The tropes of these stories have found particular success in franchises like The Hunger Games and Squid Game, but you can only replicate a formula so many times before even the best stories feel boring. Thankfully, Netflix just dropped a new take on the story, and it's pushing the genre into the future by taking it over a century into the past.
On the small screen, however, look for Netflix's "Last Samurai Standing," which features similar elements weaved through a story inspired by the end of the samurai class era. The series, based on Shogo Imamura's manga series Ikusagami, continues the streamer's trend of live-action manga adaptations such as "One Piece," "Yu Yu Hakusho," and "Parasyte: The Grey." "Last Samurai Standing" is a new peak in the subgenre, standing out as one of the best action TV dramas of this year.
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has one of the largest collections of Japanese art in the United States in its permanent collection, including hundreds of tsubas. It has just collaborated with the fine jewelry designer Monica Rich Kosann to create a collection of necklaces inspired by three tsuba designs-a crane, a turtle, and a butterfly-to introduce these ancient works of art back into the modern world.
Watercolour is a stunning medium that allows for delicate art, merging traditional figures like geishas with powerful elements like samurai symbolism, creating unique character interpretations.
