The miniseries is a fascinating piece of media, allotted more budget for production and the cast than the average television series but not as much as the average major film release. Created like a television series but with a self-contained story and with no intent of creating a second season; a beginning, middle, and end was created and that’s the whole of it. And from the 70’s all the way to the early 2000’s some miniseries have become important parts of television history and helped launch a fair share of careers. In 1980, an adaptation of the James Clavell novel Shōgun captured America audiences; starring Richard Chamberlain and Toshiro Mifune it became one of the most famous miniseries ever made…In America at least, in Japan views were a bit more mixed. Which brings us to this remake.
Shōgun is the latest miniseries from FX and was created by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks. Based on the novel, its story is a fictionalized tale of the life of William Adams, an English navigator who came to Japan and ended up serving as an advisor of Ieyasu Tokugawa, becoming one of the few non-Japanese to become samurai. The series stars Hiroyuki Sanada (who also acted as a producer) as Lord Yoshii Toranaga, Cosmo Jarvis as John Blackthorne, Anna Sawai as Lady Mariko, Moeka Hoshi as Fuji Usami, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Yabushige, Takehiro Hira as Lord Ishido, Néstor Carbonell as Rodrigues, Tommy Bastow as Father Martin Alvito and Fumi Nikaidō as Ochiba no Kata.
I have to begin with saying that I was truly excited by this miniseries; I’ve been a fan of Hiroyuki Sanada ever since I first saw him in The Last Samurai and that admiration only grew when I saw more of his older works. Toshiro Mifune left pretty big shoes to fill when he originated the role of Lord Toranaga and Mr. Sanada is one of the few actors that could fill them. Mifune played the future conqueror with a combination of stoic almost unreadable scrutiny where only slight touches of his Machiavellian ideas are shown to the other characters and the audience. Here Sanada plays the role with a more down-to-earth human touch. Someone who engages in dark methods to combat dark times as more and more enemies close in around him. A reluctant warrior who despite the urging of his vassals never seeks to draw more blood than necessary. That is until the reveal that he’s been banking on both the loyalty of his followers and his enemies’ hatred of him to put him in best positive light, keeping his ambitions close to the chest until only the dead are there to witness it. It takes a great amount of skill to play both the hero and the villain but Sanada pulls it off nicely.
In fact, most of the Japanese cast pulls off some exceptional performances, especially Anna Sawai. Lady Mariko as a character mostly existed for Blackthorne’s benefit in the original series, someone to translate Japanese for his and the audiences’ benefit and serve as the object of his affection. Here she has a much more involved character arc: between dealing with the shame of her family name as constantly reminded by her husband (played terribly realistically by Shinnosuke Abe), the conflict between her duty to Toranaga and her Catholic faith, and her conflict between her duties to her husband and her growing attraction to John, it all makes for a masterful performance. Embodying in every sense the ideal of yamoto nadeshiko but still displaying all the flaws and hardships of a real person.
There are a few sticking points though, on the one hand one of the best changes was given the Japanese cast of characters more screen time to develop themselves independently rather than through the point of view of Blackthorne. On the other hand this does take a bit away from John Blackthorne, the protagonist of both the novel and series. This wouldn’t be so bad if Cosmo Jarvis had the same level of charisma that Richard Chamberlain demonstrated back in 1980, but alas this version of Blackthorne is much cruder, more foul-mouthed (I know, it makes sense for a sailor) and just not as interesting as the rest of the cast. He’s a stranger in one of Japan’s most turbulent periods of history and unfortunately he just doesn’t stand out as much as he could.
Another little annoyance is the fact that unlike the 1980 miniseries this was mostly filmed in Vancouver rather than in Japan. While practical sets and CGI backgrounds do help sell the illusion, there’s simply no substitute for the authentic Japanese architecture, many of it still standing today. Not to mention that bird aficionados will pick up the sounds of American Robins which can be heard constantly in the background.
All in all, Shōgun is a strong update to a fantastic story of conflict and culture clash. While it doesn’t have the grandiose nature the original series had (and in today’s social media glut that kind of spectacle is hard to pull off) but what it does have is strength in its storytelling, no performance feels fake, and no one feels out of place. I hope that this signals a return to fully realized series where stories don’t have to be squeezed out for every possible bit of creativity. Where success doesn’t mean having to create spin offs and unnecessary continuations just for the small chance of keeping positive buzz alive for another year or two. Just let them be what they are.
Matt the Media Hunter 