Meari21

Most MDL users might be sleeping on this but the fact that it’s the number 1 most watched show on Netflix right now means it’s gaining traction worldwide. This is a certified hit. Okada Junichi left a message on his official X (formerly Twitter) account to thank the fans for its surprising viewership numbers. https://x.com/j_okada_aiston/status/1989942313259594077?s=46

Yes. Yang Yang + Song Wei Long = another annoyingly good looking actor with the acting chops to boot. lol

Oh! So I guess I'll have to wait until December. Thank you for answering.

The cast in this is perfection! They made Ito Hideaki grossly unattractive and terrifying when that man used to be one of the hottest heartthrobs in Japan and still is at 50 years of age. They did the same to Abe Hiroshi. He was barely unrecognizable as Gentosai. In fact, a lot of the cast are highly popular actors who were either idols or teen hearthrobs back in the day. Well, I like everyone except Higashide Masahiro. lol

Does it end on a cliffhanger? Because if it does, I will just wait until part 2 is released and then binge the whole thing.

Probably because he’s supposed to be a surprise and a teaser for season 2.

Yep. And they say that they knew exactly who was going to die. I wonder if they knew that a character that was built up to be a serious contender would die. I sure as hell didn’t. I thought he’d last a few more episodes at least. I’m beginning to think this reviewer watched a different drama.

According to FlixPatrol, Last Samurai Standing is currently (as of November 15) the most watched show on Netflix globally. Clearly, this will get a second season. We just don’t know when we’ll get it. 😅 https://flixpatrol.com/top10/netflix/

Some of the best Japanese movies in cinematic history have relatively low ratings on this site. Kurosawa films, for example, aren’t rated higher than 8.6 when they should’ve gotten at least 9. These are masterpieces. Many of them are critically acclaimed. Even the popular Rurouni Kenshin movies only get as high as 8.6. But Korean and Chinese movies, especially those with actors that have huge fanbases, get higher ratings even though they’re nowhere near as good. Another example is the recent Romantics Anonymous series. It has become quite popular but the highest it got was an 8.1. Positive reviews of this drama were downvoted too. So I don’t wonder anymore when Japanese movies/dramas get low ratings or are review bombed. I just don’t believe the ratings on this site, especially when it comes to J-content.

I also saw a 6 rating and negative review on this site from a known Koreaboo reviewer. To be fair, they gave decent ratings for other Japanese works. It’s just that the review doesn’t quite match the drama. According to the review, the lead is painted as a kind of righteous selfless hero when in fact he’s a coward and a selfish bastard who only wanted to save his family until he meets a young girl who reminds him of his daughter. I’m not convinced this reviewer actually saw the drama.

The fight choreography in this is pretty cool. It’s not as stylistic as the one in Kenshin but very well-executed. Shujiro is nowhere near as idealistic as Kenshin. He’s flawed and have done things he’s not proud of. But like Kenshin he was a retainer for one of the clans that supported the Meiji restoration. Futaba is indeed like Rin from Blade of the Immortal and also the child in Lone Wolf and Cub. The story is closer to Harakiri than Rurouni Kenshin.

They're talking about the movie Azumi. It has similarities to this drama.

MDL has predominantly teens to early 20-somethings for its users and they prefer mostly Korean and Chinese content. This is why most Japanese dramas and movies are rated low or not fully appreciated.

I understood you completely.

I understand where you're coming from but ancient Japan was one big death game battle. During the feudal era, people practically killed each other for sport and power. This gave birth to the samurai, the military class of feudal Japan who worked for bloodthirsty warlords (daimyo) that fought to usurp each other's territories. The Sengoku period was the bloodiest era in Japan that led to the unification of the country under one shogun. But despite this unification, civil wars still kept erupting until the Boshin War, the war that restored the rule to the Meiji heir. This restoration brought about the downfall of the samurai with the current regime practically killing them off one by one. That is the main story of this drama. The death game aspect is just used as a tool to show how the regime wanted the samurai completely eliminated. I don't think this is any different from what transpired in most of their history. Japan was basically a large battlefield up until the end of the shogunate and the samurai class.

I guess it's the same for people who say it's Rurouni Kenshin or Alice in Borderland. This is far more grounded than RK, the fight choreography, for one, is less stylized. It's more similar to the fighting style in Blade of the Immortal, same feels too. It's set in the same era as RK, though. The difference is RK didn't really show how the samurai were shunned and were practically dying because of the lack of options. Kenshin, who was a retainer for the Choshu clan, was even offered a government position that he turned down, while Shujiro was discarded like a piece of old rag despite leading the charge for the Satsuma clan. He was even allowed to carry a sword around even though katanas were banned.

This era in Japanese history fascinates me. The fall of the last shogunate and restoration of the Meiji empire led to the abolishment of the samurai. Guns replaced swords and the remnants of the samurai were left to starve and fend for themselves. I was wrong, Shujiro worked as a retainer for the Satsuma clan who fought for the Meiji emperor against the shogunate during the Boshin War. Then he and his kind were discarded after the Meiji heir was restored as emperor. Love the conspiracies and political machinations in this. I thought this would be more straightforward. The fights are well-choreographed. A bit stylized but more grounded than other modern samurai films. The all-star cast and high production value makes this a must-watch J-drama. Netflix Japan has been coming out with pretty good dramas lately.

Yes, Btooom! I forgot about that. This is more like that and Battle Royale, not like Squid Game or Alice in Borderland at all. The samurai story is reminiscent of Harakiri and Lone Wolf and Cub. Not sure about this because I haven’t finished the drama yet but I’m guessing Shujiro was part of the Fudai clans that fought the Boshin War under the shogunate. They did mention something about the bakufu in the first episode.

Last Samurai Standing is about a man struggling in a world where samurai are treated as scum and using swords has become illegal so they can’t find work and have trouble surviving. It’s the same with Harakiri which depicts the hardships samurai went through during the Meiji era they had to resort to drastic measures just to stay alive. In the manga of LSS, there are no such games as in AIB. They’re just trying to defeat one opponent after another and take their card so they can advance to the next round. It’s mostly fighting really.

The story about him being a struggling samurai during the Meiji era is very Harakiri. Rurouni Kenshin is about a former assassin fighting enemies from his past. Check out that classic movie starring Nakadai Tatsuya, there’s also a remake of it made by Miike Takashi. Alice in Borderland has some mind boggling games while Battle Royale is just a battle for survival.