'Last Samurai Standing' Netflix Logo text "Shōgun meets Squid Games." That's how Japanese actor, producer and action choreographer Junichi Okada describes his new Netflix show Last Samurai Standing, that has already become the talk of social media for its ingenius premise, stunning costumes and production design and intense fight scenes. Critics, too, have been won over by the live-action adaptation of Shogo Imamura's 2022 historical fiction novel, Ikusagami, that was also adapted into a popular manga series, with the series having the potential to be the next breakout Asian hit for Netflix. Set in 1878 Japan, Last Samurai Standing takes place in the post-feudal period when the few remaining samurai have become personas non grata, with a rapidly modernizing Japanese society shunning the once great warriors, and outlawing their swords. In this environement, 292, mostly desparate samurai, are drawn to a mysterious tournament with the chance to win 100,000 yen, but first they must fight each other and race to Tokyo. Okada plays Shujiro Saga, the noble, but deadly, samurai at the heart of the series, who must win the prize to save his sick wife and child. Related Stories Movies 'Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle' Opens to $52M in China, Lifting Cume to $730M Worldwide Movies THR Visionary Robbie Ryan on Andrea, Ken, Yorgos, and the Joy of Making "Mad Little Movies" A feast for genre fans, Last Samurai Standing taps into jidaigeki genre, that is the period samurai dramas, and also has a survival/death game structure that is popular at the moment on top of brutal violence and incredible fight scenes. Currently, the series, which was launch last week, sits at a perfect 100 percent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 96 percent audience score. The Hollywood Reporter's reviewer described the show as having "a catchy premise" and that is delivers "an ample supply of the samurai action that some people - incorrect people - felt was missing from Shōgun." The review adds, "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." Last Samurai Standing also got the all-important, and extremely coveted, Hideo Kojima thumbs up. The legendary game developer, fresh from a brief visit to Hong Kong to announce his new Death Stranding anime series, took the time out of his busy schedule to tweet effusively about Netflix's new period drama. I binged "Ikusagami (Last Samurai Standing)" up through episode 6! It was so good. I love the Yamada Futaro × Squid Game kind of worldbuilding. The cutbacks between the Kodoku-game side, the organizers, and the government side all move with great pacing. And they don't hesitate... pic.twitter.com/DmVfCkVvQ4- HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) November 15, 2025 Ahead of Last Samurai Standing's launch on Netflix, THR spoke to Okada about the making of the series, juggling his roles as lead actor, producer and fight choreographer, his hopes for a second season and how they might incorporate more superhuman elements that were found in Imamura's source material. Firstly, congratulations on the show! Let's start with how you got involved with the project.
Well, I have been working on jidaigeki [samurai period dramas], and I had the fortune of being able to work on these, epic projects here in Japan. Netflix approached me about Last Sumurai Standing. When I got the offer, they talked about me being the lead character and they also talked about me being the action choreographer. So, if I were to work on all these elements, I thought that I would love to also be a producer on this project. Speaking about these three distinct roles you carried out on Last Samurai Standing, what was the challenge of doing all three? And did each job impact the other and in what way? Having these three roles, [it's like] having to use three different brains, so it was very difficult in that sense. As a producer, of course, you have to think about the money or the financial aspects, but a producer is someone who usually asks people to do something, and you're also in a position to stop a certain things. An action choreographer, you can propose or suggest things that you would like to do or you would like to pull off. And as an actor you're in this position where you try to become this character, [you try to] believe you are that person... you usually don't have to mind about what's going on in your surroundings. But having these three tasks, I knew too much about the surroundings, so as an actor it was definitely a difficult situation. 'Last Samurai Standing' Netflix Regarding your work as an action choreographer, watching the show, there seems to be lots of different fight styles on screen. How many different fight styles are there? And was it difficult to choreo