Hideo Kojima Binge-Watches Netflix’s New Samurai Epic With a Perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes

Hideo Kojima did the Kojima thing again: watched a buzzy new show, blasted out a mini-review, then seems to have deleted it. The target of his latest TV crush is Netflix's hit samurai survival saga Last Samurai Standing, aka Ikusagami.

'I binged Ikusagami (Last Samurai Standing) up through episode 6! It was so good.'

Before the post vanished, Kojima packed in a lot. He compared the show's worldbuilding to a mash-up of pulpy Japanese genre fiction and modern death-game TV, praised its rapid-fire cross-cutting between competing perspectives, and appreciated that it is absolutely not shy about killing characters you actually like. He also clocked a stylistic flourish that reminded him of a Kurosawa classic and said it gave him a jolt.

What Kojima zeroed in on

• A 'Yamada Futaro x Squid Game' vibe: slick, pulpy worldbuilding with a ruthless survival-game engine under the hood
• Snappy pacing as it jumps between the Kodoku-game contestants, the shadowy organizers, and the government angle
• Bold character culling and, in his words, a stacked cast
• A directing beat that felt straight out of Tsubaki Sanjuro

Quick refresher: what is Last Samurai Standing?

Based on Shogo Imamura's novel, the series is set in the 16th century and centers on swordsman Shujiro Saga, who enters a lethal, high-stakes tournament with a life-changing prize dangling at the finish line. All episodes are streaming now on Netflix.

Those references, decoded (because Kojima goes deep)

When Kojima name-drops Yamada Futaro, he's talking about the author behind a ton of hard-charging, twisty action tales that have bounced across manga, anime, and film. If the name rings a bell, it might be because the anime feature Ninja Scroll is often cited as the most famous work inspired by his stories.

As for Tsubaki Sanjuro (usually just Sanjuro), that's a classic samurai film from Akira Kurosawa, made as a follow-up to Yojimbo — which is widely considered one of the genre's all-time touchstones. So yes, Kojima is tipping his cap to some pretty foundational samurai cinema DNA in the show's direction.

Kojima being Kojima

If you follow him, you know this is his lane. Beyond creating Metal Gear and the cinematic Death Stranding games, he loves weighing in on movies and TV. This time, he binged up through episode 6, posted a rave, and then, for whatever reason, the post seems to have disappeared. Either way, the enthusiasm came through loud and clear.