u/KidChanbara

This morning, in that fuzzy headed moment between waking up and getting out of bed, a thought came to me - what are the chances that Fowler intends to return to Japan? I thought it would make for a fun idea for this sub to kick around, thus this post.

Motivation ? : Why go back to a place where there's a death sentence waiting for him ?

Mizu's Role ? : How would Fowler use Mizu in his plans for Japan ?

Mizu's Reaction ? : How would Mizu react ?

Thoughts?

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My speculation ...

Motivation Possibilities

• Failing to reestablish himself in London, meanwhile a bunch of new and old enemies want him dead. Fowler runs back to Japan where what's left of his criminal infrastructure and coup factions might give him refuge and access to hidden wealth.
• Once Fowler was safely away from the reach of the new shogun, and with what he knows about Mizu's true parentage, he may have begun to plan a return to Japan, before he and Mizu reach London.
• Sheer spite and wounded pride at having his coup fail. Coming back to Japan to finish the job or burn it all down.

Mizu's Role

• Used by Fowler to extort goods & services from whoever created the bounty. Mizu is alive but movements are restricted.
• Fowler uses a proxy to claim the bounty on Mizu, thus helping to finance his plans in Japan. For this to happen, Mizu would be killed.

Mizu's Reaction

• Oh, hell no to any of that.
• Fowler cons Mizu into helping him, or at least not hindering him.
• Mizu might be on the run from people in London just like Fowler, and she may be homesick for the country of her birth, despite her life there as child and (wo)man. So she'll be wanting to go back to Japan anyway, and Fowler may be the one to make arrangements. They are both on the same sailing ship to Japan.
• Mizu chasing Fowler in another boat, with intent to kill.

Thanks to your encouragement, I resumed rereading "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" and just finished it. Wow!

I think I need to reread the last two chapters; I don't quite have an understanding of what actually happened and who did what when, or at least make some educated guesses. There's a lot of actions by characters that aren't described, where you have to make assumptions based on resulting reality.

I'm really looking forward to read our copy of "The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul", my wife is reading it now.

In the late 1980's I read the two original novels. I kept dragging them around with me through multiple house moves, but never re-read them, so the storylines disappeared from my memory.

Come 2026, and I finally watched the two seasons of "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" (2016/2017), and I love the show so much! Especially Bart!

So, I dug out my copies of the novels and started re-reading them. I've only gotten as far as Chapter 16 of the first novel, where Richard McDuff is in Dirk Gently's detective office, and they're talking about Schrodinger's Cat.

I'm stalled because I just don't like the original Dirk Gently SO FAR. There's a big difference between the tv series Dirk and the novel Dirk, and not in a way that I like.

So, please encourage me to continue reading! Does Dirk get better as a person? And I'm actually looking forward to the Electric Monk reappearing in the story line.

And please, try to avoid spoilers, but I don't mind some weighted hints.

Thinking more about Akemi's commitment on the bridge to a path to power, I imagined two things that could result from that commitment:

Did Akemi Save Her Father? : Akemi seems to be a quick thinker once she recognizes a problem or has a goal. She must have soon realized that her father Lord Daichi could be more valuable to her alive than dead. With the coup army still alive and frantic to escape the fire, she can't go back in yet, at least not through the gate she and Seki barred. I can imagine her getting back in when it was safe, and "search" for Lord Daichi like a dutiful daughter would, who loves her father. Then, amazing luck, she finds him! Seeing that he's still alive, she arranges for his "care".

Seki's Chest Of Gold : All that unaccounted money could be useful to Akemi in the future - for example, bribes. But could she carry that chest by herself, at least far enough to find a good hiding place? She's a princess, she hasn't had to shift weights like that on a daily basis. But there's Taigen, always eager to help ...

I'm going to be a little disappointed if there is no scene in Season Two with Lady Ito confronting Madame Kaji in a private meeting.

Starting when Akemi dismissed the spying black-teeth harpies as her handmaids and turned instead to a bunch of outsider women with no connections to the court, Lady Ito would have wanted all the information possible on who these low-class strangers were, suddenly walking the halls of HER palace.

I'm sure Lady Ito found out the major details of Madame Kaji, but how Akemi knows Madame Kaji would still be a mystery. Lord Daichi's men found her in proximity to Madame Kaji's brothel, but probably wouldn't have made the connection.

I'm sure Lady Ito's next step would be to send a palace guard or two to "request" a meeting with Madame Kaji. Lady Ito will try to intimidate the her with her high status and a commanding attitude. We saw with how Madame Kaji handled Abijah Fowler at her brothel; she'll be keep her composure and politely either dodge Lady Ito's questions or outright lie.

