It’s already reasonable to conclude that Shōgun on FX will be the biggest TV show of 2024. Observing the similarities between Shōgun and Game of Thrones, FX decided they had a winning combination and renewed the limited series for a further two seasons.
Shōgun is set in 1600s Japan. The shipwrecked European sailor John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) becomes an ally of Lord Yoshi Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada). Blackthorne traveled to Japan to make sure his native England could establish a commercial base before the Portuguese conquered the island nation. He doesn’t know a word of the language of his new friends when he gets there.
Learning Japanese through Anime
In the series, Blackthorne learns the term “Teki,” which means “enemy.” Despite not understanding Japanese, I could identify the word while watching the scene, thanks to my exposure to various anime shows. I’ve picked up a few other words like “Watashi” (meaning “I”), “Sekai” (meaning “world”), “Mirai” (meaning “future”), and “Teki.”
Regarding “Attack on Titan” (I mean, Vinland Saga), it was considered the best anime series of 2023. In a pivotal moment at the end of season 2, the main character, Thorfinn, transformed from a vengeful warrior to an idealistic figure, declaring that he had no enemies with the line, “Ore ni teki nanka inai.”
Exploring cultural bridges in Vinland Saga and Shōgun
Vinland Saga takes place in the eleventh century, when the Vikings ruled most of Europe. Similar to samurai and Vikings (which is why it’s so hilarious to hear the former speak Japanese), the cultural bridges between Shōgun and Vinland Saga are what binds them. An Englishman, James Clavell, wrote the Japanese epic Shōgun (the original novel’s author).
Blackthorne represents Clavell on his quest for an outsider’s understanding of Japanese society. The Japanese author Makoto Yukimura’s Viking epic Vinland Saga has insights that only an outsider could understand.
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