Last Samurai Standing: Season 1 – Review | Netflix

LAST SAMURAI STANDING on Netflix combines elements of the South Korean hit series into a Japanese series. Think Kingdom meets Squid Game, but with a focus on the human need for revenge and survival. Read our Last Samurai Standing series review here!

LAST SAMURAI STANDING is a new Netflix series from Japan (org. title: Ikusagami). As the title reveals, this is a series set in a distant past, featuring samurai. It’s character-driven, but the story moves fairly fast, and the production is visually stunning.

The genres are everything from period drama to action, martial arts, thriller, and (of course) the classic catch-all “drama”. We get six episodes in season 1, all around an hour long.

Continue reading our Last Samurai Standing series review below. Start watching on Netflix on November 13, 2025.

From Kyoto to Tokyo

The story of Last Samurai Standing begins in Kyoto, where 292 warriors gather at Tenryuji Temple. They all arrive to enter a competition for a huge financial prize, but they’re not quite sure what they’ll have to do to win.

Once they arrive, each is handed a wooden tag, and a few rules are listed. Then they’re thrust into a brutal contest where they win or die.

To survive and make it to the next step in the game, they must steal their rivals’ tags. If you lose your tag, you will die. By default, the person you steal a tag from will also die, even if you don’t kill them yourself.

The final destination is Tokyo, where the winner can claim a massive cash prize. On the way there, there will be many obstacles. During the competition, outside challenges also arrive.

Including arrows coming from afar, which reminded me of Alice in Borderland season 3.

A Japanese Kingdom meets Squid Game

No, there are no zombies in Last Samurai Standing (which was a core plot in the Kingdom universe), but this is also a period piece. And the “games” in this Japanese series are very different from those in Squid Game, but the consequences are the same: Win or die!

And yes, I recognize that I’m comparing South Korean series to this new Japanese Netflix series, but those are also two of the most popular series Netflix has made, so I feel it’s worth mentioning.

This new series from Japan is based on a novel, so I’m not saying Netflix created a hybrid of two previous hit series from another Asian country. What I am saying is that I understand why the choice was made to turn Last Samurai Standing into a Netflix series.

Looking at those past hit series, Last Samurai Standing should attract enough viewers to check it out, which is often the first hurdle. Hopefully, they’ll also fall for the fast-paced first episode, which sets the stage right from the get-go.

Watch Last Samurai Standing season 1 on Netflix

The new Netflix series is based on the widely praised “Ikusagami” series of novels by Shogo Imamura, winning the 166th Naoki Prize in 2021. In this book series, the life-and-death games of samurai are vividly depicted.

Directors of the six episodes in this season are Michihito Fujii (The Parades), Kento Yamaguchi, and Toru Yamamoto. The first two also wrote on the screenplay alongside Risa Yashiro.

The lead actor is Junichi Okada (portraying Shujiro Saga), who also serves as producer. Another key cast member is Hiroshi Abe as the character of Gentosai Okabe. He’s impossible not to notice with his towering presence and long white hair.

As fascinating and impressive a production as this is, I was really hoping we’d get another season of House of Ninjas instead of a new story from Japan. Obviously, the two are very different, and fans of House of Ninjas should absolutely check this one out.

Last Samurai Standing season 1 is out on Netflix globally from November 13, 2025.

Details

Directors: Michihito Fujii, Kento Yamaguchi, Toru Yamamoto
Screenplay: Michihito Fujii, Kento Yamaguchi, Risa Yashiro
Based on: Novel Ikusagami, written by Shogo Imamura
Cast: Junichi Okada, Junichi Okada, Yumia Fujisaki, Kaya Kiyohara, Masahiro Higashide, Shota Sometani, Taichi Saotome, Yuya Endo, Yasushi Fuchikami, Jyo Kairi, Takayuki Yamada, Wataru Ichinose, Riho Yoshioka, Kazunari Ninomiya, Hiroshi Tamaki, Hideaki Ito