Last Samurai Standing

While there are under-explored avenues, backstories, and contexts that would benefit from a longer season, it nonetheless excels as an adrenaline-pumping show that can't be missed — and the best live-action action television of the year.

Ultimately, “Last Samurai Standing” is a fully realized and epic action series that seamlessly integrates some of the most intricate action filmmaking to be seen on television in years with a beating human heart that makes us care.

Last Samurai Standing absolutely delivers all kinds of fights. The series’ lead actor, Junichi Okada, is also its action choreographer, and he puts together a wild variety of configurations that keeps the series fresh. .... For now, it hits upon some satisfying anti-colonialism sentiment, but it could also eventually collapse if Last Samurai Standing puts too much narrative weight on it. That’s an issue for season two to deal with, but the question of whether Japan was too influenced by outside actors is at least compelling in season one.

With furious fight action and a noble hero to follow through its pitched battle tension, Last Samurai Standing feels like a limited series well worth your time.

Last Samurai Standing is a series that, by and large, cuts through the dour plot of Squid Game towards something more hopeful, more human, and most importantly: a lot more fun.

The first five episodes offered enough bloody, ambitious set pieces and character development to keep me generally engaged, with the sixth episode being the first one to come close to blowing me away with samurai clashing, setting things up intriguingly for a second season that, unlike with Squid Game, is probably necessary.

The hints about Kyojin's role in everything remain compelling going forward, as do how the game at the show's center will develop. Learning more about each character and seeing them develop in season 2 would fix some of the depth issues in season 1.

Great Acting. Good Writing. Some of the best Action Choreography I’ve ever seen in a Series. As well the Cinematography is actually incredible.

The premise of a Battle Royale but with Samurais is an incredibly fun idea!The fight scenes are incredibly well-choreographed, bloody and a visual treat to watch! There is also some wonderful cinematography and it genuinely feels like they brought the Meiji era to life! The music score is also excellent. I found that all the actors did a terrific job and special praise has to go to Junichi Okada as the main character Shujiro Saga. He does a great job in bringing depth to the character and also performing the fight choreography.While the story sounds generic on paper, I do love how they explore conflict between the old Samurai era and the new one while also handling some of the politics in a digestible way. It does have a lot of generic tropes including the old broken down man, the young naive girl who can be quite annoying and overly silly bad guy. However, I enjoyed a lot of this show and it is a great start for Season 1. I am most definitely looking forward to where this goes next!

Solid story, engaging characters, strong TV show. Based on a series of novels, Netflix use everything from the usual battle royale recipe to deliver a compelling plotline, well paced in only six episodes, with great action scenes. Each cliffhanger works to hook the viewers till the end of the show and the last episode delivers a gripping finale. A bit short maybe, but definitely worth the watch.

The strongest part of this series are the fights, which are brutal, down to earth and fast paced. Apart from that it's Squid Game in Japan, with all silliness that comes with the whole concept and some nice visuals as well. Worth to mention - this is not historically accurate.

Squid Game set in historical Japan. Similarly lowbrow and at times downright silly. Characters that couldn't be more stereotypical. The fights are sometimes well-choreographed, but have nothing to do with realistic combat from that era.