Last Samurai Standing: A Blast from the Past, and A New Era for Netflix

Warning: Multiple Spoilers Ahead

Last Samurai Standing (Ikusagami) is a Japanese historical action thriller series released exclusively on Netflix on November 13^th, 2025. It was written by Kento Yamaguchi and Michihito Fujii, both of whom also directed the show alongside Toru Yamamoto. The series, adapted from the 2022 novel of the same name by Shogo Imamura, spans 6 episodes with an average runtime of 60 minutes per episode. And it follows the perilous journey of a former samurai who takes part in a dangerous tournament to save his wife and child.

Premise

In the late Meiji era, 292 fighters gathered at Kyoto’s Tenryū-ji Temple for a bizarre challenge: steal each other’s wooden tags and reach Tokyo. The first to arrive would win ¥100,000. Among them was Saga Shujiro, fighting to save his ailing wife and child, despite his past coming back to haunt him, both literally and metaphorically…

Episode 1: Kodoku

The story opens with Saga leading the final siege of a battle. After signaling victory to his allies, their cannons inexplicably fire anyway, annihilating both enemy and allied forces. Saga survives, but a decade later the new government has outlawed samurai, leaving him unemployed. Living quietly with his family, he’s devastated when cholera takes his daughter and threatens his wife. Desperate for money, he enters a mysterious Kyoto martial arts tournament offering ¥100,000, despite warnings from a friend. At Tenryū-ji, officials reveal the tournament’s true nature: “Kodoku,” a month-long race to Tokyo where fighters collect points by taking each other’s numbered tags. Once started, participants cannot quit, run away, or reveal the tournament to strangers. Chaos breaks out at the start. Saga protects a young fighter, Futaba Katsuki, who reminds him of his daughter, and even without drawing his sword helps her secure a tag. Another contestant recognizes Saga as “Kokushu the Manslayer”, a moniker from Saga’s past, and offers him a spare tag. Outside, Saga is then attacked by Bukotsu Kanjiya, a brute warrior also from his past, while four wealthy spectators look on, eager to watch the violence unfold.

Episode 2: Awakening

Bukotsu goads Saga into drawing his sword, but Saga refuses to deliver a killing blow, infuriating him. Futaba helps Saga flee, and they soon meet Kyojin Tsuge; the participant who previously aided them. After calculating the point system, Kyojin believes only nine players can possibly win and proposes an alliance to uncover the organizers’ true motives. Futaba, a shrine maiden supporting her sick mother and the children in her care, asks to travel with Saga. Meanwhile in Tokyo, Superintendent General Kawaji informs Home Minister Okubo about the illegal tournament of former samurai. Bukotsu continues terrorizing villagers while hunting Saga, eventually clashing with Ukyo Kikuomi, another participant, whom he kills. On the road, Saga and Futaba witness contestants executed by Kodoku officers for attempting to quit, and a furious Saga wipes out the entire squad of officers.

Episode 3: Fate

Saga and Futaba are soon joined by Iroha Kinugasa—Saga’s adoptive sister from the Kyohachi-ryu school where he grew up. Together, they evade hostile participants and receive unexpected help from Kamuykocha, an Ainu fighter who vows not to attack as long as Futaba is present.

“My culture respects those who guard the children. As long as the child is with you, my arrows will not strike.”

At the Seki-juku checkpoint, a Kodoku officer reveals that both Saga and Iroha once trained for a deadly “Kodoku” under Gentosai, their master, who ordered them to kill their fellow students. Saga escaped before taking part. Reuniting with Kyojin, the group formally forms an alliance. Meanwhile in Tokyo, Kawaji informs Okubo that former samurai are fighting their way east and that the Kyoto firearms were supplied by four zaibatsu: the zaibatsu are the four men who are following and betting on the game. In other news, Gentosai himself has joined the tournament to eliminate surviving Kyohachi-ryu successors.

Episode 4: The Mastermind

Iroha’s story is revealed. She had entered the game at the urging of her Kyohachi-ryu brother Sansuke, who intends to use the tournament to expose and kill Gentosai. In the present, Kyojin outlines his strategy to the group as they travel; to experiment what happens when a participant is arrested, and to discover how the organizers are cleaning up the dead Samurai. At Kuwana-juku, they are ambushed in a teahouse but defeat the attackers and have the culprit arrested, intending to use him for the experiment. When Kyojin witnesses Kodoku officers executing the arrested participant to keep the game’s secrets hidden, he is discovered and captured. Following his plan, Saga feigns death and is taken to a zaibatsu bank, where he meets Hanjiro Nakamura, an old comrade turned Kodoku officer. Meanwhile in Yokkaichi-juku, Bukotsu provokes Kamuykocha into a fight, which is later broken up by Kodoku officers. Kawaji assures Okubo he will apprehend the four zaibatsu, but it is then revealed that he is actually the Mastermind behind the entire Kodoku game system.

The remaining 2 episodes escalate incredibly quickly as the game gets increasingly violent, Kawaji’s intention with the Kodoku system is revealed, alongside the true extent of his role in the wiping out and societal decline of the Samurai, Gentosai gets closer and closer to hunting down Iroha and her brothers, and a shocking figure is behind his progress, Bukotsu and Saga clash in a vicious final confrontation, and a powerful assassination renders all hope almost completely lost…

Cast and Performances

Junichi Okada as Shujiro Saga
Yumia Fujisaki as Futaba Katsuki
Kaya Kiyohara as Iroha Kinugasa
Masahiro Higashide as Kyojin Tsuge
Hideaki Itō as Bukotsu Kanjiya
Gaku Hamada as Toshiyoshi Kawaji

You need to believe me when I say the characters alone deserve an article of their own.

