- Network: FX
- Series Premiere Date: Feb 27, 2024
Critic Reviews
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Majestic. .... I never wanted to leave this world. Please, FX, never stop aiming this high. [11 - 31 Mar 2024, p.4]
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This new version of Shōgun will make an impact and is a masterclass in storytelling. So yes, it lives up to the hype.
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What makes Shōgun the limited series so exceptional is how it transforms a novel laden with lazy stereotypes and Orientalism into a sweeping saga for a modern, global audience, while remaining faithful to the text. .... In so doing, it points the way for future adaptations when dealing with problematic material—and maybe tricks some Clavell-pilled dads into watching a subtitled series, for once.
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“Shōgun” is a true epic. .... It may inspire a yearning to learn more about this history. Even if it doesn’t, you may find yourself contemplating how easily we can be seduced by compelling stories about people who do terrible things to achieve noble outcomes and how little most of us matter to their ends. Only great storytelling can achieve this feat.
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“Shōgun” is a stirring and meaty historical series that matches its spectacle and scale with its emotion and intelligence as it ponders deep philosophical discussions about life, sacrifice, valor and death. It’s epic, in the very best way.
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“Shogun” is riveting. It’s gorgeous. It’s the TV equivalent of a page-turner.
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There are superficial similarities to “Game of Thrones” — five contenders for an empty throne, a storyline about two girlhood friends on opposite sides of a power struggle. But it’s this focus on people that truly unites the two series, and qualifies “Shōgun” to take up the mantle of thrillingly transportive event TV.
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Shōgun is television at its best, using its budget to create a gorgeous, immersive world but never letting spectacle detract from its emphasis on complex character arcs. The performances are compelling, aided by writing that flows from crude humor to poetic drama in a way that brings depth to protagonists and even minor characters. The series seamlessly blends intrigue, humor, romance and action in a beautifully executed limited series that keeps delivering surprises until its perfect ending.
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There are so many characters and plotlines introduced at a dizzying rate it might be hard at first to get your bearings. But the storytelling, led by writers and showrunners Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, moves confidently and intensely. It is often exhilarating. “Shogun” is immersive world-building, feeling at once like an old-fashioned epic and something modern in style.
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Shōgun‘s size and scope and overwhelming excellence explain why it took so darn long to get the series right.
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Shōgun stands apart as a genuine masterpiece.
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A bold, ambitious update of a classic that finds genuine humanity in its tangled, sprawling tale of politics and betrayal, Shōgun certainly aims high—and more than hits its target.
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Getting to know who’s loyal to whom, what, and why can feel overwhelming, but in time, the intricate scheming becomes one of “Shōgun’s” greatest strengths — second only to your genuine loyalty toward any (or all) of its half-dozen leads.
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The long-gestating production — first announced in 2018 — was worth the wait. Gorgeous and immersive from the very first frame, the new Shōgun is a stunning epic that never lets big-budget set pieces overshadow the human drama at its core.
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There’s plenty of intrigue and potential for backstabby drama here, and as I mentioned earlier, the period accurate details are rich. The landscapes—from lush forest to dank and dirty jail cells to the great wooden palace with its central karesansui garden—are a sensory feast. The acting is awesome. But tender-hearted friends, let me warn you: It gets gory.
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In the early heyday of miniseries, “Shōgun” was the show of the year in 1980, and it might be again 44 years later. FX’s updated, sumptuous version of James Clavell’s sweeping novel blends an intoxicating combination of action, romance and political intrigue, majestically spread over 10 parts that, unlike most limited series, sustain that weight and then some.
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The action scenes breathtaking and distinctive, ranging from battlefield assaults to a nighttime attack in the middle of a dark forest. It's the human drama, however, that makes the series work. Shōgun's three leads are well matched.
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Beautiful, rich and deeply compelling, it might just scratch that "Game of Thrones" itch you've had since the HBO fantasy folded in 2019.
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Co-creators Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks have assembled a fine team of directors and a greatly talented ensemble cast to deliver engrossing appointment-TV with a cinematic level of achievement.
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“Shōgun” is a rich text that has been expertly reinvented for the screen, proving that shows of this likeness can not only still be made, but can still achieve greatness.
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The love story is perhaps the least convincing aspect of this iteration of “Shōgun,” but the rest of it feels impressive in its scope, attention to detail and storytelling that sucks viewers in by the end of episode two and holds their attention from then on.
