Netflix has been home to a variety of anime genres, but one particular category that has been gaining traction is the intense dark fantasy anime. These series are not for the faint-hearted, often delving into themes of brutality, psychological torment, and moral ambiguity. One such series that has captured the attention of viewers is “Shōgun,” a Hulu mini-series that has recently made its way to Netflix.
In my initial review of Shōgun’s first few episodes, I found myself shocked and confused. The show’s first episode begins with such extreme brutality and disregard for the value of human life that, rather than ride my overall revulsion at the show’s horrific portrayal of the Japanese people into a review, I decided to wait a few more episodes before saying anything. Eventually, after five episodes of Shōgun aired, I threw my hat in the ring to pronounce judgment on the series.
While I wasn’t wrong in my initial halfway point analysis, my overall interest in the series only grew from there. By the time I finished every episode of Shōgun season one, I was left with a far more favorable impression of the streaming series than I started with.
Where most historical Samurai epics tend to celebrate the best aspects of ancient Japanese culture, Shōgun seeks a different path. That path leads down a road of wanton killing and an addiction to rules bordering on psychopathic. That is the ancient Japanese Samurai culture of this series. Which version is right? The noble warriors or the selfish killers so addicted to following orders they’ll happily murder their own children? Ask a historian; I’m only a simple TV critic.
Much of Shōgun comes off as an accidental, yet total condemnation of the Japanese and their way of life. The only consistently sympathetic character in the series is an English pirate named John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis). It is Blackthorne, not the Samurai he’s surrounded with, who is the show’s real star.
John Blackthorne has done horrible deeds in the past, though we’ve yet to be told what they are. Wicked past or not, Blackthorne is appalled at the seventeenth-century Japan he encounters. Blackthorne arrives on a ship in dire crisis. Most of the crew is dead; those left are starving, and they have no idea where they are. When their ship runs aground on a Japanese shore, with everyone on board unconscious and on the brink, the local Samurai respond by hauling them off the ship and throwing them in a muddy hole.
A few hours later, they begin taking crew members one by one and slowly boiling them to death in a pot of water just to see how long they’ll scream before they’re dead. The screams don’t seem to bother anyone in the village beyond the level of annoyance.
Through determination and cunning, John Blackthorne separates himself from his fellow sailors and winds up involved with the upper crust of Samurai leadership. Those leaders believe they can use him and his knowledge of foreign warfare to their advantage.
At the time of Shōgun, Japan is in the midst of a crisis. The Catholic Church has recently moved in and begun converting Samurai into Christians. Strangely, this seems to have had no effect at all on the Japanese people’s devotion to their culture’s rituals or disregard for human life. Mostly, it has resulted in a few Samurai wearing crosses.
The Catholic Church and its greed are the least of their problems. The country’s former leader has died, leaving a fractured council in his place. Most of the show’s plot centers around the political maneuverings of the leaders on this council and where John Blackthorne fits in.
Lord Yoshi Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) becomes Blackthorne’s benefactor, promoting him to an important position and forcing high-class women to marry him and serve him against their will because that’s just how the Japanese do things in Shōgun. At first, they seem to have as little regard for women as they do for everything else, save for their adherence to often senseless cultural rituals and rules.
Over time, that changes, and what becomes clear is that many of the show’s characters have little regard for anything at all other than honor. It’s not specifically directed at women. In fact, women are viewed by this Japanese culture as warriors of their own kind. Different from the men who run their society, but equal in mental fortitude.
Those who care for things beyond adherence to honor culture are either the people on top or the people under them who are driven chiefly by revenge.
Hiroyuki Sanada is so brilliant as Toranaga that, at times, he becomes someone you root for. That is until you remember the first episode, where he had a man murder himself and his baby boy because he spoke too loudly in a meeting. You’re reminded of his true nature again at the season’s end when his full intentions are revealed.
This is the fundamental problem with Shōgun. It is also what makes the show so incredibly interesting. It doesn’t aggrandize the world it’s set in or any of the people who live in it. Shōgun’s main character, John Blackthorne, shares our distaste for the horrific codes of the Samurai, and we’re meant to identify with Blackthorne. It’s clear the series is doing this by intent, not accident.
This isn’t the first show to depict an ancient warrior culture in a violent and brutal light. AMC’s Vikings did something similar. But Vikings did a better job of making its characters’ brutality something you could understand and perhaps also forgive at times. Or maybe it’s simply that even at their worst, Viking warriors won’t kill their best friend’s baby because its father spoke too loudly.
Those unsettling issues aside, Shōgun is brilliantly acted and well-plotted. The show’s exploration into the intricacies of Samurai life is complex and fascinating. Understanding why these people do what they do is an endlessly interesting mystery.
Shōgun has spared no expense on the production design, and the show’s battles are as satisfyingly thrilling as they are brutal. Ancient Japan is made beautiful, especially in scenes where it’s not soaked in blood. There’s a lot to enjoy Shōgun, as long as you’re prepared to spend a lot of time learning the intricacies of a culture while at the same time questioning its morality. Whether the people in this show are good or evil is not an easy question to answer. And that perhaps, more than anything else, is what makes Shōgun one of the best new shows on television.
After the first five episodes, I was ready to give this series three stars. Having now completed the entirety of Shōgun’s first season, I see it as something else entirely. Shōgun cannot be judged until it has been seen in its entirety. Even seeing one season is, almost certainly, not enough to truly gauge the show’s worth. Still, it’s my job to try, and for now, I’m giving it a glowing recommendation.
Source: Hulu, Netflix