Hopefully Akemi and Madame Kaji will get their story straight before any such meeting ever occurs. I can see Lady Ito having a similar meeting with Akemi, with the twist that the younger woman is also her daughter-in-law.

Season One ended with Lord Daichi "recovering" from the castle fire under Akemi's "care". Obviously Akemi is going to strictly control access to her father. He still needs food and other basics, and it makes sense that Akemi would ask Madame Kaji to arrange secure means of providing for his basic needs. I don't see Madame Kaji doing the grunt work, but I can imagine her occasional meeting with Lord Daichi if some issue needs resolution.

Akemi will have told Madame Kaji all about her father and his part in the coop, and especially about him pushing Ise out of the window. So Madame Kaji will have no trust in anything Lord Daichi says, and maybe even tempted to add to his injuries, but holding back because it wouldn't be something Akemi would want.

Lord Daichi will be trying to find some way to get out from under his daughter's thumb, but he has almost no options. But - the present situation isn't too far from the one he was working to achieve. His daughter Akemi is now a part of the new shogun's family, keeping his dream alive of seizing power with Akemi as his puppet. But Akemi hates him now, and he may actually have serious injuries. She also can get him in trouble by revealing his role in the coup, although that knowledge probably has a sell-by date. He may try to improve his situation by demonstrating that he has valuable knowledge about how court intrigue actually works; that he is useful as an advisor to Akemi.

Questions : Will Lord Daichi try to manipulate Madame Kaji for his own benefit, and how successful will be be? Will Madame Kaji try to take revenge for Ise? What kinds of interactions do you imagine happening between these two?

Lord Daichi, Akemi's father

Madame Kaji

About the tv series with Samuel Barnett and Elijah Wood - has there been any good discussions in this sub about what the connections could be between "The Boy" Francis who created Wendimoor, and The Universe who sends Bart on assassination missions and enables Dirk Gently to detect "holistically" ?

I was wondering if Francis is only considered the most powerful of "the others" who were at Black Wing with Dirk, or is Francis actually an embodiment of The Universe, sort of a Jesus<>Jehovah situation?

My spouse and I are doing a rewatch of both seasons, and the watching triggers some questions.

A thought that just came to me, while reading the comments in my recent post about who named Mizu.

What if Mizu's birth mother died soon after the delivery? Maybe living just long enough to give her child a name?(*)

If so - maybe that would add another reason for Mizu's grandparent(s) to hate the new baby, in addition to the abhorrence of Mizu's mixed blood and any social/political impacts to the family.

Other questions - who knows the important facts about Mizu's birth? Important, as in, justifying a death bounty on someone from infancy onward? Which leads to - who was present during the immediate time of Mizu's birth?

For the childbirth, there is of course the mother. And very likely "Momma/"your maid", and maybe someone to give experienced help, like a midwife? I get the feeling the father was absent, maybe long gone.

If we take Fowler at his word (hah!), he hints that he knows a lot of important facts. He probably got intrigued about the existence of such a big bounty on such a specific mixed-race blue eyed female infant/child/adult, and he was rich enough to satisfy his curiosity by bribing the right people to get information. But who would be in the know?

(*) I thought I had an original idea, but it could have been inspired subconsciously by "Game Of Thrones" [SPOILER for G.O.T.]

I don't know if the BES writers will consider this important enough to clarify in Season Two, or ever. What's your guess on who gave Mizu her name?

1. Her birth mother

2. Her genetic father

3. "Momma"/"Your maid"

4. The man who refused to kill her, and who prevented the other assassin from killing Mizu.

5. Some other male person.

6. Some other female person.

[ Posting this prior to viewing the Annecy 2026 BES Season Two trailer ] As we wait for the new Season Two trailer to be released for viewing outside of Annecy 2026, we've been reading the various online summaries of the video. One of the things that has caused a lot of speculation here is the relationship between Mizu and Fowler by the time they arrive in London.

Considering that Fowler is still alive and seems chatty even, indicates to me that the two have come to some kind of truce or understanding. Mizu needs him as a guide - not just geographically, culturally too. And she needs Fowler's knowledge of Skeffington and Routely (S&R). Fowler seems to be exploiting Mizu's martial skills for mutual benefit.

Fowler seems to have some grandiose memories of how much influence and power he had in London, twenty years ago.

My speculation : Fowler is not going to be content to be a has-been who was a big man twenty years ago but now is just some old loser who messed up a good thing in Japan. He has too big of an ego, he'll want his old power and reputation back.

