TimiZero

Man....I don't want to say this but I watched too many Japanese dramas around this time period, i.e. Sengoku transition to Tokugawa Shogunate. So do you think I would love/enjoy the book? Yeah maybe for the story and the style of writing, but it would be the same old mind struggle for me because of the "conflicting information".

I don't know how to explain but It would be a different thing should the story is happening in an Alternate Universe. A TOTALLY fiction settings or even a Parody (with comedy) like Nobunaga Concerto.

So, you would ask why did I watch this series in the first place?

Because of this promo. They show how they strive for authenticity by bringing instructor from Japan and so on...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EkbeLiFkEs

That's why I thought of giving it a chance. Like what I commented months ago (which you also replied to that particular comment), I did not expect anything from the novel since it's western but I wanted to see "Japanese Culture" SHOT in UHD by good production team. Did I get it? NO! Everything was shot in the mist and dark surrounding instead....LoL The depiction of things not as accurate as it's claimed.

BTW I don't have problem with the original book or the people who loved it. I don't know why you keep assuming me as one. And if you read my comment until here, I thank you for you time!

Oh I think you misunderstood my comment about "comparing with historical counterpart" as I want this series to follow history book from A to Z.

I was meant to say "historical depiction counterpart" which means how things supposed to look like at that time...if let say they already have rifles at the time of depiction, having Englishmen teaching them how to use rifle is somewhat "funny"....don't you think so? Unless it's a "parody" work. This has nothing to do with original novel but should be considered when making a modern adaptation.

PS: No wonder you use the 3 musketeers examples...LoL

That's why I said that imagination only works in the 70's....which is understandable since not so many Japanese culture got exposed to the world at that time. Please read the comment without losing its context. I was answering the person question who's replying from my original comment above on why Clavell changed the names in his novel. My answer simply because he wrote that in 70's!

BTW, I don't criticize the original novel but the 2024 SERIES...Please take a deep breath and read my comment again from the top please. I tried to make my comment short so if it sounded like criticizing the people who love the novel I am so sorry about that! I even saw the clips from the 80's version with Chamberlain that 100 times better than what it was in this new series. It's not about the novel (except the authenticity claimed by the fanbois) but there was something missing from this new adaptation for sure unless you don't want to admit it.

I think I have said it clear enough.

If you compare the awareness people have about Japanese history in the 70's with what info we have right now, you will get my point.

I don't read the book so I can't say much about how good it is as a "literary work" but I doubt the political aspects of Japan that was presented in the book as authentic as it was claimed by its fans. For example I heard Clavell wrote how Blackthorne taught samurai to use rifle...while in fact Oda Nobunaga had been using rifles long before Blackthorne arrived. Thank god the series changed that to cannon....might be one of the few good things about this 2024 series.

If you really interested in Japanese history you should try watching locally produced Japan historical drama and see the differences yourself. I mean if you want to see the "beauty and dynamic" of Japanese politics.

BTW, it's interesting that you scroll down the comment section just to reply on the negative comments of this series. I applaud you for that!
If I want to condemn the series I would have written many comparison between the series and the historical counterpart...but I did not want to waste my time writing something that no one interested to read.

Yes

It's probably to "fully fictionalize" the story. Considering it was written in the 70's when the Japanese culture wasn't that well known to the world, the book could be seen as refreshing and "novel" to the non-Japanese readers of the time.

The problem with the modern adaptation is that many people already exposed to the Japan than before. The time-frame the book was based off (i.e. 1600CE) is actually one of the popular Era to be retold in Japanese historical movies/dramas/novels. If you're familiar with this you will keep comparing every single thing, and unfortunately you will find Shogun is inferior in many sections except the budget....LoL

However it wasn't that totally bad. I find it was okay-ish and some of the action scene was good especially during the first few episodes. Too bad they did not maintain the energy during the second half and in the end it felt like they ran out of budget.

It's the typical yankee story where you can anticipate what's going to happen. In the end it's up to how good the fight scene was. In this one it was not consistent. Some scenes were sharp, crisp, and good while the other were weak. There was some minor continuity problem as well. However, it's entertaining enough to fill your time.

