First episode was pretty good, but episode really kicks it off and it feels like we’re now off to the races. Feels like this is going to be so fun!
This show was so dedicated to historical accuracy that the Japanese dialect they are speaking is not modern Japanese. The Japanese cast described it as " its like learning how to speak Shakespearean English is for you"
are the subtitles also in that cadence? or are the subs the modernised equivalent for easier understanding?
I haven't seen it, but I guess in the English dub version they make an interesting choice of using English subtitles for Japanese actors for when they're communicating with Blackthorne, but dubbed in English whenever they're communicating with each other.
There isn't too much of the 1980 series out there, but if you want a comparison here is a scene from episode 2 Biggest difference of course being that in the first series the Japanese wasn't subbed or dubbed at all. Western viewers had no idea what they were saying, because they framed the entire thing around Blackthorne's POV
I feel bad for Cosmo Jarvis. For as good as he is in this every conversation about his performance is just saying how similar he is to Tom Hardy lol
Another scene from Shogun 1980 that was in this week's episode (albeit the latter version was slightly changed)
If anything if this is a huge success they should just adapt more Clavell's Asian Saga novels as limited series. Tai-Pan (which is about the rise of British corporate interests in Hong Kong in the 1830's) and Noble House ( which is the sequel to Tai-Pan about the decline of British corporate interests in Hong Kong in the 1960's) would be cool as back to back companion series. Also you have Gai-Jin which is set in Japan at the end of the Edo Period in the 1860's and features a couple characters who are the direct descendants of the characters in Shogun.
Doing it as like an anthology type series with his other books would be awesome. I like this idea, because its time periods and locations that are not typically done in American entertainment.
Ep 4 was good. John is still a prick, but he seems to genuinely want to acclimate to the culture and learn. The hot springs scene was nice. Holy shit that ending though!
You know how you know this is good? It's getting rave reviews in Japan, who are known to notoriously hate Western produced period pieces about Japan.