Shogun (2024)

"We live and we die"

Shogun is based on the popular novel by James Clavell which in turn was very loosely based on historical events from Japan around 1600 C.E. I devoured the book years ago and watched the original mini-series starring Richard Chamberlain and Mifune Toshiro. I have been both excitedly and trepidatiously waiting for this updated version to come out. There were some improvements and also disappointments with the latest rendition.

“Why is it those who have never been in battle are so eager to be in one?”
English pilot John Blackthorne is one of a handful of survivors aboard the Dutch ship Erasmus that lands in a Japanese fishing harbor. He and his men are taken prisoner by the village’s manager, Omi. Elsewhere, Lord Toranaga is called to the Osaka castle to meet with the other four regents of the Taiko’s heir who are bent on taking him down. He tells them he has no intentions of starting hostilities with them, but they intend to force him to commit seppuku. Back at Ajiro, Omi and his uncle and lord, Yabushige, decide the ship and its weapons might help them to make allies when the war starts. Though they are vassals of Toranaga they believe him to be a dead man. Before they can put any plan into action Toranaga’s right hand man, Hiromatsu, shows up laying claiming to the ship and its contents for Lord Toranaga, including Blackthorne. Toranaga has Mariko serve as Blackthorne’s interpreter as they can both speak Portuguese. All three, Toranaga, Blackthorne, and Mariko will face death and deception on numerous occasions and will have to use all of their abilities to change the fates laid out before them. The Portuguese and changing alliances of the regents and the heir’s mother’s influence are a powder keg of explosive political desires.

“A woman must stare without fear into the cruel eyes of fate and make herself seen”
Blackthorne was disappointing in this version of Shogun. Gone was the inquisitive and crafty personality along with the better relationship with Toranaga. As played by Cosmo Jarvis, he came across as a punch-drunk prize fighter. The slow build up in the book to understanding the language and world around him seemed fast tracked. Also, the key moment when his mental shift went from English to Japanese in the book was disappointingly left out. The scene would also have bookended Mariko’s emotional scene in the 9th episode. That key scene was also what caused the bonding between him and his interpreter. Shoving it in near the end of the drama felt awkward. Another awkward development was that it took a moment to figure out that when people were speaking English, it was supposed to be understood as Portuguese. In the book Latin, English, and Spanish were also spoken, so I suppose it simplified things for the actors and writers, and especially for English speaking audiences and making it more accessible to them to use just the one language. Okay, rant over. Mariko was more severe in this interpretation of her character, but she was as always highly capable and intelligent, understanding the political undercurrents of people’s actions. In fact, Mariko’s actions were as important and vital to Toranaga’s mission as any man’s, maybe more so. Like Toranaga, she was thankfully introduced earlier in this drama than in the book. There were other women who played important roles—Fuji (Fujiko) the reluctant but devoted consort, Kiku the courtesan, and Ochiba the heir’s plotting mother.

“She hides herself in the sun. Conserves her energy, waiting for her moment. You might never know she is there.”
What was well done was that they didn’t just show the story from the Englishman's perspective as an introduction to Japanese society and history. Much of the drama was in Japanese and though the political maneuverings were narrowed down for the small screen, many of the primary characters were fleshed out. Sanada Hiroyuki as Lord Toranaga gave a quietly powerful performance as the most cunning man in Japan. Toranaga was introduced early and used often to exploit his screen presence. Outwardly, Toranaga proclaimed he had no desire to be Shogun, but he used his extensive network of spies to lay in place a long-term plan to do just that. As a falconer, he broke many men to his fist. Everyone was a possible enemy and he kept his plans in his secretive heart. He even manipulated disasters to his benefit, always knowing when to use his human chess pieces and when to sacrifice them. The English pilot, Anjin, came at the right time, a chess piece that might prove valuable. Sanada’s scene with Nishioka Tokuma as Hiromatsu when all seemed lost was one of the best and most touching of the drama. The two actors traded deep feelings with flickers of their eyes and micro expressions that conveyed the depth of their friendship, loss, and commitment.

