Boiling the prisoners alive in the cauldron is historically accurate. The famous gentleman thief of Sengoku period, Ishikawa Goemon, who stole from the rich and gave the wealth to the poor was executed the same way when he was caught by a warlord.

the 3 main characters are based on real life people in Japanese History. Lord Yoshii Toranaga on Ieyasu Tokugawa, Lady Mariko Toda on Lady Gracia Hosokawa and Blackthorne on William Adams. Will Adams grave is located in Kanagawa, Japan.

Fun fact! They actually shot this in Canada, near Vancouver because it was unfeasible to find sections of coastline in Japan that would be suitably unmarred by modern day structures.

@Rabbithole8

2 ай бұрын

No, that's not it. There is plenty of coastline in Japan that doesn't have structures. It is just more practical to film it in Canada because of logistics filming in Japan, including the very areas that would be suitable in Japan are actually hard to get to with a whole crew, actors, extras etc.

In ancient China, being steamed to death (yes, STEAMED) was also a form of punishment

I just found out that the author of the book this is based on was a British Artillery officer in WWII and spent several years in a Japanese war camp as a POW at 18yrs old…I can’t imagine how that experience influenced him

@TwoForTwentyFilms

3 ай бұрын

He wrote a book about this story.

@rasslor1742

3 ай бұрын

@@TwoForTwentyFilms doh...I just connected the dots...I read Shogun 15 yrs ago but didn't continue the Asian Saga, I'm guessing you are referring to King Rat, I recently found out what that one's about..I'm going to have to go get a copy of Tai Pan and pick this series back up. Especially now that I know he experienced it first hand. Did you read the whole saga?

@mwill8248

3 ай бұрын

King Rat, Clavell's Asian Saga is all generally "West meets East" but otherwise unconnected. King Rat (WW2 Prison Camp) was the first book published in the Series followed by Tai-Pan (1848 Opium War/Founding of Hong Kong) and then Shogun. Shogun was the 3rd book written in the series but the earliest in the historical setting. Shogun is the best of them and the only one I'd say is a great book, Tai-Pan isn't bad, King Rat is the shortest but is decent. @@TwoForTwentyFilms

@rasslor1742

3 ай бұрын

@@mwill8248 I had a friend who read them in historical order and he kinda said the same thing. I started Tai Pan and was enjoying it but feudal Japan just hits harder for me. Thanks for clarifying , I was unsure of how or if the series were connected

@mwill8248

3 ай бұрын

Yeah, I think Tai Pan is a fine book, especially if you don't know the history already, but I thought Shogun was much better. Noble House (set later in Hong Kong) is kind of related to Tai Pan but they're more thematically related than they are directly.@@rasslor1742

From everything we've been told about the production of this show, it is every bit Hiroyuki Sanada's show as it is the creators'. Sanada spent so much time trying to make it authentic to Sengoku-era Japan. The Japanese actors are almost all people Sanada has worked with in the past. The costuming and design are all him. The action and choreography had his input as much as the actual stunt choreographer. Pretty much every single thing that you could praise about this show was probably a creative decision Sanada himself made. That's what sets this show apart from every other Hollywood attempt at depicting this time period. Its all Hiroyuki Sanada.

@DeadsySedai

3 ай бұрын

I wonder if that's how Nestor Carbonell got cast. They were both in Lost (though I don't think they had many scenes together).

@Dracobyte

2 ай бұрын

Nice, he is the goat!

Outside of Blackthorne and his crew, when they’re speaking English it’s actually Portuguese. But even his crew would really be speaking Dutch. This show is fantastic. I read most of the novels when I was like 12 or 13 so don’t remember them very well. But the show, oh man.

@aussiejed1

2 ай бұрын

Blackthorne points out he also speaks Portugese, so I assume the crew are speaking Dutch (or possibly English) to each other.

Fun fact, in the original 1980 tv run, Rodriguez was played by John Rhys-Davis!

Hiroyuki Sanada is brilliant in this role. It really is like seeing Tokugawa Ieyasu in the flesh.

@shockmesane4158

3 ай бұрын

Pretty sure every period portrait I've ever seen of Tokugawa Ieyasu depicted him as decidedly overweight (and were almost certainly more flattering than the reality). But Hiroyuki's performance is amazing regardless even if he lacks the basic chungusness.