Maybe pit fighting is not just to make some quick money, but a way for Fowler to get back into London's criminal underworld, using his role as Mizu's "manager", plus whatever reputation has has left over from the old days.

Will Mizu be content just to be Fowler's muscle? I can see her agreeing to do some nasty stuff upon his request (remember Kinuyo?) in exchange for intel on S&R, but not 24/7 and not wholeheartedly. I am hoping she finds a side job, maybe involving metal working? She might also be good with horses. Combine both and be a farrier?

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What are your reactions to the descriptions of the interactions between Mizu and Fowler as described in the video summaries?

I guess this could apply to any dramatic series with a lot of fans - I think it would be funny that after the last episode of the last season of Blue Eye Samurai, there would be a bonus episode that answered the most common fan theories and questions about the show, that hadn't been addressed in the show. Just crammed with scenes from all over the timeline.

What issues would you like to see resolved, especially if there is little to no chance of getting a definitive answer during the regular episodes?

OR, conversely, what issues would you prefer remained unresolved?

Here are a few of mine

Be nice to know

Swordfather/Master Eiji - did he learn sword smithing before or after he lost his sight?

Albino Woman At Madame Kaji's - what happened to her?

The shack that Mizu and Momma lived in - how did it burn down?

I don't need to know

Who betrayed Mizu to the bounty hunters at Mikio's ranch.

To what degree does Mizu have any attraction to Taigen.

If there were really only four white men who could have conceived Mizu.

Anything related to the history of firearms in the Japan of BES.

Every so often we get "Mizu versus *, Who Would Win?" posts. Sometimes too many all at once, they come in clumps.

We've had Mizu (BES) vs Vi (Arcane) :
https://www.reddit.com/r/BlueEyeSamurai/comments/1nnbz6n/realistically_who_would_win_in_a_fight_mizu_or_vi/

With an extended pit fight scene in Season Two with Mizu up against two big men, we'll have more data! We will be closer to doing some good speculating about Mizu vs Vi in a bareknuckle no-rules brawl. Assuming they are both at their best from their pit fighter periods (so, not Vi in her broke down human punching bag phase).

I actually have my doubts about Season One Mizu, she seems to be in greatest danger when in a no-weapons fight.

Oh gosh - is Fowler going to be her bare-knuckle pit fighting coach during the voyage ?! That would make for some good shipboard scenes!

I'm sorry I can't offer a screen grab, it's really hard to figure out how to pause it.

The banner is an animation composed of Mizu's face, broken like pottery and put back partially with gold solder - like Japanese kintsugi technique in ceramics - where some of the pieces are replaced with animated scenes from Season One. Really impressive!

And then there's the blurb - "It's Official : Another Season Is Coming"

[ Thanks to u/Onyxgroove24 for the screen shot:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BlueEyeSamurai/comments/1ud1ra5/its_here/

]

[ Try this to get to the teaser "trailer" - if the link doesn't go straight to the teaser, you might be able to find it in the Trailer page

https://www.netflix.com/title/81144203

]

Quote: "Netflix today announced some updates to its leadership structure and, in a move that reflects the increasing importance of its toon output, former head of feature animation and live-action family film Hannah Minghella will be streamlining her focus exclusively on Netflix’s animated film slate. (...) As Head of Netflix Animation Studios, Minghella will be steering a heft lineup of animated features in development, production and acquisition, as well as its three studio facilities (in Burbank, California; Vancouver, BC and Sydney, Australia) — totaling up to more than 1,000 employees across three continents. "

Netflix’s animated film slate - so, no affect on episodic series?

Ooops - here's the link:

https://www.animationmagazine.net/2026/06/hannah-minghella-to-exclusively-oversee-animated-features-at-netflix-in-studio-reshuffle/

And was she the same person who is riding along with the Rowdy 3 at the end of Season Two?

The way the artists of BES draw Mizu, it's often very difficult to tell if she's wearing her special arm and leg weights that can be joined to make a shaft that converts her sword into a naginata.

I was thinking she would be inspired to make that special set of weights after her experiences with Mikio's naginata. But could she have made them while still at Swordfather's?

When Mizu and Mikio are starting their sparring match, Mizu says she's never gone up against a naginata. But given the skillful way she uses it later makes me think that she's had a lot of solo time with one, maybe one left at the forge. As far as we know, the first time she's faced a truly hostile opponent was at the sake shack where she got stabbed, so her saying she hadn't fought against anyone armed with a naginata is both truthful and leaves out a lot, like her saying "All I did was train with a sword".