Last Samurai Standing Season 1: The Manga Behind the Series — Everything You Need to Know

Netflix has a period-piece bloodbath on deck, and it sounds wild in all the right ways. If you like samurai drama with the dial snapped off, keep reading.

What is Last Samurai Standing and when does it land?

Netflix drops Last Samurai Standing on November 13, 2025. It is a six-episode adaptation of Shogo Imamura's novel Ikusagami and its manga version, illustrated by Katsumi Tatsuzawa. The setup: Kyoto, 1878. A total of 292 warriors converge on Tenryuji Temple for a kill-or-be-killed contest with a 100 billion yen prize dangling at the finish line. Battle royale rules, Edo hangover vibes.

Who is making it and who is in it?

Junichi Okada leads as Shujiro Saga and pulls triple duty as lead actor, producer, and action choreographer. Michihito Fujii directs. Behind the scenes, producers Kento Yamaguchi and Toru Yamamoto are involved, with Office Shirous and Netflix backing the production.

• Main cast: Junichi Okada, Yumia Fujisaki, Kaya Kiyohara, Hiroshi Tamaki, Hideaki Ito, Gaku Hamada, Hiroshi Abe

The source: novel to manga to Netflix

The manga version of Ikusagami launched in Kodansha's Morning magazine on December 8, 2022. Tatsuzawa's art got attention for hyper-detailed facial expressions and precise combat motion. Kodansha has released four volumes in Japan and licensed the series for North America.

Author Shogo Imamura is not a lightweight. Born in Kyoto, he left archeology to write full-time in 2018 and has nearly 50 works to his name. He won the 166th Naoki Prize in 2022 for Saio no Tate, and previously picked up the Eiji Yoshikawa Literature Prize and the Futaro Yamada Prize in 2020. Imamura has already given the adaptation a thumbs up, saying some changes add a big-screen thrill you cannot get on the page. He also imagined Junichi Okada as Shujiro while writing the novel, which is one of those rare cases where the dream casting actually happens.

Okada's mission: honor the source, push the craft

Okada has been vocal about keeping this faithful while still making it feel like cinema, not a photocopy. He told ScreenRant:

"Animation and manga have advanced, but when it comes to live-action, we're not really yet to the level of Hollywood or other film industries. There are many reasons for that, but the question is how are we able to create, and what can we create? There has to be originality in each country. One unique element is the Japanese period piece, and another is the history of the Japanese culture. I want the young generation to really focus on this, and figure out how we can create beautiful art reflecting that with modern technology; something really cool and produced with intention."

Director Michihito Fujii says the show pairs its big, bruising action with character-forward drama, and the six-episode run lets them stay faithful without padding. Okada also says the team rebuilt scenes to squeeze more emotion out of the story and leaned into how traditions are portrayed, which makes sense given the era and the stakes.

Scope you can feel (and count)

This production went big and then went bigger. The opening battle alone involved more than 1,000 people. That sequence uses 292 real performers on the field with no digital cloning, shot over three weeks. A 20-person action unit designed the fights and then trained 300 actors. Everyone on that battlefield is a trained actor or stunt pro, and every costume was custom-made to stay period-accurate. Also unusual: because Okada is star, producer, and action boss, he could sign off on his own stunt work without the usual insurance handcuffs. That is not something you see every day on a high-profile streaming series.

Where the story aims

The goal here is not just body count. Fujii is promising heavy character work between the blade swings, and the format should help the pacing: six episodes, no filler, no wheel-spinning. Imamura is onboard with the tweaks made for cinematic punch, which is reassuring if you are protective of the books or manga.

One last note (and a tiny grain of salt)

There is already an IMDb score floating around at 6.1/10, which feels early for a show that does not air until November 2025. File that under 'interesting, but let's see once the full series is out.'

Last Samurai Standing streams on Netflix starting November 13, 2025.