Destinies converge in Japan after a barbarian ship washes ashore in a poor fishing village. Meanwhile, in Osaka, Lord Toranaga finds himself outplayed by his enemies.Destinies converge in Japan after a barbarian ship washes ashore in a poor fishing village. Meanwhile, in Osaka, Lord Toranaga finds himself outplayed by his enemies.Destinies converge in Japan after a barbarian ship washes ashore in a poor fishing village. Meanwhile, in Osaka, Lord Toranaga finds himself outplayed by his enemies.
Featured reviews
The thing that struck me the most, was how authentic and well made it is! This the kind of stuff i miss sometimes! When the people behind has a clear vision and you can feel the ambition and love for the source material!
Huge plus to have the japanese characters speak japanese! It really feels like you are transported back to 1600 Japan!
A nice introduction to the characters as well! Blackthornes journey has potential to be very interesting! The japanese characters are great as well! The actors are going all out!
The story has great potential to with Blackthorne trying to survive in a foreign country with a political powergame in the making!
Definnitely has potential, its unique, authentic and nothing quite like anything else!
Richard Chamberlain's Blackthorne was an elegant gentleman but this new guy is a rough and tumble, profit-motivated sailor without a lot of social graces. Much more believable that a guy like that would survive a round-the-world voyage.
His harsh religious attitudes demonizing Catholics might be shocking for modern audiences but it's perfectly in line with his times. And he has noble qualities as well: loyal to friends, brave, quick to recognize and respect bravery in others.
But the real focus is on the Japanese characters. Blackthorne is just the wild card being thrown into their roiling political situation.
Other big changes: special effects, of course. The "storm" sequence in the 80s version is pretty hilarious. Here, it's hair-raising.
And Nestor Carbonell steals the show as the Spaniard Rodriegues.
Thank you, FX, for making a serious historical drama of the type we get far too infrequently.
I never saw the initial 80s version of Shogun, but what I like about the first episode of this edition is the fact that there's no Japanese accents to cater to our feeble western brains. If you want to understand the plot, you have to read the subtitles. You're on the same journey John Blackthorne is on in trying to communicate and understand the culture, which makes the viewer have to really pay attention.
So excited to see where this show goes!
FX is the only studio to go toe-to-toe against HBO. No one else is capable of doing so. And with HBO's current decline, Maybe FX is the new King of the Hill.
My only nitpick would be that English is passed off as Portuguese. It confused me for a second. This is obviously a deliberate decision. I personally would have preferred if a mix of Portuguese and English were used in the beginning to cement the main language, with Portuguese slowly being phased out to full English. There are shows that have done this to good effect. Again, a minor nit pick and surely will not come up again.
The actors are superbly chosen. The scenery looks simply bombastic. The pacing is just right. I've already chosen my favorite character and I hope I won't be replaced.
The Inglese Hawthorne has a very distinctive and powerful voice that reminds me of Tom Hardy.
I'm going to watch Silence by Scorsese to understand more about the missionaries in the Togugawa dynasty.
I hope the remaining 9 episodes will be as powerful as the first one, then it's undisputedly my favorite series so far after Breaking Bad and The Last of us.
Did you know
- TriviaThe Samurai would shave the middle part of his head, called a chonmage, where the remaining hair was oiled and waxed before being tied into a small tail folded onto the top of the head in the characteristic topknot, so that his helmet (kabuto) fit tightly onto the head when donning his armor for battle. With less hair, the samurai would also not suffer from the buildup of heat on the head when wearing the helmet.
- GoofsLord Yabushige said that he would expand his nephews' fief to 3000 koku. Koku is a measure of volume. The tsubo is used to measure area. The estates of the Lords or Daimyo were valued for taxation using the Kokudaka system which determined value based on output of rice in koku, a Japanese unit of volume considered enough rice to feed one person for one year. One koku amounting to 5 bushels of rice, or 80 dry gallons (A dry gallon is 15% larger than a fluid gallon)
- Quotes
Vasco Rodrigues: There's a saying out here that every man has three hearts. One in his mouth, for the world to know... another in his chest, just for his friends... and a secret heart buried deep where no one can find it. That is a heart a man must keep hidden if he wants to survive.You'll understand soon, Inglés. And who knows, maybe-maybe fate brought you here for a reason. Maybe you'll live long enough to find out what it is.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The 76th Primetime Emmy Awards (2024)
- SoundtracksThe Pull of Death
performed by Atticus Ross, Leopold Ross & Nick Chuba
Details
- Runtime
- 1h 10m(70 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.00 : 1