User reviews

I can't recommend Shogun enough! This is one of those rare shows that's a must watch. It takes place in Japan during the 1600' where Lord Yoshii Torango is turned on by Council of Regents and they try to kill him and his people. Then he finds a mysterious European ship marooned with its crew in a nearby village and everything changes from what he finds on it. This series has the look and feel of a blockbuster movie. Its world building, character development and attention to detail is as good as anything you'll see in tv. FX usually does a great job with its shows and Shogun is no different. I'll be shocked if this isn't nominated for several awards.

This is stunning television. The costumes, the sets, the historic period acting are all phenomenal. This show simply oozes dedication to detail and money. So with just two episodes in I can say that this will hook you almost immediately and for fans of Japan and its ancient culture it is almost a must-see.

Knowing the book the casting is near pitch-perfect or at least close enough to it. Maybe Lady Mariko doesn't look as I imagined her from the book but the actress still delivers a good performance and I am deeply appreciative of this show for making a worthy effort to depict the vast and intricate world of James Clavell's masterful historic novel.

However, maybe the book is too big to fit into the confined space of a TV series. For obvious reasons the showrunners had to rush through so much that is explained and described in detail in the book. In order to do the book justice it would have taken almost two seasons of television to show the story of John Blackthorne before he even reaches Osaka. Much of the underlying conflicts and the delicate web of diplomacy and intrigue the main characters have to navigate are cut short in the TV show. There also is a weird shift in perspective which strays from the book. Whereas the involvement of Portuguese foreigners in the politics of early 17th century Japan is treated as just another aspect in a mostly internal Japanese power struggle, the TV show almost sets the Portuguese up as the main antagonists of the show during its first two episodes. I hope the shows swings back to the Japan-centric story it is meant to be.

Bottom line: This is great television but I recommend reading the book eventually.

I was eagerly awaiting the new Shogun series, especially as a fan of the original series featuring Richard Chamberlain. This reboot surpasses its predecessor with a richer focus on Japanese characters, enhancing the drama significantly. While most of the cast delivered outstanding performances, Cosmo Jarvis seemed somewhat stiff and lacked emotional depth in his role as the Englishman who unexpectedly sails to Japan. Anna Sawai stands out exceptionally as the interpreter who falls for the Englishman, showcasing her acting prowess, particularly in the final two episodes. The storyline adeptly portrays Lord Toranaga's cunning strategies to ascend as Japan's leader while avoiding war. Jarvis's role as the Anjin serves as a cultural bridge for the audience. Shogun is a strong contender for numerous awards this year. Impressively executed.

When I saw the title on the Disney channel I assume it's one of those mock Asian war drama we always see on the screen with fake mock Asian token actors like we always see. I can not be more wrong. The richness in characters is built on real Japanese actors who are world class actors in the film/Tv industry and the depiction of the religious and political tension is something I have not seen on a main stream service for long time. Not to mention how rare we get to hear Japanese spoken with majority of the air time on an English language channel. This authentic Japanese/Englsih drama is exceptionally well made and has the potential to lead the white audience into a new realm of Asian western fusion genre. I expect some awards to be won shortly.

Everything is just spot on with this series!

I get that Americans aren't used to reading subtitles, but come on. So what if the series is mostly in Japanese? It's about an English man stuck in Japan in the 17th century. Why wouldn't it be in Japanese?

The acting, staging, camera shots, editing, direction - everything is 10 out of 10.

I rarely give a 10 after just two episodes, but this is an amazing series. I rarely give anything a ten. This is probably one of the best series I've seen the last ten years.

Mark my words - this'll get an Emmy for sure! If you haven't watched it, be sure to do. It's exciting, full of history and just a gem to watch.

Shogun offers a slow-paced narrative that might test the patience of viewers looking forward to thrilling samurai battles. Despite its rich setting and potential for action, the series often fails to deliver on the promise of engaging confrontations or a climactic war, leaving the audience hanging with unfulfilled hopes. However, it manages to hold attention, perhaps due to the anticipation of something grand unfolding, which, unfortunately, never comes to fruition.