@Conorp77

3 ай бұрын

@@shockmesane4158 I'm talking more about the portrayal. The shrewd quietness, the dominating presence when he enters a room, the wordless nods to his loyalists. He nails all of it.

@kallemort

2 ай бұрын

Ieyasu had a more genial side too, it's his son that was the really intense quiet guy (and this was reflected in the novel too). Hiroyuki Sanada is doing a great job of course he's missing the human half of the character.

Just in case you are interested to know, the book Shogun is a fictionalized account of historical events. Most characters in the show have real life counterparts and the Japanese culture of that era is considered to be decently represented. But it might be a good idea to look into the historical events after completing the show to avoid what might be spoilers?

@_iarna_

3 ай бұрын

And to be clear, that includes both Blackthorn and Mariko. (Toranaga is two different people merged.)

@Rabbithole8

2 ай бұрын

@@_iarna_ Toranaga is basically Tokugawa Ieyasu with a peppering of Toyotomi Hideyoshi who is actually the Taiko.

@_iarna_

2 ай бұрын

@@Rabbithole8There's quite a lot of Oda Nobunaga as well

@Rabbithole8

2 ай бұрын

@@_iarna_ I disagree. Nobunaga was a crazed butcher.

@_iarna_

2 ай бұрын

@@Rabbithole8I mean, I'm going from old interviews with James Clavell, but it's been like 30 years so I couldn't say now exactly what he said about how he integrated the history. 🤷‍♀ I don't personally have much of an opinion on it

I'm writing in before watching the entire reaction (shoot me), whenever the characters are speaking in English in the show, it's actually Portuguese or Dutch, when Blackthorne speaks with his crew. They didn't want to have the entire show subtitled, for obvious reasons.

I can't believe we got what are likely the best movie and TV show of 2024 in the same week in _Dune: Part 2_ and _Shōgun,_ respectively. This series so so fucking good! Hiroyuki Sanada is perfect as Lord Yoshii Toranaga. And he was apparently wild on set quickly changing in and out of costume and moving from one stage to another to also act as a technical advisor. Fun fact: all the Japanese is accurate to the period. So the actors are essentially speaking the Japanese version of Shakespearean language.

@Dracobyte

2 ай бұрын

This series is so good it made me reinstall Shogun 2: Total War!

@theultimatewarlord69420

2 ай бұрын

Actually, the 2 best TV shows of 2024: Shōgun and season 2 of Invincible

@Quzga

2 ай бұрын

This year has had a lot of great shows and films tbh. Feels like we're finally catching up to the covid void

"what a pilot.." Yo dawg, you like pilots? How about a pilot about a pilot? 😉

@ArthurSB73

3 ай бұрын

And the pilot episode was titled Anjin, 'pilot'

As a Japanese I've always felt cringy towards Hollywood making 'Japanese samurai', it's never been this accurate!! but this one!!!! Thank you Sanada

that first beheading was the most shocking thing ive seen in a show in a long time haha.

6:22 *"YOUR PARDON, BUT I DEMAND YOU STOP SHITTALKING MY LORD!!!"*

13:20 I'm guessing as the Lord is "obsessed with the moments before death" (as is said earlier in the episode while the sailor boils) she decided that perhaps he might be interested in observing the "little death"...

It is based on a book by James Calvell. Which probably partly explains why it is crafted so well. This is also the second shogun tv series made about this particular book. According to wikipedia the book sold about 8 million copies.

I love the duality of the episode title, "Anjin". Which is Japanese for pilot, so works for the tried-and-true practice of the first episode of a show being the pilot episode, and the Japanese name for Blackthorne's character, who is a ship's pilot.

SO glad you are reacting to this! I really appreciated the cinematography analysis early in the episode. That was 10/10 content from you guys, and love how much you are appreciating the show in general and how emotionally invested you are already. Will definitely watch all of these.

Finally someone decent reacting to this. Some of the other reactors have no clue. "its in English but we're supposed to understand it is in Japanese." They haven't done THAT specifically yet, but ironically they do that with Portuguese.

Well, they cant get rid of the language barrier because the language barrier is actually one major aspect of the show. Btw.... this story is actually based all on real people, they just changed everyone IRL names into a fictional name. but John, Toranaga, The Taiko, etc.... are all real people.

