[FX] “Shogun” Mini-Series

Here's a BBC production of the battle of Sekigahara in English. The main figures are Tokugawa Ieyesu (Toronaga) commanding the Eastern Army, Ishida Mitsunari (Ishido) and Kobayakawa Hideaki who as far as I can tell doesn't have a fictional counterpart in Shogun but might've been folded into the character of Toranaga's brother.

 

I figured the main reason the Portuguese didn’t want blackthorne to leave is because they didn’t want him going back to Europe and telling their enemies what they were up to in Japan. Plus all the intel blackthorn now has on them.

I thought he did a good job in the role, butdid anyone else get a strong Russell Crowe/gladiator vibe from that actors performance?

and what was the fate of blackthorns Motley Crue? There were only like a half dozen left. Were they killed or just spent the rest of their days as virtual prisoners drinking and chasing ladies?

 

I enjoyed the show, but found the borderline glorification of suicide off-putting

 

In the book Blacktorne never relents from wanting to go after the Portugese. Even at the end he still wants to build a new ship and capture the Black Ship. The Christian regents very much considered Blackthorne, his crew and their ship a threat. Toranaga felt burning his ship was a good way of both winning over the Christian regents on his side while keeping Blackthorne alive. This wasn't just because he liked Blackthorne but he knowing he was still alive and could rebuild his ship was a constant reminder to the Christian regents that Toranaga at anytime could let him loose against their Portugese allies.

As it is the historical Will Adams did convince Tokugawa to switch to trade with the Dutch and British and under the Tokugawa Shogunate they replaced the Portugese. Part of the deal to switch to the Protestant powers from the Catholic powers was that they wouldn't proselytize in Japan and Ieyesu's descendants banned Christianity in Japan.

I got more of a Tom Hardy vibe from Cosmo Jarvis.

They got GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS!

In the book one of the went mad and died when the ship was burned. The other one's ended up living out their lives in Japan with some dying when they burned the house they were staying in trying to build a still.

 

@jo mama

Found a cut scene showing what happened to Blackthorne's crew in Japan.

Spoiler

 

Slow afternoon with work so was watching some of the 80's version scenes versus the 2024 version. Here is the scene where Blackthorne meets Toranaga and tells him he'll win against the Portugese and Spanish.
1980

2024


The 1980 version is much closer to the book than the 2024 version where they combine it with another scene where Blackthorne draws Toranaga a map of the World. This scene is actually one of the most pivotal scenes of the story and is crucial to not just understanding Toranaga's relationship with Blackthorne but also Toranaga's own secret motivation.

In this scene I think the 80's version is better in regard to the story.

 

They didn't really stick the landing with me....but I still liked the show very much overall.

It almost felt rushed, like they would have done better with 2 or 3 more episodes to let things play out naturally instead of just the quick "this is how it's going to go" scene.

Also, the "I just thought he was funny" rationale for keeping Blackthorne alive was unsatisfying and obviously a lie...now that can work with Toranaga's character, but I would have preferred a better way of doing things.

 

This show or fallout? Cause I was watching another poll on YouTube and fallout won as best dramatic tv show. I don’t play the game so I don’t know how good that show really is.

 

I think I mentioned this earlier in the thread but in the book this scene is even more awkward and funnier.

In the book Blackthorne does get angry at Mariko for asking him if he would like a boy to pillow. One of Toranaga’s samurai doesn’t understand why Blackthorne is angry. The samurai then remembers hearing that some people like to pillow with ducks. There is a debate between him and Marino should get Blackthorne a duck. She worries if they offer it to him he might get more upset. The samurai proposes getting a duck and leaving it in Blackthorne’s room and just seeing what happens.

 

Anna Sawai is too fluent in English in my opinion, a deep performance no doubt but yeah the original Mariko did the trick for me.

Cosmo Jarvis is different than Chamberlain, more of a brute.

Indeed, I would very much like that duck reference to be part of the new Shogun series.