DanaL

Ishido is not blinded only by "that" ;) If he marries Ochiba he has control over her and over
her son. He'd be the boss of the realm. :)

Educational purpose? Lool...
Your "lecture" looks like being copied from a propaganda paper.
I know there are people that cannot come out of their box but it's already 2024, girl...
"Slice of life" ... lool ...

Finally, Cosmo has his own place in MDL world.

I can see that people still love cliché series with rich guy - poor girl, with greedy and nosy parents who want to control their childrens' lives saying it's for their own good, but making their lives a mess and bringing only unhappiness. Old school, nothing new, looks like other 1000s of series made before.
I suppose that rating is because of the 2 main actors, their fans.
Who will remember this in 6 months?

If things go after the book, yes, Toranaga will get his brother on his side. Saeki (Zataki in the book) is obsessed with Ochiba and Toranaga promises Saeki that if he accepts to ally with him, after they win he will ask Ochiba to marry him. But there are so many things in the series that are not like in the book. It's an adaptation, the writers changed a lot letting the main thread to go the same way. The beautiful thing is that even those who read the book have no idea now what will come next. I know, in broad strokes, what is to come but not sure how.
But only his brother is not enough. Ishido can get more than 1 million samurai on his side, he has the Counsel members armies and other many daimyos armies by his side, because he has their families locked in his castle.

Toranaga has intel about everybody, he knows everybody's secret weaknesses and wishes. He knows how to use those secrets to make people do things after his wish and to make them to come on his side.He has spies everywhere, in all families. He has secret groups of samurai, disguised in common people or peasants in towns, waiting for a key word to be activited.
When Father Alvito tells Blackthorne that he is alone now, why isn't he together with Toranaga in the castle and take care of your life now, I was wondering all those people going around Blackthorne how many samurai among them? Because Toranaga wants Blackthorne alive.

Toranaga has not many allies and those he has are secret. Osaka castle is full of hostages and spies - dozens of ladies with or without their children, from all families, kept there inside as insurance for non-hostile actions from their families. Including Toranaga's ladies.
Ishido has also, only in the castle, more than 100,000 gray samurai (many were ronins and he gave them a purpose and a lord to serve = himself).
To go after that castle would be insane, it's impenetrable. Even if Toranaga would use Blackthorne's ship and canons, he would kill in this way everything and everybody. This is not his way. Nobody could conquer Osaka fortress by foot/on horse, with swords and bows. So he needs to make some "holes" in Ishido's "armour", to gain allies and make Ishido come OUT of that bloody castle. To fight in Osaka is out of discussion.
Actually a lot of people hate and despise Ishido but have no choice but to obey him because of those hostages. He is a peasant arrived in a high position and his hat is too large for his head. And now he wants to obtain something out of his league...

I don't think either that Hiro-matsu commited seppuku at Toranaga's request.

I love Toranaga's sense of humor, to give permission to build a cathedral next to the Red Light district :) I can imagine him laughing when all the lights were turned off.

Have you ever seen a swan floating on a lake? You cannot see the hard work the swan is doing beneath the water's surface. You can see only it's grace and serenity.
That swan is Toranaga. All around him is gloomy, sadness, weakness, mourning (that is real), illness, acceptance of his karma, surrender, the last will, etc. He has 49 days to pull strings, make secret alliances, letting his enemies think he is finished. And Mariko.
Toranaga isn't ill. I suppose he shared his plans with Hiro-matsu. The old friend understood that Toranaga only acts when he told Father Alvito to tell in Osaka how things are in Yedo. I don't know why Toda did seppuku, maybe because he was old and ill and couldn't fight anymore? And this gesture was his final gift to Toranaga? We'll find out. I am eagerly waiting, because that was something new (not in the book).

Do not think Toranaga is lucky. He is a brilliant strategist. Lucky was during the earthquake and when Blackthorne played insane when they left Osaka. Now he knows that Blackthorne will go to Yabu to make a deal. Toranaga knows in advance what his "pawns" are going to do.

