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Samurai Girl

(Rated TV-14, Drama, Starring Jamie Chung, Brendan Fehr, Anthony Brandon Wong, Where to watch: ABC Family)

  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 10, age appropriate for kids over 13; suggested age 13.

  • Is it any good?

    4.0

  • Common Sense says

    Action-packed drama with strong female character.

Why We Rated This on for Ages 13 and Up

The good stuff

  • Messages:

    The miniseries centers on a strong female Asian character who's courageous, decisive, and idealistic. Throughout the story, she wrestles with her conflicting sense of duty to her family and to herself. The miniseries thrives on suspenseful situations, and seemingly reliable characters often turn on each other. Violence is the most popular means to resolve conflict, and often the losing party is killed.
 

What to watch out for

  • Violence:

    Lots of martial arts-style fighting and samurai weaponry, usually resulting in injury. In one scene, a man is shot, and another is stabbed and killed. Beatings, attempted drownings, and use of weapons like knives and swords to intimidate and force cooperation is common.

  • Sex:

    A developing romance means plenty of longing looks and suggestive contact (a couple tumbles to the sand and almost kisses, for example), but there's no sex. Women dress and act provocatively to influence men's actions.

  • Language:

    Intermittent use of "bitch" and "ass."

  • Consumerism:

    Not an issue.

  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    A few rare scenes have drinking in the background.
 

What Parents Need to Know

About Samurai Girl

Parents need to know that martial arts-style fighting and samurai weaponry are central to the plot of this miniseries, so there are lots of physical battles with many injuries and deaths. In one scene, a man is stabbed and killed; another implies (but doesn't show) a man's beheading: His killer swings a sword at him and is later shown cleaning blood from both the weapon and his red-splattered shirt. That aside, this action drama -- which is based on a series of young adult novels by Carrie Asai and Renato Alarcao -- touches on Japanese legends and customs and features a strong female lead, who must draw on her own inner strength to fulfill her destiny and challenge the evil she encounters.

Did this review help you decide?

Families Can Talk About

  • Families can talk about how women and minorities are portrayed in the media. How often do you see TV shows or movies that feature a woman or a person of color in the lead role? Are the shows and movies that fall into that category usually in a particular genre (romance, drama, comedy, etc.)? If so, which one? Does this reflect society's expectations based on gender or race, or are our impressions of people's roles affected by the media? What other series have you seen that feature strong female or minority roles? How have such roles changed over the past few decades?
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