This is a remake of an 1980 TV miniseries, itself based on a 1975 novel by James Clavell. The original series starred Richard Chamberlain in the main role and was very well done, but not exceptionally book accurate. From what I understand this version is attempting to remain more faithful to the book.

@rasslor1742

3 ай бұрын

I read the book 20yrs ago and these characters still stand out in my mind. This is purely subjective, but I feel like the writers and actors are crushing it in capturing how I remember these characters

@thomashiggins9320

3 ай бұрын

To be fair, the 1980 miniseries was broadcast by NBC. There's *no way* they could portray on one of the "Big 3" networks 44 years ago, some of the stuff they can today on a subscriber streaming TV service.

@gerhardadler3418

3 ай бұрын

In my opinion, the series is pretty close to the novel. They didn't add or leave any plots or characters and even what is being said is pretty much the same. I would have said, it's as close to the novel as a TV show can be. I have only seen the trailer of the remake yet, but there was a shot that implied Mariko fought a couple of ninjas, which definetly was not in the novel, at least not like that. Therefore my concern is the new show is more adapted to modern audiences ... EDIT: Just watched the reaction. Just from this i can tell: The remake IS NOT as close to the novel as the original series. Quite the opposite.

The book actually predates Martin's GOT series by quite a bit, and he has even said he used Shogun as part of his template for his series. So, while to current minds it's GOT-like, it's really the other way around.

There seemed to be a difference between the reaction of Americans and British and that of Canadians. Perhaps this is because historically, Canada has had little contact with Japan. Interesting difference.

I started with a lot of skepticism that there would be that many Christians running around feudal Japan. Apparently after Portuguese missionaries arrived in 1549, Catholicism was promoted by Oda Nobunaga and his successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi (the real version of the Taiko from this show) as a way to weaken more religious Buddhist factions. Best guess is you had 200-500,000 Catholic Japanese by 1600 out of a population of 15-20 million. Probably more concentrated in the South and the wealthy (there was a lot of money to be made in trade). When Japan was substantially closed to western influences in 1635 that processed obviously reversed, but it's not crazy that there be this level of Christianity in Japan at the time.

@mwill8248

3 ай бұрын

Ummm... Didn't mean for this to be here, I submitted this comment on the Shogun video, where it makes a lot more sense.

@YuriPeixotoMestre

Ай бұрын

your accurate history informations are sooooo good, that they should be used as a primal fact... in a fiction work.

I like this episode, being a pilot episode, is called "Anjin", meaning "Pilot".

A fun fact that's driven home in the book but not the show: On ships at the time the pilot ran the ship when at sea. The captain was only in charge on shore.

To the extent that the world of Blue Eye Samurai is based on history, it is set up by the events that are represented by this story. The winners of the power struggles going on in this series having established control over Japan and implemented social controls to solidify their power.

Ive seen the original at least 40 times since 1980. Also, it is nice to finally see someone react to this, that has enough understanding to fully appreciate the depth of what is being portrayed. For that reason I will gladly subscribe to your channel.

@eatsmylifeYT

3 ай бұрын

No. You're just trying to show off and impress the reactors by saying you've seen the original so many times. Unless you're gay for Richard Chamberlain or Toshiro Mifune, you wouldn't watch it 40 times.

George Martin's reference for writing GoT is Shogun. :)

He may have brought a mug to a gunfight, but it was made of....PEWter

The showrunners themselves said that this is more comparable with Succession or House of Cards than GOT.

@Rabbithole8

2 ай бұрын

KZreadrs are jumping on comparing it to GOTs simply because they both have political scheming, but they ignore the mountains over other aspects they don't have in common. I objected to a KZreadr the other day and he got all tied up in knots about it as if he wasn't comparing apples and oranges. Dune also has political scheming; is it also Dune? Is House of Cards comparable with Dune and GOT? Quite frankly I also think comparing it to Succession or House of Cards is a stretch. I understand why the showrunners do it: they are trying to sell it to an audience. KZreadrs, are just making a lazy comparison as far as I'm concerned.

@subhashismandal9871

2 ай бұрын

@@Rabbithole8 I think what the showrunners mean by that is Shogun is real, it's based on real history where GoT is fantasy. In that regard you can compare the politics behind the chair like House of Cards or Succession.