The writers do not want to show us all his "hard work beneath the surface", the same way Clavell explained it only in the last pages of the book. I hope that at least in the final episode we will see all Toranaga's secret movements.
I don't believe Ochiba will marry Ishido. I think she receive a secret interesting proposal soon.

He is rebuilding his own ship which burned down to the keel.

If you look at Sanada's list of movies and series, he played in so many great productions like "The Last Samurai", "Bullet Train", "47 Ronin", "John Wick 4", and the list goes on and on and on.... while on MDL are listed only his movies and series made in Japan or other countries in Asia. He's a huge actor and he worked really hard all these years.
On his MDL page, seeing his Drama list you could think he didn't move a finger from 2001 to "Shogun", on Movie list it's 2005 and then a huge gap to 2020. And after that NOTHING.
It's laughable and at the same time a huge lack of respect for an excellent actor, producer and for all his work in so many years.

Yes, they pushed him to the backline, why should I PRETEND otherwise? I said that. The main character of the series is Toranaga, while in the book Clavell reveals the real Toranaga and his intentions only close to the end.
They changed the point of view, focusing on Toranaga from the beginning to the end. The book is full of Blackthorne, Mariko and their love affair, Yabu, Omi and Toranaga only in those moments when he took the important decisions on the way to the final outcome.
This is an adaptation. Special made for Sanada, I think. That doesn't mean it's less good than the book. It's great.
This is my final comment on this page.
Have a great time.

Blackthorne never stops to instruct Toranaga's samurai to use the muskets and canons. During the earthquake a part of Toranaga and Yabu army disappears under that huge landslide, but fortunately not his canons and the muskets. He spends his evenings with Mariko and Fujiko in his house, learning Japanese and the most important things about Japanese culture, traditions and politics.
He is still torn between his oath to return to Amsterdam with his loot and information about the Portuguese bases and how to reach Japan and his love for Mariko.
The thought to return to Amsterdam and London will always stay with him.
They do not show these in the series but he is not sitting around all day as you might think. He was a part of the Crimson Sky plan, using his ship and the cannons to help Toranaga's infantry, bombarding the castle. Those muskets should be used in a future battle.

Writers chosed to focus on other matters, while in the book Blackthorne and his relationship to Mariko are main issues, here he is one of the pawns, Mariko is much "thinned", also their relationship.

In the general picture of the game, Blackthorne's and his ship's simple existence are enough. The problem is that without his ship, he loses his value. I am curious where things are going with him in the next 3 episodes.

Sorry, but I think the real clown is the author of that article. It's obvious he didn't read the book. He says that Tom Cruise in "The Last Samurai" was a general.
That article looks like written on his knees. Maybe he remembered that he had a deadline 10' before the time was up.
Anyway, thank you for giving it to us :)

Blackthorne has not so much to do - he is not familiar with anything around him. He CANNOT do much. His mind is on his ship, his crew, the possibility to travel back to Europe and then come back with a fleet for Toranaga. He dreams to become a very rich and important man in England. He doesn't understand much about what happens actually, only in big lines and who's the enemy of who.
In the book he learns much more from Mariko and even his Japanese is acceptable.

But, if you notice when Toranaga tells to his "council of advisers" that Crimson Sky will not happen when his brother's overwelming huge army comes to sorround them, when Toranaga says that he will obey and travel to Osaka to answer to the Regents (that meaning death for him and all his vassals), all his men look at him with disdain thinking of him as a contemptible coward (look at Buntaro's face and you'll see his disdain and reproof), the only one remaining, refusing to accept all that without fight is Blackthorne. He is the only one not Japanese and at the same time the only one Toranaga could trust 100% at that moment.
He's the one who says "I am ready for whatever our fate might bring" - look at Toranaga's face :) Blackthorne was more samurai at that moment than any other men and women around Toranaga. John has no doubts while all around Toranaga have (including Mariko). And also, Blackthorne was the only one among Toranaga's men that refused to accept the defeat without doing anything, "Crimson fucking horseshit".

