There are a lot of people who are watching Shōgun who describe it as unlike anything they’ve seen. To me, the beauty of the series can be summed up by these two thoughts.
Despite the fact that Yabushige was a selfish backstabber who only thought of himself and absolutely deserved his ending… I was still sad because he was such a relatable character.
Despite the fact that Toranaga achieved everything he did and avoided as much bloodshed as possible, and brought about the Edo period, one of the longest periods of peace and stability in Japan… at the end I still was like “Is he really the good guy? Or just the winner and the lesser of two evils?”
One of my favourite things in Japanese dramas (and culture overall) is the power in the absence or something. I didn’t need to see the battle of Sekigahara to know its importance. I didn’t need to see over the top tears to feel their grief. I didn’t need to see dramatics to get the point. I mean, the best part of ep 10 was Toronaga asking Blackthorne “Are you done? We have work to do” after Blackthorne nearly kills himself. I laughed so hard at that line.
I think the idea of the power of something’s absence is another thing that many western viewers won’t be used to, which is what is sticking with them.
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"Ossan's Love" Becomes Japan's Number One Friday Night Drama of All Time
名シーンの連続に、第1~3話とTVerで配信中のスピンオフの見逃し配信総再生数が700万回を突破(※ビデオリサーチにて算出 期間1月6日~24日)するなど、金曜ナイトドラマ枠歴代1位の快進撃となった。
oricon.co.jp
"This series of famous scenes has become the number one Friday night drama of all time, with the total view count of the first three episodes as well as the spin-off episode (available on TVer) surpassing 7 million (calculated by Video Research Ltd. from January 6 to 24)."
The Ossan's Love franchise began in 2016 with a TV movie that earned a small but loyal following that enabled the 2018 series that saw the casting of Hayashi Kento and the introduction of Maki's character. It's his inclusion, the chemistry between him and Tanaka Kei, and the extra work they did on developing nuance in their characters that I think led to the massive popularity of the 2018 drama.
It was only seven episodes, and no one expected it to be popular, but the final episode trended globally at number one on Twitter, which is bananas.
Summer of 2019 saw a movie that continued on from the end of the 2018 version. This was massive. Red carpet event for the premiere, nationwide theaters, merch, and the biggest screen in Roppongi Hills (the one with the fancy armchairs).
Ossan's Love was a massive success.
There was also the plane show in winter of 2019 (without Hayashi). It sure did happen.
The fanbase of the 2018 version (called S1 by the Japanese fandom) is huge and enthusiastic, so it's no surprise to see the success of S2, but to claim the number one Friday night drama of all time!!! For a queer drama!!!
A queer drama just became the number one Friday night drama of all time in Japan, a country that has yet to legalize marriage equality.
Incredible.
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