“Some are born under a banner of greatness, others must claim it”
The sets and costumes were luxurious. I wish they hadn’t been so committed to using blue filters because it looked as if the land of the rising sun was perpetually in twilight and fog. There was gore, but more for the shock value of the realistic violence without being overly gratuitous. There were scenes of sexual intimacy that also didn’t delve into gratuity. But fair warning, the writers weren’t afraid to use Clavell’s salty language.

“Loyalty does not have an end”
Despite some of my reservations about Blackthorne’s character and actor, and a few of the changes made to the story, I enjoyed this drama. The production values were of a high quality for television. Clavell had a great regard for Japan despite having been a POW during WWII. It was clear he felt Blackthorne was indeed the barbarian in need of civilizing as evidenced when the pilot met his crew later in the drama. The original mini-series didn’t subtitle the Japanese dialogue so that the audience would be as lost as Blackthorne. This time, we were treated to what was going on with the different characters as they made allies, betrayed each other, and played a dangerous game to have their man become the next Shogun or as in the case of the Portuguese, do whatever was necessary to maintain their monopoly in the region. And there were those like Yabushiga constantly trying to play both sides against the middle to survive the coming storm. Having read the book and watched the original mini-series when I was much younger, I am favorably biased toward this story. This was not a white savior tale, the book and the drama tell you who was pulling all the strings. As did the historical figure he was based upon, Blackthorne had his uses, but ultimately this was Toranaga’s journey to becoming Shogun.

“If I could use words
Like scattering flowers and
Falling leaves
What a bonfire my poems
Would make”
-Mariko

23 April 2024

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Highly addictive series..

I remember being enthralled with the 80’s version miniseries as a child, and I am happy to report that this one is even better.

The whole show is a piece of art- from the stunning cinematography, gorgeous costuming, haunting music, amazing cast, and the well-paced storytelling..

The story portrayed here is of Japan’s feudal history and it is fascinating: illustrating their strategy, politics, samurai, ninja assassins, Lord’s and Ladies, war games, and even everyday life of its people- it’s enough to send you into a deep dive of Japan history, or at least make you curious enough to read the book inspired by these events.

I can’t believe how fast a one hour episode seems to fly by.. really top-notch in every way.. I wouldn’t be surprised to see several, well-deserved Emmy nominations for this series..

Highly recommend!

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A Dive Into The Unknown

Episodes 1-6

First of all, I started watching this show without knowing anything about it, but I saw very high ratings, so I thought I'd give it a shot. At the time of this review i've watched six episodes, and I have to say I don't regret diving into it.

Every aspect of the show is polished to perfection, every scene is breathtaking and the ones taken at night are beautifully lit and have a great atmosphere when the scenes during the day are very gloomy and foggy

In terms of story, Shogun is exceptionally addictive because it happens at very interesting times and I think anyone who is even slightly interested in Japan will like it. Another factor that makes this show so interesting is the characters, each of them has their own story, and none of them are there without a reason, their dialogues are well thought out and their decisions are not irrational. I really like that the Pilot brings that little bit of a comedy to it

The cast is well-chosen and the performances of the actors are just chef's kiss

The only thing I didn't catch was the soundtrack but that's probably because I was so invested in story that I didn't notice

So overall the show is great and i can't wait for more episodes to come

Episodes 7-9

After watching 3 more episodes I have to say that this is still a great show and it didn't lose the quality of the first 6eps. The color scheme changed as most of the scenes felt like it was a constant sun down.

As we got closer to the end, the scenes became more and more intense, especially in episodes 8 and 9 which are my favourites overall

Episode 10

As expected the ending did not disappoint. we got a beautiful closure of the story without any loose ends. I have to say this was one the best series i've seen not only because i loved it that much but also because it was so well made.

