ThiefHott Too much of everything

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Richie-67-485852 Superb no nonsense entertainment that deserves nine hours of watching time. Richard Chamberlain pulls it off along with an excellent support cast to bring us a good story to tell with history thrown in. Great scenes of the Japanese culture and customs too. This has held up to the tests of time and it is only $20 or less for the whole thing depending on where you shop making it ideal for the home library. Watching this makes...

ebiros2 Based on a real life English pilot William Adam's (Japanese name Miura Anjin) life, Shogun is a fictional account of John Blackthorn's adventure in the feudal era (Azuchi Momoyama period) Japan. Some other characters are also based on actual historic figure (Like Kagetora is caricature of Iyeyasu ), but their names are changed in this story. Tossed by a storm, John Blackthorn's (Richard Chamberlain) ship Erathmus reaches the shore of Japan. He's met with Lord Yabu's (Franky Sakai) soldiers. Blackthorn is initially shocked at the barbaric deeds of the samurai but gradually leans the ropes to live in this foreign country.Cultural depiction of Japan of the era is not entirely accurate, and behavior is exaggerated to bring the point to the viewers. This was in the early '80s when the Americans were still getting acquainted with sushi, and knew lot less about the Japanese culture. But it was bold move on NBC's part to broadcast such epic story for 5 nights in a row when this series first aired. Japanese actress Yoko Shimada won the Emmy for best actress that year.It's not an authentic portrayal of samurai culture which is bit unfortunate, but the series deserves an A+ for putting the period drama of Japan in the early '80s. 20 years later, Hollywood does a much better job with the likes of "The Last Samurai" that impressed even the Japanese with its accurate depiction of Japanese towns and villages.The show should be viewed with couple of grains of salt, but the adventure of John Blackthorn is an intriguing and exciting tale to watch.

jerrythecow When I was eleven and I decided to take Japanese at my soon-to-be middle school, my dad immediately showed me the book "Shogun" by James Clavell. Due to fact that I was an eleven-year-old boy during the summer, I did not get very far past the first chapter. So when my dad suggested we watch the movie, I was skeptical. I didn't really like the book when I read it--too young to understand it I guess--and I wasn't expecting the movie to be much different.I was wrong.The movie is a great movie! It made many confusing parts of the book understandable, and was a very suspenseful and (approximatley) accurate representation of Japanese history and culture.Although the movie drags a bit in the second hour, it is action packed and very interesting. The romance between Blackthorn (anjin-san) and Mariko-san is believable and understandable, and her death and funeral is moving and heartbreaking.The un-subtitled Japanese was a nice touch, making us as confused as Blackthorn. However, you are still able to understand it due to context and body language, and by the end you will have undoubtedly learned some Japanese.Definitely worth the watch, especially if you are interested in Japan and Japanese.(extra note: the movie inspired me to re-read the book which I can now understand and am enjoying.)

lohrasb I watched the series first in 1991, when satellite TV had just come to UK. All these years I wanted to watch the series, again!Only this time, I had no idea how much it was going to effect me! Back then, I was eighteen and it seemed just another swash-buckling adventure. Almost a decade later, I could actually see people and their lives! Back to time when honour and shame actually meant life and death!I even got the audio book! It helped me realise how Jerry London's adaptation remained true 2 the text! The book certainly complements the series and fills in the missing gaps!James Clavell was captured by the Japanese in Singapore and spent most of the Second World War in captivity. It is quite astonishing that instead of hating his captors he came to admire their culture and simply demonstrate the mutual prejudices of both sides!With the exception of Toshirô Mifune, it is quite disheartening to find hardly anything on the Japanese cast of the series! After much search I came across a small passage on Yoko Shimada , who starred alongside Richard Chamberlain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoko_ShimadaMiko Taka, Lord Toranaga's (Toshirô Mifune) consort starred alongside Marlon Brando in the movie Sayonara 1957! And yet there's nothing on her, either.It's been said that Yoko Shimada was the only Japanese, speaking English in the series. But, that is not true! Further down the line, a Jesuit Japanese priest appears, who also speaks English!