I know historical period pieces aren’t usually in my reviewing wheelhouse (though there have been a few series / films I’ve really loved in the genre) but I feel Shogun is close enough to several other things I cover that it’s not too big a departure. Mostly I wanted to talk about it because it was so damn good that even though every other critic is also gushing about it I still wanted to contribute to the praise this mini-series has gained. The series (and by that I mean the book it’s based on) is set in a slightly modified version of the late Sengoku period of Japan and puts a bigger emphasis on accidental visiting Brit John Blackthorne (or William Adams in real life) and makes a few other changes beyond just renaming everyone, but it does also tell a pretty good account of the actual time period (though nobody tore through waves of soldiers and threw them into the air with magic weapons! Are you telling me that BOTH Samurai Warriors and Sengoku Basara lied to me?!) Anyway, let’s take a look!
Many shows, anime and games later I’m more than a little familiar with the time period this is based in, so it was actually a little weird at first to hear the new names for characters, but I got used to it quickly and it actually became fun to try and pick “who’s who” beyond the obvious. Speaking of which: the show is focused on the period just after the death of the second of the three great unifiers, Nakamura Hidetoshi (Yukijiro Hotaru) (real life Toyotomi Hideyoshi) that saw the ruling of the nearly-unified land be given to a council of five until his son comes of age. Of these five two become rivals rather quickly, that being Kanto ruler Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) (real life Tokugawa Ieyasu) and Osaka castle ruler Ishido Kazunari (Takehiro Hira) (real life Ishida Mitsunari), with the latter having the ear of Hidetoshi’s widow Ochiba no Kata (Fumi Nikaido) (or “Yodo-dono” as she is know in history books) and therefore having something of an advantage, especially with the woman and the heir to Hidetoshi’s legacy living in his castle. While they power-play a ship carrying some Protestant Brits who were searching for the “land of the Japans” that their Catholic Portuguese rivals have been apparently visiting crashes near landfall of their target and they’re all captured.
Toranaga gets the local army hyped for the idea of most likely dying in his name. That’s the Sengoku era for ya!
It’s here where their acting-Captain and “pilot” John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis, which has to be one of the best stage names ever) (based on William Adams, as already mentioned) is taken by the local area’s Lord Kashigi Yabushige (Tadanobu Asano) (apparently based on real life Honda Masanobu, but I mean, barely…) and is set to be executed until he gets the ear of Toranaga during a visit, where he lets him know of the “treacherous Portuguese”. This is awkward as it’s done through translator Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai) (real life Hosokawa Gracia) who is a converted Catholic and therefore a supporter of the Portuguese. This is the set up for most of the story, Blackthorne and Mariko get close but the latter’s husband returns and makes this awkward (and extremely dangerous in a few cases), meanwhile Toranaga continues to deal with being classed as a traitor and being backed into several corners.
There are some great scenes with Kashigi as he continually plays both sides and looks for the one most likely to leave him alive at the end, but the standout is Mariko, whose struggles not only include the forbidden and complicated love triangle but as in real life her father famously betrayed his master and killed him (the first of the three great unifiers and the “boss” of the other two), an act that left Mariko the only member of a disgraced household left alive but she is forbidden to commit suicide (in real life due to her religion, but here due to Toranaga refusing it). Anna Sawai is the definite standout of a frankly amazing cast.
Great scenery, weird that none of it was actually filmed in Japan!
There are some great, sweeping shots and really great attention to detail in all the surroundings, can’t praise the look of the show enough either. It can also be extremely brutal when needed: beheadings, people committing seppuku (or often both!) and generally the perils of living at the time, including a scene of Blackthorne telling his staff (at this point he’s been given a house) not to touch an animal he’s left out “otherwise death” in his broken Japanese, and later when its gone he finds out his gardener removed it and accepted his fate of being killed for disobeying his Lord, which came as a natural shock to him! Seeing this Brit slowly but surely getting accustomed to life in Japan was really done as well, he was still asking for his ship and permission to sail home right at the final episode but otherwise was clearly adapting. I mean, I’m missing out a lot here, even some of the side characters were really great and over the 10-ish hour runtime they do get plenty to do, I only have so much room / time to type!
Overall Thoughts:
Blackthorne realises he’s in a realistic version of Sengoku Japan, not one of the fun ones.
A slightly altered telling of the end of the Sengoku period of Japan, Shogun is a triumph of storytelling, character development, acting and directing. Normally I’d say something along the lines of “hope there’s a season 2!” but in this case as a straight adaptation of the book it ends on a satisfying note, making this mini-series a must-watch one-off.
So in real life Gracia sacrificed herself by intentionally being killed in Osaka while supposedly in the care of Ishida, thus turning a good portion of the populace against their Lord, especially the other reagents that had converted to Catholicism. This helped Tokugawa get more men behind him when the time came for his and Ishida’s armies to clash at the battle of Sekigahara and win, becoming Shogun, uniting Japan and create a dynasty that lasted for 260 years. Meanwhile William Adams helped build boats and happily lived out the rest of his life in his new adopted country, and Honda Masanobu (who once sided with peasants against his Lord a good while ago but that was it) didn’t do anything underhanded during this period or any time after and died an old man…
Here? A lot of it is very similar. Mariko nearly gets herself killed by trying to leave Osaka but instead is given permission to leave the following morning, but Ishido makes a deal with Kashigi to open the gates of their place in the castle at night and allow a bunch of Shinobi in to kill her secretly. The plan doesn’t go exactly right as Blackthorne, Mariko and others (including Kashigi, who’s attempt to play innocent led to him being taken along for the ride) nearly escape but end up locked in a small building with thick doors. The assassins then plant a bomb at the door and Mariko intentionally puts her body up against the doors to cushion the impact as much as she can and becomes the only casualty. Much like in real life though her death has a profound impact on those living in Osaka and slows Ishido’s plans down and in a flash-forward to Sekigahara we see history play out the same way (without any scenes of mass warfare…)
“Can I kill myself yet?” “Look, I keep saying… Actually, you know what…”
Meanwhile John Blackthorne still wishes to return home but agrees to help build European-style boats for Toranaga “for now”, though the latter claims he “can’t see him ever returning home” (though we do get a flash-forward of Blackthorne as an old man seemingly in England, so that’s definitely different, though it could also be seen as a dream sequence…) Toranaga also runs down his plans to become Shogun to Kashigi as the traitor is about to be killed by Seppuku/beheading (no old age for him!), revealing that despite it being a title he claimed he didn’t want in reality his humbleness was just part of his plan and that end goal was always on his mind, and exactly what he ends up achieving…