‘Bright: Samurai Soul’ Trailer Reveals New Adventure with Simu Liu of ‘Shang-Chi’
The anime prequel dives back into the Bright universe with a tale of dangerous magic.
This one off takes the characters of the 2016 movie to Japan during the end of the Shogunate and the beginning of the Meiji period, and has a ronin (Izou voiced by Simu Liu of Shang-Chi) taem up with an orc (Raiden voiced by Fred Mancuso) to help a young elf (voiced by Yuzu Harada) protect a magic wand that has the power to change the fate of the world.
The anime prequel is directed by Kyohei Ishiguro and written by Michiko Yokote with animation that “fuses the characteristics of Japanese woodblock print art with 3DCG technology.” It certainly visually looks good – the big what if is the story. Hopefully it’s not a 100% copy of the original movie. Some culturally appropriate differences should be included.
In the time between the fall of the Shogunate and the rise of the Meiji era, a powerful bright light emitted from a wand brings an end to the long Shogunate period to avoid further bloodshed as Japan begins to shift toward a new era. Amid these circumstances, a one-eyed wandering ronin named Izou, who has lost his reason to live, and Raiden, an orc who detests murder and hopes to leave a life of thievery behind, separately meet a young elf girl named Sonya around the same time. Together, they go on a journey along the Tokaido road to bring her and the wand she holds safely to the land of the elves in the north. Standing in their path is the mysterious organization Inferni, which aims to obtain the wand and revive the Dark Lord, who intends to rule all of creation. Inferni also uses the new Meiji government in its attempt to steal the wand from Izou, Raiden and Sonya. Traveling along the Tokaido road from Kyoto to Yokohama, Izou and Raiden begin their journey to protect the wand.
Bright: Samurai Soul premieres October 12th only on Netflix.
