Shogun remake
- Thread starter Riceball
- Start date
Gotta completely disagree about this one. I'll watch every second of it for Hiroyuki Sanada alone.
Riceball
Master Member
Same here.
Richard Chamberlain’s portrayal of Anjin-san was incredible, and Mifune, Sakai, and Shimada, oh my! What a cast. I just read, 'To date, it is the only American television production to be filmed on-location entirely in Japan,' and boy it showed. On a side note, I highly recommend the 'Asian Saga' series by James Clavell if you haven't checked it out. Shogun was 3rd in the books. It’s an absolute masterpiece collection. 
I’ll give the reboot a chance... for now
I’ll give the reboot a chance... for now
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Darth Lars
Master Member
In my teens, I read the book twice and watched the miniseries twice. It ignited my interest for feudal Japan.
Apparently the book is heavily inspired by a real-world story about an English sailor who worked for the first Tokugawa shogun around the time he took power in 1600. The street "Anjin dori" in Tokyo (one block north from Nihonbashi) is named after him, after the place where he had his residence. It is on my bucket list to visit that sometime, just to be able to say that I have, even though the street is not much more than a boring back alley.
This looks like any other Netflix-or-whatever series; some kind of American CGI fantasy with what sounds like an American female in the lead. I'll wait until after reviews have come in.
Apparently the book is heavily inspired by a real-world story about an English sailor who worked for the first Tokugawa shogun around the time he took power in 1600. The street "Anjin dori" in Tokyo (one block north from Nihonbashi) is named after him, after the place where he had his residence. It is on my bucket list to visit that sometime, just to be able to say that I have, even though the street is not much more than a boring back alley.
This looks like any other Netflix-or-whatever series; some kind of American CGI fantasy with what sounds like an American female in the lead. I'll wait until after reviews have come in.
kristen jones
Master Member
I remember this being on TV when i was fairly young and kind of liked it (I was probably all of 10) but I will absolutely give it a shot based solely on Hiroyuki Sanada's involvement.
This video on the history of the Kimono covers how colors entered Japan and which years. The color palette was limited until they started taking in western trade.
fifthchamber
Sr Member
As someone who watched the original, and read the books, and fell SO heavily in love with Japan and the martial arts there that I moved out to Tokyo to live and train in classical martial arts here (Takeuchi ryu jujutsu, a sogo-budo dating back to 1532), I'm hoping this show isn't too bad...It looks like they have the funds to have worked out how to present the show well enough, and hopefully the fights too? Although, the use of Chinese film stuntwork and teams trained in more acrobatic fighting forms is much more likely, given the recent trends....But I'd like to see something that paid attention, even if only a little, to the arts I made it my life goal to study.....I'm hopeful!
First 2 episodes were interesting. I don't know anything about the books so I can't say how it compares. The girl from Monarch Legacy of Monsters is also in this.
I just finished rewatching the original in preparation the other day. Watched the first episode of this, and am enjoying it so far. Interesting that the total running time will presumably be longer than the original, but they've covered much more ground in the first hour than the first one did. The plot might be a wee bit rushed, actually.
Also enjoying the differences. I haven't read the book so I don't know if it's now closer to the source material, or...
Also interesting that they're leaning far more into the "women are officially second class citizens but are quite adept at controlling things behind the scenes by influencing their men" thing. While that has always been a factor throughout world history, I'm not educated enough about Japan's social dynamics of the period to judge if that's being overplayed for the modern audience.
Also enjoying the differences. I haven't read the book so I don't know if it's now closer to the source material, or...
Also interesting that they're leaning far more into the "women are officially second class citizens but are quite adept at controlling things behind the scenes by influencing their men" thing. While that has always been a factor throughout world history, I'm not educated enough about Japan's social dynamics of the period to judge if that's being overplayed for the modern audience.
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I’m only one episode in, I’ll catch up this weekend. The original miniseries was quite faithful to the book, a bit of a feat for the time. The second half was a bit truncated but it’s an eleven hundred page book. This one is visually gorgeous and well done but it really does seem rushed. If I wasn’t familiar with the story and characters I might be a bit lost. I am guessing that when he ends up in prison when he learns a lot of Japanese he will also get a fair bit of exposition to catch viewers up.
That said, I have a friend who is not familiar at all with the story and he’s loving it, and I’m quite impressed so far.
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