For those unfamiliar with the book, the series might feel uneventful and stretched. The true highlight is the nuanced and unnamed relationship between Lady Mariko and the Barbarian, which adds depth and emotional engagement amidst an otherwise lackluster storyline. While it has its moments, the series largely falls short of expectations, earning a modest 5.5 out of 10.

Is it historically accurate? No. Neither the source material (novel) is. Is the show fully novel-accurate? No. Some things were changed, in order to tell the story for this show, and it works mostly??

There is some "modern" injected, although not too much, just it would seem that "we" can never separate fully from the time we exist in, thus our time's "bits and pieces", follow us on all our "time travels".., also as authentic it looks, still it only looks..

Have to admit that for quite some time, I haven't liked a TV show character as much as have Mariko, or Fuji, etc, while aware of figures from history, sad and happy at the same time, that the show stayed, more or LESS, true to it overall, "underwhelming" finale included..

Premise describes events leading to creation of (most powerful) longest lasting Shogunate, where "Sacrifice of the Few" was prioritized and made for "The good of Japan", thus, no large battles as well as attempting to avoid those same, is also more or less, true to it all..

As I'm writing my review, more than couple months after I saw the show, my question, or complaint is: "seasons two and three"?? This was obviously supposed to be a Limited Series that deals with this part, thus additional seasons will follow the events post creation particular Shogunate? An era of "Japan's closed borders" and "expelling of" the Catholics"? Is Shogun going to become Anthology Series??? What are we going to watch exactly part of additional seasons??

It would seem the show got "renewed" for additional seasons only to have an entrance into "Drama Series" promptly. Let's just hope that "business models" don't leave a bad mark on this well made, and obviously Limited Series, down the line..

This was a most waiting tv series for 2024! And it is true! The two first episodes were just perfect! Mr Sanada is perfect to his role as lord toranaga as perfect are the two allies ( blackthorne and mariko)!

We have a short story at the beginning to understand the culture of feudal japan at 1590 as the teaser trailer released two weeks ago !

Customs , cgi , has many details ( shoes , helmets, armor, etc) as it was at 1600 bc at feudal japan !

Story is writen on japan culture as well!

So far so perfect! Its truly based to james clavel novel more than 80s series ! Waiting for the next episodes to see !

I have not read the book and have not seen the 1980s show, I have no exposure to Japanese culture, so I watched it with an open mind.

Overall it's pretty good but I have two complaints: Blackthorn and the ending.

Cosmo Jarvis is completely wrong for the role. He has a single facial expression - perplexity. He walks aimlessly from scene to scene, makes dumb decisions and generally acts stupid. He does not appear to learn much except picking up a bit of language, does not improve anything and generally has no impact on anything. After watching the series it crossed my mind that if his character is removed then absolutely nothing would change. Blackthorn is a village idiot with no purpose. Not even a comic relief.

The second complaint is the ending. It's a let down in the style of Game of Thrones. They build up the tension in episodes 1-9, and in the 10th they fell flat of the face. Instead of showing the result of Toranaga's plot they tell us bits and pieces of that it's supposed to accomplish. Could not they shoot another two episodes to show how he succeeded? Did they run out of budget?

Episode 10 is a total disappointment.

I had very high hopes for this after all the hype and given that I love the novel, the 80s series and Japanese historic epics. The production design itself is from good to great, but the washed out colors and the too dark picture where even midday sunlight looks like dusk (I have a very bright, modern TV), makes it all very gloomy.

Also, the overuse of distorted lenses and extremely shallow depth of focus, makes the whole thing depressingly claustrophobic. It truly makes me miss the bright, sprawling epics.

I am quite saddened by the thought of what might have been: This should have been a rousing adventure, full of exploration and a sense of wonder, along with gradual bridging of cultural differences and mutual understanding and respect. Instead we get depressingly off-putting "realism" and ugly characters.