@Rabbithole8

2 ай бұрын

@@subhashismandal9871 Yes, it's a better comparison than to GOTs. As I stated, I understand why they would use those examples as points of reference for potential viewers.

Cosmo Jarvis (what a name) is a hell of a find for me. I’d love to see him play a young Qui-Gon Jin in live action, he really has a strong Liam Neeson look (once he gets cleaned up) and some serious acting chops

@algorhythm.

2 ай бұрын

Although he had a small role on Peaky Blinders his acting was phenomenal. I'm soglad he got this role.

Little Giri/Haji reunion in this. Now there's an underrated TV show

This show definitely can fill the Mizu shaped void in some of our souls

There's an official companion podcast for anyone who wants to know more about how the "sausage was made".

And to add to the Canadian content, this show was shot in the Vancouver area. Probably not really a surprise with the overcast skies and rain in the background.

Just watched the first episode along with your Patreon reaction and I’m hooked! Looking forward to the rest of the episodes

You guys are going to love this show. I just binged all 3 episodes. Can't wait for more.

13:55 I was thinking that too. Rick Grimes when he had the long hair and Tom Hardy with the short.

"Remember when we thought this was a kids' show?"

I'm very happy to see Nerdy and Clarus watch this series. It could have been a fun book club submission, but I understand their schedule is full. Good work, keep it up.

This series is phenomenal! dbl ♥ BTW - think this is on Hulu over here. Originally it's an FX show. To be fair Mickey & Co owns Hulu & darned near everything else 😉

Nerdy! I've been enjoying your Delicious in Dungeon videos lately, which made me click on this when I finally started watching Shogun, but now the sidebar is telling me you guys have an active Dragonlance campaign for me to check out? Very cool. Btw, I really agree about the political landscaping painted through the dialog. There's just so much to infer from people's stations and the roundabout insults, who's allowed to joke around with whom, etc.

It’s a FX show and for people outside of America it’s on Disney +. Disney + also doesn’t show the blood spatter etc.

Actually, last samurai takes place in 1860s, which is 260 years apart from shogun.

I loved the original show back when it first came out. This is a truly stunning remake

Read the book when this came out, you'd love the fleshing out of the bones of this with the extra stuff that comes with the book, although there's not much missing from that in this production.

It's possible that later in the series, everyone would be speaking in English, i.e. "Japanese", or maybe in Japanese with English subtitles.

This show is incredible! The only thing I really didn't like was the choice to treat the Portuguese language as English. Especially when practically all foreigners speak "Portuguese" and not English.

@benkelly2024

3 ай бұрын

That's how it was done in the book as well. The point is to put the audience in the place of Blackthorne, who is fluent in Portuguese.

@WUStLBear82

3 ай бұрын

Subtitling can become confusing if you're dealing with multiple languages and characters speaking over each other. I've seen it done using different text colors for each language, but I find the method here better.

The original mini-series adaptation of this book is pretty much the first TV show I can remember my mom letting me stay up to watch. I later read the book in high school and was blown away by it.

Love that you two are reacting to this and the fact thst my boy is also doing Solo leveling.

So glad you are doing this show. Watch the 1980's mini series. Then read the book. I will say there is a lot coming.

Fun Fact: the author, James Clavell, was the screenwriter and director of To Sir, With Love

I saw the 1980 series when it came out, and it was great. I also read the James Clavell novel right after, since my mom loved that sort of thing and she had it at our house. The fact that this was made for a streaming TV service means it can hew much more closely to the novel than could the 1980 version on NBC, and the acting is at least as good -- if not better. That said, the 1980 version drew from the finest of Japan's and America's acting talent, as well. I mean, Lord Toranaga was played in the 1980 version by *Toshiro Mifune* ! It just can't get any better than that, although Hiroyuki Sanada knocks it out of the park, in this one. Such a good show, so far!

Cheers, nice to know we'll have one show in common for the next few weeks. :) And Interview with the Vampire coming back soon... and maybe The Three Body Problem too.

In the states, the first 2 episodes dropped at once, and it's on hulu for us.

please give Warrior a shot! it’s now on Netflix

Please at some point read the 1975 Book, it's amazing. Try out the 1980 miniseries if you have the time, but read the book for sure.

Amazing show and a great reaction! The writing and production is astonishing. It gets better too!