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Marks’ grand rendition of this beloved tale may be very good rather than great, yet in a TV world increasingly awash in mediocrities, that’s more than enough to earn it viewers’ recurring time and attention.
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Yes, it’s talky. Yes, it takes itself very seriously. But it justifies that scope and that pretentiousness with imagery that feels resonant and characters that feel grounded.
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This Shogun is a high-class, high-intelligence drama punctuated with visceral jolts and, after two episodes, all the signs are that it could be something special.
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For all the bloodshed, this is an intricate study of power, warcraft and betrayal. The deluge of subtitles make it feel yet more smoky, magical and mysterious. I didn’t expect much, but I’m finding it fascinating.
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Whenever things seem like they’re about to slow down to the point where fickle viewers might log on to social media to complain that they don’t understand the plot, a volley of flaming arrows flutters through the air or a sliding door splatters with blood. But it’s equally impressive how often the filmmakers keep you on the edge of your seat wondering if a character will keep their mouth shut.
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If you come here expecting the Battle of Sekigahara, you’ll be disappointed. But subtlety and cleverness can be exciting too.
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The series occasionally loses its grip on some threads (the Portuguese characters disappear from the narrative for long stretches), but on the whole does a beautiful job of translating this huge story to the screen.
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At times it feels too dense – too much talking about feudal politics when there should be more action. .... But the production looks magnificent. And the strength of Shōgun is the way it immerses us in a world that, with its rituals and violence, feels as foreign to us as it does to Blackthorne. This is not a series for the lily-livered, and is all the better for that.
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This great drama trusts its own composed pace. This makes for good-looking, self-assured and often enthralling television.
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With more sex and violence than the service’s usual fare, it’s an ambitious deviation. But this well-paced and considered saga will reward grown-up viewers and prove that there’s still room for a historical epic among the elves, dragons and zombies of big-budget telly.
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It is sumptuously produced, mostly well acted and not excessively sentimental or sensational. If its story seems to stop and start a bit, there are reasons for that, which become clear in a satisfying and moving ending; if there are major characters who don’t stand up to scrutiny, there are others who come alive and hold your interest. It may not live up to its hype, and it may leave you wondering why so much time (more than a decade) and money needed to be spent reanimating Clavell’s tale. But it delivers.
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"Shōgun" has the look of money all over it—meaning it is visually lush, bountiful and believable; there is action aplenty, fountains of blood and enough characters to populate a fishing village. But the narrative engine is essentially political: How is Toranaga going to thwart the designs of the other Regents, specifically Ishido (Takehiro Hira), and do so with the assistance of Blackthorne.
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Shōgun makes for gripping television. Look past the knotty bureaucracy and you’ll find striking performances and stunning visuals.
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Watching “Shōgun" is a you-are-there-you-are-not-there experience — both bracing and chilly, not consistently engaging yet (paradoxically) always engaging, “Shōgun" draws you in, but never quite makes you feel welcome to be there.
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FX’s Shōgun adaptation is a feast for the eyes with dazzling action sequences, but the muddled story falls short.
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The decision to use Mariko and Toranaga as central characters alongside Blackthorne, who was the sole protagonist of both the book and the acclaimed 1980 TV adaptation, is an effective way to avoid the “white savior” tropes that the tale dances with. And it’s ultimately the thing that makes this Shōgun more than another elegantly staged historical drama, using three distinct perspectives to turn it into rumination on life and death.
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This Shōgun finds much more traction as an ambitious game of political chess. The balance of Machiavellian machinations and well-executed action is consistently gripping, while the central love story is too truncated to make much of an emotional dent.
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[Hiroyuki Sanada] is certainly an integral part, but his brilliance is frequently filtered through another character who emerges as the main protagonist despite being a pawn in the broader game being played. While this has its purpose and can’t detract from how spectacular Sanada is in every scene he gets, it does make a show that should have been great into one that is mostly good based on the eight episodes made available for review.
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It picks up speed eventually, and its battle scenes are both exquisite and gory. But out of the gate, it can feel like taking the slow boat to nowhere.
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His [Blackthorne's] journey toward “enlightenment” and his unconvincing affair with Mariko are thinly sketched—and, because “Shōgun” is at pains to foreground the regents’ war, he has more to offer the narrative as a source of discord and of new martial technology than as a romantic hero. In theory, elevating Mariko and Toranaga to primary characters is the “correct” update, helping to avoid another “whitewashed” tale about Japan. But both are so bound by repression and secrecy that they’re almost doomed to be dramatically inert.
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