📁 Cha‘s SHŌGUN Feature

Well, after telling everyone how great the 1980 Shōgun miniseries is, I watched the first two episodes of this year’s new adaptation of James Clavell’s 1975 novel.

And it’s really good.

Maybe the best show I’ve seen in years.

Spoilers ahead, not only for the first two episodes, but for the whole series.

{{{ Episode I }}}
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I was cautiously optimistic, but my wife and I were secretly expecting the worst elements of modern filmmaking to make this almost unwatchable. Maybe most noticeable for those who fear and hate the darkness of contemporary cinematography, the show is bright enough to be visible even in scenes that should be pitch-black.

Now, I’m not one of those haters of the intense darkness of modern movies and shows. This kind of aesthetic is somewhat cyclical and maybe Shōgun is a sign that we’re moving out of the darkness and towards artificial light to make night scenes more viewable.

In this new adaptation, rather than understanding the story solely through John Blackthorne’s eyes, we get a broader view. Some things are even done in a different order. It’s not entirely clear to me why, but I assume this was to, in a way, massage over some of the things in the original that they thought audiences wouldn’t buy, or that threatened to break the realism of the piece.

We skip the storm that leaves Blackthorne and the Dutch stranded in Japan and instead see the Japanese board the ship and find the crew barely alive. Rather than Blackthorne waking up in a nice bed, we see them first in a hole in the ground. This is a departure from the book and the 1980 miniseries; and I think it’s an improvement. It makes more sense to me—and likely most viewers—to have him in prison first and then taken out and cared for, rather than given care and then tossed into the hole.

The biggest change happens very quickly in that we see Lord Toranaga for the first time within minutes of the show starting. He’s far away and heading to Osaka Castle, which is a trap laid out for him. Inside Osaka Castle, the plotting against Toranaga begins and the political dimensions of the series are laid out more clearly in this scene than they were in the entire 1980s miniseries. And while I did like that aspect of the 1980 series—the way we’re as lost as Blackthorne, completely in the dark—it’s also interesting to see the cards laid out before us. This will allow us to see and understand Toranaga’s political machinations and movements.

You see, the original show is really driven by Blackthorne’s competency and cleverness. The way, piece by piece, detail by detail, he observes and learns and begins using what he learns to his advantage. This is, I think, why Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell novels work so well—this is history. We know the ending. We know exactly where this goes. But watching someone competently cut through their adversaries and adversity is strangely intoxicating and compelling.

This 2024 adaptation of Shōgun promises to not only show Blackthorne’s cleverness, but also Toranaga’s. And I am enthralled by this.

Toranaga is one of the most compelling characters from the 1980 miniseries, and he’s really not on screen that much. Part of this powerful presence was no doubt due to the great Toshiro Mifune playing the role, but another part is the mystery. We don’t exactly understand what the character is doing or why, what he wants from this barbarian from the West or how this barbarian can possibly be an advantage. And it’s really not until the very end of the miniseries that we see what Toranaga has done, and it causes us to re-examine the show we spent nine hours watching.

This new adaptation is going to ground us in Toranaga’s narrative, which is thrilling. We move back to Blackthorne at Anjiro, where he shipwrecked, and Yabushige (named Yabu in the 1980 series and novel: the name change was apparently to make his name more Japanese sounding), played by one of my all-time favourite actors, Tadanobu Asano.

Yabushige is a brutal and wily man who is obsessed with the moment of death. He takes a keen interest in Blackthorne, in part because Blackthorne hates the Portuguese Jesuits fluttering around Japan so much.

This saves his life.

Now that the Japanese aspects of the narrative are pushed to the front of the show, we understand much more of what’s going on, but also get to see the fullness of these characters. We see the chaotic glee of Yabushige, for example, who seems absolutely delighted by a barbarian who hates the priests and Christians as much as he does.

All the same, he kills one of the Dutchmen locked up and listens to hear what happens at the moment of death.

Now, there are certain things that are a bit lost by showing the Japanese perspective so early. For example, when Blackthorne witnesses a samurai murder a peasant, seemingly at random, we aren’t given that moment of disequilibrium.

This is something that happens here.