Quite good action movie. The first few minutes were the "80's Top Gun" but after that it was totally different movie. Not many countries producing their own jet fighters, so this one served as a good nationalism awareness to Chinese citizens.

As foreigners you may call this a communist propaganda but then China is a Communist country so I wonder why you would complain about that. I guess "propaganda" will be the last thing people mentioned if this was a US military movie.

On the negative side though, it's kind of funny and ironic when they were showing US jets entering their air space but the whole world know how China tend to overclaim their Air and Maritime borders....LoL. So when the US jets entered did they enter the overclaimed one?

The second one being the too loud background music.

But the premise is about this sailor stranded in Japan.

I understand what they were trying to do in making the Japanese characters more up front...but then again they failed to polish it.

Toranaga was simply bland (I mean the writing not acting). Mariko was okay but some of her mindsets are not authentic as a samurai woman (especially when she did not give a damn about her family, Toda). Yabushige was interesting but he was there for comic relief.

The council of regents did not give an impact. They were just there because there were there in the book.

In the end we don't have a real protagonist to root for. Not to mention few episodes before last were fillers with no development. And in the last episode when people hoping for BIG thing, it did not happen.

I watched some of the clips of the old TV shows. The Blackthorne character was more make sense and civilized.

For the record, I still think this series is Okay-ish. But does not deserve the high rating it received.

It's good and thought provoking. Solid performance from Ito Aoi. If only there's a good sub for it.

Short drama for killing time. The plot was a bit too simplistic. The business part was a clickbait and not to be taken seriously.

I noticed that as well during the beginning but I suspect it was the narrative of the source material (which is to make Portuguese and Spaniards the villains) although I haven't read the novel. So I just let it slide.

However the Blackthorne's character could have been written better. He was neither a hero nor an anti-hero. He was simply not worth to root for (and annoying for most part). I saw bad reviews on IMDB saying it won't change anything whether he was there or not in the series....which I agree. I also saw some clips of Chamberlain and I think they have a much better Blackthorne in the 80's mini series.

Like I said if you're not one of the above you will rate this highly. Be it IMDB or MDL.

Yes this is the normal one. New written story of the Fuji TV's franchise which is always the normal gender role.

Good effort but unfortunately failed to cater some segments of viewers (judging from the reviews at IMDB);
1. Fans of the book
2. Fans of Japanese history
3. Fans of politics scheming
4. Fans of strong, relatable, lovable protagonist
5. Fans of "I want to watch TV not reading it"...lol
6. Fans of good lighting
7. Portuguese

(I am #2 and #3 for the record so I only rate this 7.5/10)

Unless you're from the above you will find Shogun super masterpiece. Otherwise it is just another western series to kill your time. Later half was more draggy than the first though. Some episodes were just fillers.

The positive thing about this series;
1. The effort to make things authentic by the western production is laudable although they didn't score fullmark in this department IMO.
2. Thank God they didn't make Japanese speaking English.
3. The series could attract more people into learning Japanese history and searching for the actual history facts.

The thing is even the costumes are not as accurate as they thought it would be. To certain level yes but Japanese are peculiar about what they wear in what occasion. They simply don't just wear new year getup on every day or at any random days. The samurai don't wear armour at random place in peace time or to escort anyone. Not to mention the portrayal of army in this era was too far from what actually portrayed on modern-made historical piece of Japanese TV.

Yes I totally agree this version of Toranaga seemed very weak especially as they advertised him as big lord that's envied by everyone. He supposed to be sneaky and full of maneuvering but it didn't show. How come Lord of this caliber too dependent on his retainer's son's wife (Mariko) is totally disrespectful for the person this character was based off. And yes making Mariko solved the dispute around Ochiba was too outstretched and by any means wasn't even close to what actually happened in real history.

This is very strange sitting position if you used to Japanese historical play. Mariko should not be at the same level as the lord. She should sit below instead. Only his wife/consorts can sit next to lord.

They overdid the costume to be honest. This particular "war jacket" looks like it was generated by AI...LOL. I mean was it a jacket or an armour?

Yabushige was interesting because it was played by Asano Tadanobu. If you watched his other works you will see the similarities of the vibe he brought to the character he played.

There were some of the depictions. Amachan and Idaten are easy examples. Both aired after 2011.