The series “Shogun” is a new hit that everyone watches in one breath

The five-part miniseries Shogun, based on James Clavell’s 1975 bestseller of the same name, was a huge hit for the NBC network in September 1980, fueling a boom in all things Japanese in North America. The show, watched in whole or in part by 33% of all American households with a television, is said to be responsible for making sushi fashionable in a country where prime cuts of tuna were once relegated to cat food, writes Forbes reporter Mark Schilling.

Now, the new 10-episode series of the same name has become a smash hit, racking up 9 million views on streaming platforms worldwide in the first six days since its February 27 release, while winning praise in Japan and overseas for everything from using subtitles instead of dubbing for Japanese dialogue, to the respectful and well-rounded treatment of female Japanese characters.

“This story had to be told today”

Five years in development, the new series still follows the contours of Clavell’s novel. The late author’s daughter, Michaela Clavell, was the executive producer and presumed guardian of her father’s legacy. But the creators of the series, spouses Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, along with their collaborators, updated the series a little, from the story – the pilot Blackthorne is now more part of the cast than the “white savior” and the depictions of Japan during the samurai era are also different.

“I thought this was a great story to introduce our culture to the world,” said Hiroyuki Sanada, who plays a character modeled after warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Diplomatically noting that the 1980 series “made great strides in bringing Japan into the American consciousness,” Marks said that “we have to come to a new understanding of why it was important to tell this story today, what mistakes we made in our cultural past when we were trying to represent Japan through our industry and how do we avoid that?”

– Watching the first two episodes of the series, I saw swords coming out and heads being cut off as characters talked about death – honorable or not. In other words, standard tropes for Hollywood representations of pre-modern Japan, including “The Last Samurai” – wrote Mark Schilling for Forbes, and added:

– But the main Japanese characters, from Sanada’s wily warlord Toranaga to conflicted translator Anna Sawai, Lady Mariko and gruff samurai commander Tadanobu Asan Yabushige, are complex personalities, not caricatures.

Power game

The story focuses mostly on them and the power struggles of the era, with Toranaga in danger of being overpowered – and possibly executed – by rival Lord Ishido (Takehiro Hiro) and his allies. This reflects real Japanese history, with many details that might confuse non-Japanese viewers, but given the general enthusiasm and the large number of viewers overseas, that probably didn’t happen.

Japanese critics and fans have given their verdict, echoing the series’ 99% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes. As one fan posted on X (formerly Twitter): “It’s a historic achievement that a story set in Japan, where everything is done authentically, is being distributed to the world. And Savoy’s Mariko doesn’t have to jump into a tub of barbarian to boost ratings.”