I've just finished the first two episodes and I cannot wait for more! The atmosphere, plot, acting are superlative. The politicking and scheming are prime Game of Thrones but I hate making that comparison as I want this show to stand on its own. The scheming between the various lords and the Portuguese faction is titillating and suspenseful as we watch various characters play the game. I love it! I cannot wait for next week. I haven't felt this way about a show in a long while. Highly recommended if you enjoy top tier drama.

Funny to see most one star review being uneducated people who complain about subtitles.

Japanese should never be dubbed. If you can't read, move to something your level like barbie.

With only 2 episodes out so far, I find this show to be really well done whether or not you have read the book or saw the 1980 mini-series with Richard Chamberlain. Hiroyuki Sanada is one of my favourite actors and his performance, as well as the other cast members is superb. The show is very authentic looking and most of the dialogue is in Japanese, which really adds to the atmosphere and gives you a sense of being in 1600s Japan. Except for one scene (IMHO), the cinematography is really good. Unlike the 1980 series, there is a darker "feel" which better portrays what was going on at that time. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the series.

...this is not that.

While it was certainly groundbreaking and a huge hit at the time, in retrospect great parts of it was rather cheasy and cheapish, and come on, none of us REALLY bought Richard Chamberlain as a rugged and battle hardened sea officer ;)

The 2024 version feels a great deal more modern and budgeted bigger.

It's rougher, it's dirtier, the action scenes are crafted much better, the camera work is much better and reminds you of a Hollywood blockbuster, the lighting and visuals are stunning to the point of being art, and they are underlined by sound effects and a score which amplifies the mood of every scene perfectly.

The script is much richer and intricate than the original series, with better dialogue allowing the much enlarged gallery of characters more complexity and debth, which is especially important to American and European audiences, when depicting a very "foreign" culture... and it is all perfectly executed by a stellar cast, some of whom are getting their international breakthrough on this show.

I just love it, it's probably not only the show of the year, but something we will constantly crave more of in years to come, and which competitors will try to copy.

I should mention this is based off the first 6 episodes, so we are yet to see large scale battle scenes (but looking at the teaser clips, they look exellent), and we are yet to see the all important ending so I will reserve a possible 10 for then - but I am quite hopeful that is where it lands.

It's a show that makes you annoyed it is a limited series, by nature of James Clavell having written only one novel on feudal Japan.. but I actually predict this will be such a big hit, that FX will attempt to have scripts written for either a prequal, continuation - or spin offs - because that period of Japanese history is ripe with potential - and come on, who doesn't like samurais?

This is a must see show, even if you don't like samurais, even if you don't like period dramas, even if you don't like foreign language entertainment, even if you don't like subtitles - because if you don't watch it, you will be the person left out of the conversation, when the topic becomes entertainment.

Enjoy :)

I like it, the acting is really good, the visuals are awesome, the pacing is good and the overall story is great, so why does it fall short for me? Because it is an increadibly shallow adaptation of Clavell's book.

Clavell's book is about a stranger in a strange land, meaning understanding cultural differences, and the major themes are about honor, duty, sacrifice, and power. And that is the problem as I see it because besides the acting and the visuals - which are great - the story actually lacks these elements or gloss over them as if they are not important. But they are! It's what makes the book (and the 80's version great). Here's a couple of examples: We don't really get to know why Blackthorne (Anjin) is important, or the role of christianity in Japan, or pretty much any other social aspect of Japanese culture. There is sub-plot about a petulant and reckless son, which I don't remember from the book, and I have no idea what the point of him is, except for the writers to add to the story themselves. Similarly, Mariko from the book and the 80's version is probably my favorite character after Blackthorne, and I don't really recognize her in this version; by making her tougher, they also make her more distant and it diminishes her inner strength which makes her less sympathetic (to me at least).

In a nutshell this is what i see as the problem, when the show sticks to the book's original themes it is awesome, when they they don't you see actions taken where you sit back and say "that was weird why do that?" And here's the kicker, the very best dialogs and scenes are taken verbatim out of the book, so it's not like the writers don't understand that the source material is superior.

Still, the show is absolutely watchable, but I always measure a show's quality by whether I want to rewatch it, and I doubt it, instead I actually feel like watching the 80's version instead - that's not really a glowing endorsement is it?

