Netflix may be betting on another foreign hit to make it big on its streaming service in 2025.
At Netflix's International Showcase last week, the streaming giant teased a slew of upcoming non-English language shows and movies. Some of them, like “Alice in Borderland” Season 3, are returning, while others, like “Senna,” will be released later this month. Only one of them, however, is described as “The Shogun meets The Squid Game.”
That's how Kata Sakamoto, Netflix's vice president of Japanese content, describes his new Japanese-language action drama “The Last Samurai Standing,” scheduled to air in 2025. The show is based on the Japanese manga of the same name (also known as “Ikugami”) and takes place in the Meiji period following the real-life Tokugawa Shogunate, which was fictionalized in season 1 of “Shogun.”
This is not the first time we have heard about “Last Samurai Standing.” The show was initially teased back in April when Netflix announced an adaptation of the award-winning manga. But now that it's back in the news, here's everything we know about the show so far.
Details on “Last Samurai Standing” are still scarce, but we do know what the show will be about and who the main characters will be.
As mentioned, the show is in Japanese and based on the manga “Ikugami. It takes place in the Meiji period of the 19th century, when the power of the samurai began to wane. The main setting is Tenryuji Temple in Kyoto, where 292 warriors fight for 100 billion yen at night.
Among them is Shujiro Saga, played by Junichi Okada. Shujiro's goal is to win the money to save his ailing wife and child. It is not hard to imagine how apt the expression “a fusion of ‘Shogun’ and ‘Squidgy Game’” is.
But while Okada is the star and choreographer of the action, he is not the only actor in the show. In fact, there are nearly 300 actors in the show, all in their own costumes. In other words, by the time you get to the last samurai, you may see all 292 fighters.
Comments