The Drinker Recommends... Shogun

Oh look, Diverse characters in an accurate environment! This is how it should be 🇯🇵

I have spent a lifetime wondering how Hiroyuki Sanada hasn't been a consistent leading man. The man has the cool, the calm, the presence to absolutely kill whatever he's in.

To me, the best part of Shogun is that it doesn’t shy away from historic cultural differences between two societies. On one side, the Japanese natives’ overwhelmingly strict adherence to their values of virtue and honor is able to create a functioning society that’s cohesive and well organized, but that clashes heavily with the western-import of self-determinism and all the philosophies of free will and liberty it carries with it. But the clash of these two philosophies is not only done rather subtly, it’s done with a dialogue with back-and-forth rather than a one-sided debate where winner takes all. The show doesn’t make it known which side it really endorses, as it shows the beauty and ugly sides which both worldviews come with.

After that 9th episode and all the badassery Mariko does, she desserves a video from the drinker as a beacon of actual strong female characters.

The Last Samurai: "Are you challenging me?" Shogun: "Yes."

I love that foreign movies and series are winning. Hollywood needs a reality check.

Hollywood could certainly take note. Two characters who I admire due to their strength is Mariko and Fuji. Not because they're Mary Sues who can beat men in hand to hand combat but because they have lost practically everything and have a cloud of dishonor that follows them around due to the actions of men they are associated with, and instead of pissing and moaning they pick up their cross and continue to walk which is so damn admirable. Practically everytime one of those two characters is in a scene they are the strongest character on screen.

This show is fucking incredible. Sanada was so based telling the studio he would not be involved unless all Japanese Characters were played by Japanese people. If only western actors did that

They spent 11 years making this, and had a whole bunch of experts brought in to train the actors on behaviors, speech, and movements appropriate to the time. All this down the even the fine details of hand gestures and the differences in eating and drinking tea in a variety of settings. Hiroyuki Sanada has been involved in the conception and production from the very beginning 11 years ago. With the amount of time and efforts spent on the show it's no wonder they did as well as they did.

Btw for anyone wondering. This was co-written and show ran by Justin Marks who was one of the writers on Top Gun Maverick. The other writer and showrunner is his wife Rachel Kondo who is Japanese American.

It's been almost a decade since I've lavished every minute of a show with a genuine dread in my heart that I'll have to wait another week when the 50 minutes are up. I'd forgotten what that felt like; not wholly absorbed or immersed into it, rather letting each bite and scene savour and melt in your mouth as though you'd taken a drive to a week long booking at a Michelin tasting menu. My wife and I received a delivery toward the end of episode 5 and I found myself say to here, "We have 7 more minutes of the good show left when I get back."

I liked how they portrayed John. He's not an imbecile or thoughtless. They set the tone by making a strong statement he cares about people, regardless of stature. He is an excellent catalyst. Overall, pacing is well done, and the homage to "acknowledging honorable acts" is spot on. If you haven't done a review of Airbender, it surprised me immensely.

I'm quite impressed with Sanada’s portrayal of Toranaga, in that, for those versed in the history it’s based on, it’s like seeing Tokugawa Ieyasu in the flesh. The way Torunaga's quiet, firm, unfailingly shrewd and clever presence just dominates a room shows that Sanada has clearly modeled his portrayal on the actual figure. In that sense, we are in fact getting "good history" even within a fictional tale—something we can all agree is almost totally lacking these days.

I also recommend reading Clavell's novel Shogun. It's worth your time.

Mariko and Fuji are how you write strong female characters, smart, competent yet grounded in reality and have their own flaws. Even minor character like Uejirou, the gardener had so much depth despite lack of scene time and relied much of the characterization on (seamless) expositions. The set and visual are not only realistic but also incredibly beautiful and grand with the perfect cinematic mix of Japanese's simplicity and Hollywood modern visual. For the 5 eps that I watched (in one sitting!), I only spot 2 very minor conveniences/details that lower my immersion a bit (The scene where, by luck, Toranaga's plan wasn't exposed at the first daughters

The original Shogun had me hooked so much I still remember my 'konichi wa' and wakarimasu ka?' from over 40 years ago.

Shogun is one of the best things ive seen in recent years. On the edge of my seat every episode. And I genuinely care about the characters.

Shogun is absolutely fantastic

i´m 4 episodes in and i can say it is incredible! the tension of the foreign cultures but yet respect/understanding, you can literally feel it. awesome! i wish it would be 5 seasons long!

In my 50s. Heavy reader. If you haven't read Shogun, please consider it. You're in for a treat. It's easily in my top 10 favorite novels. I've read it multiple times (which I rarely do with a novel). Great review, Drinker!