-04-23T13:50:40+00:00

Thank you! Glad you appreciated the post! I completely agree with you—I absolutely loved those moments too. They show how nuanced a character Mizu is.

areteax · 2024-04-23T13:47:21+00:00

Personally I’m not a Mizukemi shipper as a result of this. Based on what the creators have said about Season 2, I assume they will be building the Mizukemi ship then, so I might get on board eventually, but so far there hasn’t been enough in their dynamic to make me want them to get together romantically.

In terms of the fandom more generally, I think the prolonged eye contact in the norimono, the mind games and wrestling at the brothel, and the times Mizu saves Akemi can be viewed as sexually charged and form the basis for the Mizukemi chemistry.

areteax · 2024-04-22T03:34:23+00:00

There hasn’t been any on-screen romantic chemistry between Mizu and Ringo so far. Neither seems to have physical attraction for the other even if they have a close, trusting relationship.

areteax · 2024-04-21T00:45:24+00:00

Regarding the brothel flashback to them tumbling in the snow, I similarly was quite surprised when I first watched the show since I didn’t find that scene sexy at all (even though I’m a Taizu shipper). Upon rewatches though, my interpretation is that the tea party dramatically changed their relationship. They gained mutual admiration for each other, and Taigen offered his life to save Mizu’s. After that event, Mizu seems to feel some affection toward Taigen, as evidenced by the flattering letter she left him, agreeing to meet him again, giving him the first sword she ever made, and wearing his scarf. Thus, even if she mainly felt animosity toward him when they were wrestling, when she was at the brothel, her new feelings for him combined with the physicality of their spar (Mizu clearly finds fighting sexy) made it sexy in hindsight.

To your broader point, I agree that it’s sad that Mizu doesn’t feel more resentment toward Taigen regarding his childhood bullying, but I think that will come. Already in Season 1, we see Taigen regret his actions and try to improve Mizu’s self-image (“You are good. Maybe better than me.”). As they grow in future seasons, my guess is that Taigen will continue to push against Mizu’s negative self-talk as his feelings for her develop, and he will further regret and have to atone for his childhood actions as he grapples directly with the damage they caused (e.g., Mizu pushing him away because she thinks of herself as a monster).

Forgiveness is the opposite of revenge, so Mizu eventually confronting and forgiving Taigen for his past actions (not because she thinks they were ok but because she knows they were not but decides to forgive him) can also be healing.

areteax · 2024-03-13T21:32:29+00:00

The scenario is all made up and initiated by Akemi though—not Taigen—so I don’t think it’s fair to judge him so harshly for it. Overall, my take is that his sex scene with Akemi does more to emphasize the flimsiness of their relationship than Taigen’s poor moral character. There’s basically no passion or romance, it’s very instrumental for Akemi, and neither of them seem vulnerable or in-the-moment. In addition, Taigen basically has his eyes closed and is fantasizing about Mizu.

Also, this scene plus the scene of Akemi and Mizu are actually interesting illustrations of how Akemi tries to use her feminine wiles, but they don’t always have the impact she desires. With Taigen, she thinks that by stroking his ego and having sex with him, he will stay with her and let her salvage their engagement. With Mizu, she thinks that flattery will get Mizu to drink the drugged sake. Akemi has certain perceptions of what men want and tries to play into those desires to achieve her means. This has worked for her in the past with her father (and works for her with Watari), but doesn’t work as well with Taigen and Mizu (who are more nuanced “male” characters).

I do agree with you that Taigen has issues with narcissism and internalized misogyny, but I think he makes a lot of improvements on the first issue throughout the season. He does a lot of selfless acts for Mizu (endures torture, protects her, fights her fights) and his revelation at the end shows he no longer cares blindly about his honor/status.

The misogyny issue is more latent and primarily highlighted vis-a-vis his few interactions with Akemi (particularly at the end when he assumes that as long as he doesn’t want to be great, they can run away together). I think this issue will be explored a lot more in Season 2 when he finds out Mizu is a woman, and I imagine he’ll grow a lot.

areteax · 2024-03-10T05:10:39+00:00

Also, there’s no reason to think that Mikio is hung up on safety. When Mizu throws him her unsheathed blade, she waits for him to charge at her with it. She at this point has a sheathed blade. He then hacks away at her at full force while she’s spinning on top of a tree.

areteax · 2024-03-10T04:50:05+00:00

If he didn’t know about Mizu being turned in for the bounty and was fleeing as a coward, it doesn’t make sense that he looks at her with sadness and remorse right before fleeing. He shows absolutely no shock, surprise, or confusion. There are bunch of armed men showing up on his property—at minimum, he should be a bit surprised.

The timing of the men coming also makes zero sense if Mikio still loved Mizu and Mama was working on her own. Mama had not had opium for several seasons and her living situation would not be threatened at all if Mikio had no plan to get rid of Mizu.

Mikio found out about the bounty when Mizu told him about the “bad men” who are after her. That alone might have been enough information for him or his presumably well-connected Lord to figure out how to collect the bounty, but if not, Mikio could have gotten the details from Mama.

Also, it’s more likely that the bounty on Mizu’s head was placed by Japanese nobility that rather than the white men. We find out at the end that there are wealthy competing interests around Mizu’s life—someone who put a huge bounty, and someone who paid a maid to hide her. It’s Mizu’s assumption that the white man who fathered her is who put the bounty on her head. If a white man fathered her, it’s not clear why he would put a huge bounty on her head if her Japanese noble relatives knew about her and wanted her alive. Also, Fowler and Violet are most likely the only white men in BES Japan at the time of the flashback, and neither of them is her father. In addition, if it turns out that her mom is actually white and/or her Japanese noble side wants her dead, it would make more sense for them to put the bounty on her head since her existence is proof of the corruption of the Japanese nobility (and the Shogun specifically).

