It's refreshing,a completely new story line and new perspective is taken.
It's not for action lovers,but those who love drama,history,edge of the seat thrillers,survival movies,they will love it.
They showed japanese culture and customs,they literally made us feel like we are living there,their detailing,their content,their multi-layered character writings, everything was good.
Even though series is in English,but literally it is in Japanese language we need to have patience to dive into the characters,it's like a slow poison series,we will feel it episode by episode.
Its a kind of family series baring a very few intimate series with less than 5 to 10 seconds of screen time,it has a bit of foul language used but that was justifiable with characters taken.
It's about anjin an English sea pilot,who tries to find a sea route to Japan which was concealed by their counterparts and their enemies Portuguese,so that they could have monopoly over the trade in the sea route.
And parally about a ruler(toranaga)who is been challenged and on the brink of impeachment and death by his adversaries,how he stood up to the challenge and fought against all odds with out spilling a single drop of blood(a kind of so).
How he crossed paths with anjin,did they both succeed,is the story of the series.
Toranaga is a very complex character,well potraged and well written,he will have a long lasting impact on us.
The women in the series played a major role in it,like mariko,fuji,ouhida,were really excellent,they just nailed their characters.
The scenes between anjin,mariko were so refreshing and they both bought life to the series.
Fuji was beautiful,bold, strong women.
The yabushige,ishida,omi characters were written with so many layers they managed to pull them of effortlessly.
They tried to show the relationships between mother,son,wife and husband in ancient japan,their customs,their traditions,their values,their demographic problems,how they survived all these things.
Buntaro and mariko a complex relationship between wife and husband is shown beautifully.
Toranaga as a king,a leader, apex strategist,a father,husband,strong opponent to their enemies,he excelled in all these roles.
Anjin as a surviver,a no matter what he must live attitude,a loving,caring,principled,truthful,loyal,a fighter,a lover,a friend,he showed all these variations flawlessly.
Mariko as a disgraceful high ranking officers daughter,a wife of a warrier,as a loyal servent,a true believer,a friend,a translator,a mother,an ambassador,an intelligent woman,a poet,a warrier women,a well learned women,women with character,great heart,braveness, unwavering devolution to his ruler,all these she potrayed so well that no words for it.
Fuji as a wife,grieving mother, consort for unknown,caring companion,brave,bold women standing up to the occasion,a believer,loyal friend,she doned all this roles effortlessly.
Yabushige character was multi-layered,his portrayal was so convincing,he just live up to the role give to him,same as ishida character too.
I loved watching this show,I will cherish it for the long time to come.