By grounding the knowability of the Japanese, we’re still shocked but the shock is less jarring. The same is true when Toranaga orders a man to commit seppuku along with his infant son, ending his line. We understand the brutality and we see the intense hierarchy of Japan in 1600, but the effect is not really the same. Still, though, that’s a minor quibble and I think what we’re gaining is making up for it.

Toranaga in Osaka learns, through a spy in Anjiro, about the arrival of the barbarians from the West and he sends one of his vassals to go collect them. At the same time, Yabushige is seeing the advantage of this Western ship full of guns and cannons. Now that Toranaga, his lord, is in Osaka Castle, he believes Toranaga is a dead man, which means his life may also be forfeit. The guns and cannons will allow him to fight back.

Of course, this is immediately followed by Toranaga’s vassals arriving and taking ownership of the ship and the crew. And they take Blackthorne with them to Osaka. A Portuguese pilot named Rodrigues mans the ship to Osaka. This is another point where we were extremely sceptical. Rodrigues is played by John Rhys-Davies in the 1980 miniseries, and though Rhys-Davies is anything but Portuguese, he’s such a big presence on screen that it’s hard to imagine someone else taking on this role. And yet Nestor Carbonell is at his best here, playing way out of character from what we’re used to.

What happens on the ship and after is also a departure from the 1980 series.

Rodrigues falls overboard. In the 1980 miniseries, Blackthorne jumps over to save him with Yabu jumping over to save both of them.

This is an important moment because it shows two things:

1. Rodrigues did not matter enough to the Japanese to be saved
2. Blackthorne matters so much to the Japanese that they risk lives to save him

This is an important discovery for Blackthorne, and it’s absent here.

I imagine, in part, because if a storm is bad enough to knock people overboard, it’s probably too treacherous to just swim through. And producers feared this would break the reality of the scene, and so they shifted.

Blackthorne steers them to shore and then demands they go find Rodrigues. None of the Japanese are interested in doing this and they don’t understand him anyway. But Yabushige gets the idea, and they go search for Rodrigues. They find him at the bottom of a cliff face and Blackthorne attempts to go down to save him.

Here, Blackthorne learns about his indispensability. They refuse to let him even consider putting his life at risk. Blackthorne, though, has already picked up a bit on how honour works here and essentially forces Yabushige to do the rescue then.

Yabushige sees what he’s doing and though one of his samurai offers to go in his place, Yabushige takes the plunge. It doesn’t go well. Though he saves Rodrigues, he nearly drowns until a descending rope saves him. Curiously, to Blackthorne, Yabushige drew his sword when he discovered survival was hopeless and that he would drown. He prepares to kill himself rather than drown, which is when the rope falls. Yabushige is saved, and the episode ends.

{{{ Episode II }}}
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We’re immediately thrown to a year earlier when the Taiko lies dying. He tells Toranaga that he would hand the regency solely to him, but Toranaga believes this would lead to his rivals rising together to murder him. Which is exactly what we see happening in 1600, despite the order the Taiko gave for the creation of a council of five regents. Lord Ishido has turned the other three regents against Toranaga and now Toranaga faces death.

Back in the present, we see Rodrigues present the Jesuits with the rudder from Blackthorne’s ship, which reveals them to be, essentially, pirates, just as suspected. The Jesuits debate whether this should be shared with the Japanese but decide against it since it also contains the Spanish and Portuguese alliance, which partitions the globe between them.

^{We also meet Mariko}

We also meet Mariko, who is fluent in Portuguese and Latin, making her a potential translator for Toranaga when he speaks with the barbarian, Blackthorne, now given the name Anjin, which means Pilot.

Blackthorne is brought before Toranaga and Mariko, but Mariko is not yet the translator. Rather, the translation happens through Father Alvito, a Portuguese Jesuit.

The editing of this scene is great. We begin with full translations, and we see that Alvito, despite Blackthorne’s mistrust, is translating faithfully, but it gradually shifts to Toranaga speaking directly to Blackthorne, each in their own language, with the audience simply understanding that the translation is happening in between. It’s a clever use of editing, which also draws a connection between Toranaga and Blackthorne.

