Netflix Unleashes Its Answer to Shōgun: The Last Samurai Standing Trailer

Netflix dropped a new trailer for Last Samurai Standing, and it looks like the streamer is taking another big swing at epic historical drama. Think Meiji-era chaos, shifting alliances, and a survival setup that honestly feels wild even by genre standards.

The show is a six-episode Japanese action series launching worldwide on November 13, 2025. The hook: 292 former samurai are summoned to Kyoto's Tenryu-ji Temple for a lethal contest. To win, you have to steal other fighters' wooden tags, then survive the trip to Tokyo to cash in a prize of ¥100 billion. No pressure.

Junichi Okada leads as Shujiro Saga, and he is not just starring — he is also producing and handling the action choreography. The series adapts Shogo Imamura's novel Ikusagami and is directed by Michihito Fujii, who reunites with Okada after their 2023 thriller Hard Days. Netflix Japan is framing this as one of its most ambitious historical productions to date, and based on the scale on display, that is not just marketing fluff.

"As an actor, you should be selfish. As a producer, you think about budgets and logistics... but when I read this script, I knew right away: this is the one."

The trailer leans hard on large-scale, grounded sword fights — the team is bragging about shooting the combat without digital enhancement to keep it tactile and brutal. Director Fujii has said the goal was to fuse period authenticity with big-screen intensity in a way that still feels distinctly Japanese, which tracks with the look and tone here. Netflix's own blurb basically sells it as a sweeping battle royale about warriors trying to survive an uncertain era. No subtlety — and honestly, that might be the point.

• What it is: A six-episode Meiji-era survival epic where 292 ex-samurai battle for wooden tags, race to Tokyo, and chase ¥100 billion.
• Lead and crew: Junichi Okada (star/producer/action choreographer); directed by Michihito Fujii; adapted from Shogo Imamura's Ikusagami.
• Cast: Riho Yoshioka, Hideaki Ito, Kazunari Ninomiya.
• Festival stop: First two episodes screened at the 30th Busan International Film Festival in September 2025.
• Release: Premieres globally on Netflix November 13, 2025.
• Vibe: Big practical sword battles, political paranoia, and survival-game stakes. Expect people to compare it to recent prestige period epics — and Netflix seems fine with that.

If the trailer is any indication, this is Netflix aiming for a slick, bloody, crowd-pleasing historical thriller — the kind where a wooden tag becomes the most valuable thing in Japan and everyone is one bad decision away from getting cut down.