Uploaded March 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Shogun is an incredibly brutal but enthralling body of work. Having stumbled upon the series through sheer luck with random discussions through friends, I was curious and pleasantly surprised to see what is effectively, the Japanese equivalent of Game of Thrones and possibly, even better.
For those who have yet to discover it, the series follows the journey of Englishman as he sails towards Japan in an effort to establish a new trade route between his two countries, in a period where only the Spanish and Portuguese know of such paths. The year is 1600 and the religious wars between the Protestant English against the Roman Catholics has been raging on, which has made the journey to Japan even more hostile and risky, given the influence of Christianity in the region and the hatred between both parties.
Essentially, imagine trying to make friends with a random stranger who’s best friends with your enemy and worse than that, who can actually speak the language of the stranger’s tongue.
But that’s actually one half of the story because riddled throughout this, is a story for the fight for supreme power as within Japan itself, lies a political battle between five lords who have formed a council after the death of their previous leader but who now seek to gain the ultimate title of shogun: the supreme military chief commander.
Thank you to my incredible Patreons for continuing to support this channel. You guys are amazing.
These include the lovely people “Matthew McKinley", "Adam McCarter", "FloNess" and "ThatEvilCanadian” at the time this was made.
If you’d also like the option of becoming a Patreon, head to:
patreon.com/motioninart
For more of my reviews, analyses, and other articles:
motioninartmedia.com
Twitter:
twitter.com/motion_in_art
Reddit:
reddit.com/user/motioninart
What is Shogun?
Shōgun is an American historical drama television miniseries created by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks. It is based on the 1975 novel of the same name by James Clavell, which was previously adapted into a 1980 miniseries. The series premiered with its first two episodes on February 27, 2024, on Hulu and FX, with new episodes of the 10-episode series then releasing weekly.
Shōgun follows "the collision of two ambitious men from different worlds and a mysterious female samurai; John Blackthorne, a risk-taking English sailor who ends up shipwrecked in Japan, a land whose unfamiliar culture will ultimately redefine him; Lord Toranaga, a shrewd, powerful daimyo, at odds with his own dangerous, political rivals; and Lady Mariko, a woman with invaluable skills but dishonorable family ties, who must prove her value and allegiance".
Clavell's Shōgun is historical fiction. The character of Blackthorne is loosely based on the historical English navigator William Adams, who in Japan rose to become a samurai under a powerful daimyō. That daimyō was later the founder and first shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu, who ruled from 1603 to his death in 1616 and on whom Shōgun's character Yoshii Toranaga is based.
During the Television Critics Association's annual summer press tour in August 2018, FX announced it would make a new adaptation of the 1975 novel Shōgun by James Clavell and had given the production a straight-to-series order. Executive producers were expected to include Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich, Michael De Luca, Michaela Clavell, Tim Van Patten, Eugene Kelly, and Ronan Bennett. Rachel Bennette is set as a supervising producer, Tom Winchester as a producer, Georgina Pope as a co-producer, and Eriko Miyagawa as an associate producer. Patten will also direct the series, and Bennett will also write. FX Productions is slated to serve as the production company for the series. Hiroyuki Sanada serves as a producer and lead actor.
In an interview with USA Today, Sanada expressed his role as a producer, saying "After 20 years in Hollywood, I'm a producer. It means I can say anything, anytime. [...] I had a team for the first time, ever. I carried the pressure of being a producer on my shoulder. But more than that, I had happiness." He also stressed keeping the show authentic to Japanese history. "If something is incorrect, people cannot focus on the drama. They don't want to see that kind of show. We needed to be authentic."
And if you’re still reading this – hello.
This video is made through Fair Use under copyright law for the purposes of education in criticism or review; as well as parody or satire. copyright.gov/title17/92c https://www.copyright.org.au/ACC_Prod
Shogun is an incredibly brutal but enthralling body of work. Having stumbled upon the series through sheer luck with random discussions through friends, I was curious and pleasantly surprised to see what is effectively, the Japanese equivalent of Game of Thrones and possibly, even better.
For those who have yet to discover it, the series follows the journey of Englishman as he sails towards Japan in an effort to establish a new trade route between his two countries, in a period where only the Spanish and Portuguese know of such paths. The year is 1600 and the religious wars between the Protestant English against the Roman Catholics has been raging on, which has made the journey to Japan even more hostile and risky, given the influence of Christianity in the region and the hatred between both parties.
Essentially, imagine trying to make friends with a random stranger who’s best friends with your enemy and worse than that, who can actually speak the language of the stranger’s tongue.
But that’s actually one half of the story because riddled throughout this, is a story for the fight for supreme power as within Japan itself, lies a political battle between five lords who have formed a council after the death of their previous leader but who now seek to gain the ultimate title of shogun: the supreme military chief commander.
Thank you to my incredible Patreons for continuing to support this channel. You guys are amazing.
These include the lovely people “Matthew McKinley", "Adam McCarter", "FloNess" and "ThatEvilCanadian” at the time this was made.
If you’d also like the option of becoming a Patreon, head to:
patreon.com/motioninart
For more of my reviews, analyses, and other articles:
motioninartmedia.com
Twitter:
twitter.com/motion_in_art
Reddit:
reddit.com/user/motioninart
What is Shogun?
Shōgun is an American historical drama television miniseries created by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks. It is based on the 1975 novel of the same name by James Clavell, which was previously adapted into a 1980 miniseries. The series premiered with its first two episodes on February 27, 2024, on Hulu and FX, with new episodes of the 10-episode series then releasing weekly.
Shōgun follows "the collision of two ambitious men from different worlds and a mysterious female samurai; John Blackthorne, a risk-taking English sailor who ends up shipwrecked in Japan, a land whose unfamiliar culture will ultimately redefine him; Lord Toranaga, a shrewd, powerful daimyo, at odds with his own dangerous, political rivals; and Lady Mariko, a woman with invaluable skills but dishonorable family ties, who must prove her value and allegiance".
Clavell's Shōgun is historical fiction. The character of Blackthorne is loosely based on the historical English navigator William Adams, who in Japan rose to become a samurai under a powerful daimyō. That daimyō was later the founder and first shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu, who ruled from 1603 to his death in 1616 and on whom Shōgun's character Yoshii Toranaga is based.
During the Television Critics Association's annual summer press tour in August 2018, FX announced it would make a new adaptation of the 1975 novel Shōgun by James Clavell and had given the production a straight-to-series order. Executive producers were expected to include Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich, Michael De Luca, Michaela Clavell, Tim Van Patten, Eugene Kelly, and Ronan Bennett. Rachel Bennette is set as a supervising producer, Tom Winchester as a producer, Georgina Pope as a co-producer, and Eriko Miyagawa as an associate producer. Patten will also direct the series, and Bennett will also write. FX Productions is slated to serve as the production company for the series. Hiroyuki Sanada serves as a producer and lead actor.
In an interview with USA Today, Sanada expressed his role as a producer, saying "After 20 years in Hollywood, I'm a producer. It means I can say anything, anytime. [...] I had a team for the first time, ever. I carried the pressure of being a producer on my shoulder. But more than that, I had happiness." He also stressed keeping the show authentic to Japanese history. "If something is incorrect, people cannot focus on the drama. They don't want to see that kind of show. We needed to be authentic."
And if you’re still reading this – hello.
This video is made through Fair Use under copyright law for the purposes of education in criticism or review; as well as parody or satire. copyright.gov/title17/92c https://www.copyright.org.au/ACC_Prod
