Info in Movie News | Netflix is strengthening its global lineup of Japanese content with Last Samurai Standing, a six-episode live-action series adapted from Shogo Imamura’s novel and manga Ikusagami. Premiering worldwide on November 13, 2025, the project reimagines the final days of the samurai through a brutal survival game that could make or break its participants.
According to Polygon, the story follows Shujiro Saga (played by Junichi Okada), a former samurai struggling to support his ailing wife and child. After such a mysterious flyer had been spreading throughout Japan, where 100 billion yen was being promised as the strongest martial artists' reward, Shujiro had no other choice but to take up the challenge. As a result, he together with 292 other samcho must fight their way through Kyoto in the deadly competition, killing off the opponents by grabbing their wooden tags and getting to Tokyo alive. Only a few will be left alive, among them will be the winners to grab the ultimate prize.
The series is boarded by Michihito Fujii as a director along with Kento Yamaguchi, Toru Yamamoto, and Netflix with production company Office Shirous. Moreover, Fujii awarded for his two movies, The Journalist and Village, takes the side of his usual combining of political detail and human drama in this bloody massacre. First of all, these three guys are combining their efforts to produce a movie that would reflect the delicate interplay of historical accuracy and the present narrative, and be able to satisfy the Japanese as well as the entire global audience.
Besides playing the leading role in the series, Junichi Okada also shares the responsibility of the co-executive producer and is the action choreographer. His creative energy gives the fight scene not only a flashy highlight but also keeps it deeply rooted in traditional swordsmanship and he keeps it physically realistic. The note in the production results state that there is a gigantic melee at Tenryuji Temple in Kyoto with more than one thousand members of the crew and cast and that they are mixing CGI technology with practical stunts for the most authentic and 'visceral' effect.
The actors of the second plan are full of people well-known in the Japanese world of entertainment. Riho Yoshioka stars as Shino, Shujiro's wife, while Kaya Kiyohara, Masahiro Higashide, Shota Sometani, and Kazunari Ninomiya complement the cast as rival warriors. The fact that they are in the series increases the charm of the series, thus creating the opportunity of having not only deep but also extremely energetic at the same time performances.
For a large part of the audience, the idea might seem like a call back to the worldwide success of Netflix, Squid Game. Last Samurai Standing, however, decides to keep the lethal games close to home, says it is a Japanese death game set in the Meiji era, the time when the samurai class was dismantled, stripped of their swords, and had to choose between adapting and dying. This frame of reference from history makes the stakes grander than merely monetary, it is also a fight for honor, survival, and identity in a world that has gone past the samurai.
The transcription of the story is one more indication of Netflix’s resolve to capture the Asian market with local content. The platform has had a history of major hits in the last couple of years with shows like Alice in Borderland, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Physical: 100. With the help of Japan’s rich cultural history and the popular survival-game formula, Last Samurai Standing can have not only the potential of captivating domestic viewers but also the hunger of the international audiences for new stories.
Linking the project to the popular 2007 Nintendo Wii game Super Mario Galaxy, the follow-up seems to be going beyond the usual Mario's adventures. The original title was highly praised for its creative level design and space theme, through which players were able to visit beautiful planets and live situations where gravity could change in an unexpected manner. An adaptation of these features into a feature movie would be a great opportunity for Illumination to show off their most gorgeous animations. If Rosalina is there, her character as the guardian of the galaxy and the one taking care of the Comet Observatory might become an additional factor of feeling, which, according to some critics, was very little in the first part.
In interviews, Okada explained his personal motivation for taking on such a multifaceted role. “When Netflix executive producer Mr. Takahashi contacted me, I was still acting in historical dramas,” he said. Before that, Okada was thinking about how he could update the genre and show it in a way that would still be relevant outside of Japan. Locating the novel of Shogo Imamura gave him the solution - the novel was created with a modern sensitivity that seemed understandable to the current audiences. He said firsthand that it was this which ignited his excitement to make the adaptation of the narrative for visual entertainment.
Production was operated from February to May 2024, and the production team made a great effort to dress hundreds of background actors in custom-made costumes. The creators, through the smallest detail of set design or even choreography, have managed to glorify the original material and, at the same time, make it suitable for the international streaming. Director Fujii calls the project a "creation of a unique world with an ensemble cast," thereby, considering it a duty to offer something that had never been seen before in Japanese television.
Last Samurai Standing is about to be launched, and the very question that comes to mind is: will it attain the same cultural impact as Squid Game or Alice in Borderland? The combination of history, action, and human drama is quite powerful, and Netflix is extremely confident in its decision to go this way. The truth will be out very soon when the series will be released this November, and we will know whether Shujiro Saga’s struggle for survival will have the audience’s empathy or not.
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