All the other men are preocupied with their petty problems: Buntaro wants John's head because he doesn't like how he looks at his wife (he is so ridiculous), Omi wants to f*ck Kiku, etc. The only one who could see beneath Toranaga's surface was Gin-sama :)) That woman is dangerous and Toranaga understands that it's better to have her as his ally, she has a great head for business (she lays the foundation of the future geishas and "Red Light districts" in all future Japan) and she is an inestimable source of information.

Maybe they will give us all explanations in the end, in the same way James Clavell did in his book. What was in Toranaga's mind all this time, his dream, his wishes and why did he started all this.
John was the spark that set him in motion :)

Omi is the worst. In the book, he is different. Much more pleasant character. Yabu is the worst in the book. In the series, Omi surpasses him. He is evil.
Naga was very young and naive, adored his father (Toranaga loves him dearly, too, forgiving his foolishness every time) and very eager to be useful, hoping for his father's recognition. His stupid death is Omi's work.
In the book, both Omi and Naga live. I hope in the series that Omi will have to die. :) He's awful.

In the book, Naga is not trying to kill his uncle. Toranaga uses his brother Zataki's obsession with Lady Ochiba. Gin-sama (Kiku's mama-san) tells Toranaga that Zataki speaks Lady Ochiba's name when he reaches the orgasm :) So he promises Zataki Lady Ochiba if he allies with him.

Toranaga is a master puppeteer, a giant spider weavering its cobweb with much craft. All people around him are like chess pieces that he moves at the right time in the right direction. He has feelings for all of them, but uses them and sacrifices them if that is in his advantage. And he has a huge network of spies and informers. Information about his enemies and their movements and weaknesses are his most powerful weapons.

He though loves dearly his son, Naga was his favourite son. In the book, Naga is not doing that and he lives.

This production doesn't respect the original plot, they adapted the story. Maybe, because the book is so popular, these changes are made by purpose to make all of us (also those who read the book) to wait eagerly the next episode, without knowing what's going to happen :))

I think there is no logic in priests understanding English (at least at that level)- at 1600 there was no connection between Catholic Church and Anglican Church. They had no access to England whatsoever. Those priests were Spanish, Italian (Dell'Aqua) and Portuguese and the enemies of the English Kingdom.

Blackthorne kept his journal, his own rutter (a book with his own observations, distances between ports, capes, isthmuses, channels, reefs, the color and depth of the sea, the topography of the seabed, etc) with the purpose to be able to find his way back to Amsterdam. All of his crew were Dutch. He was the only Englishman on board.

He wrote down all ports he attacked, burned and plundered and all his "piracy" acts - I doubt he did that in English. He was employed and his orders were issued by Dutch Republic not England. If he sailed back to Amsterdam, he had to hand over those papers, the rutter and all his notes. They were not personal papers. His rutter should have been copied and used by other pilots. His journal should have justified all the "goods"/money on board, where they come from and how.
The travel was very risky and we all know that to live or to die in those times it was a matter of luck and natural constitution, half of his crew died before they arrived to Japan.
My conclusion is that it wouldn't be logical that Blackthorne wrote his journal in English. If he died, his crew could not find their way back, because they did not understand English.
His own papers must have been in Dutch or/and Latin. The crew consisted of simple sailors and a "Captain General" charged with business and trade - the only educated man on bord except John.

His letters of marque must have been in Dutch and Latin. Dutch was not an used language, but being issued by the Dutch Republic at that time, the possibility to have the original letters in Dutch is there. Sailing those times was a very unsecure matter - you never knew where the winds, storms and currents would take you and if you reached your desired destination. Latin was the common language for any situation.

Well... you can keep all those "Ken"s for yourself. What should I do? Share my lipstick and my mascara with my husband? A man should take care of his personal hygiene, body, hair, face and health in general. But this became ridiculous.
I am how I am, how nature made me.
If the man is born "ugly with large pores", whatever he makes to fill them, when he comes out from the shower or from his bed in the morning is still "ugly with large pores".
The problem is you, the fans, who want to fall in love with a perfect picture. Not with the man.
I wouldn't give a damn. Take it like I am or leave it. I love those women and men wearing their wrinkles and flaws with dignity. And being true to themselfs.

Good question.
Because he is not Asian :)))
I think mentality should change a little on this site. It looks bad.