Lord Ishido interrupts this interview and Toranaga dismisses the whole affair, sending Blackthorne to prison. Ishido wonders why Toranaga is wasting his final days of life talking to a barbarian, and Toranaga demurs. Blackthorne pays the price.

In prison, Blackthorne meets a Franciscan who was put there by the Jesuits. In the 1980 miniseries, this is a neat little friendship that we get to see and where Blackthorne learns more and more about Japan and the culture and even the language.

Things are a bit swifter in the new adaptation, though Blackthorne does learn about a Portuguese base in Macau, where the Black Ship connects Japan to the Silk Trade. This makes Portugal obscenely rich and Japan… not so much. It also highlights the way Portugal is building a military apparatus to potentially rival and overthrow the Japanese. We’re led to understand this is exactly what happened during the previous Taiko’s life.

We learn of Toranaga’s plans for Blackthorne as well, using him as a wedge between the Christians on the regent council and Ishido, who is not Christian. The Christians, through the influence of the Jesuits, want Blackthorne executed immediately and will not vote on Toranaga’s fate until the heretic is dead.

This matters because Toranaga must be expelled from the regency unanimously by the other four regents. And so, the introduction of the heretic both delays this vote but also potentially divides those unified against him.

Ishido arrives at Yabushige’s rooms and is surprised that Toranaga has not invited his vassal into his part of Osaka Castle. Yabushige nonchalantly plays this off and then they get down to talking about Blackthorne. Ishido, of course, wants to know what Toranaga wants with him. But Yabushige doesn’t really know, though he does say that Toranaga believes the Christians are trying to take over the regency and, eventually, all of Japan, which makes Ishido warry of the Christians on the regency council.

Well, Blackthorne is sentenced to be executed and Yabushige, through some underhanded dealings, manages to save him and bring him to Toranaga, where Mariko now translates for him.

And here comes my favourite scene, both from the 1980 miniseries and, so far, from this one.

Toranaga is aware that he is ignorant of much of the world, and he demands information from Blackthorne. In explaining why he’s there, providing himself with a defence, Blackthorne also reveals the Portuguese base in Macau, implies there are many others with Japanese Christian troops, and, most importantly, tells Toranaga that Spain and Portugal have partitioned the New World between themselves.

And Portugal has claimed ownership of Japan.

It’s a great moment and it’s captured so well by Jarvis, Sanada (Toranaga), and Sawai (Mariko). The texture of the scene is much different than the 1980 miniseries. The drama and tension are tighter, ratcheted higher here, and I think it allows this moment to become more explosive.

The fall out is almost immediate. While Blackthorne is brought into Toranaga’s protection and into his lodging, Toranaga refuses to let the Black Ship sail. The Christian regents and the Jesuits—especially the captain of the Black Ship—need Blackthorne out of their hair so they can keep making the profit for empire.

A hired female assassin cuts through Toranaga’s rooms with ruthless and brutal efficiency. The alarm is raised and everyone fears for their lord Toranaga, and guards and samurai move to protect him.

Blackthorne wakes as well and runs towards the chaos, which leads him to the guest rooms, where he should have been staying.

There he finds Toranaga and the assassin. Toranaga has already sliced into her neck. She’s dead, though she fights on anyway, bleeding to death, and manages to cut Blackthorne before she succumbs to her wound.

And here, when his household is gathered round her, telling him he must wage war against Ishido, he tells them all that he was staying in Anjin’s rooms. That the assassin was for Anjin.

As if he expected this from the Jesuits.

Which leaves us in a curious place!

I must say how riveting this rendition of the story is. I’ll remind you: I watched the 1980 miniseries just a few weeks ago. I remember exactly what happened, and yet I was still on the edge of my seat.

To be continued…

How to cite: rathke, e. “On the Edge of My Seat: Shōgun (2024) Episodes I & II.” Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, 30 Apr. 2024, chajournal.blog/2024/04/30/shogun-episodes-1-2.

e rathke writes about books and games at radicaledward.substack.com. A finalist for the Baen Fantasy Adventure Award, he is the author of Glossolalia, Howl, and several other forthcoming novellas. His short fiction appears in Queer Tales of Monumental Invention, Mysterion Magazine, Shoreline of Infinity, and elsewhere. [All contributions by e rathke.]

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