Shogun was adapted from the book by James Clavell. There was a previous incarnation of this story, which came out back in 1980, starring Richard Chamberlain, John Rhys Davies, Toshiba Mifune, Yoko Shimada, and many more. The new Shogun, which airs on FX/Hulu on February 27th, is much more faithful to the original material and feels like it could be the new show everybody will be talking about afterwords and up until awards season. I know because I saw the original mini-series when I was a kid.

The series is set in the 16,000s and Chapter 1: Anjin, which refers to a white Englishman, John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), who is on a ship that gets shipwrecked just off of the shore of Feudal Japan. He is taken in by the regent of the town, Kashigi Yabo (Tadanobu Asano) adjacent to the shore as a prisoner. While this is going on there is a feud between houses as the land is under a change of leadership. As the new leader is too young to lead. The five houses are in a battle to lead the land in his place.

Chapter 2: Servants of Two Masters delves more deeply into the feud between these houses. Lord Yoshi Toranage  (Hiroyuki Senada) is held in what we would call house arrest by his rival Ishida Kazunari (Takehiro Hira. Until a vote is held to determine if he should be the leader of the country before the child turns sixteen. He decides not to wait though and he tries to assassinate this man and take over leadership himself. Or that’s what it seems like from the outside looking in.

Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks are the showrunners and they had a vision for this property.  From watching the first two episodes I can see that this series is going to be one of the best of the year. There is blood and guts, people drowning from going overboard off a ship in a severe storm, and beheadings. Those are just a few of the crazy things that happen in the first couple of episodes. 

There is a technical aspect to this series that I couldn’t believe. The attention to detail regarding the sets, the costumes, and the cinematography is amazing. This is an amazing-looking show. From the beach setting to the lush greenery of the countryside this series looks gorgeous.  The costumes are out of this world. The many characters wear traditional Japanese garb. The many different gees that they all wear are colorful and very beautiful. The locations and sets are right on par with the type of places, homes, and various other structures you would find during this time in history in Feudal Japan.

The cast of this series is pretty big and there are a lot more characters that play bigger roles in the show going forward. Lady Mariko (Anna Sawai), is the daughter of the Sanada character and plays a role in his dealings with the Jarvis character as an interpreter. Vasco Rodriguez (Nestor Carbonell) is a Portuguese man who is already in Japan and has ties with the leaders of the country. The Portuguese are the enemy of the English so this guy has ulterior motives regarding his presence there. The cast is vast and everybody similar to Game of Thrones plays a key role in this series. 

There is a classic storyline of men who are trying to fight for power in a specific land. This one Is Feudal Japan which is a real place. Throughout history, the struggle between warring factions and countries is nothing new. This series channels shows like, as I mentioned, Game of Thrones, Peaky Blinders, and even Boardwalk Empire. Yes, these are more modern shows, besides Games of Thrones. The subplots will be a big and key part of the show moving forward though. Those are a big part of how a series resonates with an audience besides the mainstream. Which is already set up to be epic in scale.

Shogun is as good as it was advertised as. The marketing campaign is a big one from FX and Hulu and it’s well deserved.  They should be putting a lot of money behind this series. The vast cast is amazing in this series with the standouts being the always incredible Hiroyuki Senada, Anna Sawai, who is having a great run right now. She’s a standout in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters as well. The technical aspects are great in the show. The production design, costumes, and especially the cinematography are all incredible. This series is my favorite of 3024 so far and it will get nominated for Emmys I’m sure of it. It’s an epic story and will be the show people will be talking about for months to come. This is the kind of show I’ve been looking for for years. It reminds me so much of Ran or other films from Kurosawa. 

5 stars

Dan Skip Allen

This series can be seen on FX & streams on Hulu on February 27th  2 episodes have been reviewed