Bright: Samurai Soul Director Explains Bridging the Live-Action Film To The Anime

Bright: Samurai Soul has arrived on Netflix, expanding the universe that was established via the 2017 live-action film Bright, which starred Will Smith and took place in a modern era in which humanity co-existed with elves, orcs, fairies, and a bevy of other magical creations. With the new anime film, director Kyohei Ishiguro took the opportunity to break down how he approached re-imaging the supernatural world for his creation, which has more than a few massive differences between Samurai Soul and the original movie that set up a world unlike any other in the medium.

Ishiguro, in our exclusive chat with the director, went into detail about how he approached creating the film and the differences it has from the original live-action movie starring Will Smith:

“In the original version, the existence of different tribes was something that was dealt with heavily. In the animation version, I had to decide how much of this we wanted to deal with via this spin-off. Since this is a Japanese setting, we decided to take a more exciting, action-packed approach to the property with the samurai story. It was difficult to find a balance between the story and the theme, so I studied a lot of the original meaning and interpret it here.”

If you’re unfamiliar with Bright: Samurai Soul, Netflix has released an official description for the new film which reads as such:

“In the early years of Japan’s Meiji Restoration, a human ronin must unite with an orc assassin to save an elf orphan from their common adversary.” 

With the film having just hit the library of the streaming service, director Ishiguro has already gone on record that he is thinking of creating a sequel to the film, with his desire to further explore Japanese history by examining the Civil War of the country’s past. On top of this theme, Kyohei also told us that he is hoping that, should a sequel be approved by Netflix, that it will take a step back from Samurai and instead focus on ninjas. 

Will you be watching this new take on the world of Bright now that it has arrived on Netflix? Do you think the world of the live-action film will be revisited in the future of the streaming service? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of Bright.