Netflix Age of Samurai:Battle for Japan series

[manic _miner]

 Not sure if others have seen this but i have just watched the first episode and thought it very good.Looks to be six episodes in-total.

 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10551256/

[Bravo Six]

Smithsonian Channel is on free preview for me right now, and this show is on it. It's a very good series.

[Metternich]

A bit like a History Channel program in format, vice a drama.  But the talking heads are well-versed in the subject (Dr. Turnbull is one of them), the armor and equipment is period, and the story itself is, of course, fascinating. 

[Cyrus the Great]

If you have any interest in Samurai at all, this is a must watch series!

[Ragnar]

Great series, really enjoying it. 

[Grumpy Gnome]

I am not normally a fan of docu-drama shows like this but my wife is.

Since I am interested in Samurai, the trailer looked good and you fine folks recommended it, we watched the first episode last night.

Not bad.

I have read Stephen Turnbull before so it was interesting to see him. But the talking heads rapidly got on my nerves with some of their over the top assertions, “greatest warriors in history, greatest sword in history”. It felt a bit like old tropes just being echoed, without any kind of reasonable backing material for such absolutism.

Some of the Ashigaru armor looked a bit LARP but compared to similar shows I have seen in the past it was overall head and shoulders better.

My wife and I both learned some things and we were entertained... so thumbs up, we will be watching more.

And it gives me hope that the Netflix pirates documentary will be as good.

[Golgotha]

If you have enjoyed this you may well enjoy these too:

Movie called Ran see for example:

This was a cracking documentary

Enjoy

[FierceKitty]

Not bad as introductory history (got my wife interested). Battle scenes embarrassing, however, and if you know the period at all the omissions are painful. And why so many talking heads? If they'd got Turnbull or either of the women to narrate it all, it would have run more smoothly.

P.S. Ever tried to cook rice in a straw jinghasa?

[Bravo Six]

P.S. Ever tried to cook rice in a straw jinghasa?

Nope. Can't say I have. But I've cooked a roast beef  dinner in a full suit of armor. But that's a long story. 

[Metternich]

Ran is a magnificent Akira Kurosawa movie (try to see the full-length picture, not just the 4 minute trailer) that he made after Kagemusha, utilizing the same armor and sashimono left over from that film (which had been subsidized by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas - who were big fans of Kurosawa - which is why the armor and props are so first rate in both movies).   

[Cacique Caribe]

Netflix isn’t at the top of my list these days.  Long story.

Actually, I stopped watching Netflix many months ago and would have canceled it lack then if it weren’t for some of the shows my wife still watches.  And she’s already expressed some of my same concerns lately.  My account’s days are numbered it seems.

Dan

[craigjwoodfield]

I watched the first episode. Not sure if I will watch any more. On the pro side, the uniforms, props and armour are nice, if somewhat over dramatically used. Some informed commentary. Reasonable overview of the period.

On the cons side, poor, b class acting. Glacial pace and repetition. Some really dumb, inaccurate commentary. Terrible battle scenes, which would admittedly be hard and expensive  to stage.

I give it a 2 out of 5.

[Andrew_McGuire]

I haven’t seen it so obviously have no opinion,  but yesterday I watched a lengthy and detailed critique of it on a YouTube channel by the name of the Shogunate which was, to put it mildly, uncomplimentary on almost every aspect of the series, from the leather armour to the wooden acting, incorrect hairstyles, depiction of almost every battle in a forest environment - apparently there was historically only one such engagement - and, let me see now...oh yes, everything else. It was summarised as a lazy attempt to present the period in a way Game of Thrones fans with limited attention spans might appreciate (though the absence of sex and nudity probably meant this was never remotely likely).

[Blackwolf]

Netflix isn’t at the top of my list these days.  Long story.

Actually, I stopped watching Netflix many months ago and would have canceled it lack then if it weren’t for some of the shows my wife still watches.  And she’s already expressed some of my same concerns lately.  My account’s days are numbered it seems.

Dan

This is a thread reviewing a program about Samurai,not your opinion of Netflix.

[Muzfish4]

Finished the series with Mrs Fish (who has no background in Japanese history) last night. She enjoyed it and in fairness it's probably not a bad introduction to some of the events and personalities of the period. Other points:

  In the battle scenes armour seemed to never work - just like imperial stormtroopers. Even Mrs Fish noticed this and commented "why do they wear it if it is so ineffective?"

  The acting was, I thought, okay. Nothing special but noting terrible as the actor all played out very specific roles in focused vignettes.

  This was the first time I have ever seen the invasion of Korea discussed without reference to the famous turtle ships and the equally famous Admiral Yi. Instead, Gwak Jae-u got all the credit.

  The 'talking head' historians were actually pretty good and added a fair bit to the commentary.

  The comparison (above) to it being written as a Game of Thrones style narrative is pretty much spot-on.

So, not terrible (but also not great) but by no means the final word. More made for the general viewer than the specialist. L

Obviously, this board is going to have a more specialised interest than more general viewers. In that spirit, I had a look at Rotten Tomatoes to and Age of Samurai is currently rated as 54% from 3 critics and 23 users. Interestingly, while the critics were all closely aligned in their views user ratings varied from half to five stars.

The best review I read was Johnny Loftus who concludes:

STREAM IT. Armchair historians, dads who’ve exhausted their supply of military history tomes, and fans of familial TV blood feuds: they’ll all get a kick out of the stirring, informative, and often quite gory Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan.

Full review is here: https://decider.com/2021/03/01/age-of-samurai-netflix-review-stream-it-or-skip-it/