Shōgun

The Japanese version of Game of Thrones. Only instead of seedy pubs, profanity, tons of coitus and chivalrous jousting in an alternative European medieval setting, there's sake at five o'clock, views into the carefully cultivated gardens of Japanese dwellings and pagodas, and everything the viewer touches is more refined and pretty. If The Last Samurai, for example, was 70 per cent Hollywood boilerplate and 30 per cent reverent homage to refined Japanese culture, Shogun is the opposite. We don't see many spectacular action scenes, nor a classic Western narrative with a fierce finale. This Japanese insight into the world of the samurai flows slowly, sensitively, and takes great care to build atmosphere and develop the characters, their thoughts and motivations. Shogun isn't meant to be epic because of how many battles there are, or how fiercely it fights, but because of how powerful a story it conveys and the compelling bond that forms between the main characters. And I enjoyed this idiosyncratic, thought-provoking, moodily coherent, fragile mosaic, supported by fantastic production design and great actors. Despite the tepid pace, I rate it highly, because there are damn few such contributions to cinema. The First Samurai. (2024-05-15)

I remember those days when I eagerly awaited Sunday mornings to watch Shogun. It was an adventure like no other, and for a kid back then, it was the best thing on television. So when I heard Disney was remaking it, I quietly hoped they would honor the original and not mess it up. And to my delight, they did it justice. The Americans not only updated one of the greatest historical adventures I've ever seen with today's technology, but they also respected the source material, depicting life in early 17th-century Japan as it truly was — without sugarcoating. They nailed it. The only downside is the typical modern TV trend of stretching out the series. They add content where they could cut back, and stay silent when some explanation of the Japanese world would be helpful. These are minor issues in an otherwise excellent series. (2024-07-06)

I was looking forward to the series, Japan I can, and even though I know this story mainly from Hollywood (historical) movies and have never read a book on Japanese culture, actually nothing surprised me there from those cultural props, and some enlightenment for the viewer west of Japan seems rather sad to me. However, what is sadder for me personally is the overhype of Shogun, of course, I understand that in the West the series is appreciated for the excellent portrayal by Hirojuki Sanada in the producer's position, making sure that the book and the included Japanese customs were not reduced to the usual American emptiness... but for me, it was at the expense of entertainment, and I was expecting something different. In the first episodes, I still had hope that something more magnificent awaited us (the promise is there), and although I formed a nice relationship with the main duo of characters (especially Yūka Kōri is amazing), in the second half, I was sometimes even bored. Surprisingly, the visual aspect of the series disappointed me, even though the set design was undoubtedly magnificent and exterior, on a big TV, unlike some other series, it felt too much CGI and poorly color-filtered with strong film grain (which as a purist I don't like, and I pay great attention to setting the TV display). I will probably catch up on some behind-the-scenes to find out what the intention was and what was just trickery overshot. 90% is too much for me, more like a decent seventy. (2024-04-25)

Shogun is definitely a revelation in the series field this year and should be seen by everyone. Until the 5th episode I was sure of a 5 star rating, but then my great enthusiasm started to wane as my faith in some epic battle started to fade away, and it ended up being very intimate. The series has spectacular sets, great performances – Hirojuki Sanada is awesome, Mariko is perhaps the most beautiful Asian ever, and Aijin is also great. It has meticulous dialogues, great atmosphere, strong emotions (episode 9 is probably the strongest) and it's also quite suspenseful. The series is actually flawless in all respects except for the lack of action sequences, and I can't forgive that because the samurai didn't just conduct political intrigues, they also cut each other and there was obviously a budget here, so they could have easily crammed a 15 minute battle into those 10 hours. Considering the whole 4th episode was dedicated to cannons (there was even the best gore scene of the series), it's a shame that they didn’t use them once more during the series and the ending just disappointed me because nothing was resolved properly. I'm sorry because there won't be a samurai movie or series this expansive for quite a while. I still enjoyed it, but there was no ejaculation. 8/10. (2024-04-30)