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Shogun
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Shogun
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Summary
Early 17th-century Japan teeters on the brink of civil war in a 10-part adaptation of James Clavell's best-selling novel. In the year 1600, the Council of Regents unites against Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada), lighting the fuse on a devastating civil war that will definite the century in Japan. Bureaucrat Ishido Kazunari (Takehiro Hira) is Toranaga's fiercest rival and the Lord turns to his trusted general Toda Hiromatsu (Tokuma Nishioka) for advice as conflict looms. A mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village and pilot John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) bears secrets that could benefit Toranaga. They unite with the help of translator and Christian noblewoman Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai), who intends to honour her late father and restore her family name in the shadow of her jealous husband Toda Hirokatsu (Shinnosuke Abe)
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Review
Jack Seale
A drama set in Japan in the early 1600s, based on a thousand-page doorstop of a novel (by James Clavell) published in 1975? It sounds potentially stodgy but this word-of-mouth hit is anything but.
Cosmo Jarvis is excellent as John Blackthorne, an English sailor who arrives in Japan and manages to flourish despite knowing nothing of the language or customs; Anna Sawai is even better as Lady Mariko, his translator whose position in society is uncertain. Every episode is a poised fable, super-charged by the locals’ bewilderingly unforgiving code of honour, which could cause anyone to perpetrate murder or suicide at any moment. You will be swept away, breathless.
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8.6/10
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rolenameSeries directorFrederick E.O. Toye
Seasons
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Season 1
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