Yes, this includes the actors who played them.

Even the extras who got maybe 5 seconds of screentime gave every single second everything they got. I wouldn’t be surprised if they never broke character. The performances were just that amazing.

We need to talk about the on-screen chemistry too. I literally cannot imagine any other combination of actors for this project. Everything flows so easily between them; the dialogue, the exchange of emotions, the intensity, the clashes, the surprises, the reveals. The highs are high, the lows are low. You celebrate each victory alongside them, and mourn each death or failure as well as matching outrage when the protagonists are betrayed. Such an experience can only be credited to actors and scriptwriters who understand the assignment. Tens all across the board.

The characters themselves deserve no less applause. It’s the way that even a character who gets killed in the second episode is imbued with such complexity that you develop such an attachment to them, so just imagine how I felt about the main characters. Saga constantly struggles between his principles and just losing himself to the void of power and bloodshed. And with the kind of life he’s had, I wouldn’t even blame him if he chose the latter…which is what you would think until you see a character like Bukotsu who did choose that path. Bukotsu, despite being the obvious villain and depicted as Saga’s antithesis, is merely a reflection of Saga in a timeline where Saga didn’t cling to his principles or find peace and love and family. And you can tell by the way Bukotsu manages to draw out Saga’s ruthlessness and bloodlust almost every single time they clash. They are truly two sides of the same coin, which made their final confrontation and ensuing result equal parts satisfying and hollow, such a bittersweet climax.

Speaking of two sides of the same coin; the female characters. The show even pays attention to realistic details such as the fact that while empowered females weren’t commonplace during that era, they still existed. And they existed within emotional complexes as well, not some black-and-white atmosphere where female representation is either overexaggerated to the point of being comical or erased completely. And being an empowered female doesn’t magically render their struggles nonexistent. Iroha is such a badass in her own right, but still faces misogyny and objectification even within an already collapsing samurai system, still underestimated and considered the ‘weakest’ among the Kyohachi-ryu siblings. Futaba is a literal child, meant to be the soft touch of the series, but still understands that this world wasn’t made for her and that she needs to be strong enough to stand on her own two feet. And despite having a powerhouse such as Saga by her side, she turns to Iroha for mentorship, as Iroha is the only other person who would truly understand and shares the same worldview; a female in a world that is designed against them, and thus have to cultivate their own unique kind of strength.

Another character that intrigued me and piqued my curiosity was Kawaji. Mostly because with every reveal about him, I had even more questions. When he was revealed to be the orchestrator of the game, my very first question was why? What motive could one possess to design such a brutal system? That question became even more visceral when it is revealed that he was also responsible for the betrayal and gun massacre of the Samurai ten years ago – the same one we saw in the beginning that wiped out Saga’s troops. We come to find out that Kawaji has such a vehement disdain for the Samurai. He claims that he despises their attachment to power and pride when all they do is wield a blade, which is a valid reason and all, but something tells me it’s much deeper than that. He seems to have a special interest in Saga. The feeling is apparently mutual, as the two share a staredown as they pass by each other in the final scene. And does Saga know that Kawaji behind the singular event that turned his life upside down? And is now doing it again?

That’s gonna be one hell of a confrontation.

There are also many other characters that I would like to see further explored in possible sequel. Kamuykocha, Kojin, and all of the Kyohachi-ryu siblings together and their face off against Gentosai. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the story, I already know that I can’t afford to get too attached to anyone who isn’t the main character (Squid Game taught me that even that isn’t full proof).

I shall prepare my tissues.

What I Liked and Disliked

I’m going to start off by saying that there isn’t much I can say that I disliked about this show. During the first episode, I initially assumed that this was merely a Squid Game rewrite set in a different era.

Boy, was I proven egregiously wrong.

Don’t get me wrong, the Squid Game elements are still there; the exploitation of a desperate and oppressed population, the careless insensitivity and ignorance of the elite and thus their dehumanization of this same oppressed population, etc. It’s enough for me to theorize that Squid Game might possibly an inspiration for the source novel, but their paths quickly diverge through the characters, setting, and overall plot. While Squid Game was a commentary on our current society, Last Samurai Standing possesses more storytelling elements. The show moreso explores an incredibly interesting setting, with various kinds of incredibly interesting characters; the noble warriors, the conniving schemers, the authorities (both legal and underground), the people with a cause, and the wildcards. It tells a completely different story, which is equally appreciated, because in doing so, it gives us an absolute banger of a show. There is pretty much no weak link in the series; the visuals and cinematography are almost perfect, intriguing and compelling plot, amazing actors, and such beautifully written characters (it slightly leans into some anime-esque stereotypes with some of them, but that’s neither here nor there), the fights scenes are just…chef’s kiss, so much so that it immerses you into critical points of action that gets your heart racing.

Dear show writers, please don’t kill off my favorite characters, I can’t handle that grief again.

Final Thoughts

I have fallen in love again. I’m honestly rather surprised that thus show isn’t already such a global hit. But I will give it time for it to marinate, it was just released after all. The point is, I love whatever Netflix has got going on with this. I predict that this will be Southeast Asia’s next big thing, right up there with icons such as Squid Game, Alice in Borderland, All of Us Are Dead, and so on.

I rate Last Samurai Standing (2025): 4.5 out of 5.

Our Rating of This Series

Have you guys seen the show? I’d love to hear your thoughts on various characters, comment your favorite below!

Author

Winifred Eze

Winnie is a business student by day and a writer by night, with a passion for movies and the art of storytelling. Whether it’s dissecting a film’s themes, exploring character arcs, or celebrating cinematic masterpieces, she loves diving deep into the magic of the big screen. She also strives to bring fresh perspectives and engaging discussions to fellow writers and readers.