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The rating of this show tells you everything you need to know about the people who use this website

If this show wasn’t Japanese and also Western audience targeted it would be rated MUCH higher here. Unfortunately it’s not Koreaboo bait or the same murder, chaebol, romance storylines recycled for the 100th time (which aren’t apparently held to the same standard as this, so weird right?). It’s a shame that people are making bigoted or simply downright ignorant comments because they are very upset at the success of Shogun.

This shows sitting at insanely high critic and fan review score, it’s widely regarded as one of the best shows of the past year (if not of all time) and will be nominated for Emmys in EVERY single category it is eligible. Such a shame it’s not good enough for the people of MyDramaList :(

Is Shogun perfect? No certainly not, it has its faults and I could see why some people may take more issue on those than others. There’s criticism to be made around the development of characters like Toranaga not being flushed out or the performance of the Anjin by Cosmo Jarvis, but from start to finish it delivers a fantastic story filled with surprising twists and unexpected turns.

Shogun tries its best to remain as authentically Japanese as it can with the dialog, customs and acting. The latter of which is the standout, I’m not to big of a fan of Cosmo but besides that every single performance was stunning. Toranaga, Yabushige, Fuji, Ochiba, Mariko the list goes on and on. These are award winning, critically acclaimed level performances. The setting, tone and shooting locations absolutely nail not only what the book portrayed but also what Japan may have been like during this period.

The most iconic part simply remains the ending. Most (and that’s not an exaggeration), Asian dramas I’ve seen start falling apart near the end. They take a fantastic show and drag it on for a lifetime while making stupid writing decisions leading up to the end (COUGH QUEEN OF TEARS COUGH). Shoguns ending is so perfect. The acting is so subtle but emotionally powerful, the choice to not show the battle but leave with a somber tone is an amazing decision from the show runners. The finale leaves you satisfied but also wanting to know so much more.

Shogun will go down as an all time great show and take home several awards which it fully deserves.

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Impressive adaptation

After hearing that this series was coming out this year, I read the book and then watched the 1980 miniseries before sitting down to watch this. One of favorite things with adaptations of books and ones with multiple adaptations is comparing them. When I do this, I often find that there are things about each that I like and usually there is not one I would deem the "true" adaption. The 1980 and 2024 versions of "Shogun" are a perfect example of this.

*The 1980 version I would say is more faithful to the book plot-wise, but the 2024 version I think captures the essence better. Watching the 2024 one, I reminded of why I liked the book so much and what made me keep reading despite it being 900+ pages long.
*One of the biggest differences is that the 2024 version subtitles the Japanese characters, while the 1980 one doesn't. The reasoning was that Anjin-san doesn't understand them so we shouldn't either. I think this was fine to a point, but they should've started subtitling towards the end when Anjin-san understood them. The 2024 version allows more of the Japanese characters to shine because of the subtitles and honestly there's no way they wouldn't have subtitled them anyway in this day and age lol.
*1980 Anjin-san (played by Richard Chamberlain) is stronger than 2024 Anjin-san (Cosmo Jarvis). However, I saw some good potential in the final episode and I have faith in him for season 2. Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada were just acting rings around him.
*The 1980 version cuts some scenes (possibly for logistics) that I felt should've been kept and 2024 version covered some of the scenes in question while also adding a lot of extra scenes not in the books. Ultimately, I think these scenes will work in favor for season 2 as they helped established lore that could be expanded upon later and show the potential for this series.
*Anjin-san's and Mariko's romance is underdeveloped in the 2024 version. However, as this was my least favorite part of the book and 1980 version, I didn't particularly care that much.
*Also, Tsuji-san didn't seem to play as big a part in the 2024 version. I hope his role is expanded in the next season.

So that was just some of my thoughts, I won't do an in-depth review since there's already plenty on here. Now which was the best? I watched this and the 1980 series with my dad and he preferred the older one. Me, personally, I liked both about equally though I'm slightly inclined to the new version as I liked the visuals better. I'll say that this was the first series I've watched from FX in years and I'm actually looking forward to season 2. I believe that they can pull it off as long as they keep the same standard of quality.

