Shōgun (2024) Review: A Political Epic Told From the Inside

Is Shōgun worth watching?

Yes. Shōgun is a masterful historical epic, a gripping story of power and survival in feudal Japan that ranks with the best television of the decade. Its greatest achievement is point of view: rather than treating Japan as an exotic backdrop for a European adventurer, it places the Japanese characters, and their language, at the centre of the drama. The only caution is that it is deliberate and dense, rewarding viewers who are happy to follow a web of alliances rather than wait for battle scenes.

What is Shōgun about?

The year is 1600. Japan’s ruler has died, leaving a council of five regents to govern until his young heir comes of age, and the fragile peace is about to break. Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada), the most powerful of the regents, finds himself outnumbered and cornered by rivals led by Ishido Kazunari (Takehiro Hira).

Into this crisis washes John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), an English navigator whose ship is wrecked on the Japanese coast. Blackthorne’s knowledge of the outside world, and his hostility to the Portuguese and the Catholic Church, make him a potentially useful piece in Toranaga’s game. The noblewoman Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai), a Christian convert who speaks Portuguese, is assigned as his interpreter, and the connection between them becomes one of the series’ emotional threads. Tadanobu Asano plays Kashigi Yabushige, a scheming vassal whose loyalties are forever up for negotiation.

Shōgun was created by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks from James Clavell’s novel. It is an American production for FX, streaming on Hulu in the US, and told largely in Japanese with subtitles. This review covers the first season of 10 episodes; further seasons have been ordered.

Sanada’s Toranaga plays the long game

Hiroyuki Sanada, who also served as a producer, gives a commanding performance as Toranaga, a man whose true intentions are almost impossible to read. He speaks little, reveals less, and seems at times to be losing, yet every decision carries the weight of a long-term strategy. Watching him outmanoeuvre opponents who underestimate him is one of the great pleasures of recent television.

The show’s structure mirrors his method. Much of its drama takes place in council chambers, gardens and tea rooms, where a single word, a pause or a bow can shift the balance of power. Violence, when it comes, is sudden and shocking, but the real battles are political and psychological.

Anna Sawai and a cast of equals

Anna Sawai’s Mariko is the emotional core of the series. A woman bound by duty, faith and a painful past, she mediates not only between languages but between cultures and loyalties, and Sawai conveys enormous feeling through restraint. Cosmo Jarvis makes Blackthorne brash, crude and gradually more thoughtful, a character the show views with humour rather than hero worship. Tadanobu Asano is a scene-stealer as the endlessly self-serving Yabushige, providing dark comedy amid the tension.

The series swept the 2024 Emmys, setting a record for wins by a single season and earning lead acting awards for both Sanada and Sawai.

Craft in every frame

The production is immaculate. Costumes, sets, weaponry and court rituals are recreated with meticulous care, and the photography favours composed, painterly frames of coastlines, castles and candlelit rooms. The decision to let Japanese characters speak Japanese, rather than accented English, gives the story authenticity and allows the performances to breathe.

If there is a limitation, it is accessibility. The number of characters, clans and shifting alliances can be hard to follow at first, and the patient pacing will frustrate viewers expecting a sword-fighting spectacle. Those who give it their attention will find the payoff immense.

Who should watch Shōgun?

It is essential for lovers of historical drama, political intrigue and epic storytelling, and for anyone who appreciates television made with film-level craft. Ten episodes is a manageable commitment, though it benefits from focused viewing. It is strictly adult viewing, with graphic violence, ritual suicide, sexual content and some disturbing imagery.

For more in this vein:

• Pachinko for another multilingual historical epic spanning Japan and Korea, told with the same seriousness.
• Succession for a modern study of power struggles, shifting loyalties and succession crises.

The verdict

Shōgun is a triumph of historical television: intelligent, beautifully made and gripping from its first episode. Its density demands attention, but Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawai and a superb ensemble make its world of shifting allegiances utterly absorbing.

Rating: 5/5