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Last Samurai Standing is Netflix’s six-episode Japanese period action drama about a former samurai drawn into a deadly survival contest in early Meiji-era Japan. Season 1 premiered worldwide on November 13, 2025. It adapts Shogo Imamura’s historical-fiction novels, and Netflix has renewed the series for a second season; no Season 2 release date has been announced in the cited update.
What is Last Samurai Standing about?
The story follows Shujiro Saga, once known as an undefeated samurai, as he enters a deadly contest in an effort to save his family and villagers. The series is set in the early Meiji era, a period of change in Japan, and frames its action around a race for survival rather than a conventional battlefield campaign.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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Last Samurai Standing 1 | $11.19 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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Last Samurai Standing 6 | $13.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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Last Samurai Standing 5 | $13.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
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Last Samurai Standing 4 | $11.19 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
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Last Samurai Standing: Heaven | $17.95 | Buy on Amazon |
Netflix’s announcement places the contest’s opening at Kyoto’s Tenryuji Temple. There, 292 warriors receive wooden tags; the competitors must take tags from rivals and make their way toward Tokyo to compete for a massive cash prize. The Associated Press reported the prize as 100 billion yen, a figure attributed to AP rather than specified in the Netflix announcement passage.
The scale of the opening melee reflects the production’s ambition: Netflix said the Tenryuji sequence was filmed over multiple days with more than 1,000 cast and crew members. Junichi Okada stars as Shujiro and also served as producer and action planner. Yumia Fujisaki and Kaya Kiyohara are among the starring cast, alongside an ensemble that includes Masahiro Higashide, Shota Sometani and Taichi Saotome.
#1 Best Overall
How many episodes are in Season 1, and when did it premiere?
Season 1 has six episodes. Netflix released the season worldwide on November 13, 2025. Netflix’s official announcement provides the episode count and global premiere date; episode-by-episode runtimes are not stated in the cited material.
Is Last Samurai Standing based on a book?
Yes. The series adapts Ikusagami, historical-fiction novels by Shogo Imamura. Netflix Tudum says the novel was serialized in Kodansha’s Morning magazine over four volumes and that the live-action adaptation had been in development at Netflix since December 2022. Imamura noted that adaptation changes could add “suspense and visual excitement that only film can offer.”
Rank #2
The novel and manga are different formats
Kodansha also publishes a Last Samurai Standing manga adaptation. It is a separate manga edition, not the Ikusagami novel itself. Kodansha lists the manga as an ongoing historical thriller available in print and digital formats; its series page showed six volumes available when checked. Volume 1 presents a 1878 premise and lists Amazon among print retailers. The publisher does not establish which manga volumes correspond to Season 1, so the manga should not be treated as a volume-by-volume continuation or exact episode guide.
For readers looking for a related physical edition, the clearest option supported by the publisher is Kodansha’s Last Samurai Standing manga series and its Volume 1 page. Those pages describe the manga, not a DVD or Blu-ray release of Netflix’s series. The cited sources do not establish English print availability for Imamura’s original novels.
Rank #3
Has Netflix renewed Last Samurai Standing for Season 2?
Yes. Netflix Tudum reports that the series was renewed for a second season. Its update gives no Season 2 release date, so a premiere date cannot be confirmed from that source.
Tudum also reported that Season 1 reached No. 1 on Netflix’s Weekly Global Top 10 for Non-English Series and appeared in the Top 10 in 88 countries. Those are Netflix-reported chart results, not a measure of individual viewer ratings.
Rank #4
Where can you watch the series?
Last Samurai Standing is a Netflix series. The cited materials establish its streaming release on Netflix, but do not confirm a physical home-video edition. The separately published Kodansha manga is the related print or digital reading option—not a physical copy of the show.
Quick Recap
Best Value
Sources
- Netflix’s official announcement covers the premise, cast, production and release details.
- Netflix Tudum’s series update covers the novel, renewal and reported chart performance.
- Kodansha’s manga series page and Volume 1 page describe the separate manga edition.
- The Associated Press interview provides Junichi Okada’s comments and its report of the contest’s prize amount.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
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