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A strange Overlord

It was a beautiful series that I can say was extraordinary. It was a series with a very good story and, according to him, very well constructed, acted and directed. I especially congratulate the Japanese players. I congratulate the director separately. Likewise the fiction.
First of all, the story was very good. The atmosphere and life of that time, especially the missionary movements, and the harmony or perspective of foreigners and local people are reflected beautifully. In addition, sections from Japan's administrative order and social life at that time are also given. It satisfied me in terms of credibility and reality. They have given everything in its place. Missionary movements and sectarian concepts, and therefore the fights and hostilities that arose, disturbed me a little. It connoted something like Christian propaganda. I felt uncomfortable. That's why I made a note. Otherwise, it was a perfect series, ten out of ten for me. This introduction of Christianity and its sectarian concepts was not pleasant. I think they wanted to give missionary movements as well. They wanted to show its positive effects on the people there. They even specifically included the initiative of a noblewoman to serve the church as a nun. I didn't like these. But I said it might also reflect the events of the time. A time when feudalism dominated.
The actors, the Japanese actors, were very successful. The little man became a giant with Hiroyuki Sanada's play, the Shogun image was very good. It looks good. He played very well. I liked Anna Sawai very much. I think his role was superior to all of them and he nailed it. I really liked Asamo Tadanobu. He became a person with a personality and charisma. These players were very remarkable. Of course Cosmo Jarvis. He showed a good appearance in this series, but his acting is questionable. I watched him for the first time. I did not like. But it remained normal within this story and game.
I recommend everyone to watch it.

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FINAL WORTHY, BUT DULL...

The last episode was out of sync with the others, it was a dull, slow episode with no great depth to the story. I think episodes 9 and 10 could have been combined, the makeup of the old and bedridden Anjin made me laugh, which is a shame because it was the only technical slip-up in this remarkable drama, and it didn't even impact the logical experience of the drama, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

The story, development, and pace were well done and detailed, we had competent art direction that accurately studied Japanese culture at the time. As for the story, I was a little frustrated because I thought we would have the war in the last episode, but instead, we had an excessive amount of dialogue and the closure of some character arcs. I still want to reflect on whether we had an open or semi-open ending because we now know that he managed to return to England and took memories with him, but Toranaga said he would never leave Japan, yet as we observed, he did leave.

The highlight of the acting and deserving of award nominations for best actress goes to Anna Sawai, who played the unforgettable and masterful Mariko.

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Shogun is 2024's best drama

Fans of period dramas, full of intrigues and political chess plays will find SHOGUN to be their cup of tea. This is an incredible story set in the change of eras which compounds the bushido culture and the arrival of western sailors to the shores of feudal Japan.

Shogun is based on a best selling novel, that fictionalizes real events about the rise of a Samurai Lord to becoming Shogun and the start of what we all know as the Edo Period. Around the end of the 1500s, the portuguese and spanish had arrived to Japan and the Peloponnese, establishing a treated that divided the region in ways that their countries could benefit from the commerce but also create colonies and spread their religion. Rumours about these lands spread among sailors for the next 50 years or so, and finally in the 1600s ships from other monarchies, such as Britain arrived in the region.

At the same time, years earlier there was a time of inner fights and civil war among the japanese. During this time, many peasants were able to socially clime in ranks thanks to their leadership as samurai and eventually became Lords. These new nobility has a hierarchy among them, of course, related to the lands they had won in battle, people and their family's history.

The story of Shogun starts during a period of peace among these Samurai Lords... or so it would seem.

One particular character, a british sailor, is supposed to be the audience placement in the story. As he is introduced and learns about japanese culture, the audience learns about it and what game the Samurai Lords are playing among themselves as the fight for power over the realm.