Beautifully told story, based on the 1975 James Clavell novel with the same name, of feudal Japan. The story is told from the perspective of an Englishman who is shipwrecked and taken hostage. After watching a fellow shipmate be boiled alive, John Blackthorne becomes the fastest talking man on the ship. He also slowly endears himself to Lord Toranaga, who seems to be in a battle for power that he doesn't really want. He assigns a married woman named Mariko to be a translator for the smelly white barbarian they call Anjin.

Visually stunning, this story is about honor, sacrifice, loyalty, betrayal, the quest for power, survival, and strategy. It is almost like a beautiful game of chess, where pieces are sacrificed for the ultimate goal.

I think the series is worth watching for the production quality alone. It really is stunning. I appreciate that things aren't overly explained like the role of Christianity, and specifically the Catholic Church in Japan...as well as the animosity between the non-Catholic and Catholic Christians. This and so many other cultural differences are shown or alluded to in quiet or more subtle ways. This is not the most romantic of stories, but I think people who appreciate strategy and high production quality...as well as fans of Shogun itself, will enjoy this series and it is a recommendation from me.

Shogun (which I'm not permitted to spell correctly as the macron O is an "invalid character") is a masterfully written and artistically splendid adaptation of the 1975 James Clavell novel of the same name (which was also adapted for TV in 1980 -- I'm told that if you belong to the same generation as my parents, this was more than likely the first Japanese you ever heard/learned). In this version, we get Cosmo Jarvis as the marooned Englishman John Blackthorne; Anna Sawai as the troubled Lady Mariko, who becomes his translator; and a phenomenal Hiroyuki Sanada as Lord Toranaga, a mighty daimyo who becomes the target of other regents in Japan in a story that shows the dawn of Tokugawa shogunate.

It's a bit funny that it came out right around when Denis Villeneuve made his comments about how movies are the ideal place for visual storytelling, whereas TV is more about dialogue. Along comes Shogun, which looks appreciably better than many of the motion pictures we've seen from Hollywood in recent years, most notably in terms of lighting -- Matt Zoller Seitz joked that this show reminded us that good lighting is, in fact, allowed on TV.

It's not as "realistic" as, say, the murky battle in the Game of Thrones episode The Long Night, but is this what we want in fantastical art? Recall the conversation Peter Jackson had with a crewmember when shooting the Cirith Ungol sequence in Return of the King: "Where is that light coming from?" "The same place as the music."

It's a show that puts in effort and details in ways that too few shows bother to even try. I even noticed environmental details, like a scene set during a period of thawing, where snow can be seen and heard sliding off the building while the characters are speaking -- this wasn't necessary to include, but it helps the show feel more real and immersive, while also denoting the passage of time during Blackthorne's stint as Toranaga's military trainer.

There also is the purposeful use of swirly bokeh, especially in shots that show Blackthorne's point-of-view, accentuating the dreamlike and confusing quality that Japan has to him, and of course, the costumes and sets are nigh flawless. It is, simply put, a brilliant work, and the fact that so few are talking about it is a damn pity.

I am perhaps one of the few people who first read the book, then saw the first series and now saw this one. I really liked the origianl series and I was quite afraid that this remake would ruin my very positive view of the Shogun story. To make it shot - it did not at all.

This Shogun actually they made a smart decision to focus less on the "navigator" and more on the political power play in the Japan of that time. Not really what the book did, but it gave this Shogun interpretation a unique perspective and made it more fun to watch for people like me. And in other parts it even stayed closer to Clavell's orginal story than the first series. Let's just say both did take liberties without tarnishing the original book.

I did not like how "Anjin" was played and his relationship with the Portuguese captain was a bit underdeveloped. But that is simply a personal preference. The acting overall was really, really good. Beating Mifune's Toranaga was hard to imagine for me, but Sanada really delivered a top notch performance.

My only grievance would be that the gruesome end of Ishido at the end of the novel is omitted in the series. But that may perhaps be rectified some day.

This series is worth every minute of the viewer's time.