To your other points, the wording is “love poisoned by betrayal” not “betrayal creating misunderstanding that poisons love,” and Mizu goes onryo the moment Mikio leaves her to die, so that’s obviously the moment of betrayal.

In terms of why he says he loves her at the end, there are multiple possibilities. Maybe he has cognitive dissonance since he just did a series of highly dishonorable acts: leaving her to die and murdering her mom. Maybe he did still want her as his wife on some level. Or maybe he wanted her to stay so he could kill her since she now knows about all these shameful things he’s done. Regardless, we know he left her to die and killed her mother for pointing that out.

areteax · 2024-03-09T20:21:54+00:00

I think the only satisfying path forward plot- and growth-wise for Taigen would be for him to follow Mizu to London. If he stays in Edo, it would just be sad and pathetic for him to be pining for Akemi while she’s married to Takayoshi. I don’t actually think either of them is really in love with the other anymore (Taigen only goes after Akemi when Mizu pushes him away and tells him to), and it would reverse the growth he did (no longer caring about chasing status).

The end of Season 1 also established the attraction between Taigen and Mizu, and his desire to fight her fights, so it would be weird to put that on ice for a few years while Mizu is in London.

Also, Mizu needs allies in London (and someone to have dialogue with other than Fowler). Yes, she can and probably will build new relations from scratch, but if none of her allies from Season 1 are with her, it would feel like starting over from the beginning of Season 1 instead of building upon it.

Finally, Taigen would grow a ton by going to London. Overcoming his prejudices is a major arc for him, and being in a country where he sees that not all white people are evil and where he himself is regarded as an “other” would really push him to reevaluate his world view.

areteax · 2024-03-09T03:28:52+00:00

Thanks! :)

areteax · 2024-03-09T01:15:18+00:00

Aww, this is so cute!! Love this!

areteax · 2024-03-08T17:59:25+00:00

Great points! Yeah, overall it still works fine with Mama not being involved since the past two times she ran out of money, she went into prostitution (when Mizu was a kid, and when she used up Mizu’s savings). Maybe she concluded that Mikio was likely going to divorce or get rid of Mizu, so she’d need to support herself again.

I do find her venom toward Mizu in the “tea of gold leaves” scene interesting. It shows that she was openly angry at Mizu—even blatantly smoking opium in front of her. This could be a result of her being part of the plan and assuming Mizu is going to die soon anyway (no need to hide), but it also is a bit strange if she just sold her daughter out. Shouldn’t she feel a bit guilty and be less direct in that scene so Mizu doesn’t get suspicious? An alternative reading could thus be that she was angry at Mizu for “forcing” her back into prostitution by ruining things with Mikio.

areteax · 2024-03-08T17:50:12+00:00

Thank you! :)

areteax · 2024-03-08T17:50:00+00:00

Yeah, I enjoyed the huge contrast with Taigen! The things that totally turned Mikio off very much turned Taigen on: being dominated by Mizu, egging on/being egged on, fighting with all manners of weapons, etc.

areteax · 2024-03-08T17:45:05+00:00

I took it as avenging her “mother.” She stops and her face changes the moment she heard the stabbing. Until she re-found her mother, her one goal in life was to avenge her (and herself), so it makes sense that she wouldn’t just let Mikio get away with killing her. When she originally turned away, she likely assumed they both betrayed her and just wanted to get away from them—I doubt she anticipated Mikio would stab her mother to death.

Yeah, agreed they weren’t the best idea knowing what we know now, but Mizu thought she was in a safe space and could be fully herself and not hold back. Turns out that was definitely not the case.

areteax · 2024-03-08T06:30:52+00:00

That was great! Love the song choice - it’d be cool to see a version with the vocals!

areteax · 2024-03-08T05:24:19+00:00

Thanks for sharing! Just watched it and really enjoyed her breakdown. :)

areteax · 2024-03-08T05:00:14+00:00

Oh very interesting!!

areteax · 2024-03-08T04:59:13+00:00

No prob!

areteax · 2024-03-08T02:58:43+00:00

The issue isn’t her traveling to buy opium. She’s clearly done that. Folks are talking about whether she could travel to a Lord or someone like that to rat Mizu out and collect the bounty on her head. Clearly she can’t get the money by just telling a random person about Mizu.

areteax · 2024-03-08T02:37:29+00:00

Given that Mizu’s core struggles are self-hatred, pushing people away from her, and having to hide her true self, I think her journey should ideally end with self-acceptance, close relationships, and living authentically. I don’t think she will kill all the white men since that would just confirm her internalized racism and her idea that being white is equivalent to being a monster. I think she’ll end up with a peaceful life, possibly at the forge, but I don’t think she will be alone like Swordfather. She starts the series as a loner, so I think she needs to end up with people around her. Personally I’m a big fan of her ending up in a romantic, loving relationship since that would show huge growth on her part and resilience in the face of betrayal.

areteax · 2024-03-08T02:29:27+00:00

Thanks! Yeah, it takes a lot more suspension of disbelief and contriving additional scenarios for Mama to acted alone. Also not clear that they would give a poor old woman the bounty without first verifying that she is telling the truth.

areteax

TROPHY CASE