Legendary japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada is listed as actor and producer in this tv show. His first time, according to interviews, having a role and say behind the scenes and I have to say he has done an incredible job. This might be an american production but Sanada insisted, as producer, on having an almost all japanese crew and the end result is a 10 episode tv show where each episodes feels like watching a movie. The attention to detail from the cinematography, lighting, sets, locations, the fabrics and designs of the clothing, and performances are simply superb.

Sanada also took it upon himself to teach the younger actors how to speak the japanese from the period the story is set at, something none of them had done before. In western culture this would be equivalent of teaching Shakespeare's english. Maybe you don't know japanese and it doesn't matter to you, plenty of the audience members watching this tv show won't even know this, but I think it adds another layer to the level of commitment everyone involved in this production had when filming Shogun.

The performances are outstanding. Everyone brings their best game and the acting is very subtle, each of actor manages to deliver the strongest emotions through micro-expressions and even silence, a difficult feat when you think this is a story mainly about the art of appearances. Where everyone is holding their cards very close to their chest, so you never know what they are capable of and what will they do next.

Actors like Asano Tadanobu, Hira Takehiro, Nishioka Tokuma and Abbe Shinnosuke are incredible to watch on the screen. Their performances will leave you wanting more. But the true gems of this story are a women: Anna Sawai, Hoshi Moeka, Kouri Yuuka and Nikaido Fumi hold their own against veteran actors and play them like fiddles. They standout as Samurai women, trained in the arts of war and court alike, and play key roles into the events that develop through the ten episodes of the series. The weakest link, acting wise, is Cosmos Jarvis. I am sorry to say I have no cluewhy he was casted. His performance leaves much to be desired, like his character, and since the tv show was renew for two more seasons I am hoping he does better in the future.

This is also a slow burn, goes hand in hand with the nature of the story being told and the performances. Big things do happen in each episode but the tv show slowly builds up to the last two, that's when things really implode/explode and makes a shift to get you ready for the next season.

For all these and so much more that I can't tell you without spoiling the series, you should watch Shogun.

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A little disappointed

For all of the effort and money that went into this, the results were meh. Maybe the complicated plot went over my head, but to me, you could remove Anjin from the story and it basically wouldn't change anything. He really didn't do anything. And when the main protagonist isn't really important to the storyline, it feels unsatisfying.

But the episodes moved along OK and were watchable, so I never felt tempted to drop the show. It's been a very very long time since I saw the old Richard Chamberlain version, but I remember being much more emotionally engaged in that one.

Also, even though the production went for Japanese authenticity, I thought the acting, directing, and editing had a very western feel. But the acting overall was very good, although some of the actors I felt had a strong contemporary vibe, such as Hira Takehiro, Asano, and especially Anna Sawai, who not only seemed to me like someone from today, but I thought she had a very Nikkei aura.

In contrast, I thought Hoshi Moeka did a fantastic job as Fuji, and I really believed she was a woman from that setting. In fact, she was by far my favorite thing about the whole production.

One last observation is that the opening credits sequence was clearly copying Game of Thrones, and I didn't like that.

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Good, but the old TV series were better

Yea, that muted ending and furniture of a protagonist didn't do it for me. Never once was he shown to be actually needed by Toranaga and he wasn't even funny to be his pet clown, because they communicated too seldom here. And many important scenes about the protagonist were cut to make time for a parade of side characters.
And too many times it seemed that Toranaga was just plain lucky and adapting, not megaminding everything ten steps ahead. Yea, he was a ruthless liar who surrounded himself by people he could easily manipulate, but he wasn't omniscient to predict all random things. Like, what happened to his son, or his brother betraying him, or what happened to Mariko.
And speaking of Mariko, she was more of a protagonist in this show than ML or Toranaga combined. MVP, but disappointingly way too suicidal.
My favorite character in this drama is not her though, but Yabushige - the most human and entertaining one to watch. He was squirming on the frying pan for the whole series trying to get the most profit, but failed expectedly :).