This is a very condensed version of the book. The book is about 1700 pages depending which printing you get. It is a fictional account of historical events. This series could easily be several seasons long and still not cover everything. Because it is so condensed it is very deliberate on what it shows and misses a lot of nuances the book has. It is a great book and highly suggest reading it after the show is over.

Correction on the auto speller .. Sanada not canada. Sonny chiba not chins

For many years in the West, films have been made based on untrue prejudices against Japan, and Hiroyuki Sanada has experienced that with The Last Samurai, and this time he also participated as a director, so it seems that the quality of the film is good.

I have been so blown away by this production. My father loved the older mini series & this is a wonderful take on the story.

Great first episode!

I gotta say, Nerdy's moustache is working for me. .

The guy looks like Coffeezilla's older brother.

The world building. Wait till episode 2. 😊

Edit: Unrelated to the show. I just realized I'm not subscribed but I've been for about 2 years. This is the 2nd channel this has happened to, for me. Does anyone know what KZread's issue is? I love this book but my expectations were low since I didn't think they would do it justice. I am very happy to be wrong and I've really enjoyed the 3 ep that are out now. I really think it will be great throughout the series:) I can't wait for your ep 2 reaction!

The acting in this show is incredible. Really excited to watch with y’all

12:55 😆😆😆

S W B T is now my favourite insult….everybody’s favourite insult

As someone already mentioned here, It's based on a book by James Clavell of the same name, and made into a miniseries in 1980. That steamy scene with the young woman, young man and Yabushige was A LOT different in the book. Like yikes levels of different :\

Next book club? Before I was reading epic fantasy, I had read James Clavell's Asian saga - Shogun, Tai Pan, King Rat, etc.

Content with toys? Like... like... Lego? 😏

It’s not Disney. It’s Fox FX. Can be viewed on Hulu which is Disney owned. Disney only makes show with their own IP

You could alwys introduce toys* to these reactions! 😂 Just watched it too. Excellent first episode. *I, of course, mean katanas, wigs, 17th century pistols etc

I was gonna say the main character looked liked Tom Hardy and Thomas Jane had a baby but Rick Grimes is spot on.

Thanks!

This show kicks ass.

Lol I am probably gonna get shit from one of the commentors because I've said this too many times on other channels but fuck it. Sharing with ya that I got my first background role on the show as a samurai and the experience was amazing.

I love the top!

Insted of "its english but they are speaking japonese" they are using the "its english but they are speaking portuguese" 😂😂😂

In my head canon John Blackthorne is the father of Mizu

Shogun is made by FX, Disney+ just bought streaming rights.

Nice shirt, Red.

Great series!

You gotta watch Tokyo Vice instead! Another American Japanese production with predominantly Japanese cast and great acting and story! You're all missing out fr. Please react to it

So I 110% believe this would make a great book club book.

Just finished watching the first episode definitely a worth watching.

Technically it's FX and Hulu which Disney owns majority share in, that made this show.

@Tullaryx

3 ай бұрын

Disney actually owns both channels outright now.

@schubert06sebastian39

3 ай бұрын

@@TullaryxI still will not credit Disney for Shogun. If it’s a Disney production it will have to follow the ESG DEI standards BS.

@bricktwo5849

3 ай бұрын

Marvel and Star wars for example is not created or made by Disney.It's not made by Disney studios.Disney funds,distribute and merchandising for star wars and marvel,that's it.When you see star wars movie or marvel movie for example you don't see the disney logo in front.

@bricktwo5849

3 ай бұрын

@@schubert06sebastian39 ​ Shogun was made under disney and fx and hulu is under disney just like marvel,star wars and pixar are but disney does not make them either. It's marvel studios,lucasfilm,pixar etc...but they are still under disney so if credit given to disney for those other studios under disney then credit is given to disney for shogun as well.

@bricktwo5849

3 ай бұрын

Disney had/has other companies under them before that have made rated stuff like touchstone,miramax etc..

This being on disney is wild 😂

It’s a Hulu show, Nerdy

@NerdyNightly

3 ай бұрын

No Hulu in Canada

don't mistake this for D+ as that tends to turn off some people. it's Hulu, just like The Bear.

Great show so far. Much more political intrigue than i expected from the trailer.

Good show jolly good show

What does it have to do with it?game of thrones

i love japan❤

Don't name this show in the same sentence as a game of nonsense😅