Fix: You Love Intrigue, Japan, and Decapitations; You Like Books That Cause Hernias and Subtitles
Platforms: Hulu
Hulu Summary: Based on James Clavell’s novel, Shōgun is set in Japan in the year 1600 at the dawn of a century-defining civil war. Lord Yoshii Toranaga is fighting for his life as his enemies on the Council of Regents unite against him, when a mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village.
FYA Summary: The year is 1600. With the death of the Taikō of Japan, a leadership vacuum opens up, with two powerful warlords, Yoshii Toranaga and Ishido Kazunari, vying for ultimate power. War seems inevitable. But then a Dutch ship, captained by Englishman John Blackthorne, washes up in a fishing village. This ship’s armaments, along with the military knowledge of her crew, might just turn history’s tide for whoever is wise enough to use them.
Familiar Faces:
Hiroyuki Sanada as Lord Yoshii Toranaga
A brilliant general, he knows that Ishido has the upper political hand, and it’s going to take a master strategist to keep his power. If only there were something to tip the scales, like say a fully-equipped Western ship with a captain who’s an expert in unfamiliar foreign military tactics.
Cosmo Jarvis as Captain John Blackthorne
A trader, sailor, and adventurer, his ship has crossed the Pacific after plundering Portuguese and Spanish settlements in South America. With his skeleton crew on the brink of starvation, Blackthorne finds himself the plaything of powerful people in a country never before visited by an Englishman. But if he plays his cards just right, he might just come out on top.
Anna Sawai as Toda Mariko
Daughter of a disgraced lord, Mariko is Catholic and speaks fluent Portuguese, just like Blackthorne. She finds herself pressed into service as a translator for the foreign barbarian. Blackthorne, lost and friendless, immediately takes a liking to her (see photo). Meanwhile, Toranaga knows that this brilliant, bilingual, angry woman might be the one to deal the decisive blow in his chess game.
Tadanobu Asano as Kashigi Yabushige
The unbelievably scheming and two-faced lord of Izu, the village where Blackthorne washed up, he’s watching and waiting to see who comes out on top of the power struggle, so he knows who to pledge his loyalty to. And he’s willing to give a shove whichever leader looks vulnerable.
Tommy Bastow as Father Martin Alvito
The Portuguese had reached the Far East about sixty years before anyone else, and brought with them guns and Catholicism. They found many willing converts, including some of the most powerful people in Japan. And they’re not about to share this rich trading partner with the Dutch or English and their heathenish Protestant ways.
Father Alvito is Mariko’s mentor and spiritual advisor, as well as as one of the few Westerners who can speak Japanese. He resents Blackthorne’s meddling, and yet can’t make himself condemn him as a pirate.
Nestor Carbonell as Vasco Rodrigues
Rodrigues is a Spanish sailor and rascal (though has there ever been a fictional Spaniard who wasn’t a rascal?) In league with the Japanese and distrusting the English, he still respects Blackthorne as a fellow sailor.
Couch-Sharing Capability: Friends Close…and Enemies Closer
Oh sure, you come over to watch a movie, but next thing I know you’d stabbing me in a brothel or ordering me to commit ritual suicide. I know how it goes.
This is a ten-part series, and while there is a lot of torture, sex, and earthquakes, there is also a lot of philosophizing and intrigue. Everyone has an ulterior motive, and no one can be trusted. The show is remarkably faithful to Clavell’s original 1,200 page book, so this isn’t a series you can kind of jump into in the middle.
Recommended Level of Inebriation: You Like Subtitles? We Got Subtitles.
This series was filmed in Japanese, so if you’re into multitasking, cheat and watch the English dub. Of course, during the translation scenes, everyone reverts back to subtitled Japanese, with the translators angrily arguing with each other while the odd person out looks on in frustration. On top of all this, there are dozens of samurai characters with identical uniforms and haircuts, and probably fifty named characters. In other words, maybe stay sober.
Use of Your Streaming Subscription: (Adjusts Monocle and Ascot)
You can be all snooty and brag about watching something literary and dense, all the while enjoying the epic battle scenes. Most age of exploration works are from the explorers’ POV. It’s interesting to see how the Japanese reacted to these new barbarians. And it’s fun to return to a day when Catholics and Protestants were hated, eternal enemies; Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands were world powers, and the line between a merchant and a pirate was a thin one.
Also, never volunteer to bring an aggressive message to a Japanese warlord. There’s a 100% chance your head is going to be sent back in a box.
Late breaking news: they’ve renewed Shōgun for another two seasons, even though this first season ended in about the same place as the original novel. Personally, I’d like to see them adopt some of Clavell’s other books, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