Anyway, it's still a good drama. Production quality, especially the costumes were great. Too bad they didn't show the epic battle of Sekigahara, but it wasn't in the book, so ok. I'd give it an 8. But old TV series in terms of the plot and characters were still better, imho.

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The new miniseries about war and samurai is a future classic.

Shôgun is the proof that it can actually be okay to make a remake of something that has already been praised and won great prizes, but then it always has to be done this amazingly well.

Shôgun s a mini-series set in 17th-century feudal Japan - And begins with the English pilot John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) suddenly running aground with his ship on the Japanese coast. There he quickly becomes a pawn in a power game between above all 2 feudal lords. Both with the ambition to lead the entire country until the young emperor comes of age and can take over.

Civil war, honor, power play and multitudes of samurai account for most of the action. But the cultural clashes for Blackthorne, who quickly tries to learn Japanese through the interpreter Lady Mariko (Anna Sawai), also take up a lot of space. During this time, Portugal had already found Japan and sent Catholic priests there who began to convert parts of the Japanese elite to Catholic Christianity, while Blackthrone now comes from a country at war with Portugal and claims to have lied about everything. It simply stirs the already infected pot.

Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the release of James Clavell's book Shôgun, which is partly inspired by real events. Already 5 years later, we got one of the best and most ambitious mini-series ever in television history, when Richard Chamberlain took on the lead role of Blackthorne and Orson Welles acted as narrator for the English-speaking viewers who did not understand Japanese. This time too, most of the dialogue takes place in Japanese, but now without an explanatory voice of course.

The old miniseries was then one of the first series of its kind to show both a naked woman and beheadings (not at the same time, fortunately) on television, which then shocked many viewers in 1980. More than 30 years before Game of Thrones turned that kind of of scenes to an almost absurd level (which gave that series the nickname Tits and Dragons). But it was, of course, the exciting and very complicated story itself, which made Shôgun win the finest television award at the Emmys, for the year's best miniseries.

So, why on earth should we go in and tinker with already acclaimed TV classics? Why not adapt something completely new or come up with a really awesome original story instead? These are questions that are most often muttered when different film studios seem to be trying to grab as much money as possible, by betting on already "given" successes. Sometimes, for example, when we get a really bad film adaptation, like The Last Airbender (2010), fans can still buy that a new and more ambitious attempt is made, like the live action series Avatar: The Last Airbender (which we can now watch on Netflix).

But this thing about remaking something that was already considered near perfect to the same format again... Why? The answer to that question will from now on always be: Shôgun. This is a miniseries that proves both why and how to update something already celebrated and let a new generation share the same story, while giving those of us who have seen the original an adaptation that can realize the story in an even more impressive way.

I read the book myself, which is really the only reason why I gave the already old mini-series a chance. When it comes to movie classics from the 70s or 80s, few frown when titles like Star Wars (1977), Apocalypse Now (1979) or The Godfather (1972) come up. Catching up on the old film classics is part of it. Considerably fewer spend 10 hours on a miniseries from 1980, however, no matter how acclaimed it happened to be at the time.

The fact that filmmaking has developed somewhat enormously in the last 40 years also means that the new adaptation of Shôgun has been able to learn from other war series and films. Just like Game of Thrones could do. And this new adaptation of Shôgun looks absolutely stunning. The photography is magical and so are the actors Hiroyuko Sanada (in the role of the feudal lord Toranaga), Anna Sawai and Cosmo Jarvis.

The book and the old miniseries have long since proven that the story itself is really exciting - And luckily the adaptation of the screenplay has stayed true to its source where needed, but also made minor updates to improve it elsewhere.

I had really high hopes, but was pleasantly surprised that they even managed to exceed them. The new Shôgun miniseries is a future classic, hopefully one of those few (like Band of Brothers) that everyone from now on will look to give a chance - No matter how many years have passed the premiere.

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